These being quite the hot tech topic these past few years I'm kind of surprised it's never really come up here.  Maybe they're so ubiquitous now it's past the point of conversation.

I take the opportunity to mention it now because Barnes & Noble has a pretty crazy deal going on their Nook HD+ this week - $150 for a 9" tablet which is said to have one of the best displays out there.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-hd … 1110060512

Anybody own one of these puppies?  I don't exactly need a tablet right now but that's a very tempting deal.

Don't own a tablet, don't even own a "smartphone". I'm still trying to find reasons why I should own either a tablet or smartphone? I'm not interested in downloading movies, music, nor cheap games. So, am I missing something?

I think the trend is slightly moving away from tablets and more towards smartphones with bigger screens (Samsung Galaxy). That's basically all an iPad is...an iPhone with a bigger screen. Awhile back, the Kindle Fire was selling pretty good because it was a smaller tablet, but then Apple got smart and came up with the mini iPad. I haven't heard too much about the Kindle Fire since then.

I'm happy with my iPhone and haven't felt the need to purchase a tablet. I'm never in a position to use one, while I'm always pulling my iPhone out of my pocket to look up stuff or check the internet.

Once you get a smartphone, you'll wonder how ever lived without one. Being able to pull up the internet anywhere at any time is pretty amazing, and the specialized apps that make everything easier are great. Plus, you never have to worry about being bored when waiting in line: you can pull up news sites, Twitter, Facebook, games, etc. whenever you want. It's great.

Tablets are cool, but less necessary in my opinion. They're more for when you're chilling in front of the TV and want to do some net stuff but don't feel like dealing with a full laptop -- definitely more of a luxury/comfort item than a smartphone.

So, why is being able to pull up the internet anywhere anytime so amazing? I have the internet at work (such as now) and I'm less than amazed by it Seriously, most of the stuff people do on the net, write email and look up pointless social sites is not something I care to have with me all the time. As for specialized apps, I can see that being useful, although far from necessary. I do know that the GPS on smartphones is very cool. Of course, you could just purchase a GPS for your car, or if you're old fashioned like I am, use a printed map (they still  make those)! Twitter, Facebook, no interest. I don't care for social media much. Games etc... that's what a gaming system is for. I'm going to put off buying a smartphone for a while. Eventually maybe, but people are so hooked on these things, I think it's unhealthy.

There are some games that are only available on tablets.  The main ones for me are Jubeat and Reflecbeat, which are Bemani games that I have zero chance of playing in an arcade.  They go with the song pack architecture, which I find to be annoying; in general I might like one or two songs in a pack, but I have to buy the entire pack and get other songs I have no interest in playing.

What I don't like about tablets is that getting information off of a tablet is often difficult or non-intuitive.  I am used to being able to transfer files on a flash drive or LAN, but I am not sure how to go about it in a cloud environment.  I am much more comfortable using a mouse than using touch screens; I feel they don't give the degree of control that I have come to expect from a computer.  Typing on a tablet, especially a small one, is frustrating, and it's often very difficult to fix typos because it is nearly impossible to touch the right spot to put the cursor where you want it.  I also don't like some websites default to the mobile version if you go to them on a tablet.  In general, mobile websites have crippled functionality and are much more frustrating to deal with than the full website.

I also don't like Apple's stringent belief that its devices are so intuitive that they don't need to provide an instruction manual.  We've had to do to the Apple store on a number of occasions because we had absolutely no idea how to do something (like when our toddler managed to mute the volume, which affected some apps but not others).

This was actually one of the features for mobile phones before so called smartphones came. I tried iPad, but they were a bit too heavy and more importantly, heated too much.

Yeah, quoted for the truth. Why, the f---, at least 98 percent of mobile websites are so far much less functional and informative! With today's smartphone most of them have more than 960x480 screens, why not just offering the same websites as PC? Unless it uses craps like Flash, we just need one or two more scrolling and that's it.

I'm on the other side of this. I've only owned basic cell phones over the past thirteen years, but due to my career I've used anc carried all kinds of mobile devices (Blackberry, Android, iPhone 5, etc.). They've been very convenient, especially when you need GPS or are waiting for a critical email, but I also find the serenity of having something simple and not a timesuck as my phone very comforting.

I totally agree with this. They can be cool, but I look at them as half light laptop, half touch-screen gaming system. I had an iPad at my last job and basically used it for playing Magic the Gathering for hours on end (which was an awesome, awesome game).

You are living in the stone age, my friend. The beauty of the smartphone is that you no longer have to plan ahead for stuff. If you're on a date or out with friends and want to find a cool place to eat, you just look it up on your phone. Find a movie? Look it up. Get directions to anywhere? Look it up right there. Find the schedule for the metro so you know what station and train to take? Look it up on demand. Makes life so much easier.

Truth be told, people did go on dates, hang out with friends, find cool places to eat, and even (I know this may be hard to believe) were able to find movies *before* smartphones existed! Sarcasm aside, I can see why people like them, because it's basically a portable internet. However, as Zane pointed out, and as I also noted, people are unhealthily obsessed with them.

To both XLord and avatar!: I agree with both of your points. Even though I own and love an old phone (just look at this camera-less beauty!), I can see the positive aspects of owning one. I used to date someone who always had her iPhone in her hand and couldn't finish a sentence without looking at her screen, so that may be part of my disdain because it drove me absolutely batshit. But, truth be told, most of the time when I'm out with someone or with a group, and we want to be spontaneous and plan something or find something new around us, one of them has a smartphone, so I'm usually good. Also, data charges. Oof.

For people like this, don't you just want to grab their phone and launch it into the nearest wall? I like to spend a quiet lunch on my phone, but a lot of people just look like mindless drones on theirs.

Big time! It's one thing to use a smartphone, but it's another to feel like you're with someone whose smartphone is using them.