[SmokeAndMirrors]

I hope not. It'd be nice to see tablets become more functional and not less.

The primary reason I don't have a tablet is because they're almost purely consumption devices and what little output ability they have is clumsy and limited. I don't see the point in that. Or at least, I don't see the point in blowing so much money on that. But maybe that's because I spend as much time banging away at text documents, emails, and forums, as I do "consuming."

Eink ereaders are cheap, very light, and are replacing something much heavier and less functional. But tablets? They're just ungainly, expensive, severely limited computers.

The form factor is intriguing and the possibilities are many, but as they are, even the most functional tablets fall several miles short of what would convince me to get one.

By focusing more on limiting them to consumption and less on broadening their use, the chances that tablets will ever be anything more than very expensive toys seems to dwindle. I think that's a shame. They could be so much more.

Maybe that's ok for high-consumption low-output users, but it falls pretty flat with me. I can't possibly imagine how someone replaces their laptop with something as limited as a tablet. I certainly couldn't.

I really don't get the point of LCD ereaders. Even if you don't mind reading on an LCD screen and dealing with the short battery life, I just don't understand why you'd spend so much more money to get what is basically a crippled tablet when you could get a fully functional tablet for almost the same price. But apparently some people like that. I really don't get it. If you're going to get an expensive toy, why not at least get the whole toy?

Law of the free market I guess. But I still think it's a shame that tablets are gearing towards becoming less functional and not more.