Price Awareness

[bryant]

I don’t get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. It’s a pretty standard tablet, with LTE as the standout feature. It’s a 7.7″ model. It runs Android 3.3 — in theory ICS will come in the future, but we hear that a lot. At 16 GB of storage, it retails for $499 with a two year contract. How does that make sense when the 16 GB iPad 2 is selling for $580 no contract at Best Buy? And where’s the cheaper WiFi model?

Mirrored from Population: One.

Comments

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Aside from the Kindle/Nook Color end of the world, I don't understand the non-Apple tablet manufacturers at all. I mean, did anyone at RIM think the Playbook was going to work, really? Were they literally high on something?

[kodi]

Now that I own a phone with a 4.7" screen, I'm having a hard time seeing the need for a tablet at all.

[bryant]

Dude, don't you read the Apple sites? That phone is too big and you hate it even if you don't know it. Seriously.

I actually do need the form factor of a tablet. It's way easier to handle email on the road with a bigger screen. Seven inches might be enough but I like 10 inches a ton. Also I like a bigger screen for a) ssh and b) remote desktop. And on a personal level, RPG books, comics, and video.

But I am now traveling with an tablet rather than a laptop, which is a narrowish market.

I would be interested in trying a 7" tablet sometime to form a real opinion. Maybe a Nook one of these days.

[kodi]

Yeah, I was certainly exaggerating my lack of need for a tablet; I was just really surprised that once I upgraded from the old Droid, I stopped touching the tablet at all.

And I definitely agree with you on comics - it's honestly the best form factor for reading comics I've ever experienced. (Rotating my 21" monitor to a portrait orientation and sitting 12" away from it was a close second.)

[bryant]

I can imagine the bigger phone reducing my usage. I actually use the iPad less for small stuff than I did when I got it; the iPhone is just more convenient, often.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I like my Nook, it is the perfect size for me. But then I have a problem of all these valdiated systems that only work on IE8 and that really restricts the tablet market so I need my laptop for travel.

[bryant]

That's where remote desktop comes in!

Although it's also why I think Windows 8 might have a future in the tablet market.

tablet keyboard

[amberley.livejournal.com]

Do you use the onscreen keyboard when traveling with your laptop, or do you have a separate keyboard? If so, what do you use and do you like it?

Re: tablet keyboard

[bryant]

I have a separate keyboard; I use the Apple Bluetooth keyboard. Tom Bihn makes a nice sleeve for it, which fits easily into my Ristretto, and it's very light. It also happens to be the same model of keyboard I use for my desktop, so there's no feel adjustment. The keys are nice and responsive; it's no Model M or Apple Extended but it's totally functional.

[kodi]

I'd guess that that price point is just to give them room to run promotions on it. I imagine we'll see a "buy a Tab, get any LTE phone for $100" or similar promotion in the first month, and within two months we'll see the first straight-up $100 off promotion.

[bryant]

Hm, that'd make sense.