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I am in the market for a new phone(we are switching from Sprint to AT&T) mainly because of dropped calls and no service in many areas with Sprint. I have decided I am either getting the AT&T Tilt or the Apple iPhone. I will explain my usage habits and hopefully you readers can help me decide which one would be best for me.
I am a commuting college student who works part time. The degree I'm working on is in Computer Science. I get wi-fi access at work, school, and home. I still live with my parents and have two jobs. I am contributing 30% of one of my jobs' paychecks to a 401k and am about to make a large one-time investment into a Roth IRA for retirement. I have a good bit of time imbetween classes and it would be nice to have something to do either for fun or productivity. I will be getting $5/mo phone insurance with whichever phone I get. Another plus would be an easy-to-use calendar so I can get rid of my paper calendar. Using the T9 texting method to enter things into my current phone for the calendar function is just too tedious, so I don't even use it.
Apple iPhone:
-Nice touch screen interface
-Very intuitive and easy-to-use
-Good battery life
-Internet access should be easier to use than with tilt due to interface
-App store makes finding new applications much easier
-Can use one-handed
-Multi-touch technology
-Ambient light and proximity sensors
-It would be nice to have something in my life that "just works" without hours of tweaking
-Required to pay $30/mo for a data plan
-Phone Cost $200, Data plan $30/mo*2 yrs=$720, Final cost 2 yrs $920
AT&T Tilt:
-External keyboard
-Could take notes in class with Microsoft Office and an external bluetooth keyboard(wouldn't have to lug around my laptop or as many spiral notebooks)
-Okay battery life
-Could use wifi and not have to pay $30/mo for internet access
-Can take videos
-Many complain it's more of a two-handed phone
-Sucks at playing videos or gps navigation due to driver issue htc will not fix
-Takes time to learn to use
-If purchased, I would not get a data plan, although it would be nice to have internet anywhere, it's not necessary
-Phone cost $150(refurb) $300(new), Final cost 2 yrs $150, if there's a problem because it's refurbished after 3 months, $125 extra(insurance deductible)
Both have:
-Phone
-Music device
-Accelerometer
-Slide to unlock(could be downloaded for Tilt)
Other points:
-I know it may be going out on a limb saying this, but the iPhone is going to cost me $645-$770 more in the 2 years that I'd have a contract for it. Internet access anywhere would be nice, though(especially on vacation, long drives, and waiting).
-The refurbished tilt is currently "temorarily out of stock." I think it'll probably come back in though. If not, it'd cost me $300, making the iPhone $495-$620 more over the 2 years I'd have it under contract.
I know all of my information is a bit strown about, but which phone do you guys suggest I purchase and why?
Tilt. Because.
i don't think the tilt has an accelorometer... never had or played with a tilt, but i'm pretty sure it doesn't
I have been contemplating getting an I-phone because the newer version is very nice and since you only pay $30 for internet, I would interchange the sims and use the internet on my tilt. The tilt does ahve video but it usually sucks along with the camera unless you have the ideal lighting... The I-phone is limited in what is does such as taking pictures and sendign it to friends. Your friends have to log online just to see your photos. It's pretty sad... However even though the I-phone is limited, what it does do; it does very well. The MS office suite is very nice and has helped me out numerous times during college as well as the WiFi. So my bottom line answer is this. If you want to use it for work, business, college then I would go with the Tilt or even a newer version such as the diamond and use a different Rom. For fun I would go with the I-Phone. The downside is that you cannot change roms though. It is almost like getting a new phone everytime you put a new rom onto your Tilt which is still not utalizing all the drivers at this time. Thanks to the hard working people in in these forums, that is close to being changed. I hope this helped.
tilt...
only cause its the balls!
With the iPhone, what you see is what you get. It works very well, but everything comes from Apple.
The Tilt can do virtually anything. It may get buggy sometimes, but pretty much, if you can think it, you can do it.
honestly?
iphone.
tilt's old.
now if you ask "diamond or iphone", you know my answer.
Thanks for the insight guys. I decided to go ahead and get the iPhone simply because it'd be nice to have something that "just works," not to mention I don't have the time to mod it the way I want it. After running several linux servers and desktops, some of you may see where I come from(where nothing ever works like it should!). I ordered the iPhone from the AT&T store(business account, can't use apple store) and they said they'll email me when it arrives in 7-10 days.
It would have been nice to be able to get a wireless keyboard and type notes on my phone like I could have with the Tilt, but I think for a phone the iPhone fits my needs better. If I had the time, though, I'd get the Tilt in an instant. I'll probably be buying an Asus EEE for note typing so I don't have to carry my 15" laptop or a bunch of notebooks around all day.
This reply might be a bit late ... but ... what about the Touch Pro?
never heard of the touch pro until you just said something about it.. too expensive anyway though since it won't be subsidized by the cell carrier for a service contract
Here's one I've been contemplating lately, what to do with my old smart phones and pdas after I upgrade.
Sure I'd hand them off to any friend or associate who wanted them, re use recycle and all that, but often no one seems to want them since they're well old and out dated.
So what to do? Some have nice stands and make decent clocks for my desk, or snooze alarms for my night stand, but I feel like that's such a waste.
Anyone find any creative and usefull things to do with their old gear?
If it has a decent sized screen and bluetooth you could mount it into your dash and make it a dedicated GPS. If it has a headphone outlet you could also hook it into your car stereo and load it with with music over bluetooth from a laptop etc...
why not sell them if they recently-released phones? many people can't afford a new phone, and don't want to be stuck with a contract, and don't care an older model.
I use my old O2 XDA 2i for my tomtom in the car, it may be old but it runs TomTom perfectly and the screen is much bigger than recent devices. (It also runs video files much better than my Tytn II)
I havnt soft re-set it in about 3 months, so its also very reliable.
ebook reader is also an options
you can set them up as router for your network
After I bought my Kaiser, I used my old Palm LifeDrive as a digital photo frame. It has a 4 GB hard drive and a cradle, so it sits on my desk quite happily. They also make good universal remote controls if they have IR ports.
Dave
I've always just sold mine on Ebay for fair price....Many users are looking for 2nd hand devices.
i still have my ancient trium mondo from 2000 (or was that 1999?). it's still working and i use it as my alarm clock. still pretty good despite it's age and the "night mode" green hew looks great in the dark. the battery, though, doesn't charge anymore so she's forever stuck on her cradle.
cheers
You can always donate them to someone on this great community!
or sell it on marketplace
you could use it as a secondary display with innobec sidewindow that is what i did with my old toshiba before i sold it.
i was just thinking back to an old thread and googled.
this is the site http://www.wmwifirouter.com/
josefcrist said:
you could use it as a secondary display with innobec sidewindow that is what i did with my old toshiba before i sold it.
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Click to collapse
+1. Using this you can use your phone to display temps, fan speeds, an IM chat window, external TV. Brilliant.
Use it as a camera, or a Business mini computer (Office, and Internet)
Dont donate it... Its not like giving food to starving kids, thats a diff story, its more like giving a guy free money.
I collect mine (as you can see from my sig), but if I were to ever start considering getting rid of it, Marketplace would be my first choice, Craigslist would be second, and eSpray would be last. Long as it's done for a fair price, or a good trade, there's no problem with that in my book.
With that in mind, I still have all of mine. Once I get one of my wizards working right, the other will go up in Marketplace. I just gotta have the time to fix my mini-usb port... Figures, huh?
Who-m3 said:
Once I get one of my wizards working right, the other will go up in Marketplace. I just gotta have the time to fix my mini-usb port... Figures, huh?
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Click to collapse
Craigslist or Ebay, The Forums Marketplace isn't Safe to make Transactions and sales. Atleast with my Previous "Purchase"
For those who have cellular, wifi and GPS or cellular, wifi and a bluetooth GPS, why not use them to earn some money?
Navizon is a wireless positioning system that works a little bit like a GPS, only that it uses Cellular Towers and Wifi access points instead of satellites. In addition to being a wireless position system, Navizon offers cool features like the Directions, Buddy finder, Geotags and many more...
This software relies on a community of users who contribute data to the system (WiFi and Cellular towers) when they have a GPS device. And the cool thing is that we can earn money doing it with the Navizon reward system.
I'm already using it and you could make money too with it if you're interested. All you need is to install it on your phone and have Navizon connected to your GPS. Every Wifi access points that you pass, every cell tower that you log will mean money in your pocket. So if you have a phone that is compatible with this software, you should really check it out.
If you plan on registering, please do so by clicking on the link below:
Navizon
That way, I can also earn some referral points since I'm the one who introduced you to the system ;-)
I've got an old Athena that I'm currently in the process of mounting in my car, once I've built the custom cradle for it. Because the screen is so big it'll perfect for in car video, mp3 play back and of coarse good old tomtom!
Hello...
Long story short... My 15 y/o sons HTC 8925(AT&T Tilt) has a mishap and no longer works. He got the phone because I have it as well and he loved all the features. We are considering getting a used HTC branded "Touch Cruise" from someone on the site here... It is even complete with both the front and rear cams (I wish my 8925 had the fron camera too)... Our big question is this... My son uses AT&T Prepaid (Go Phone) service.... He just gets the package each month for unlimited TXT messages and doesn't use and "talking" minuites... Also, for internet he just uses Wifi (We have free county wide WiFi here in Milwaukee so no need to ever pay for data)...
He is getting his liscense soon, and unfortunatly he is not good with directions.. He had TomTom on his 8925 and it worked great... Here is our question... Does the Touch Cruise use a true GPS chip or is it a-gps, and thus would need a data plan to work? I am assuming it is a real GPS, but I am seeing it listed as just a-gps on some sites are doing some research. IT also looks like most of the internal parts (rom size, processor, bac ditigal cam) are the same as what the tilt has... Thank you in advance for you advice.
Also, if you could reccomend and good Rom's for this phone that woudl be great... He would love a WM 6.1 with touchflo or anything higher... AS I said before, he is a big TXTer, so also a nice onscreen keyboard would be nice (We already have a bluetooth keyboard he can use when here at home.. lol).. The rom wouldn;t HAVE to be a touch flo, but it would be cool if it was. Thanks again...
The touch cruise uses a gps chip so no data charge, i use TomTom and works fine on it. As for rom 3LIT3 is a nice stable rom with touch flow and pretty much everything you'd need.
Great.. Thank you.. We ordered the phone now... Are there any apps that use the front camera, like yahoo messenger or something?
No, not as far as I know...it can be used for self-photos but there is no program that can use it for video conference.
Actually, here in Argentina (Buenos Aires), i did use the front camera to make "phone calls", you just call someone into a video call, and you can choose, either to show the front camera, or just the back one. Also, i believe that using wifi you just easily can use the camera, but i certainly dont know any sotfware that do that. You may try to google that. I use the GPS here (Garmin TX, with maps from Mapear.org) and its a goddamn help! Its a time saver for me, and its help to be focus on the road, instead looking for directions.
Hope that i help you a little.
(remember buy a car charger for the Touch Cruise, the gps eats battery like hell)
Thanks.. I already have the carcharger from my Tilt... I remember how muc hthe GPS uses the battery.. I started a new topic reguarding the video confrancing.. thanks
I have never owned a tablet before. I never thought I had a use for one. But once the iPad and Android tablets started flooding the market, I kept thinking, "man, those are cool". But I still didn't know what I would use one for.
So now I have a G Tablet, with all of the mods applied, but I still don't know why I need it, or want it. I do most of my computing at my desk. When on the go, I use my Nexus One. Right now my G Tablet is just an expensive Angry Birds console.
So, tell me what you use yours for, before I get bored and return this item.
BTW, This is not a knock on the G Tablet, I am very impressed with the hardware (except for the viewing angles) on this device.
personally i got it for my kitchen to have a laptop like device that isnt so big and bulky like a laptop for internet radio and to access apps and cooking apps for the wifey. plus something to quickly access the web in the kitchen without having to open the laptop or try getting to the browser on my phone.
also use it to control the lights throughout the lights since i have x10 lighting in my house.
I was like you, thinking that the combo of a desktop computer, a laptop, and my Nexus One meant that a tablet would be unnecessary. I'd almost always be on either my laptop or my N1 in the evenings while watching TV, just keeping an eye on e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Plus playing a lot of Angry Birds.
But, since I got my gTab, I've used my laptop maybe twice in five weeks. My phone just sits at my side in case I get an actual call (rare!). I use my tablet *all the time* when I'm on the sofa. It's great to have a much larger screen to look at (instead of my N1) when reading Kindle books or playing Angry Birds or just surfing. I also like typing on it more since I installed Thumb Keyboard, which in landscape mode has a split-keyboard to allow for easy thumb-only typing. I watch more streaming video than I ever would have bothered to on my N1.
And it's ergonomically much more comfortable than dealing with my laptop all evening.
It's also great to have when on the treadmill compared to an N1, again for Kindle or whatever.
I use it for music on the go around my home. I may be in the kitchen doing some cooking, or helping with laundry or cleaning. I do it all with music.
I use it to surf while on the couch watching TV, anything that pops to my mind...something relating to the show, etc.
I use it in the kitchen in the rare occasion I feel like doing something different. My wife is an awesome cook but she gets home at 5 or so, so sometimes I try to do the right thing and cook some dinnah...and sometimes I'm inspired enough to try a recipe from the net.
I use it in bed when I'm winding down to go to sleep. Music or maybe an episode of something; surf the web or read an e-book.
I use it to read...magazines, ebooks, whether I'm in the couch, on the balcony, etc.
So in the end, for me it's a great value. I just wish it worked properly without flashing additional stuff.
It's a really great notebook replacement when all you want to do are the lighter things like listen to music, watch tv, surf the web or read a book/magazine. Can you do these things on your PC or Notebook? Of course you can!, but if you're the type of person who doesn't like to sit behind a PC or under a laptop for 12 hrs then it really works out.
My 2 complaints, 1 major and 1 minor are how crappy the initial software is (major) and how heavy it is (minor)...the weight may be necessary as I suspect the battery to be the culprit, and almost all the Tegra 2 devices releasing currently are this heavy, but a nicer weight would have been 1lb vs. 1.55lbs which becomes weighty in one hand after a while. The Archos 101 is just around 1lb and feels very nice to hold.
Dashboard on my work desk for scrolling news, weather, to do list and email (work station stays on task-monitor my usage to your heart's desire It department!!!!)
Desk top digital picture frame
Surfing web on the couch.
Watching missed TV shows from my bed using Bluetooth headphones after the wife's asleep
Surfing these bulletin boards.
Kindle book reader
I don't social network but I hear twitter and Facebook are popular.
Watching news clips
Trying to figure out away to port my weekly Netflix movies to this for easy viewing while traveling
Thinking of trying to setup a way to get work email and edit spread sheets real quick.
Have yet to really figure out how well some of my ideas will work.
What is wrong with an expensive angry birds console
@allenfx, have you tryed using documents to go app for editing spread sheets
Based on my experience so far:
Aggravation !!!
I used this to play emulators like Tiger Mame and Snes, I watch Justin TV, browse the web, a night clock...etc. The 10.1 screen is great for all of those things especially on long road trips like the one I took with my family last week. My kids were playing and watching videos for most of our trip. I love this thing!!!
They also used this to Vid chat. It was great because they got to say Merry Xmas to their grandparents face to face (sorta).
All of this and the battery was still at 30%+ after a 7 hr drive! That's frickin crazy...I think. Escpecially with the tablet running those tasks.
I like these ideas. Keep them coming.
I normally use my eee pc on the sofa and what not. I can see this is better solution for that, since it plays videos much better.
@dragonfly1113
I am interested in the home automation you mentioned. Can you describe your setup?
Thanks Everyone.
thewayne01 said:
@dragonfly1113
I am interested in the home automation you mentioned. Can you describe your setup?
Thanks Everyone.
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Click to collapse
First you gotta look into x10 lighting which is special lighting for your house, the house i bought i was lucky enough it had the lighting in it already i just needed the "base". What happends is you get a "base" which sends signals out to devices lights/appliances/security systems for them to turn on and off. They reach out to modules which you add to a light, for instance you get a wall switch one instead of wiring the wires to a normal light switch you wire them into this x10 module which has dials on them you set the dials to a "channel" and thats how it communicates with the base. it sounds more complicated than it really is, a very easy affordable way to get it is with lamp modules which are the cheapest and they plug right into any wall outlet and have a female end on the other side where you plug in something like say a lamp. If you need anymore info on the actual setup of x10 just research on google x10 lighting and it will give you all the info.
for the app there are many paid apps out there you can get but your best off with the one thats free called autom8 its not on the market but there is a link for it if you search "autom8 android" in google you should be able to find it, it has a video attached to it of the kid doing it on his android phone, i have it on my droid 1 and now on my g tablet in the kitchen so i can turn on the lights before i even walk into the house
dragonfly1113 said:
First you gotta look into x10 lighting which is special lighting for your house, the house i bought i was lucky enough it had the lighting in it already i just needed the "base". What happends is you get a "base" which sends signals out to devices lights/appliances/security systems for them to turn on and off. They reach out to modules which you add to a light, for instance you get a wall switch one instead of wiring the wires to a normal light switch you wire them into this x10 module which has dials on them you set the dials to a "channel" and thats how it communicates with the base. it sounds more complicated than it really is, a very easy affordable way to get it is with lamp modules which are the cheapest and they plug right into any wall outlet and have a female end on the other side where you plug in something like say a lamp. If you need anymore info on the actual setup of x10 just research on google x10 lighting and it will give you all the info.
for the app there are many paid apps out there you can get but your best off with the one thats free called autom8 its not on the market but there is a link for it if you search "autom8 android" in google you should be able to find it, it has a video attached to it of the kid doing it on his android phone, i have it on my droid 1 and now on my g tablet in the kitchen so i can turn on the lights before i even walk into the house
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Click to collapse
That's frickin cool! haha. I didn't know that even existed.
I travel quite a bit for the company I own and I am just flat tired of hauling around a laptop around airports etc. Mostly what I do is keep in touch with email but occasionally have to get into one of the network servers. I tried doing this with my smartphone but it was just too tiny and too limiting that way so I kept on hauling around my laptop.
The tablet allows me to do these without the laptop hassle. If I have to answer an email it is still a minor pain with a screen keyboard but with the tablet its much less of a hassle. During flights I can use it to play games, compose emails for sending later, writing notes or even just reading.
Its a lot less weight to carry. It may not seem like much to some but after carrying around a leather case with a shoulder strap with a six pound laptop and another two pounds of other stuff I would get to my hotels with big red strap marks on my shoulder. Now the weight is reduced by well over half and it "feels" good.
R
This is interesting stuff. First, the autom8 android seems to be an abandoned app. But reading some forums there appear to be other alternatives out there that do the same thing and have an active developer.
The price of the x10 modules are incredibly cheaper when they came out years ago. I hadn't looket at it lately but I did when they first came on the market and I thought that they were crazy expensive and I never looked at them again. Now, you can buy kits that are just about dirt cheap.
Sounds like a fun plaything but I don't see much use for it myself. If I still lived in Los Angeles it would have lots of good uses for security. But, now I live out in the country in rural Kansas and when we went to Europe we forgot to lock the front door. No biggie, didn't worry about it and when we got back all was fine.
R
I am in the same boat not sure why I bought it at the beginning. I have a laptop (very light-weight 4lb + very fast CPU + 14.1 screen), a desktop and a couple of pocket PCs (HP iPAQ). Now, my g-tablet has a "real" purpose.. is to piss off my apple-addicted co-workers (most of my co-workers use Mac laptops + Ipads, Iphones, etc). Even my helpdesk dept does not like Android, linux or windows and they think Apple is the best. Anyways, I brought my G-tablet to work one day and showed them CNN.com with Flash and ran the Quadrant score.. hahahaha.
Fuzzy John said:
Based on my experience so far:
Aggravation !!!
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Hahahaha!
I know EXACTLY how you feel. You know how I see it? You can buy few other electronics for $350-$400 that are going to pull off what this can. It's a handheld computer - it runs better graphics than I think most netbooks at this price point and the only other electronics you will buy with $400 is maybe a mid end 32" LCD TV which let's face it - you probably already own something bigger/better, in fact maybe even 2 or 3.
So I mean....unless you're willing to WAIT until March/April for the more solid stuff to come with either 2.3 as the base or Honeycomb, at least you can get a few things done in the meantime with the newest stock s/w....and hopefully by the time they become mainstream we'll get an official update that even the devs won't feel necessary to mod too heavily to be workable.
I almost decided to return mine today when the screen became unresponsive and no amount of claimed calibration would work. But I calmed down, did a full wipe and now it's good. I think the hardware is pretty solid, it's just the software that is a total mess and the devs here are doing the best they can with what they have but in the end I think it's the people that sit down in labs and workstations that need to make at least a solid software core for things to be based upon and I don't think that's the case with the tnt software, zpad software or vega software. I think it's all based on some pretty crummy stuff. I still have high hopes for something better when Honeycomb comes, or something written from the ground up by the devs here based on 2.3.
man let me see......what don't you use the gtab for????? lol. I mainly use it while watching tv i can watch football and browse the web. i like the google finance app to check my stocks. its great entertainment when i have company i leave it on the coffe table so guests can play with it or surf the web... yeah i have 2 laptops even an ultra light and thin 11.6" screen 3.5 lbs but i still prefer this as my internet browser while on the couch... sure i can do all that on my iphone 4 but i cant even look at that small screen after getting used to my tab! i tether my phones internet to it so a long ride in the car goes by quick, when others are driving of course. i love the old school nintendo emulators also...again can do all that from my phone but why when i have a ten inch screen.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b3 using Tapatalk (while on the couch waiting for MNF to start)
Travelling with less than two pounds... access to my brokerage account and virtually all the investment pages I tend to use... E-mail... news, sports, weather... Twitter feeds I follow... much easier to carry around the house than the laptop. An aside: the WiFi is very sensitive. On an Amtrak train, waiting to leave Chicago's Union Station and then at least for an hour or two heading West to Denver, I had the choice of a dozen or so connections available to me. About half were open networks from hotels and eateries. As the train picked up speed, available connections changed every few minutes. Crazy stuff. The December VS update just before Christmas was wonderful for this stock gTablet. The only fix I want now is video added to Skype capabilities.
Tom
3 movies on one charged battery..... Enough said...
jacindc said:
But, since I got my gTab, I've used my laptop maybe twice in five weeks. My phone just sits at my side in case I get an actual call (rare!). I use my tablet *all the time* when I'm on the sofa. It's great to have a much larger screen to look at (instead of my N1) when reading Kindle books or playing Angry Birds or just surfing.
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Click to collapse
Same here. Chat, read email, browse the web, all on my sofa and much more comfortable. I use my laptop in the morning... to prop up my tablet.
-=Sent from my VS GTablet (VEGAn b4) using Tapatalk=-
I use my g tablet for everything the only time I use my PC was to download the new roms but now I have rom manager working my PC is just a dvr I also use the PC as dual boot 64 bit windows/linux. If I could use Linux on the g tablet my PC would be an expensive dvr only right now I'm using vegan beta4 and its pretty smooth
Hey Guys,
I want your opinions on whether or not I should get wifi Xoom (3g is out of the question). For now we'll ignore price, but that's ultimately in the back of my mind.
Let me give you my scenario. I'm a college student studying engineering and design. The design portion does require a couple graphics heavy programs, but the majority of the work I do just require access to the internet and maybe Microsoft Word. I have a pretty powerful laptop that runs quietly (so public use isn't an issue) and it can handle any 3D programs. I live about a mile from campus and while the laptop weighs 5 1/2 pounds, combined with any textbooks I may have the trip to school is a little burden (I can manage though). In addition, I have a Nexus S, and all that goes along with that.
So I'm hoping that I can get some of the thoughts from experienced users about why I should or should not get a xoom (or any tablet for that matter). I've done a bit of research online, but half of the time the people who talk about it hardly use it for anything I would.
Here are some of my thoughts: right now I have the extremes. I have a powerful laptop for the heavy stuff and a smartphone for the light stuff. Do I need an in-between. The xoom is more portable, and from what I've seen the browser is exceptional, so online notes and basic homework I can do on campus with it. In addition, it's lighter and thinner, so carrying it to and around campus is easier. And battery life is great. However, it would just replace my laptop and I primarily just use that for work in the library. At home I would most likely still use my laptop.
I just want to add in two things. 1. I don't use e-readers. Enough said. 2. I wouldn't be caught dead taking notes in class on a tablet. Just no. That is reserved for notebooks, no question.
Obviously I wouldn't be getting a tablet for just work, I would play with that thing all the time. Feel free to add in any uses you have that you find perfect for a tablet. I know I haven't thought of everything. I really appreciate your input. Thanks.