Have tablets died? Opinions welcomed!

[ElectricPlasma]

Has the tablet industry been declining?

I've recently found a video that hypothesizes the tablet industry is slowly becoming obsolete, I agree with it in a certain way. While smartphones seem to be getting larger (in screen size) and laptops are getting smaller, along with all these 2-in-1, 3-in-1 etc laptops, there seems to be no need for tablets.

So, do you think tablets are still a valid and useful device?

I myself have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S, and I can say when I had first bought it I found it more entertaining than productive (not at all a bad thing) however eventually my use for it declined over time. To this day I mainly use it for web tasks such as social media or Skype.

I wouldn't be surprised if sooner or later tablets are fully replaced by 2-in-1 laptops.

 

[dubious speculation]

I'm fairly neutral on the subject since I've never owned one, which is not to say that I've always thought that I don't need one.

You mention that the decline of the tablet industry is hypothesized, however if Marques Brownlee's video is anything to go by then the facts are there. There's been a 20% decline in tablet sales in the past year alone and that seems to point towards the blending of each form-factor. Laptops are increasingly becoming more portable along with phones crossing the boundaries between handheld devices and the portability of a billboard.

Who knows what the future will bring.

 

[Dr_Evil]

I have a tablet. It hasn't been used in quite a while. I mainly bought it so I wouldn't have to play games on a tiny screen. The only problem was that I had to connect to a wireless network to play some of them. Once I found out about Bluestacks, I quit using the tablet. Between my phone, laptop, and multiple desktops, I'm covered for stuff like checking email, making calls, browsing the web and other such things. For pictures and videos, I still use my SLR and camcorder.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

I'm fairly neutral on the subject since I've never owned one, which is not to say that I've always thought that I don't need one.

You mention that the decline of the tablet industry is hypothesized, however if Marques Brownlee's video is anything to go by then the facts are there. There's been a 20% decline in tablet sales in the past year alone and that seems to point towards the blending of each form-factor. Laptops are increasingly becoming more portable along with phones crossing the boundaries between handheld devices and the portability of a billboard.

Who knows what the future will bring.

That's actually the video I was watching. Interesting to see how these markets behave with each other, seems to be "evolving" the tablet out of the industry. If that makes any sense

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Not at all. The market may have reached somewhat of a saturation point in the US though. Still it's a perfect niche option for people that don't need a computer.

I'm actually somewhat of a newcomer to tablets myself, and for me they serve the basic purpose of being a light browsing device, that's always on, portable, and comfortable to hold one handed... enough to check email, facebook, lpf, watch a video if the mood strikes me, etc,.

Yes, all of this 100% doable on my phone, in fact my phone is quite a bit more powerful than any of my three tablets. The problem comes down to screen size. To me the extra screen real-estate is worth the hassle.

Tablets have a great deal going for them also due to price. The Amazon Fire 7 for example... $50 but it's enough for light browsing, netflix, fb, etc,.

What we're going to see is the evolution like the Surface Pro... kind of do it all, but with some compromises devices.

If anything I think we're more likely to see laptops decline, in the same way that we have seen desktop PC sales decline.

Edit: Budget smartphones have taken off like crazy in 2nd and 3rd world nations... stands to reason tablets will find adoption in that market too.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

If anything I think we're more likely to see laptops decline, in the same way that we have seen desktop PC sales decline.

True, a tablet is good for simple tasks. Which is pretty ironic, seeing as when they first came out they were all the rage about the fancy things you could do with them.

On the other hand I'm all for those 2-in-1s and such, as they are exactly what they say... two devices in one. Also, I don't think laptops sales could possibly decline... We need a portable device which can run a fully functional operating system that can successfully utilize all it's computing power, run all types of programs (especially 3rd party), and multitask easily. I'm referring to windows/mac/linux. Without this type of device, mobile productivity will be drastically decreased. Some laptop tasks can be fully achieved with a tablet or smartphone, however other tasks cannot be or won't be able to efficiently.

Desktops however are still extremely important to businesses and some consumers, but most consumers have realized (in a productivity sense) all they really need is the power of a laptop, which gives added portability especially with recent "ultrabooks" and thinner laptops.

 

[Isaac Clarke]

not to mention mobile phone are becoming phablet......

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Using a Galaxy Note 5, which is basically the definition of a phablet, as my current phone.

It's nowhere near as convenient for things like email, facebook, skype, internet, etc. Despite having a higher resolution screen it's still nowhere near as good due to screen size.

Personally I don't think we'll see a true demise of tablets, until better screen alternatives become commonplace (like the microsoft hololens).

Laptops are going to stick around for longer because of another big problem - interfacing with our electronics. The keyboard, and mouse combo for the moment, still remain as the best control option.

 

[Benm]

I think the market for tablets is certainly saturating.

To some degree this has to do with many websites implementing responsive design so they can be used with smartphones, but also with ultrabooks becoming more readily available.

Personally i used to use my tablet quite a bit, while now i mostly use it to watch my own content on flights. It's perfect for that function really, but i doubt i'd buy one for that sole purpose right now.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Personally i used to use my tablet quite a bit, while now i mostly use it to watch my own content on flights. It's perfect for that function really, but i doubt i'd buy one for that sole purpose right now.

If you fly a lot, and own a compatible phone, get a samsung gear. It's worth it. Will need a battery pack too... drains battery quite a bit.

Edit: Big part of what makes it for a far superior experience (IMO) vs a regular 8 or 10' tablet, is the isolation, especially with a good pair of headphones.

 

[Trendkilla254]

My opinion is that tablets are far too under-powered. I have an old Kindle Fire 1st gen that is useless. It can't even watch YouTube easily and smoothly. I have newer devices that work well. The iPad 1st generations are worthless because you can't upgrade the software on them any longer. I think they design them to be worthless after a year or so. (Yes I know both examples are way older than 1 year). I have an iPad Air also for work, it is an OK device at best. I would not want a laptop 2 or 3 in 1. I want my Laptop to be a powerhouse and I don't need it to be a thin and easily breakable device. I don't plan to buy a desktop for home use until I decide to build a whole house tower to power all of my rooms.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Tablets and phones are most certainly being made with and end of life in mind now. The same android phone that runs perfectly on android 4.0 is crippled at 5... same goes for IOS, except they are even more restrictive on what you can, and can't do.

I'm personally very annoyed that verizon/samsung forced the 5.0 update to my galaxy s5... it brought nothing new in terms of functionality and caused problems. And there was no way to block the update either, except to root the phone altogether.

Tablets really don't need to be powerhouses though... they just need enough power to do basic things smoothly. Same goes for my phone, 95% of the time I don't come anywhere needing half of it's capabilities.

 

[Dr_Evil]

Tablets and phones are most certainly being made with and end of life in mind now. The same android phone that runs perfectly on android 4.0 is crippled at 5... same goes for IOS, except they are even more restrictive on what you can, and can't do.

I'm personally very annoyed that verizon/samsung forced the 5.0 update to my galaxy s5... it brought nothing new in terms of functionality and caused problems. And there was no way to block the update either, except to root the phone altogether.

Tablets really don't need to be powerhouses though... they just need enough power to do basic things smoothly. Same goes for my phone, 95% of the time I don't come anywhere needing half of it's capabilities.

I still have 4.4.4 on my S5. Is it annoying delaying the update each day? Yes. It's better than dealing with stupid 5.x.x though.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I still have 4.4.4 on my S5. Is it annoying delaying the update each day? Yes. It's better than dealing with stupid 5.x.x though.

I did that too, until one day in just kind of a sleep daze I hit the upgrade by accident. I think it's absurd that that was literally the only way to stop it, to have to prevent it daily.

 

[Dr_Evil]

I did that too, until one day in just kind of a sleep daze I hit the upgrade by accident. I think it's absurd that that was literally the only way to stop it, to have to prevent it daily.

I accidentally started it once. Quickly pulling the battery out saved me.

 

[FutureOne]

I have the iPad Air 2.

The only thing I do on it is play games. And 80% of the games, graphically, could probably still play with decent frame rates on an original iPad 1 (yes, the pre-retina model)

And sadly, the really good looking games (that rival your PC) have been infested by the "freemium" model, and your "free" game ends up costing hundreds of dollars to get anywhere in the game, due to the artificial paywalls.

Asphalt 8 is a great example. You can play for free, but expect to play the same slow car and 4 initial tracks for months. And the money needed to buy anything decent is over $40 (and that saves you a couple of weeks at best. Upgrades are insanely expensive. They want to hook you to spend more and more)

As for non-games, there are very few apps that are actually useful, and they are also VERY expensive. All the cheap stuff is just junk apps that are basically software toys (games without the game label).

I think those two things have limited the tablet market. Your hardware is nothing without the software to run.