[herculesinwyoming]

i see bb play book advertised, and i pad etc etc, so what are the tablets for other than games video and web chat? can you type a document up an print it to your wifi printer? is it good for doing college papers on and printing them out or saving them to a flash drive?

why would or should i buy a play book or similar?
so far they advertise them as mobile entertainment toys.


so what are tablets good for, so i can decide if they are a tool or a toy

[Economist101]

Not a big fan of caps I see, but you're apparently infatuated with the word "so." As for "doing" college papers, I think that's a matter of preference. You certainly could write a full paper on a tablet, but seems like a lot of effort for something that's generally difficult enough on its own.

[BlackBerry Guy]

Judging by what you said, what you need is a notebook or netbook. A tablet is not a replacement for either.

[herculesinwyoming]

SO will ihave to plug it into my pc SO i can print out a paper SO i can turn it in?
SO any way lol

Question is what are tablets really intended to do, i want to know what i will get for my 450 to 800 bucks.
Simple question .

[herculesinwyoming]

I am guessing no one NEEDS !! a tablet they are just a toy

[OverShadow417]

I use it for business and pleasure - it allows me to navigate websites easily and hand it off to clients and discuss things with ease compared to using a laptop, as well as documenting ideas and thoughts regarding a project, and allows me to showcase graphics (Logos, banners, etc) or video projects VERY well. And if I ever need to use it at a presentation (Which I can easily see happening in the future), it is easily done. As a "new" technology, it also brings confidence regarding the tools at my disposal, which assures them about me being the best contractor for the job.

For personal use, it does media exceedingly well, and reading on it is a very comfortable experience. I'm not a BIG App person, or portable gaming guy, but I know its there if I have some time to waste.

Honestly one of the bigger factors was that I was able to connect it to my phone, and utilize its inter-connectivity, which is rumored to only be expanding down the line.

I think the most important point you fail to realize about your question - tool or toy - is that it can be both.

Edit: But no, if you need to type a lot (or in my case, code a lot), then it is not the proper tool for the job.

[Spinal]

I am guessing no one NEEDS !! a tablet they are just a toy

for the most part, you are correct.

[herculesinwyoming]

Thanks, i was thinking they were just an expensive toy, so i will save my money, sorry play book your attractive but not hot enough to bring home to momma

[gordongr]

I would say spend time here in these forums, you can get a whole lot more out of these forums than a 15 second commercial that doesnt show nearly half of what these tablets are capable of. They arent as capable as a computor but a lot more capable than a smart phone yet far more portable than a computor yet not too big to carry as a phone, on a capability scale of 1-10...10 being a laptop & a 1 being a phone I would put the playbook at around 7, maybe 8. Just my opinion

[lotuslanderz]

Judging by what you said, what you need is a notebook or netbook. A tablet is not a replacement for either.

Totally agree. Tablets are more for consuming content and less so for creating it. Not to say that you cant create on it, but it's much easier to do so on a laptop/netbook or desktop.

[blackjack93117]

i see bb play book advertised, and i pad etc etc, so what are the tablets for other than games video and web chat? can you type a document up an print it to your wifi printer? is it good for doing college papers on and printing them out or saving them to a flash drive?

why would or should i buy a play book or similar?
so far they advertise them as mobile entertainment toys.


so what are tablets good for, so i can decide if they are a tool or a toy

You probably shouldn't buy one then it's not for everyone..all I know is it's GREAT for business, especially those that are not cubicle bound..

School? Not so much. Unless you want to record your lectures maybe, research on the net without having to drag around a laptop...you could always type on it with a bluetooth keyboard, and sure you could save them, not to a flash drive, but playbook ACTS like a flash drive when plugged into USB so you don't really need to do that step. It IS a drive.
.

[herculesinwyoming]

Thanks for the replys, just for me if i get one it will just be a toy, i am not a buisness man i just tak a giant coal train from point a to point b every day, and i get paid sick money to do this. i dont have clients to sell product to, as i see it a playbook would be nice to own but i cant justify the price. I am glad to hear the pb serves well to others

[blackjack93117]

Thanks for the replys, just for me if i get one it will just be a toy, i am not a buisness man i just tak a giant coal train from point a to point b every day, and i get paid sick money to do this. i dont have clients to sell product to, as i see it a playbook would be nice to own but i cant justify the price. I am glad to hear the pb serves well to others

Is sick money good money or bad money? Maybe I will drop the business and move to Wyoming it sounds kinda fun - especially if you have a PlayBook to pass the time from point a to point b...

[bellxx]

I don't have a computer but the playbook is all I need Pay my bills on line. Shop and go on line. It's works fine for me.

[OverShadow417]

Thanks for the replys, just for me if i get one it will just be a toy

I don't think there's anything WRONG with it just being a toy - lots of iPad/Android users would say thats what their devices are for; fun, personal use.

But if the price isn't right - *shrug* whatcha gonna do?

Although, I heard the 3DS is dropping in price in August, if you were looking for a cheaper toy :-D

[Scrapegoat]

As an expat English teacher, living and working abroad, I find the luxury of carrying around some 300 various text and resource books ( approx 30 gb ) on a highly portable device such as the PB, extremely convenient. Lesson planning is no longer a chore of firing up the laptop etc etc and with connectivity such as HDMI, sharing this media in class via interactive lessons is easy via projector or TV... Good for the environment too, saved so many trees. For the same reason, this device would be beneficial to students if all textbooks were scanned to PDF files, imagine carrying around this huge library, always at your fingertips.. This is where tablets shine for me, not to mention the media (music, photo, video and gaming).

Hammered out on my PB virtual keyboard in about the same time as I would type it on my laptop keyboard

[SCrid2000]

They're darn useful for putting all your case files on and taking to court with you.

Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

[blackjack93117]

Not a big fan of caps I see, but you're apparently infatuated with the word "so."

so you gotta do a psycho analysis on the poor guy? so strange you hardly know him...I mean so what if he says so, so do I...
.

[blackjack93117]

Not a big fan of caps I see, but you're apparently infatuated with the word "so."

so you gotta do a psycho analysis on the poor guy? so strange you hardly know him...i mean so what if he says so, so do i...

so im not a big fan of caps either or apostrophes - it means you have to use two keys instead of one - so maybe hes typing on a blackberry with one thumb .. so whats it to ya...sheesh...this aint english class, right scrapegoat?
.

[Skeevecr]

Personally, my use of a tablet is mostly for reading comics, magazines and book, then web browsing, a few games and some audio and video streaming, the form factor is much nicer for consuming content than a normal desktop or laptop even if I would always prefer those for content creation.

[badger906]

I got mine almost on impulse with a small amount of thought.

I love it! so far ive only explored 1% of its fuctionality. ive watched a film, played a game or 2 and used the internet. as I always leave mine on stand by, within a second its on and I can do stuff.

I mainly got mine for internet use at work, and didn't fancy carrying around my MacBook all day, as well as the thought of it being stolen. starting to wish id got the 32 or even 64gb version, but hey its a breeze to chop and change things with wireless transfer

[jrmgolem]

I am responding to this thread as I have asked this question of friends who own iPad and they cannot tell me.
I am writing this using my Playbook, I like it, I have used it to watch movies, listen to music and surf the web. I take pictures with a Canon 7d and would like to be able to connect it, that would be the real reason to have this toy, but having scoured the internet, I cannot find out what the connectors are.
This is a great toy, it is a question with no answer, but its fun all the same!

[jrmgolem]

I have had my PB for about two weeks now, the fun of playing with a new toy has started to wane and I am now thinking very seriously about what its all about.

Being a photographer, I have visions of being able to connect my camera to the USB socket, but having paid for various plugs and sockets to convert the micro usb to a standard usb and then connect the Canon 7d to the usb, it didn't recognise it even as a mass storage device.

So I thought perhaps it will allow me to connect a flash stick, nope! So I am still wondering what it is meant to do.

The web browsing is superb and I have used it constantly to work with PayPal, Ebay, Banking and other commercial sites, including my own web site Digital Effects Photography and Imaging - Home and other sites that have flash embedded.

I still think that Tablet PC's are a question without a solid answer, but I am very happy and impressed with the build quality and performance of my Playbook and would recommend it as a toy to everyone that can afford a toy like this (my one was free), there are serious apps for it too, and I have used these and thye are very functional and do what it says on the tin.

All the best

Julian

[ubizmo]

A tablet can be an excellent ebook reader. As an academic, my job requires a great deal of reading, so I don't think this puts it into the "toy" category for me. Granted, I read for entertainment too, but I do a lot of reading as part of my job. When the PlayBook gets the Kindle app, it will live up to its potential more, as far as this is concerned. Note that Amazon is far and away the leading provider of academic and general nonfiction ebooks.

Connected with that is the fact that most academic journals have online editions now, so it's possible to do research on a tablet.

As for writing...the PB is still too immature for very much of it. For those of us, like myself, who are auto-text power users, it's possible to write very efficiently on a BB, and if the same capability were present on the PB, it wouldn't be a bad writing tool. It is possible, for example, to work on Google Docs on the PB. It just isn't very pleasant, because the current keyboard functionality is so primitive. But the potential is there. For those of us who touch type, there's nothing as efficient as a full-sized physical keyboard, but I can compose text at a pretty fair clip on my BB 9780. I'd be able to do the same on the PB if it had been thought out better.

In short, a tablet doesn't have to be a toy, but without the right software, it's hard for it to be much else.

[ignites]

pb is gd for school if you can TAKE NOTES ON IT! someone make one of those stupid apps where u can write on it with a stylus like what they do on them iPeds >!<