Ode to the Tablet

Oh, the tablet how far you have fallen. Once upon a time, you were heralded as the PC Killer. Little did we know that actually a device we all had the smartphone would signal the end of the PC. 

Somber tomes aside to me the tablet never signaled the end of the PC. That was merely hype spread by the hype machine Apple whose iPad was probably the only tablet to grab some mainstream notoriety.

Don't get me wrong the iPad wasn't the only ride in town. Asus gave us The Transformer, Amazon low balled us with the Fire HD line and of course Samsung with the Galaxy Tab. Yet for some reason, Android tablets did not really catch on. 

There were many reasons for this none of which had anything to do with the quality of the tablet. There was a time when the Transformer by Asus was vastly superior to the iPad spec wise. The iPad sold because it built by Apple at a time when anything with the orchard logo on it was going to the sell. 

The iPad's hype fooled everyone about the importance of tablets that no one really ask outside of consumption what is the tablet good for and what is a fair price point?

Android tablets can't sell what about the Fire HD about by Amazon but its very inexpensive. Although it ran WebOS the Touchpad by HP couldn't stay on the shelf once HP decided to kill off the tablet by selling it at $99. 

I'm quite sure Samsung could make a killing with Samsung Tab S3 a magnificent tablet whose price point is too high by at least $150. 

In this day and age crossing $500 gets you a great 2-in-1 Chromebook a few of which are made by Samsung. As for the smaller 7-8 tablets, they were useful in the age of 4-inch Smartphones but in the era of the Phablet, our 5.1 to 7-inch slabs of techno-wizardry have almost rendered them useless.

Tablets still have a place but at the right price point which Amazon proves every day but until some manufacturer takes a chance and produces a flagship caliber tablet at a midrange price we will continue to see them as an extra add-on when buying a smartphone or trending on the net from a fire sale.