back to article Got a non-iPad tablet? Weirdo

Around 3.62 million Britons are fondling slabs, 73 per cent of which are an Apple iPad, according to new research. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's survey results show the number of fondleslab owners in Great Britain is set to grow, with over half the potential tablet-purchasers longing to smear an iPad. "Apple’s achievements in …

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  1. Alan Denman

    Where's the crutch?

    Even when these things are at £150 only a few can actually find enough reason to buy.

    Crippled by their nature means that only fools rush to buy.

    1. Rob Dobs
      Facepalm

      being in 27% of market makes you a "weirdo"?

      I guess blacks, Catholics, or Brits are all also "weirdo's"?

      Cause last time I checked none of those groups were more than 27% of the worlds population, so they must be weird.

      What a shameful headline that makes you appear to be a Appull zealot....shame on you Brid-Aine Parnell. Are reg writers paid more when their articles get more comments? if so I guess I'm guilty for biting..enjoy your pint on me... I won't be so easy to trick next time I see you in the byline

      At least the article itself was a bit more intelligent. I find the more interesting headline is that 1 out of 5 current Iphone owners don't even want an Ipad.

      Touchpad is selling like hotcakes at $150, given that a kindle already costs over $100 making it a full touch pad for a bit more seems like a bright idea, and I bet they sell a lot.

      (BTW The fools already bought the crappy 1st generation Ipad, market is looking a little more mature these days)

    2. mraak
      Holmes

      Why are some people always, always, ALWAYS judging the needs of other people based on what they need for themselves. For example, I have no need to judge other's needs. Nor I find it reasonable, but I am accepting the fact that some people might want to do that. Why exactly?

      1. Atonnis

        Low self-esteem...

        ...mostly....however it's not always a case of people judging others' needs based on their own needs...there's also a strong case for opionating (yes I made up that word) 'needs' vs 'wants' and the sad truth that ALOT of people all talk about how they 'need' a tablet but can never actually answer why they 'need' it...thus they get laughed at.

  2. Vic

    What a load of crap

    > New research from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s recently launched

    > tablet tracking service shows that 3.62 million people in Great Britain

    > now own a tablet and this is likely to grow.

    So this "data" is based on this company's own "tracking" system.

    Well, my tablets don't have any apps from them installed. I obfuscate the UAs. I block any tracking locations I know about in DNS.

    And I'm not alone; many people do what they can to avoid being tracked.

    But without knowing more about this "technology", it's impossible to say whether the survey is in any way representative of the distribution of tablets in the UK. One can only wonder why the company in question did not mention their methods - that would generally be the way to get a survey method accepted.

    And what a crap website.

    Vic.

    1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
      Big Brother

      Face it, given that the vast majority of users don't think once, much less twice, about such things, the chances are that you (and I) and others like us are so small of a minority that we are lost in the noise of the data set. There may be "many people" like us, but that doesn't translate into a noticeable percentage unfortunately.

    2. cloudgazer
      Thumb Down

      you misunderstand completely

      This isn't a technological tracking system, it's a market research tracking system - ie. they have a panel of consumers that they ask about what devices they own, what devices they want, etc. and sell the data to market participants.

      It's exactly the same sort of system that comscore and nielsen use to measure smartphone adoption in the US.

      1. Vic

        Probably...

        > they have a panel of consumers that they ask about what devices they own

        So it's an extrapolation from a small sample.

        Like I said - what a load of crap.

        Vic.

        1. cloudgazer

          >So it's an extrapolation from a small sample.

          >Like I said - what a load of crap.

          Ahh so presumably you also think that the surveys that show Android is ahead in the smartphone market share are also crap?

          1. Vic

            @cloudgazer

            > Ahh so presumably you also think that the surveys that show Android

            > is ahead in the smartphone market share are also crap?

            That depends on how the survey is performed. If it's a small sample and the results are presented as a definitive statement of the population, then yes, it would be.

            Vic.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          >it's an extrapolation from a small sample.

          You do understand how statistics work right? That right there is basically the point of it all. Hoping ffs that they cleared everything to allow the central limit theorem, the statistic holds.

      2. DrXym

        Probably

        They ring up x thousand people, ask them "do you own a tablet", "do you intend to buy a tablet" etc. and extrapolate a figure for the entire population.

  3. SnowCrash
    WTF?

    proud to own 2 fondleslabs, neither of which are apple devices

    1. JasonW
      Go

      2 slabbettes de fondlage and 3 smartphones here - none of them fruit-based and never even considered it. So that must make me about the oddest person in the country (which the missus would wholeheartedly endorse)

      1. Paul Naylor
        Coffee/keyboard

        Well done sir!

        Fondleslab is a great term for tablets, but your French translation "slabettes de fondlage" had me soiling my keyboard. Kudos!

    2. The Brave Sir Robin
      Go

      Its the...

      ...EEE Pad Transformer and keyboard for me. Great for note taking in meetings (thanks to really good keyboard and extra battery life) and also brill for music, audio books, watching tv shows, internet radio, games, social networking, reading news, podcasts, entertaining children on holiday, impulse web surfing, mailing and not being an Apple product.

      Wouldn't have one instead of a proper computer but they're a great, if expensive, addition to one's gadget arsenal if you're already computered up.

      1. tonyoung

        I'm with ...

        .... you!

        I also have a Transformer and of course it all syncs nicely with my Android phone and Gmail/Calendar et al on my laptop and desktop devices. The Transformer and keyboard are useful when I'm out on the road and certainly the bigger screen is better to use than a smartphone - from a Travelodge!

        There is one iPhone 4 in our house (the missus) and I have a 1st gen iPod somewhere which is gathering dust very fast indeed. I admire Apple for their form and function, but I wouldn't buy one, prefering to be 'free'.

        I find individual uses for the phone and tablet almost every day. I use the laptop for most work-related stuff and the desktop sits upstairs being used mainly in emergency - go figure the future from there!

        1. tonyoung

          Forgot!

          I forgot, I''ve got a Kindle 3G, too - it would also be gathering dust if it wasn't in a particularly fine sleeve.

          Although I used it a lot on holiday last year, I usually read my Kindle stuff on the tablet now, sometimes the smartphone.

          It's handy abroad though, that free 3G connection is often useful, sidestepping roaming charges ....

    3. Anon the mouse
      Thumb Up

      Owner of 1 fondleslab (Advent Vega).

      Paid approx 200 for it. And after the customary hack to honeycomb it's fast, functional, and replacing the laptop as my go to device.

      If most of your devices including TV are dlna compatible it comes in really good as a universal remote style gadget. Vnc into PC, start to download a prog, boot bubbleupnp and stream it directly when it's ready.

      My daughter loves streaming her music straight to the TV, especially when I'm watching something else :-)

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Also 2 non-apple fondleslabs - SmartQ V5 (4.3in screen) and V7 (7in screen) - bought from eBay for around £250 for both. I don't use the big one that much...it's main purpose is stuffing films into the back of the TV (It's my second V7 - dropped the first one).

      The small one I take everywhere...it has a Spanish dictionary and a shedload of books loaded. It can do internet and email, but that's a bit fiddly, so I don't tend to bother. Both machines run Android, Linux and WinCE, although I only use the Linux bit. For my purposes (portable library) the devices are superb.

      It all depends what you need the device to do, really.

  4. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

    I am a Weirdo

    Good means I keep more money for myself, although now means those who purchase Mac computers have just been made to look uncool!

    1. HipposRule

      So am I

      No Fondleslab and no Smartphone.

  5. Andy Barker

    Sizes?

    "With tablets and smartphones providing similar benefits to customers and increasingly becoming the same size"

    Not sure this makes any sense. The largest common smartphone size is under 4.5 inches, and I believe that the smallest regular tablet size is 7 inches. Quite a difference I'd say, even putting to one side the 9-10 inch tablets.

    The "research" seems to be a load of twaddle.

    1. JEDIDIAH
      Linux

      Size matters but not how you think...

      Small tablets have the benefit of being extremely portable. Meanwhile, the larger ones have limited ways to distinguish themselves. You are still using the same awkward interface. Sure the screen is bigger but the UI on the smaller device is specially geared to help get around that. Besides, you still need to use the same zoom-in/zoom-out stuff on the bigger tablets too.

      Some big tablets could be enlarged carbon copies of their smaller counterparts.

      A few aren't. They are still in the minority though. Hopefully that will change... '-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Larger screen changes everything

        @JEDIDIAH: "Some big tablets could be enlarged carbon copies of their smaller counterparts"

        I have little need for a tablet, given that I'm practically joined at the hip with a laptop, but I got one for the family and sometimes use it myself. I found it to be better than the laptop if you want to relax, e.g. watch a film, but otherwise I'm not really that bothered about it.

        However, it struck me that although the tablet could be called a scaled up phone, they are poles apart in use. Many of the apps have been radically reworked to take advantage of the space, to the extent that have become a different application. I've even been a few conferences lately where speakers drove their presentations through a tablet (including navigable 3D models in one case), which strikes me as well outside the domain of a phone.

        Having used both a phone and tablet a bit, it strikes me that any software that looks and works the same on both is either poorly designed, or doesn't need to be on tablet. Software designed for a tablet can't be touched by a phone.

        1. JEDIDIAH
          Linux

          What apps?

          I am always amused about how a certain variety of tablet user like to drone on about "apps" but never actually mention any.

          I take the opposing philiosophical position. If apps can't scale up and scale down on the same basic form factor then they are fundementally broken.

          1. Richard 12 Silver badge
            WTF?

            Just scaling an app makes very little sense

            For example, take a remote control app.

            With 2" wide, you can only show a few buttons sensibly as otherwise they'll be too small to use.

            Double the width, double the sensible buttons.

            Now you can either show exactly the same buttons, just bigger, or you can expand the functionality somehow to take advantage of that extra space.

            A good app will take advantage of extra fondlage

    2. ZankerH

      Well, there are the Dell Streak and Samsung Galaxy Note at 5 inches. It's becoming less of a divide and more of a continuity. I really see current tablets as a bridge between where netbooks are now and where smartphones will be in a couple of years.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tablets schmablets

    Some of us still like to use a keyboard where you don't have to look at your fingers to type as the buttons actually press down.

    1. Jolyon

      Keyboard schmeeboard.

      Some people write letters, I bet some still even use fountain pens.

      1. burnttoys

        I still sharpen my own quills.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        I use a fountain pen.

        1. Maty

          And I use a stylus with a triangular tip to make cuneiform characters on clay. It's easier than it used to be because now I've got an app for it ...

        2. 404
          FAIL

          Bunch of girls....

          Real Men (tm), use chisels and stone tablets.... weighs a little more but you don't lose data...

          ;D

          1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

            @404 harder to crack, too...

            1. 404

              @Mr Dawson

              I've put some thought into this...

              1. Uses GFS (Gravel File System - it's gravelullar in structure).

              2. Impervious to virus - you would notice some dude with a chisel running around the stacks changing data - consider armed guards for antivirus (log history would be heads on pikes out in firewall)

              3. Trojan Horse wouldnt work, you'd see it coming miles away (use swampy ground as firewall).

              4. No IP issues due to prior art - Stonehenge is actually ancient remnants of stoneware cpu.

              ;)

            2. TheRealRoland
              Coat

              But watch out for that...

              hacking cough you develop from all the dust...

    2. Bit Brain

      Keyboard

      Like this one?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_Pad_Transformer

    3. tonyoung

      Then ..

      ... when considering purchase, don't forget the perfectly formed Asus Transformer!

      The detachable keyboard is a delight to use and also doubles the battery life of the tablet when connected (apart from adding connectivity to lots more gizmos via HDMI and USB, which of course the iPad can't do).

      Rock on, Asus!

  7. Bit Brain

    I have an iPod Touch and an Asus Transformer...

    ...where does that put me on the weirdometer?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not as far along as I thought when I initially read that as Anus Transformer.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @A/c 14:12

        He still could have if he leaves his ipod on the chair and doesn't pick it up before sitting down.

      2. DryBones
        Go

        Brilliant!

        Are they available at the local Tesco? Even priced at £100 it's a steal. Hours of fun for the missus?

      3. Soruk
        Thumb Up

        Anus Transformer

        Hah! That'll be one for the scambaiters at anuslaptops.com then.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      That depends...

      Have you managed to bodge it so that it syncs with the iPod?

    3. I_am_Chris

      not very

      ...if I'm anything to go by.

      I have an HTC phone, an iPad, a Linux desktop and a mac laptop. No Windows, though, I'm not *that* weird.

    4. tonyoung

      No where!

      Just like me!

  8. AJames

    iPod Touch and bargain HP Touchpad here

    and a Kobo Touch for reading. But when my mother wanted a tablet, we got her an iPad. It's all about the right tool for the job. It would be dumb to buy a $500 hammer/screwdriver/wrench/saw too and expect it to be the only tool you need to build a shed and maintain your car. Why do people think one tablet should be "the best" at everything?

    1. Conrad Longmore
      Thumb Up

      I didn't really want a fondleslab, but the HP TouchPad was too good a bargain to pass up. I find that my Android phone is fine for light surfing anyway, and anything more requires a proper computer with a real keyboard.

  9. Mark 66
    Trollface

    Re: What a load of crap Vic

    Vic, every single part of your earlier post is a load of crap. Maybe you are one of the weirdo's who go to crazy lengths to block ALL tracking, and maybe you're not alone - but you're certainly the nutter minority.

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