Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?
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@xaade was this crowdsourced?
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What's wrong with the concept (as opposed to the current implementations) of a foldable tablet? Making things less bulky is generally a good idea.
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@boomzilla said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@xaade was this crowdsourced?
Lenovo
The article is from a pc news site, but the author is acting like the device is God's gift to man and isn't taking criticism well.
Link
https://twitter.com/Daniel_Rubino/status/1128065602030116865
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@Zerosquare said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
What's wrong with the concept (as opposed to the current implementations) of a foldable tablet? Making things less bulky is generally a good idea.
Nothing.
He's just really overzealous about it.
It feels less like a reviewer and more like a paid advertiser.
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Try this with your standard tablet
demonstrates something that a regular tablet with a keyboard case can do better
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@hungrier said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
Try this with your standard tablet
demonstrates something that a regular tablet with a keyboard case can do betterI think he was more talking about that it can be that or be a tablet twice as big.
I just.... don't see the point, personally.
And I'm pretty sure it will be cheaper to buy two tablets than buy that device.
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@Zerosquare said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
What's wrong with the concept (as opposed to the current implementations) of a foldable tablet? Making things less bulky is generally a good idea.
The problem is the keyboard - there's a reason why hybrids (e.g. Lenovo Yoga) exist and pretty much any other tablet also has a keyboard snap-on solution. We already have foldable laptops with two screens. They haven't been a huge success.
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@Rhywden said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
Lenovo Yoga
But imagine if the Yoga could pop off the keyboard and have more touch screen underneath.
Ehhh..... Ehhhhh??
no excitement
You're obviously dumb if you can't see how amazing this is.
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Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't buy it, since I have no personal use case. But I can see how a compact tablet allowing you to switch between "bigger screen space" and "virtual keyboard with decent sized keys" dynamically can be useful in some cases
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The only advantage is the fold, and only that it's a continual surface rather than a minuit divide.
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@xaade Someone should point him to the Samsung phone...
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@xaade said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
The only advantage is the fold, and only that it's a continual surface rather than a minuit divide.
Indeed, but it's a significant difference to me. The divide spoils the advantage of the larger screen space.
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@Zerosquare said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@xaade said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
The only advantage is the fold, and only that it's a continual surface rather than a minuit divide.
Indeed, but it's a significant difference to me. The divide spoils the advantage of the larger screen space.
The larger screen space would only matter if you're viewing one video with it. What you previously described wouldn't make a difference.
It's a very very very small advantage, because you could buy both devices at the same price, and use two devices at the same time.
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@dcon said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@xaade Someone should point him to the Samsung phone...
https://twitter.com/Daniel_Rubino/status/1128320256500477953
This smells like he works for Lenovo. Like the mattress review site where it turned out the author worked for Purple.
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I can't seem to give two proper shits about folding/non-folding schmablets and "Zone of Suck" netbooks, at least not for work (note: actual work, not pretending). About the only portable productivity tool I'm even remotely moved has been digital paper things.
I draw flowcharts and make notes in longhand on paper and I love to scribble notes on pages of technical documentation. I wouldn't mind to bring some tecknology to that process - to do away with ink stains on my hands and sleeves, organize it better, have it with me.
I find, however, Remarkable and SQNY digital paper series are somewhat expensive for what they offer (or rather - don't; apparently making a complete product with the first five iterations, if ever, has not been considered yet; maybe someone should startupr it). Also, perhaps color would be nice for graphs - I'd make do with 8bpp - but color e-ink makers appears to be totally uninterested in consumer segment.
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The larger screen space would only matter if you're viewing one video with it.
Or reading a document, or drawing, or using any application which doesn't use the keyboard. It's something I'd consider. But different people have different ways of working.
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@Applied-Mediocrity said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
but color e-ink makers appears to be totally uninterested in consumer segment.
Do they even have a viable product for that segment (i.e. that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and whose colors don't make you feel like you're colorblind)? AFAIK, that wasn't the case a few years ago.
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@Zerosquare
Nope. I read that E Ink finally managed to make such a thing not long ago, but haven't seen any product announcements. I'm pretty sure there's very small market for such things, so I don't expect any either. It's certainly not where viewing Netflix at work is paramount to actual productivity (or at least my imaged version of everyone's productivity, and I'm indisputably right about that).About those washed out colors, I haven't seen how bad is it really, but for my purposes I'd do with just having clearly visible difference. If the original e-book has color images, converting them to grayscale doesn't always look very good.
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@Zerosquare said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
The larger screen space would only matter if you're viewing one video with it.
Or reading a document, or drawing, or using any application which doesn't use the keyboard. It's something I'd consider. But different people have different ways of working.
I guess I just have vastly different use spaces for those two things that I don't need to combine them for a much much higher price tag.
Again, my point from the beginning is that this isn't as great a leap as the guy I'm replying to is making this out to be. Not worth literally sounding like he's choking on Lenovo's dick.
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I was merely considering the possible uses cases, not the price. I agree that current models are too expensive to be worth it.
Regarding the guy, well, did you think he paid for this tablet?
...Me neither.
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I just want an 8" x86-64 Windows tablet with some serious horsepower in it, like a Pentium or i3 and at least 8 GB RAM. I have an 8" Nuvision Win10 tablet and it's the most awesomely portable real PC ever except for the Atom processor and 2 GB RAM which means it takes eleven years to do anything with it.
But no, instead we're going to replace the keyboard with a touchscreen and make the device 2x more expensive with very little improvement in utility. And I bet its driver needs the blockchain and does everything on a cloud AI server, too, so the keyboard quits working when you lose Internet or the manufacturer goes out of business.
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Since the first e-ink book readers I've been wanting something that can show 8.5"x11" PDFs in color at a reasonable speed. Unfortunately, neither large readers nor color ones have emerged and I haven't found a good price/performance/size tablet or convertible for this purpose. (That may be more "Parody is too cheap" than anything else.)
Something like this might fit the bill once we're on the second or third round, with the kinks worked out and the prices coming down. E-ink would still be cool, though.
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@xaade said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
He's just really overzealous about it.
It feels less like a reviewer and more like a paid advertiser.
Welcome to the interwebs!
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@Parody said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
E-ink would still be cool
+1
The two thing I've been wanting most in terms of new display technologies, and that the tech optimists have been promising me for like 25 years, are decent passive displays and screens that can be rolled up. Sadly I'm still waiting, while tech companies are continuing to waste their time on useless shit like stuffing ever more pixels into screens and building foldable tablets.
ETA also, fuck touch screens, and particularly "virtual keyboards".
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I'm all for
but I see this device as genuinely "interesting". Of course it's going to cost an arm and a leg, and most people don't strictly need it, but having a Surface-style PC (so a full-fledged PC) that can have two form factors, small and medium, that you expect to use mostly with an external keyboard and that can work in a pinch with its on-screen keyboard and that can function as a tablet too, well, it seems like it makes sense.Two smaller tablets are
as an alternative. Two separate devices, with no direct interoperability. It's not really the same thing. And they're tablets. (So dumbed down computers).As for fragility, that's something that's basically a given with all modern devices. You drop your phone and chances are you're going to shatter the screen. You drop a laptop and you're possibly going to need to replace it entirely (as it makes little sense to repair it, considering modern devices' repairability). These are portable devices. One would expect them to be sturdier. Yet they aren't.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
As for fragility, that's something that's basically a given with all modern devices. You drop your phone and chances are you're going to shatter the screen. You drop a laptop and you're possibly going to need to replace it entirely (as it makes little sense to repair it, considering modern devices' repairability). These are portable devices. One would expect them to be sturdier. Yet they aren't.
No. I keep dropping my phone on asphalt and concrete all the time and, apart from a few scratches in the metal sides and carbon fiber back, it's in perfect condition.
https://www.catphones.com/en-gb/cat-s61-smartphone/There are similarly rugged laptops but I don't have one. Might ask for one for the next work PC upgrade.
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@Carnage a friend of mine had one of those. He would throw it on the floor as a game, "look look not even a scratch!". So he told me, "here, throw it on the floor!", "why?!", "just do it, not a problem, haha", "all right, if you say so"... aaaand the camera stopped working.
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@admiral_p how about a single device with two screens that are frameless on the connecting side so they can act as one display, that you can push slighty apart an then slide one underneath the other, like keyboards in early smartphones? Would be much cheaper, wouldn't require bending, and the only downside would be a very tiny seam in the middle.
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@GÄ…ska it's no good if you want to use it in landscape orientation, especially if you're going to draw on it. You'd feel the seam, as seamless as they can be.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska it's
no good if you wantperfectly fine to use it in landscape orientation,especiallywith the only exception if you're going to draw on it.FTFY
You'd feel the seam, as seamless as they can be.
Yeah but does it matter (for anything other than drawing)? It won't impair readability, it won't interrupt touch inputs with anything except stylus. I just can't see what would be the problem.
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@xaade said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@boomzilla said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@xaade was this crowdsourced?
Lenovo
The article is from a pc news site, but the author is acting like the device is God's gift to man and isn't taking criticism well.
Link
https://twitter.com/Daniel_Rubino/status/1128065602030116865
I'm confused. The rest of the thread didn't help unconfuse me.
"Foldable PCs are coming"... The first thing through my head when I saw that was a conversation I had in ... hmm ... probably the year 2000, and if not, it would have been 2001 at the latest.
For reasons that aren't part of why the conversation happened or the content of the conversation, I went to a colleague's house with my personal laptop (a Fujitsu Lifebook, of all things, but that's not relevant either). I opened up the laptop and started working on the thing I went there for. My colleague had lots of computers of various vintages, including a MicroVAX and a few other goodies, but no laptops. His son, at the time about 7 or 8, had, therefore, never seen a laptop, and he was all goggly-eyed at it. The conversation went something like this:
- Son: What's that?
- STC: Er, it's a PC just like that one [waves hand at colleague's main PC] except I can fold it up and take it with me.
So I had a foldable PC. Nineteen years ago.
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@Steve_The_Cynic Having a closer look at the image in the image of tweet, it seems that by "foldable tablet" it means a tablet that literally folds like paper, as opposed to rotating around a hinge. Note that is an on-screen touch keyboard, as opposed to physical buttons.
The topic title is saying the same thing you are: this doesn't actually provide anything novel.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
Two smaller tablets are
as an alternative. Two separate devices, with no direct interoperability. It's not really the same thing. And they're tablets. (So dumbed down computers).Are you talking about Apple or Android?
My Surface is a tablet but certainly not a dumbed down computer. It runs Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code easily. If fact, I can do everything with it that the OP lists, even watch video... although I don't know why I would want to do that. Last weekend in my hotel room, I played a Netflix movie on my tablet but used the TV screen in my room to watch it.
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@kazitor said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@Steve_The_Cynic Having a closer look at the image in the image of tweet, it seems that by "foldable tablet" it means a tablet that literally folds like paper, as opposed to rotating around a hinge. Note that is an on-screen touch keyboard, as opposed to physical buttons.
The topic title is saying the same thing you are: this doesn't actually provide anything novel.
Sure, but I was specifically aiming at the "Foldable PC" line in the tweet.
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@GÄ…ska said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska it's
no good if you wantperfectly fine to use it in landscape orientation,especiallywith the only exception if you're going to draw on it.FTFY
Alright, except...
You'd feel the seam, as seamless as they can be.
Yeah but does it matter (for anything other than drawing)? It won't impair readability, it won't interrupt touch inputs with anything except stylus. I just can't see what would be the problem.
...no seam can (probably?) practically be nil. There will always be a small gap. Imagine having a window across the two screens. That would be infuriating (to me at least). So one extendable screen are really two screens.
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@bjolling I meant an Android or Apple tablet. To me a Surface is another class of PC entirely, as it's less of an "appliance" and more of a computer in a sort-of tablet form factor. Note that getting two Surface tablets would be expensive.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska it's
no good if you wantperfectly fine to use it in landscape orientation,especiallywith the only exception if you're going to draw on it.FTFY
Alright, except...
You'd feel the seam, as seamless as they can be.
Yeah but does it matter (for anything other than drawing)? It won't impair readability, it won't interrupt touch inputs with anything except stylus. I just can't see what would be the problem.
...no seam can (probably?) practically be nil. There will always be a small gap.
We totally have technology to make the gap less than 1mm. I'm pretty sure 0.2mm is possible. Is it practically nil? It is for me. For reference, an 8" FullHD display has pixels 0.1mm wide.
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@GÄ…ska you're talking to somebody who finds dead pixels infuriating, never mind a whole line. Still, it's not a reason not to make a foldable screen.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska you're talking to one who finds dead pixels infuriating, never mind a whole line.
You're special, yes. I already knew it.
Still, it's not a reason not to make a foldable screen.
But it's a reason to never buy one, if such break-in-half alternative was available.
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@GÄ…ska for such a free market enthusiast, you're weirdly judgemental about other people's consumer choices.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska for such a
free marketWTDWTF enthusiast, you'reweirdsufficiently judgemental about other people's consumer choices.WTDWTFTFY
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@admiral_p also, I made a quick Google:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id-DvZjBSBI
Modular displays that can be separated or joined together, completely seamless. As you can see, the technology is already here.
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@admiral_p said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
@GÄ…ska for such a free market enthusiast, you're weirdly judgemental about other people's consumer choices.
Free market means people can make whatever they want and buy whatever they want, not that I must approve of everyone's choices.
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@GÄ…ska said in Foldable Tablet gets us.... something we already have?:
the technology is already here
yeah but ... samsung ...
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@GÄ…ska you said, there's no reason to make a foldable screen when there are alternatives. I see (actually, I didn't see the video, but I trust your word) that there are alternatives. Fine. But they're not foldable (which is worth nil, or everything, depending on how much you're attracted to the idea). Plus, why haven't they gone with such an alternative in the first place? My bet is that they are, for such an use case, (even more) fragile as one edge of the screens is going to be quite exposed. Not something I'd get worked up about much, anyway. Foldable screens may one day become rollable (which is somewhat useful at least). Even if it's just a first step, I'm fine with it. There are worse crimes in consumer tech, eg. no headphone jack - I'm in a car now listening to Mac DeMarco's latest album, great stuff by the way, pleasingly '70s inspired and very good music to make love to
and I'm listening to it through a headphone jack and I'm charging it through a power bank.
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@admiral_p actually no this song is even better to post:
