Editor’s note: Daria Ilyushina weighs the pros and cons of pills and where they can be most useful. ScienceSoft specializes in software engineering for demanding industries, including healthcare, insurance, and investments, helping businesses decide where tablet apps can bring real value.
We hear a lot about tablets now, and they are actually becoming a natural part of the IT paradigm. Companies make their software available for tablets, websites are optimized for tablet dimensions; the tablet app/game market is huge and growing. Nevertheless, for a long time I always wondered if we really need them.
Design. As for the designs of these devices, they are so very cool – they are big, slim and shiny.
Mobility. I can perfectly understand the use of mobile phones as a substitute for desktop computers or a laptop – here the name mobile phone is perfectly the right one. Because… they make us mobile, you know.
As for tablets, the form and size factors are not significantly different from netbooks – you can’t put an iPad or Galaxy Tab in your pocket or lady’s purse. You need a special case for it in a holder, instead.
Used. According to “The Tablet Revolution” report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, reading email, surfing the Internet, playing games and reading books are the most popular daily activities of tablet users. Well, all these features are present in your desktop/smartphone. Yes, tablets are fashionable. Yes, the screen is bigger than on your phone, but it’s definitely smaller than on your desktop/laptop. So I’m still not really convinced if I should buy it.
While people still mostly buy tablets for entertainment, business applications are a large and heavily sponsored market share.
- For Office worker: I am not sure that it is an alternative, more than an addition, since the writing in large volumes is not so convenient; Moreover, integration of usual office hardware such as keyboards, external hard drives, printers, desktop computers leaves much to be desired.
- For Construction/maintenance workers: these gadgets are still too “delicate” for such treatment. Actually while I was writing this article – Panasonic announced its plans for a new stress and water resistant tablet. The claimed features are good, but the price of 1200 USD limits the user target group.
- Laptop/notepad alternative for children. I believe it works and works very well. It is beautiful, interactive and the colors are bright. Very striking.
- Smartphone alternative. Plus – well, it’s bigger. Minus – yes, it is bigger.
- E-reader – a very good solution for this, just think of the price factor.
- Camera – it is certainly not an alternative to a professional camera, but it is a useful tool for everyday purposes, like Skype.
These uses are based on actual experience, and are therefore quite limited. Actually, it would be a good idea for producers and users to try to see a new potential in the device. We just have to start seeing it as a separate and different tool. So, let’s practice being tech visionaries. There has already been quite a lot of information published on this topic and interestingly not many industrial uses have been proposed. Those that come to mind are – medical staff portable registration / prescription / diagnosis tool, retail and support console, a tool for teachers for attendance monitoring, task management, etc., service staff tool – for waiters, flight attendants.
So, as far as it goes – it seems that a tablet is a beautiful and interactive multimedia gadget. It can replace your phone and laptop in some ways. It can certainly be your notebook, e-book reader, camera and surfing device.
It is great for games and entertainment, small applications, a cool marketing and educational tool. So, there is a vast field still open for exploration. Tempting, isn’t it?