Hi all,

Just wondering what tablet owners use their tablets for. I’ve got an Android tablet, but I don’t use it very much at all. For casual browsing, etc, I still use my phone (Sony Xperia Z, so a big screen), and when I need to do more computer-y stuff (e.g. spreadsheet or smething), I still resort to the laptop.

It means the tablet gets used for a bit of TV/ movie watching, and browsing when I think to get it out.

Am I missing something?

Leon

Headaches.

I’ve just got a Nexus 7. It will never be first choice a home but it is portable enough I’ll take it places I won’t take my netbook. I don’t have a smartphone so my Nexus will be my choice for touring.

Slight hijack – what are the best apps for TV on an android tablet?

BBC iPlayer
ITV Player
4oD
Demand5

Pretty much cover it, unless you have Sky then use Sky Go too.

Mine is a glorified diary. It also means that, when I travel I will sometimes take it with me as my sole wordprocessor. I don’t mind typing on it; some hate it.

We’ve got a 1st generation iPad, mostly it’s used for casual browsing and emails. It’s secondary use is a digital radio with the TuneIn app and as a music remote, controlling iTunes on a tucked away mac, sound is linked to a couple of amps via airport express units. After that the next usage is probably games. I also download manuals for all sorts of stuff onto it so that they are always easy to find, so everything from forks servicing guides to the underfloor heating thermostat manual. beats storing them all in a shoe box.

The only thing i use the laptop for these days is trainerRoad but they’re supposedly working on an iPad app for that too.

netflix if you have a subscription – that’s something else I use it for

headaches…I have plenty of those

Same as that, just casual browsing. It makes stuff fit the page a bit better.
I don’t normally take it away from the house but took it away for the weekend recently (Nexus 7) and it was great to have in the pub with us after riding to check stuff out, new routes etc.

I tried a work trip with mine once. I think it’s doable if it’s a mostly meetings type trip, because then it’s just a bit of email and content review. If it’s a trip where I’m working in another office, I still really need my proper computer, sadly.

Like the idea of storing manuals etc. I suppose if you’re not worried about getting it mucky, it’s quite a good thing to have when you are working on the bikes, if it’s something tricky. There’s always a youtube vid or forum thread to cover the issue. I current;y use my phone for that.

iPad 3 – Browsing, reading (STW, PDFs & comics are ace on it), streaming TV, Sufferfest on the turbo, plans vs zombies 😀

Amusing kids mostly, I tend to use my phone for my quickly looking at something or my laptop for anything needing a bigger screen or keyboard.

Doesn’t get nearly as much use as I was expecting.

iPad 4..

Browsing the web
Faceache
iPlayer, 4oD, etc
Streaming films from the NAS
Browsing photos
XBMC remote
TeamViewer..

(It’s pretty much replaced the laptop)

Just got an ipad via work. We are like a care home for electronic goods. Kindle fire, kindles, iphones, ipods, laptops etc… The ipad doesn’t do anything extra just has a nicer screen for looking at visual content (which is the work use). Would I buy one. No. Not unless I didn’t have the phones and laptops.

Just wondering what tablet owners use their tablets for. I’ve got an Android tablet, but I don’t use it very much at all. For casual browsing, etc, I still use my phone (Sony Xperia Z, so a big screen), and when I need to do more computer-y stuff (e.g. spreadsheet or smething), I still resort to the laptop.

Pretty much the same as you, since getting an Xperia Z I don’t use the tablet anything like as much.

Stuff I do use it for: Coursera (online studying). Travelling (aka keeping the kids quiet). And a bit of browsing, etc., but nothing like as much as previously.

Clearly STW…

browsing, podcasts, radio, weather forecasts, timer, notebook

will probably get another one when google drop price of nexus 10, me and wife both seem to want to use ipad at same time quite a lot

I have a Samsung Tab 2 10.1

casual web browsing
STW
Mag reading – cyclist, STW & photo monthly
iplayer (esp. now you can download on android, cylcing & f1)
itv player – cycling catch up is great
photo browsing
handy work video demo thing
MMTracker (Memory map OS map viewer)
…

I have ipad 3, S4 and N120 netbook and a 50″ tv
The only time I use the ipad is on planes(I mainly use the kindle app).
Browsing in the house – N120, Browsing on the move/apps – S4, Netflix/TV/Radio – 50″ tv.
I probably should have bought a kindle really.

I use my ipad mini loads. Watch tv/films on the train and on breaks at work. use it for the odd game and browsing at home, used to use my phone (GS3) but the screen is too small to be comfortable.
Also use it as a kindle if there’s nothing I want to watch/feel comfortable watching on the train (stuff with murder and boobs generally)

Next time I get a new phone I’m going to get something smaller and tether my ipad to it instead of ever using my phone, it’s just a bit too big and the battery doesn’t last long enough.

cant believe no-one has said porn yet 😕

oh no too quick there – we can rely on Prawny for some truth..

Samsung galaxynote 10.1 here

E reader
Watching films
Camera
Internet surfing
Dispensing tool at work
Games (when bored)

cant believe no-one has said porn yet

porn

wasn’t quick enough to get in behind the quote.

Mine has replaced a laptop for most of my internet surfing/emailing at home. It’s great for reading comics as well if you’re into that.

I’ve binned off my CD collection as I can control Spotify from it, likewise no need for a DVD/BluRay collection if you have a media server (such as Plex) that can be controlled from the iPad. Watch a bit of telly in bed via the on-demand services.

Got rid of all my cook books as there’s a great app (Paprika) that allows you to download recipes directly from most popular websites.

The number one thing it’s great for though (iPad, Android tabs are still lagging a long way behind in this department) is gaming. I just don’t have the hours these days to get stuck into “proper” videogames so the tablet fills the niche perfectly. There are tons of games that you can pick up and play for a few minutes at a time. There is a great indie games scene with a lot of innovation, but also now there are big budget titles too. Especially if you like (proper) board games, there are so many excellent conversions on the iPad now.

Nexus 10 – had a HP Touchpad.

Watching films on planes
streaming content from the virgin tivo to elsewhere in the house.
mostly e-reader for technical books – fine with anti-glare screen cover
games
instead of laptop on holiday to backup/manage/prune the days photos
email
facebook
was using it for pomodoro type timing apps but since working crazy hours this summer there wasn’t much point.
browsing

All of the above plus I’ve just installed xbox smartglass on my Nexus and I can now control my xbox from it, which is awesome.

My wifes mum lent us her iPad 1. I thought it would get loads of use but we barely touch it. The most use it gets is for a recipe when cooking something. No smartphones but I just can’t get out of the habbit of using my laptop for everything. If i have to sign in to a few different places I’ll definitely use the laptop because all the underscores and symbols and stuff when entering passwords is an arse.
I downloaded an app to control Ableton Dj software but there is just too much latancy to use it while playing at a gig. All in all, I haven’t really found a good use for it yet.

all the underscores and symbols and stuff when entering passwords

All that stuff doesn’t make your password any more secure you know, you’re just making more hassle for yourself!

Asus transformer pad here. It basically replaced the laptop as it has a ‘proper’ keyboard.

Now if only Garmin did a full running version of Basecamp for Android I’d be able to do away with the PC…

It would be quicker to list the things I don’t use it as.

Daily/Weekly

Web
Email
Diary
TV
Music Player/Radio
E-reader
Photo gallery
Social networks (twitter/facebook)
Video phone (Skype/facetime etc)

Ad hoc

Photo editior
Camera
Word processor
Movie editor

I only use my phone as anything but a phone if I don’t have the iPad with me or the iPad is being used for something else and I only ever turn on my home laptop to do proper photo stuff in Lightroom.

My iPad has replaced my computer, TV, radio, DVD player. I use it more than I should really. I’ve slowly become one of these ‘constantly connected’ types, much to my wife’s dismay.

I use it for all Internet usage and then use it to watch various players – iPlayer, LoveFilm etc. use it for books, listening to music va my iTunes account, diary and a bit of gaming, puzzles etc. I love my iPad. Best thing I bought.

all the underscores and symbols and stuff when entering passwords
All that stuff doesn’t make your password any more secure you know, you’re just making more hassle for yourself!

On the iPad yes but on a normal keyboard it’s pretty damn easy. Plus, a few randomly spelt random words will be stronger than either of the above 2 options surely.

A bit of browsing when the other half is on the laptop.

Its most frequent use is amusing our 3 year old girl on longer car journeys. We have loaded it up with Peppa Pig and other kids stuff and use a bungee cord to fasten it to the back of a headrest.

All that stuff doesn’t make your password any more secure you know, you’re just making more hassle for yourself!

No longer true, whether its due to the ubiquity of the “Correct Horse Battery Staple” comic or just a coincidence but brute force password cracking algorithums have evolved to use the dictonary and can now crack these type of passwords much faster than their lenght suggests

Daily:

RSS (Feedly)
Instapaper
Twitter
Facebook
Web browsing
Looking up maps

Less often:
skype
Video (youtube/iplayer etc).
Photo viewing
Photo/video backup/viewing when travelling

As and when:
Video editing
photo editing (less than video)
Powerpoint (actually keynote, but you know what I mean)
Document editing
PDF annotation (less often now but used to do this all the time).

As above, naming the (personal*) tasks I grab the laptop for would be shorter.

*work stuff requires a “proper” computer, as it’s coding/data processing and the like. Need those teraflops!

No longer true, whether its due to the ubiquity of the “Correct Horse Battery Staple” comic or just a coincidence but brute force password cracking algorithums have evolved to use the dictonary and can now crack these type of passwords much faster than their lenght suggests

I suppose that would be a natural evolution! I guess you could combat that by randomly capitalising one letter per word, still easy to enter on an iPad and still easy to remember.

^^

Assuming a dictionary of 60,000 words and a subset of 4, in any order, then there are in the region of 10^17 possible combinations. Neither dictionary attacks nor rainbow tables will work.

I distinctly remember bringing two iPads home but I’ll be damned if I’ve been able to get my hands on them since, they seem to be glued to my wife and daughters hands.

They use them for facebook, surfing, email, TV, facetime/skype, homework, games and controlling the TV and my wife has recently started carting it around in her handbag and using it to take photos and videos, you can hear my constant tutting in the background of all the video.

We’ve got a one from that lot over in Cupertino.

Haven’t really used the laptop since we got it and TBH I’m thinking of getting another one (tablet, not laptop) as mrs madhouse originally swore blind it was a ‘stupid idea’ and ‘we’ll never use it’ – needless to say I struggle to prize this new facebook viewer from her clenched fists.

Anyway, when not running the facebook app it mainly gets used for:

Facetime, iPlayer, STW viewing, Singletrack reading, twitter, general internetting, handy to disply recipies when cooking, cycling news app to keep track of the tours, weather forecasts, watching videos, keeping madhouse jr occupied on long car journeys ….. the list goes on.

Just wish I’d bought an iPrint compatible printer 🙄

You can get an airprint printer for less than £100, we did and it’s great, use it on the network so works with ipads, our android phones via the HP app, the laptop and the desktop computer. Mint.

Edit:

This is ours, £49 fine for printing off letters vouchers and forms, haven’t tried printing any photos but I think it’d be good enough with decent paper.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deskjet-Printer-AirPrint-Wireless-Print/dp/B005BSSGFC/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url