How Useful Is A Tablet?

How Useful is a Tablet?  Very!

In the two years that I have had an iPad2, a lot has changed in the way that I use it and in what it can be used for. The early analysis that it was a great consumption device is still true, but it has become a great productivity device as well. Although I am only familiar with the iPad, I am sure this applies equally to the Android tablets.

It is easier to say what you cannot do with a tablet than to describe all the things that you can do with it. I am going to exclude consuming of books, music, film and gaming, which are excellent, and concentrate just on work productivity.

Here is a list of what I find I can't do with a tablet:

• Edit or interact smoothly with some web apps because they are not optimized for mobile or a touch screen.
  
• Use MS Office, and most alternatives I've tried are poor.
  
• Design with CAD, but you can view and mark up.
  
• Anything 'Flash'
  
• Clip web research to Evernote
  

The main production tool you use in your profession is probably best on a Desktop/Laptop, but many of us are not wearing one hat these days and the tablet really helps with that need for flexibility.

Things that are marginal but do-able:

• Downloading files
  
• Use multiple apps/programs at once (do-able, but limited)
  

Things that I didn't think I would do on a tablet, but which work fine:

• Bookkeeping
  
• Money management
  
• Word processing and spreadsheets (just not with MS-like programs)
  
• Working with photos, which is great
  

Things a tablet can do that a laptop can't:

• Scan and upload
  
• Work wherever you want
  
• Keep a battery charge all day
  
• Use in a meeting inconspicuously
  
• Record handwritten notes
  
• Fit in a small zippered folder smaller than a sheet of paper
  

Do you have a story about tablets? Add it in the comments.....

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