New Kindle = buyers remorse

[Seanaldinho]

I mean tablet. with teh way tablets and tablet PCs are gaining in popularity. why buy a kindle when you can have everything in one?

Within the next two years my school district will be bringing in a tablet to every student who will make a small payment each year until its paid off...

*DOH*

Huge waste of money especially considering the people who cant afford a tablet.

[eagl]

eagl.....kinda related, but not at the same time.

 what do your maintenance guys use for information? i mean when they're out in the hangar, climbing up on your aircraft, i know that if they need something, they're not gonna climb down, walk back to a computer, get the info, then go back out, so i imagine they have something on the order of a tablet that they carry up on the aircraft with them. what do they use, and are they generally happy with it?
 i ask, 'cause i'm getting tired of having to walk back n forth constantly here at the shop, when i need diagnostic info. it'd be nice to have something i could take to the car with me, but a laptop is a little too bulky.

Tech orders in small ringed binders.  Work cards that fit on clipboards.  If it's not in the job cards then they have a whole bookcase of manuals covering everything from how to change a tire to what kind of kapton/teflon tape to use to wrap wire number 4456A at the bulkhead 43A access hole after the crappy anti-chafing O-ring falls out and the wire rubs through the insulation, causing crosstalk errors in the avionics.

The AF has been trying to go with some sort of electronic tablets especially for training, but at least with the T-6 they're still using paper, binders, clipboards, etc.  It's hard to break away from old school especially since you can trace a lot of accidents to someone forgetting to do step 56 in the paper checklist (hooking the cross-strap bracket to the pulley counterbalance assembly and securing with safety wire) before screwing the access panel back on.  Initials on both the work card and the inspection card go a long way to ensuring people don't accidentally skip steps.

[eagl]

You realise you can get kindle apps for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android. right?

I dont see why anyone would go out an buy a separate kindle

None of those other things you mentioned has a 1-month battery life, and none of them are easy to read in direct sunlight.  None are free EVERYWHERE to download new books purchased or procured from Amazon.  Lots of other reasons, but those are big ones for me.  Not having to charge it, not worrying about glare, form factor, all are reasons why my kindle is how I read most of my books nowadays.

[CAP1]

Tech orders in small ringed binders.  Work cards that fit on clipboards.  If it's not in the job cards then they have a whole bookcase of manuals covering everything from how to change a tire to what kind of kapton/teflon tape to use to wrap wire number 4456A at the bulkhead 43A access hole after the crappy anti-chafing O-ring falls out and the wire rubs through the insulation, causing crosstalk errors in the avionics.

The AF has been trying to go with some sort of electronic tablets especially for training, but at least with the T-6 they're still using paper, binders, clipboards, etc.  It's hard to break away from old school especially since you can trace a lot of accidents to someone forgetting to do step 56 in the paper checklist (hooking the cross-strap bracket to the pulley counterbalance assembly and securing with safety wire) before screwing the access panel back on.  Initials on both the work card and the inspection card go a long way to ensuring people don't accidentally skip steps.

gotcha. i was thinking of the flow charts, for different diagnostic problems, and how the military would try to streamline these. keeping things on paper makes more sense though/

[saggs]

You realise you can get kindle apps for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android. right?

I dont see why anyone would go out an buy a separate kindle

I do not have, nor do I want to have a so called smart phone or tablet.  I have an old fashioned flip cell phone, a desktop PC and a laptop PC, between them I have all of my computing/phone needs covered more then adequately.

What I want is a portable device just for reading, and for that the Kindle wins. 

-crazy long battery life
-much less expensive
-no glare screen
-no back-lit screen (after reading for a couple hours on a back-lit screen I get a headache)
-doesn't put off heat in use