Am I the Only One Who’d Buy a Huge Honkin’ Tablet?

Fusion Garage's JooJoo

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad back in January, there was very little to compare it against–and so it wasn’t clear whether its 9.7″ screen made it an unusually large tablet, a rather little one, or just about right. At the moment, it’s looking like a big boy: The two most intriguing iPad alternatives of the moment, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, both sport far smaller 7″ displays.

(I think the idea is that they’re small enough to fit in a pocket, although the pocket in question needs to be a jacket pocket…and having it specially tailored to accommodate a 7″ tablet wouldn’t hurt.)

I was actually hoping to see the trend go the other way: I’m interested in the idea of tablets with bigger screens than the one on the iPad. How come?

While the iPad itself is roughly the size of a magazine, its screen is quite a bit smaller. That means that digital magazines that attempt to preserve a print publication’s layout (such as ones offered via Zinio) are hard on the eyeballs. I’d like to see magazines recreated on a tablet at their original size.
I can live with the idea that e-books will replace mass-market paperbacks and other tomes that are mostly about words, not visuals. But I love art books–and with art books, bigger is better. Among of my favorites: The Sunday Press’s Little Nemo volumes, which reprint vintage newspaper comics at full size. They’re about the height of a small child, and there’d be no way to recreate them on an iPad, let alone a Galaxy Tab or PlayBook. I don’t want to see the art of the art book die when dead-tree printing goes away.
I love the idea of using tablets to create art, using apps such as Brushes and Autodesk SketchBook Pro. Some amazing works have been created on the iPad–and even the iPhone–but I think even more amazing ones would be possible on a larger “canvas.”

What size would be ideal? I’m not sure, and I concede there are issues with big tablets. (For starters, they’d surely weigh more than the iPad’s already-hefty 1.5 pounds.)

Even so, I hope that the endless parade of iPad killers, rivals, and wannabees we’ll see in the months to come includes at least a few oversized models. The one thing I find attractive about the unfortunate JooJoo (seen above) is its 12.1″ screen–and hey, if there was such a thing as a 17″ tablet, I’d take a look.

No, I wouldn’t lug a monstrously large tablet around. But it might look awfully nice on my coffee table, next to my art books…

chimparzan

Your third point is the only reason I want a tablet. I have also been disapointed in the small screen sizes as I have use the largest size intuos for years and have always wanted to just sit back with an endless sketch pad with unlimited tools. The second a 17″ tablet wtih great screen resolution and great capability for sketching, photoshop and illustator is the month I miss rent.
http://supremegeek.wordpress.com supremegeek

I also want a larger screen. I want one with pen and touch input.
chimparzan

I just want a cintiq 21ux with a computer built into it.
http://www.choirguy.com choirguy

As a choral musician, the iPad works great for our scores, which tend to be in octavo format. As a result, programs like UnrealBook have completely replaced my use of regular music (although we still buy a complete library set of 60 copies of every piece of music we perform). However, for instrumentalists, a larger iPad would be ideal.

I don’t get the 7″ format…for smaller use, the iPod Touch and iPhone are fine. I’d rather have the option of an iPad with a 13″ diagonal viewing area, the same as my MacBook.

And as for the iPad’s weight, I’m sure the next version will be lighter, but the iPad is still lighter than any MacBook, and lighter than most of the hardcover books in my collection. I don’t hear people complaining about the weight of a hardcover book, so I don’t get the complaint about the iPad…unless you’re comparing it to a Kindle, and if you are, then it is “apples to oranges” anyway.
http://troylove.wordpress.com troylove

i want a tablet because i don’t want to carry a netbook or laptop around, and all the other equipment, the tablet would require less space, i can take it anywhere, ipad is not for me, i’m not too apple friendly and i don’t want to spend too much time learning how to use it nor do i want to take a class on how to use apple. i’ve seen other tablets on the internet, is unfortunate not many electronic stores have any of the multiple tablets in the market, they only have ebook readers. tablets are so star trek, i remember the characters using them, sooo cool !
thatguyivan

I’ve been enjoying my iPad 3G for 3 weeks now and I must say I love it. It’s not that I’m an Apple Fanboy (not completely anyway) but because living in a city like Sydney (Australia, just in case) with a surprisingly little amount of free WiFi hotspots I can enjoy my time while on the train. I agree a bigger size could help my eyes a lot and less weight would certainly help my back, it becomes a bit annoying after the first 20 minutes. But I’m not really sure that many people would go for it, it would be sort of a “boutique” tablet for just a few of us.
http://supremegeek.wordpress.com SupremeGeek

I got a Motion j3500. It rules!!