A friend said that he wanted to buy a tablet computer for himself. I showed him mine and explained some of what I liked about it. I know that some Samsung tablets are popular and Microsoft has its Surface tablet. He said he thought he was most interested in the Kindle Fire and the iPad. I think he has enough money so I said that maybe he wanted to buy both and see what he thought of them. He laughed at the idea but I wasn't trying to be funny.
There have been several occasions when it seemed to me that research and exploration notions led to the idea of expenditures just for the purpose of good comparison and deeper experience. One possible outcome might be that my friend makes use of two or three tablets, originally bought for comparison. He might find different strengths and features in different machines and use them in circumstances where they have their own advantages. He might find that he likes one best for nearly everything but that keeping one at his office or in his travel bag or other likely place provided a handy backup for unexpected use.
He might find one fitted in with his needs and desires so well that he basically never touched the others. If that happened, he would have leftovers, new machines that work pretty well. He would realize that it would be a shame to waste them and might think of loaning or giving them away. Or reselling them.
I am interested in equipment that has been tested and compared and judged not the best. Sometimes, such equipment is so poorly designed, as opposed to the best available, that it can be an impediment to loan it out, where its awkwardness or slow speed or high complexity interferes with others learning to use the technology. A friend was brilliant but never mastered the idea of the internet and its vast stores of information and assistance. Someone gave him a computer but it was an old one: slow, limited storage, lacking many of the features of newer machines. I always wondered whether his attempt to learn to use it featured in his continued fear and rejection of computers.
I see cars on the road that come from the 1920's or 30's. I am confident that enthusiasts can find such old machines and fix them so they run. But I wonder how the safety, comfort and convenience of such cars compares to the current models most likely to meet the needs of today's drivers.
Another possible outcome of research and comparison is that the devices are found to be similar enough that it essentially doesn't matter which is used. One could be selected to be the machine of use and the others, or some of them, would be found to be essentially superfluous, redundant. In that case, perfectly good equipment is available for donation to others. I loaned a friend a Kindle and I bought one to take its place. I didn't pay attention when ordering it and got the model with a five-way directional switch instead of a touch screen. It took about a day or so before I found the lack of a touch screen a sufficient impediment to using it that I decided it was worth it to me to buy still another Kindle with the touch screen.
I hadn't realized that using an iPad or other touch screen device made such a difference. I have never felt that my typing or hand or finger use was all that great and I thought it wouldn't matter. I was wrong. For me, the touch-screen technology is one of those innovations that matters. It makes a difference that is significant and important to me. I realize that it may be that a very fast processor is part of the reason the touch works better since I can open a program, use it, close it, open a second, use it, close it and return to the first as faster or faster than I can simply open a program on a standard laptop. As with my body and my mind, I am not always able to note and appreciate all the components of an experience or an ability. I can only skim the surface and try to note what aspects of conscious experience seem to matter.
It can be surprising what can turn up as leftovers or donations these days.
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
