What's a tablet?

[Strangler Lewis]

Seriously. Not the kind you swallow. Not the Moses kind.

I-Pads and the like. My fifth grade son wants one for Christmas. He's very talented, so he may have creative plans for it, or he may just want to fit in. We haven't cross-examined him extensively, but we've decided to go with it.

Perhaps because we've ignored this trend, the few articles I've tried to read so far are simply comparisons between models. They all seem to assume the reader knows the basic what and why, much like the reader of a year-end car magazine would: get in car, make go, get out somewhere else. I don't.

So . . . what's a tablet? And why?

In answering, you may assume I do know PCs, laptops, cameras, telephones and what sex feels like to the extent any or all of these are involved in the tablet.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

A tablet is bigger than a smart phone, smaller than a laptop, and has no physical (built-in) keyboard.

• iPad and iPad Mini are Apple's tablets
• Android has many different tables under many different names (varies by manufacturer)
• Amazon's Kindle Fire is a tablet (also Android-based, but that fact is downplayed)
• Microsoft's Surface is a tablet (with optional physical keyboard add-on) that is made by several manufacturers.

As for which one to get, that's really a matter of preference. What does your son want to do with it? What do his friends have?

I recommend you get an operating system that will be in line with your peers and preferences. Does your son already have an iPhone? If so, an iPad may be the best choice because most of the apps will also run on the iPad. Same scenario for Android phone/tablet. Are he and his friends Windows 8 users? If so, you may want to consider a Surface.

[Strangler Lewis]

Thanks, SM. My daughter has an I-phone, and I suppose I'll probably go that route when it feels absolutely buffoonish not to have a smart phone. I have asked for an I-phone case for Christmas.

But, you still haven't really answered my basic question, meine Urfrage.

What is a tablet? And why?

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I'm afraid existentialism isn't my forte.

[alphabassettgrrl]

A tablet is a tiny little computer. I've got a Nook from Barnes and Noble. I can surf the 'net, read email and the like, and it runs apps. I've got an app for calorie tracking, some games, a weather app, a yoga app, a digital notepad that I use almost constantly, and several digital books. I get the newspaper delivered to my tablet every morning, which is nice. I don't have stacks of papers building up at the house, and I can still keep up with things.

The i-pads have their own wireless available, as far as I know, whereas most of the others require wi-fi access (which is pretty commonly available, I've rarely had trouble finding access).

[RStar]

The origins of the word "Tablet" comes from A slab or plaque, as of stone or ivory, with a surface that is intended for or bears an inscription.

Then as paper came into usage we had "writing Tablet".

Now in the digital age, we have a new type of tablet- a digital one with a touch screen. It is built like a smart phone, but larger, and does not make phone calls. Currently the two leading OS running is Apple and Android.

But as mentioned earlier, it is simply a small lap-top type computer with no keyboard and no on-board drives (like CD/DVD drives).

[Ghoulish Delight]

Why? Because it's easier to carry around than a laptop, and can work on cellular data plans. And the bigger screen is easier to use than a cell phone's.

[Alex]

I own three and I still haven't figured out why anybody really wants one. I certainly never really use them (two years of using my Kindle Fire daily and all I ever used it for was reading books).

[Ghoulish Delight]

My mom uses hers regularly - but she has neither a smartphone nor a laptop. I have a smartphone and two laptops and can't find a reason to add a tablet.

[katiesue]

We have two tablets at our house. Maddie has an ipad and I have a kindle fire. She really doesn't use her ipad much except to play games. She uses her phone mostly. It is super handy though when you loose either the cable remote or the roku remote because you can use the ipad apps instead.

I love my kindle fire but I mostly use it to watch movies at the gym. I was using it also hooked up to the TV to stream movies. I do a little net surfing with it but it's slowwwwwwww. It can also be a roku remote (yea yea we loose the darn remotes all the time). If you want to run apps check what's available. Kindles do NOT run all android apps. I can't use my bank app for instance.

The surface kind of interested me because it looked to me like a good compromise from a laptop. I was thinking of it when my laptop dies but then I read a review. Apparently only the more costly versions run full versions of Microsoft office and it has the same issue as the kindle with only certain apps working on it.

For just reading I use my old school kindle. I like the screen much better for reading.