I've been interested in handheld computer systems since the Apple Newton made its debut some 20 years ago. With the Newton's quick demise, my affection transferred reluctantly to a laptop computer and TI graphing calculators, and then to PDAs. For some reason, when PDAs evolved into smart phones, they lost all appeal to me. I think it's because I want a phone that is first and foremost a reliable voice communication device that will save me in an emergency, and there are no smart phones that fit that description.
I was interested in MP3 players for a while, too. My biggest problem there was finding one that would play OGG/Vorbis files. I thought I found one with the Neuros Digital Audio Computer, but it was discontinued just as I was prepared to buy one. (Actually I did buy one, but it arrived defective, and I opted to return it for a refund instead of a replacement because I really needed it immediately to record some interviews, and was forced to buy a cheaper iRiver device for that purpose.)
I had some interest in early tablet systems, but I was disappointed that they all ran Windows and used traditional desktop input paradigms without good input devices. Some things you just don't want to do with a stylus or your fingertip, and lugging around a keyboard kind of defeats the purpose of a tablet system. For this reason, I own a netbook and absolutely love it -- the portability of a tablet with the input and software of a desktop machine.
I always have to have a plan for how I'm going to use a new machine; this is how I justify the expense of buying it. I have to have very good reasons to spend the money. "Because I want a new toy" is not good enough. There are lots of toys I can buy.
And, actually, I did buy some literal toys. I had handheld gaming systems from the original Nintendo Game Boy to the latest Playstation Portable and nearly all valid stops inbetween. I loved handheld gaming when I was a teenager, and I continued upgrading systems all the way until a few years ago with the PSP 2000, using my newer systems mostly when travelling.
The PSP was the best portable gaming device ever created. Not only could it play games, it could connect to the Internet and get on the Web in a limited fashion, store a decent MP3 library and play back music in a few different formats, play videos (even entire movies), and connect to the Playstation 3 seamlessly. Despite all these awesome features, and some really great games, I rarely used my PSP and eventually sold it on eBay for about half what I paid for it.
I had trouble figuring out why I didn't use the PSP despite liking it. In the end, I determined that my sense of "fun" had changed over the years, and I was much more focused on reading and writing. When I wanted to play a game, it was a complex game that required time -- World of Warcraft, mostly. Working on books and blog posts and reading the news was the new "fun" for me, so I began looking more toward devices that would enable me to do that.
That's where tablet systems come back into play. You might think that because I was excited about the Newton that I'm an Apple fan. I actually hate Apple; I consider it a brand that caters to poseurs, metrosexuals, and simpletons. It seems to me that people who buy Apple products think that they are buying into some kind of lifestyle instead of buying a device that they will use for some valid purpose. People want to be seen with Apple devices like they want to be seen wearing Gucci or Douchebag & Gabbana clothes. For a while I would hang out in coffee shops and work on articles and books on my Thinkpad (running OpenBSD!). There was always at least one haughty-looking hipster in the room on his Apple computer, ostensibly working on his Great American Novel, but in actuality just browsing his Facebook feed. That, to me, is the epitome of the Apple lifestyle: using a gadget to supply a personality and image that you can't create on your own.
I have more concrete reasons for disliking Apple. Price, first and foremost -- Apple is always more expensive. It's also a limited-time item. If I buy a Thinkpad, I can expect to find a new 9-cell battery for it five years from now. I can install new operating systems on it for years to come, and I have a choice of which ones I'd like to use. Apple, not so much. I'm also against vendor lock-in when it comes to software, and Apple is so immersed in vendor lock-in that it makes Microsoft look like the Free Software Foundation. Lastly, I hate the fucking interface. OS X is unusable for me. I've got no taskbar to see what's happening in my programs at a glance, there is no mouse acceleration, and I don't care for the Candyland-style desktop theme. Give me GNOME 2 ala openSUSE or Linux Mint, or let me enjoy the beauty of a plain command line environment ala OpenBSD or FreeBSD any day, but get that gaudy Apple shit away from me.
Maybe it's just me, but I remember everyone saying the iPad was crap when it first came out. Even Apple fans were all like, "Eh, it's just an oversized iPhone, and I already have an iPhone, so why do I need an iPad?" Yet they still went out and bought one. And then the second one came out and everyone was like, "Eh, it's not much better than the first one," yet they still went out and paid through the fucking nose for that, too. I stood by and watched in awe as people blew $1000 on two tablets that they had to struggle to fit into their computing lifestyle. Apple comes out with a product, and some people will just go and buy it and proclaim its greatness no matter what it is or what it does.
So I watched as friends and co-workers bought iPads and dutifully carried them everywhere for a few weeks, rarely using them for anything other than playing games. I did see one co-worker use his iPad for taking notes and reading email for about a month, but he ended up replacing it with a Macbook Air after that. After two months, nobody was carrying their iPad anywhere anymore -- it was back to the laptop computer and the smart phone.
Remember when HP killed the TouchPad, and there was this insane run on all of the stores that sold it to buy it at the firesale price of $100? I wanted one. I was willing to pay $100 for a computing toy, to see if I could make it work for something in my world. $500? No way. But $100 was certainly worth it. I didn't get one, but a friend of mine did. He thought it was really cool for a day or two, then shelved it because email didn't work correctly through it, and there wasn't much else to do with it.
That pretty much sums up tablets: They don't actually do much that is useful. Sure, you can watch movies and listen to music and play games, but why are you doing all of that shit on a tiny 7" or 9" screen with headphones when you bought a $2000 (or more) home entertainment system to do all of the same things in 1080p with surround sound? (Or maybe you didn't -- maybe your tablet IS your entertainment system. If so, I sincerely applaud your planning and frugality.) Why would you listen to music on your tablet when you've already got an MP3 player with more storage, or a smaller smart phone that you already carry everywhere? Why would you play games on your tablet when you already have the same games for your smart phone or PC, and you have three unused gaming systems in the living room plus a portable gaming system or two on the shelf?
I think people get caught up in the "wow" factor, the marketing, and the projected lifestyle of a tablet and buy on impulse. Few people honestly expect to use a tablet for anything meaningful.
So I have been sitting on the sidelines watching the tablet game unfold before me. I didn't want the early Windows tablets because netbooks made more sense. I didn't buy into the iPad for all of the reasons I mentioned above. I didn't get to the right store at the right time to get an HP TouchPad for $100. None of the other ~$500 tablets impress me enough to spend that much money. But last month, Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire, a 7" tablet for $200, and I was immediately interested. It's affordable, it connects to my Amazon Prime membership to stream TV shows and movies if I have an Internet connection to work with, and it's based on Android, so it should have some decent software availability.
I always thought the Kindle was a great idea in general, but I didn't think I would ever want to buy one. I don't do a lot of book reading. It wasn't until I was packing for a trip overseas and had to worry about bag space that I finally realized why a Kindle would be useful to me. The Fire, unfortunately, is more of a computer tablet than an e-reader, despite its name. My plan, though, is to use it both as a portable music player for times when I am waiting in line or in transit someplace (remember: I don't have an MP3 player or a smart phone), and as a complement to my netbook when I don't have the time to concentrate on writing. We'll see how it works out.
