What happened to tablet sales?
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
As a developer, I find iOS to be a horrible operating system and very limited. If you want to surf the web or play games then the iPad is great for that. The same thing applies for Android tablets, however I find Android tablets to be slightly more developer friendly because you can hack them and access powerful applications.
Bottom line is tablets can never replace computers or laptops.
But Android tablets are also awful. Although I am primarily an Apple user and my wife uses an iPad, we bought an higher-end ASUS tablet based on Atom for me and our daughter (to watch cartoons on long car trips). The tablet came bloated with all kinds of nonsense apps, of which more than half cannot be removed or disabled. Android updates stopped after a year or so. It had an SD card slot, but it could only be used for a small subset of applications.
The Nexus 7 2013 that we owned was better in the lack of crapware department. But the last Android update was in 2015 (6.0.1).
After some iPads and the Nexus 7/ASUS adventures, I decided to stop using tablets completely. Laptops have become so light and compact that it's easy to take them to meetings (especially the MacBook 12" is great in this regard). As a bonus, I can just store my notes, etc. in plain text (org mode) in git, rather than being locked in some cloud silo.
Asus is king of crapware, never buy Asus.
Not a bonus: on Android, you can use MobileOrg+SyncOrg (which syncs to any git remote). Or you can use Emacs on the terminal and sync using a generic generic git client like SGit.
Not practical for my use case: the screen is too small, does not render LaTeX equations inline, etc.
The first was kinda slow and heavy, and its display was too low DPI to use it for extended reading. All that was somewhat forgivable given that it wasn't supposed to run anything but Amazon's flavor of android, and, well, it's old. Running phone apps on it wasn't too bad since it's a 7" tablet.
The Pixel though... its hardware was nice. It looked nice, felt nice, and for the most part, handled nicely (though its bezels had be accidentally tapping things on the screen frequently). The problem is that its WiFi drivers were horrible and as it turns out, the cracks in the android experience are much more visible when running on modern, powerful hardware. Lots of bits just felt janky, disjointed, or sluggish. None of the browsers I tried were as nice as mobile Safari, though Firefox came closest, which is weird to me — why isn't Google's browser the best on Google's OS and Google's hardware?
Beyond that, the C's full size form factor made the lack of quality tablet apps on Android blindingly apparent. More often than not I had to settle for stretched out phone apps, which look and feel like crap on such a large screen. To be fair, the tiny handful of good tablet apps I found were very well-made, but they were far too rare.
I'd also say Android's dev/hacker-friendliness is arguable. Yes, one can side load unsigned apps, which is cool. To me, though, this point is nearly moot due to the quality disparity between the Android SDK and dev ecosystem vs the same of iOS. Perhaps I'm biased, but barring projects where iOS doesn't provide the necessary hardware access or something, I'd almost always do my prototypes and v1s on iOS and port to Android later when demand drums up than vice versa, simply due to time and frustration saved.
MS has basically taken their Phone patform and bolted it onto desktop Windows. Thus you either have painfully limited phone apps (that you need a MS account just to download even when free) or you have the Win32 UI stuff that is a mess on touch screens (small widgets, easy to accidentally drag-n-drop, ever-present close button near the screen edge, etc etc etc).
The Surface line may work a bit better because they have a pen to use, but at that point you are basically emulating a mouse via different means to get around the worst of the Win32 UI issues.
That's kind of a funny thing to say given that one of the hallmark features of Android 'O' is them locking down what developers can do with the operating system: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/03/first-prev...
Check out the very first feature mentioned, Background Limits.
I don't even think they're particularly good at surfing the web. The interface on the iPad (and perhaps tablets in general) is simply too limited to be useful for much other than basic surfing. It's annoying really, because many sites try to be tablet friendly and ruin their desktop experience to fit the tablet needs, but the tablet still isn't really as good as the desktop ever was.
You may be correct in that it's the software, personally I think it's the touch screen that's the limiting factor.
It's simply true. I have a iPad 2 and iPad Air 2, and both run fine. The former still on iOS6, so it is fast. Most people who upgraded iPad 2/3 to iOS7+ regretted doing so, and replaced their device.
It's Apple's fault, if they want more sales they shouldn't fragment and confuse the customer with the whole iPad Air 2 not updating for years, than two iPad Pro models with higher price, and now the 9.7 model.
People want faster hardware and new features with every model, otherwise there is no reason to switch and replace an otherwise good working device. It's the same for smartphones, tabets, notebooks and PCs. Only that tablets are in-between phones and notebooks, and many people around the world just got their first access to internet and only own a smartphone. So no tablet and notebook sales from those.
If a brand stagnates, people start looking elsewhere for new more exciting devices. For example in China tier 1+2 cities the last 6 months there is a new trend, iPhone 7 was a big let down in their opinion, and so you see more and more high end Android phones - it happends very fast.
To manufacturers of phones/tablets/notebooks/desktop: produce new better models with new exiting features. Why is my 2010 notebook has the same spec as 2017 models, despite new ones that meet even the spec cost almost twice as much? Why is dual core in 2017 models still almost the only option? Where are the augmented reality camera features in smartphones and tablets?
She also is a happy owner of a non-retina iPad mini which is still chugging along.
Because of the performance drop, I had bought an iPad mini 4. After half a year I sold it because I simply didn’t use it often. I cannot imagine spending $400 on a new iPad. I will keep using my iPad 3 until it breaks. And I will not buy a new iPad again. The OS and form factor is too limited to do any serious work on it. (I’m not going to buy a keyboard and stand for a tablet just to have a subpar laptop experience.)
On the other hand its actually been a negative impact in regards to wanting to buy a iphone. Knowing that if apple ever force a update or accidently swipe a notification away we could be looking at slower devices is a incentive not to buy their iphone products.
(Nevertheless, since my trust in Apple has eroded, I can imagine the bean counters thinking of how to increase sales by deliberately degrading older hardware.)
The first-generation iPad did not support past iOS 5.1.1.
But, the iPad is still too heavy to hold for extended periods, falls over all the time on its rubbish case if I keep it on the uneven bed, and I find the surface kickstand does the job much better. Or just a normal laptop. Even for playing music when I cook, laptops somehow have less friction.
I also upgraded to a newer iPad which is dramatically lighter. Around 1lb seems about the limit for comfortable use indefinitely. The new iPad is a little lighter than a hard back book, the iPad mini at 0.65 pounds is lighter than the average paperback.
PS: The 12" pro is 1.59 pounds which IMO is to heavy for sustained use.
Tablet sales and upgrade patterns can't be directly compared to smartphones. Consumers upgrade their smartphones often because in key markets those purchases are subsidized (the single biggest factor in the iPhone's success was switching from a full price sale system of the original model to the subsidized system for the iPhone 3G). Tablets are more comparable to laptops/desktops. However iPad has even dropped below the Mac. Why is that? So back to the techcrunch article:
> part of the slow down in sales can be chalked up to user disappointment in the devices’ limitation following the initial excitement around the space... growing size of smartphone displays has gone a ways toward cannibalizing tablet sales, as well, limiting the need for a much larger device when so many handsets are now within the six-inch range. On the high end of the spectrum, convertible touchscreen Windows 10 devices have eaten into tablet market share, while Chromebook sales have begun to dominate the education market that tablet makers once saw as a key use case... Amazon marks a rare bright spot on that end of the spectrum, due to its relatively unique ability to subsidize costs as it positions Fire tablets as, essentially, content delivery devices...
When the iPad launched in '10 the iPhone was 3.5" and the laptops were big and bulky. In the following years that space for tablet growth was squeezed by large Android phablets and Macbook Airs (the 11" launched in a few months after the original iPad). Still the iPad, was proclaimed as the future of computing by Apple. It should have reached upwards to dethrone laptops/netbooks. The tablet problems are simple:
1) multitasking/multiwindow is basic on tablets and the UX is just not good enough, especially considering the disadvantages when compared to laptops/desktops with bigger screens
2) data/file management and sharing for projects spanning multiple persons and tools. iOS in particular is woefully lacking in this regard
3) poor input system. This is arguably the most critical factor. As long as a hardware QWERTY keyboard remains the most efficient way to provide text input then the laptop form factor, and OSes designed for that form factor, will remain dominant for productivity. An iPad with a hardware keyboard but without a mouse/trackpad is a sick UX joke resulting in arm fatigue.
More than anything else, TABLETS NEED A REVOLUTIONARY SOFTWARE KEYBOARD or INPUT SYSTEM. That should be Apple's or a YC startup's first priority.
(NB: tablets offer voice input, some actually decent, but that's obviously a nonstarter as general input in a noisy classroom, library, coffee shop, open office plan unless perhaps Apple can make a stenomask[1] fashionable. A revolutionary touch software keyboard still seems the best bet imo)
can ANYONE recommend anything at least as good as a nexus7?
Samsung just released the next version of it, but I'm not sure how sold I am on the all glass design.
If you root Android, you can install F.lux (the real deal, not that fake red layer crap), which helps considerably.
We'll probably get an upgrade in June, but the old one will remain in service even if it doesn't have a phone connection.
Sure, there's the Google Pixel C. It's got a top notch Tegra X1, but it hobbled itself by not including an SD card slot. Google Drive is nice, but I don't want to be beholden to Google for my files. And the Switch looks gimmicky (and sub-par).
So this far there's really no reason to move beyond the Nvidia Shield. At least not on the American Market.
Then Asian market is doing much better. They're cranking out some quality spec Core M tablets for $200 to $300. If American tablet sellers would get in on the trend, we might see a decent uptick in sales.
When the new one is released, I'm buying two.
I thought about buying a k1 tablet, but i really couldn't justify it as i have a one plus 3 that does almost everything a tablet did. and i can make calls on it and not feel like a goober.
i don't think there's another tablet in the pipe: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/11/rumored-follow-nvidi...
I have the first shield tv and its awesome. I use the g-force now service to stream witcher 3. I love streaming games. I used on-live back in the day, and was bummed when it failed. I lost like 10 games.
I did here that nvidia had a lot to do with the nintendo switch, but i don't care enough to vet that rumor, so i will jsut spread it anyway.
I wonder how resale affects these markets.
-better screens (oled? color e-ink, perish the thought?)
-better graphics processing (maybe sacrifice some battery or thinness)
-incorporate top of the line features ('truetone' display, pens, etc)
All I'm saying is car makers find a way to make it work every year.
The tablet would have doomed itself by being too user friendly.
The first sentence doesn't say it all? These things aren't cheap (for most of us) and people want the latest and greatest. Updates have been coming in the 6 month to 12 months window for phones/tech. I know I wait for releases to purchase hardware. It's the only way to ensure the longest support window, for one.
Even at the office I no longer see execs walking around with them. Just a few years ago these things were everywhere out in public.
I assume the remaining holdouts have relegated them to bedtime devices.
They combine the worst features of a laptop and a smartphone (too big to fit in your pocket, too awkward to type compared to a normal keyboard) and offer very dubious advantages, not to mention probably the worst software support out of all portable devices (barring smartwatches, another dumb fad).
Sure, a lot of normies and apple fanboys bought into the fad originally, but now they're beginning to realize that the device is mostly useless except for some casual youtubing in bed or letting your kid play some educational games.
Now what is it?
a) Google got into a platform civil war. Just as Android was getting serious about tablets, ChromeOS happened.
b) Intel tried to ram ATOM down everyone's throat.
Said as a happy eee901 owner and user.
Man those things were the shit. I first learned Linux on my brand new EEE901.
It was still working fine (running windows 10), but then I decided to add a SSD and broke the poor thing.
But I guess that niche is now occupied by Chromebooks (which is sad, because Chromebooks are surprisingly expensive here in Germany).
Edit: There are still netbooks being produced, HP makes one, IIRC.
Its a dual screen e ink reader.
From their FAQ:
We are to make an announcement of the product On April 2017. There, You will find a lot more of GVIDO and related products & services. We are making great effort to be ready in mid 2017
About pricing The final price hasn’t yet set. Since it has 2 large scale E-INK monitors, the price of the first model is expected to be slightly higher than two of iPad Pro 12.9 inches. It’s getting slightly higher because of the new components though, We try hard to keep it as low as possible.
Format will be PDF and it has a SD reader.