Do Americans know that no one else in the world does this? Not in Europe, not in Asia. They sell you the service and you use it how you want.
O2 in the UK charge £7.50/mo for a tethering + 500MB bolt-on for consumer tariffs (you can't buy the tethering without the additional data). I believe 3 offer it free, but not sure about others.
Your question: "If you can find a need (not a want) that is best filled by iPad-style tablets, then feel free to share."
I described what I needed in a device. Needs aren't restricted to tasks. If you meant to ask for a list of tasks for which a tablet is best suited, that would be more difficult, I would have to concede. My principal uses of my tablet are eReading, remote desktop access, web browsing, e-mail/forum/blog writing. No one of these tasks is best handled by a tablet, and while one could argue that the inclusion of eReading in the list might mark it out in some eyes as the best hybrid device to cover all those tasks, that would be open to interpretation.
But this is why, when you asked for needs, I didn't focus solely on tasks. What tasks a device can perform is only half the story; how it performs them is just as important. Factors like portability, input method, battery life, startup time, efficiency of UI and so on are what for me elevate good tablets far above netbooks or any other ultraportable. My tablet performs each of the above tasks, performs them well, and in addition meets my criteria for each of the above non-task based needs. No other device does so as well.
But that is only speaking for myself; I wouldn't dream of telling you a tablet would suit your own needs more than whatever devices you currently use. I simply ask that others extend me (and the millions of other people whose requirements led them to buy a tablet) the same courtesy.
you just can't read.
I can't read? You're the one who completely misinterpreted my rather lucid post. Don't blame me for your shortcomings.
I really don't. I blame you for your woefully misplaced sense of superiority.
As for that other nonsense, I don't care. Though I would like to point out an error you've made:
As already demonstrated, a touchscreen netbook would not meet the orientability requirement
Which is totally untrue. Hybrids, netbooks, laptops, and desktops can all change the screen orientation.
And smartphones can run remote desktop and word processing software, but they're not very good at it. A netbook in portrait mode is a kludge. I asked for a device that was better for the task, and that ain't it, no matter how you spin it.
So, yeah, unlike you -- who apparently didn't even understand my very simple question -- I've answered yours. Which is hilarious, as you did your best job to describe a tablet with your play-pretend criteria.
Wrong on all counts. Your question was answered even if you lack the wits to understand that. You failed to come up with a device that meets my requirements better than a tablet. And nope, there's nothing play-pretend about the reasons I chose a tablet over a netbook.
Now go troll someone else. You bore me.
Children have such short attention spans these days.
Ehm no, I wasn't talking about "tasks"; you just can't read. I was talking about a tablet's job; i.e. its purpose, which is to provide a solution for a range of tasks. Because being the best device for some individual task is irrelevant to a general-purpose device, and hence a dumbass question. One could equally ask for what individual task a netbook is the best suited.
But for all that you pretend nobody's answering your questions, I note you still haven't answered mine. With all the requirements I specified, what device would do the job better than a tablet? As already demonstrated, a touchscreen netbook would not meet the orientability requirement. Want to try again, or go back to evading with puerile insults?
LMAO, so the true progression is 1. Ask a question, 2. Claim any answer doesn't count, 3. Call the other guy names when he calls you out on it.
Do let us know if you think you can counter my argument; otherwise go troll elsewhere until you get a clue.
If you don't consider combining numerous tasks on a single device as a worthwhile job, then yours was a dumb question. Who cares whether or not a general-purpose device is the single best device for any one thing?
Call me an idiot all you like, I'm not the one who is utterly failing to understand basic principles of worth.
Do you know of a single non-tablet device which provides all these?
As a touchscreen is (inexplicably) a requirement, any touchscreen netbook. As an added bonus, it'll also make typing easier.
As you have trouble with fine motor control, I'd recommend that you learn to use keyboard shortcuts -- it'll greatly improve your productivity.
Still, you haven't addressed the question. I guess no one has an answer...
Incorrect, you merely lack the comprehension to see when your question has been answered. This is your style of argument: ask a question, then claim any answer you receive doesn't count. On the other hand, you've not answered my question; a touchscreen netbook is hopeless in portrait more, which was among my requirements.
On top of which, you dismiss (inexplicably) the need for touchscreen, and a convenient input method. Yes, I do indeed have trouble with fine motor control; many people do, and keyboard shortcuts do not replace all pointer interactions.
Why not? I certainly would. Tablets are still useless for anything other than dicking-around. They're toys -- not tools.
I think I must be using mine wrong; I seem to get an awful lot of useful stuff done on it. Maybe it's broken?
If you can find a need (not a want) that is best filled by iPad-style tablets, then feel free to share. A good number of other slashdot users are legitimately interested.
I needed a single device (for portability concerns) that combines at least 2-way orientability (portrait-mode for natural eReading of academic textbooks, landscape for remote desktop work), at least 10" screen (for natural typing in landscape mode) with full screen multitouch capabilities to allow for natural input that involves neither a tiny trackpad or nipple pointer control (both of which I find unusable), and provides gesture-based control (for zooming, scrolling etc., particularly when using a remote desktop)
Do you know of a single non-tablet device which provides all these?
I think what they're getting at is we still haven't seen anything particularly special from tablets. iPads are essentially just large iPhones with an almost identical OS and very few tablet specific features.
The difference is that the much larger screen allows for much richer applications.
I once heard it said that an iPad is just a big iPod touch in the same way that a swimming pool's just a big bath.
I really wish we'd stop using extreme names for trivial to non-existent issues.
Hell yes. C.f. devices needing reboot/restore to factory default being "bricked".
Bridging the gap with your finger partially detunes the antenna; since your skin is not a perfect conductor, the charge carriers moving in the antenna effectively go through a "tunnelling" effect at the gap. This is probablistic in nature, meaning that a proportion of such carriers will continue to behave as though the antenna was at its normal length. What you would see by analysing the received frequencies is that the normal frequencies would be diminished but not obliterated when the gap is bridged. In low signal or with wet fingers this could be enough to kill the reception, but under normal circumstances it'll cope just fine. Thin tape will decrease the tunnelling effect, but not enough to make a qualitative difference. A bumper, or other insulator of similar thickness, reduces it to negligible levels.
As a contrary type person, I have a habit of conducting calls on my (naked) iPhone 4 (in the UK) with my finger purposely bridging this gap, just because it amuses me to prove the doomsayers wrong on a daily basis.
Money is the root of all evil, and man needs roots.
