We have to start this off asking a MAJOR question:

What do you want in a tablet?

Putting my bias up front, I’m not particularly impressed with tablet conversations fixated on basic use and “hand feel”. I don’t think that’s good criteria to judge the value of a premium purchase. If a tablet costs as much or more than a game console, it needs to do more than just stream some Netflix and “feel nice”.

Tablets have incredible processors, and GPUs, and RAM, and storage, and batteries. In a remarkably thin shell, we’ll find performance that often rivals similarly priced Chromebooks. These products are terrific general compute platforms, and it seems like such a waste to relegate them to the lowest level use.

Tablets are “solutions in search of problems”, but they can solve a LOT more of those problems than many people realize.

Tablets can DO stuff, and these two are great examples of “doing stuff” slates. They make for an interesting comparison because they’re so different. Continue reading “Pixel Tablet vs Robo and Kala: A Totally UNFAIR Fight!”

No? Not really? I dunno?

I’m spending a bit more time right now putting the Pixel Fold through its paces, but at the same time, trying to play with this pretty new tablet! An early stream of conscious impression, there’s ONE critical question that itches my brain.

Is this the Smart Display I’ve been waiting for?

A little personal background, my Wife and I are not super fond of “always listening” products in our home.

We chose Playstation over XBox because Marie didn’t like the idea of the voice actions and cameras on the XBox. We’re probably a little reactionary in that regard, but we’ve never really jumped on the smart speaker train either.

Considering the assistant integration on modern phones and tablets, it’s something we’ve been considering a bit more, and Marie has found some situations where she thinks she would have appreciated a mini-screen displaying relevant info on request. Continue reading “Can the Pixel Tablet change my mind about smart displays?”