Topic: So I got a Motorola Xoom...

[BranDonk Kong]

I must say it's pretty awesome. I think it's the best Tablet on the market. I wanted a Galaxy Tab 10.1, but Samsung decided to pull an Apple (they always do) and make a proprietary connector for any accessories, plus the cameras are lower quality than the Xoom (though, as should be expected, the display is amazing on the SGT 10.1). The Thrive looks horribile and the Eee Pad Transofrmer (which I was considering until I used one) and the Iconia A500 feel like plastic toys. The specs are basically the same on any of the current 10.1 inch Android tablets, but the Xoom has the most accessories, and the most functionality right out if the box (and with the upgrades that are available as soon as you connect to the internet). On a side note, I'll be 30 in 3 hours. ****.

[Adrock]

I'm glad you're digging it. Is the Xoom running a version of Honeycomb? If so, how is it?

I haven't been able to justify the whole tablet market. I can't see why I would ever need one. They don't seem to do anything more than a smartphone can besides have a larger display and they're too limiting to be a laptop replacement. I'm not buying the whole post-PC era. It sounds like some Apple made up to sell a giant iPod Touch. If I really, really wanted/needed an ultra portable computing product, I'd probably buy a Macbook Air. The 11" model is about one pound heavier and it's a full-fledged computer. As a secondary on-the-go/convenience computer, it seems to get the job done better than any tablet ever could.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's annoying how anyone arguing against the idea of a tablet dismisses the larger display as something minor when it's really a huge difference.

Really, though, I'm just waiting for Apple to add a touch screen to the MacBook Air. Given all the gestures and other tweaks in Lion, it seems like a no-brainer. Best of both worlds between an iPad and a full-fledged computer.

[BranDonk Kong]

It's running Honeycomb 3.2. One of the best things about the Xoom is that unlike the other tablets, the updates come directly from Google, so it's always first to get them. I've been testing out tethering from my phone, and I've been most impressed. I have 25Mb/sec cable at home, but even Verizon's 3Mb 3G (when on the road - and 4G when I'm in the right place) is enough to stream Netflix at nice bitrate, Pandora, YouTube, etc. Next step is to root it so I can install adfree. It's an absolute beast at gaming too, N64oid runs at full speed on it, played a little Mario Kart and Wave Race last night. I'm probably going to order a dock for it so I don't have to lay it down if I want to use the HDMI, and so it stays nice and organized. I'm totally impressed by the battery life too - I haven't charged it in over 24 hours (and even then I don't think I got it near 100% when I had it plugged in), and I'm at 35% battery - and I've been using the Hell out of it (watched Iron Man 2 on it last night, been using bluetooth and WiFi all day, browsing the web, listening to music, playing games, etc). I didn't expect the battery to be that good, but it's amazing.

I do think that for the most part, tablets in general are a novelty (though they are certainly not just smart phones with bigger screens) - but depending on exactly what you use your computer for, you could easily replace your laptop with one, especially one like this with USB host support, MicroSD, HDMI, bluetooth and so on, without any proprietary parts (charger and USB host adapter aside). Not too many people *need* a tablet - but you can easily fill a void that you never knew existed when you get one. I'm gonna take this thing everywhere with me, it's just so damn convenient.

[Ceric]

It's annoying how anyone arguing against the idea of a tablet dismisses the larger display as something minor when it's really a huge difference.

Really, though, I'm just waiting for Apple to add a touch screen to the MacBook Air. Given all the gestures and other tweaks in Lion, it seems like a no-brainer. Best of both worlds between an iPad and a full-fledged computer.

That.

[Adrock]

I understand the merits of having a larger screen. However, I'll continue to use it as one of many reasons to dismiss tablets in general. Anything I would want to do on a portable device, I can do on a smartphone and if I absolutely want a larger screen, that's why I own an actual computer.

I'm sure other people may benefit from tablets and that's really super-duper for them but that doesn't concern me.

[BranDonk Kong]

Here's the thing - Honeycomb is vastly different than a smartphone version of Android, but iOS is nearly identical across the board, so if you're basing tablet opinions on an iPad, then you really are limiting your view of their potential. Don't get me wrong I don't want to turn this into an iOS vs Android thread, but iOS is severely outdated, at least on the iPad. That doesn't seem to matter too much with Apple consumers though, so Apple basically releases the same software every few months (or days with 4.3.4 and 4.3.5, which do absolutely nothing but block the exploit from jailbreakme.com from working).

Back to the original point, you need to spend some time with a Honeycomb tablet to see how different things can be, and while you can *basically* do anything that a tablet does on a phone, the same can be said for almost anything you can do on a computer. Also just because you can do something on your phone it doesn't mean you get the same expierence when doing those things. For instance I'm typing like a motherfucker right now, I could never do it this well on a phone. Also it's kind of hard to have a few people sit around your phone and watch a movie or play a game together on the same screen.

[Adrock]

Isn't Android Ice Cream Sandwich supposed to combine the phone and tablet platforms? Once Android 4.0 is out later this year and put on tons of devices next year, Android phones and tablets will do exactly the same thing.

I'm not trying to make this about iOS vs. Android either. I referenced the iPad earlier because Apple started this whole post-PC era thing; the iPad being the first successful tablet. I don't buy it. I don't think we're at the point where ANY current tablet can effectively replace a laptop. Of course, this is all depending on what one is using it for. For me, it doesn't.

I view tablets as something that can't do much more than a smartphone and no where near as much as an ultra thin laptop. It may do things better than a smartphone but not enough for me to part with $500 or more. For most things, my future non-Blackberry smartphone will suit me just fine. If I ever needed a device that did more, I certainly wouldn't buy a tablet. I'd invest a little more for a Macbook Air that can do everything a tablet can except better. The returns of such an investment make much more sense to me.

[Plugabugz]

I've struggled with the point of tablets. How are they more productive devices than netbooks?

[Stogi]

I always felt that tablets were for Professionals. I feel like it's frivolous unless a Doctor is using it to examine a digital chart or military personnel are using it to look at up-to-date recon.

I do believe they could come in handy if you do not have a laptop already, but own a desktop. Or if you're a student, being able to record an important lecture would probably be useful.

Other than that, unless you travel a lot or simply like to take your work with you where ever you go, it is kinda pointless.

That said, I think once tablets become Wifi-Direct certified, a lot of interesting things will happen making them way more useful than we previously thought.

[BranDonk Kong]

Today I ran Pandora over WiFi for a little more than 9 hours straight and went from 98% battery to 77%...pretty awesome.

[BranDonk Kong]

Still loving the Xoom - if you have a (rooted) Android phone or tablet, then I recommend checking out Sixxaxis Controller (in the Android Market) - it lets you sync a PS3 controller to any rooted Android device and use it for games and whatnot. It's a little bit more complex than connecting a Wiimote (but also a little bit better because you don't need to have the actual Wiimote dangling around), because you use your PC and a USB cable to manually pair the PS3 controller to your device (you program the controller with your device's Bluetooth address), but once it's synced it stays that way (until you pair it to your PS3 again). I guess this is because that's how the PS3 syncs with controllers as well. You can also just use a USB OTG cable and use it wired instead of Bluetooth. There's also some wireless Classic Controller for the Wii (3rd party...Nyko I believe) that you can use via the Wiimote software and not need to have an actual Wiimote attached.

[Shorty McNostril]

I've got my eye on the Galaxy 10.1 tab.  Such a shame it won't come out in Australia till Apple stops crying about it. 

[BranDonk Kong]

Picked up the Standard Dock and Motorola Bluetooth Keyboard for $50 on Craig's List today, practically brand new (keyboard usually goes for $70, dock goes for $50). Nice little addition. There's a program called BlueputDroid that lets you turn your phone into a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse for PC or PS3 (or anything that uses Bluetooth for input, I suppose), so I'm rocking the Thunderbolt as my trackpad right now, and I must say it's pretty awesome. I know using a trackpad and keyboard on a tablet seems  like the opposite of the whole point of a tablet, but sometimes when you want to type long things (like this post) it comes in handy. I wish it was the HD Speaker Dock, but it seems fairly easy to mod the standard dock to have HDMI and USB on it, and it costs a **** ton less than the severely overpriced HD Speaker Dock. The Android-specific buuttons are pretty cool on teh keyboard, there are shortcuts for the web browser, GMail, the Android Market, messaging, music, home, etc. Now that Honeycomb 3.2 allows more than one Bluetooth input device at a time, I'll probably get an actual bluetooth mouse as well. The phone as trackpad also comes in handy if you're using the Xoom (or any tablet with HDMI) as a media player attached to your TV, you can just whipe out your phone and navigate with it on the big screen.