Have e-Readers been superseded by Tablets and Phones

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by saoir

My experience is the opposite. Amazon adds nothing to Android because it is such a ghastly OS to start with. Amazon adds more confusion and sub standard quality 'enhancements'. The results are products that are barely worth the money and really only suitable as children's toys.

You're experience doesn't mesh with the majority -- since Android tablets now own about 65% of the tablet market (and are still growing) some folks must be happy with Android tablets. I'm know there are a lot of inexpensive Android tablets that lack the horsepower to run even Android -- which I would also call "toys." Without doing a lot of research I can find Android tablets in my area that cost $40 new. But there are also some very well built, mid-range and expensive Android tablets. My nephew and his family, who used at least four different iPads (the full-sized ones, not the mini), went to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.2 and wouldn't go back to an iPad. His family almost exclusively uses tablets. So, I guess, the solution is to do market research, test some of the Android tablets and, probably, don't buy the cheapest ones you can find. Personally I'm not a tablet fan. I like my computers, my eReaders and my Android smartphone but, in my opinion, they all have their own purposes. The tablet, for me, is not a replacement for all of these devices -- actually I could find no use for one at all and I've sold my tablet. Obviously others feel differently.

[QuantumIguana]

If people spend their money on the product, and are satisfied with it, then it must be worth the money to them.

[sl42]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

If people spend their money on the product, and are satisfied with it, then it must be worth the money to them.

Keeping in mind that most people run Windows on their computers? But yes, I'm sure Android must have improved considerably since 4.03 and that my particular tablet is not indicative of normal operating behavior - if it were, Android would no longer exist

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by saoir

My experience is the opposite.

Fair enough. The pleasure that I get from using a Kindle Fire doesn't mean it has to be the same for you.

Originally Posted by saoir

Amazon adds nothing to Android...

There is an interesting assumption built-in to this sentiment: that Amazon must add something to the Android OS/experience. They take AOSP and move in a direction that makes sense to them and I do not believe one of their goals is to "add" something to Android. They are concerned with their experience, not everyone else's. So this is a weird presumption to make and a strange complaint to leverage against them.

Originally Posted by saoir

...because it is such a ghastly OS to start with.

If by ghastly you mean smooth, beautiful, interesting, and a pleasure to use, then I totally agree with you.

Originally Posted by saoir

The results are products that are barely worth the money and really only suitable as children's toys.

This may surprise you, but I think you might have accidentally tapped in to what Amazon has historically tried to do with their tablets: to streamline the consumption of content (specifically THEIR content). And they have done this religiously. It is evident at every point in their vision of what Fire OS is. Only recently have they begun to make an attempt to leverage office and home office/productivity tasks as a tool in their offerings (and I mean VERY recently).

I suppose you could call content consumption a children's activity (which you didn't, but may have done by extension) and label the devices designed specifically to accomplish this task as "children's toys", (which you did do) but I'm not sure it is a logical thing to do.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I love my ghastly children's toys. I even manage to do some big-people reading on them occasionally.

I only play Lego games on mine. I didn't know they could display text!

[saoir]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I only play Lego games on mine. I didn't know they could display text!

You mean you can get through a whole game without it crashing ?

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by saoir

You mean you can get through a whole game without it crashing ?

Mommy only lets my play a few minutes at a time, so I wouldn't know.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by sl42

Keeping in mind that most people run Windows on their computers? But yes, I'm sure Android must have improved considerably since 4.03 and that my particular tablet is not indicative of normal operating behavior - if it were, Android would no longer exist

Yes, people do run Windows on their computers. That only makes my point. If it didn't meet their needs, they would install something else.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by sl42

Keeping in mind that most people run Windows on their computers? But yes, I'm sure Android must have improved considerably since 4.03 and that my particular tablet is not indicative of normal operating behavior - if it were, Android would no longer exist

I've never had trouble with Android since 2.3... My Flyer originally was 2.3, I updated it to 3.1 (which was the first tablet android made for 7" screens) and now have a tablet with 4.4. Never had problems with any of those.

Device quality, not so much OS quality, is the deciding factor mostly. We had two 2.3 devices in our house at one point, one budget tablet, the other a premium one. I doubt I need to tell you which one never had a major flaw...

[Josieb1]

I have an Ipad Mini that is beautiful to read on but I still prefer to read on an eink ereader. I have three, a Nook Glow (the original), a Kobo Aura and a PW2. I love each one individually but the PW2 wins out of the group as it's contrast is so much better than the other two. I am always on the lookout for the 'perfect' ereader and am constantly buying new ones.

This year I have my sights set on the Kindle Voyage, hopefully I'll finally have a screen to give my ipad a run for its money.

I have had a Nook HD in the past, lovely LCD screen, beautiful to read on, but I didn't like Android so I sold it.

[rdfry]

Pre-ordered HTC G1, Only buy high end Android devices, never had any real problems, have a cheap Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 works great, has a fantastic screen. Gonna upgrade from Galaxy S4 to Galaxy Note 4. Read on phone, read on tablet, read on Nook all good for me.

[linereader]

Originally Posted by Anthem

What do we think?

https://www.forrester.com/search?N=2...source=browse&

* Research firms have their main objective of selling 'research' papers to overpaid company suits and their hit rate is often less than the Average Joe on the street

* making forecasts to 2019 (as Forrester do) is the essence of hilarity.

* Jeff Wray is eager for your credit card details and you deserve only the best e-reader market research! https://www.forrester.com/staticasse.../Jeff-Wray.png

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by linereader

* Research firms have their main objective of selling 'research' papers to overpaid company suits and their hit rate is often less than the Average Joe on the street

The Average Joe rarely knows that there is anything to "forecast".

Originally Posted by linereader

* making forecasts to 2019 (as Forrester do) is the essence of hilarity.

But businesses desire it and will continue to do it or pay for it. Projections are as old as organizations and one man shops, and while they are usually horribly flawed, it is a thing that people putting their money on the line will continue to do.

I think talking about the future is useful, even though we don't really know what will happen.

[linereader]

Originally Posted by Anthem

The Average Joe rarely knows that there is anything to "forecast".

Any conscious user of the technology already knows the future, intuitively. There is a deep understanding of the good and bad of each tech. I bet that even a casual sampling of our usage of tablets and e-readers on this forum would tell us the bulk of what we need to make our own projections.

Only companies disconnected from the sentiments of their users are convinced of the need to pay a disconnected research firm to tell them their version of the future. Unfortunately there is no shortage of management with more funds than sense.

The wildcards (as always) are new tech developments and processes and the usual efficiencies of production and marketing bringing prices further down on existing technology. Again those whose business it is to have a clue should be aware of most of this.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by linereader

Any conscious user of the technology already knows the future, intuitively.

You said "Average Joe" not "conscious user". Two vastly different things. (And still, I don't think the assertion is correct, but "...already knows the future, intuitively." is a sentiment that would require dramatic definition and MUCH exposition in order for me to even understand it.)

Originally Posted by linereader

There is a deep understanding of the good and bad of each tech.

Since when? Our decades of flopping about tell a different story.

Originally Posted by linereader

I bet that even a casual sampling of our usage of tablets and e-readers on this forum would tell us the bulk of what we need to make our own projections.

Probably, but we are a hyper-aware community filled to the brim with enthusiastic enthusiasts, skeptics, true believers, misfits, rebels, fans, and power users. A casual sampling of enthusiasts is much different than an enthusiastic sampling of casuals.

Originally Posted by linereader

Unfortunately there is no shortage of management with more funds than sense.

Unfortunately, this is a human condition that is in no way exclusive to management.