Ask HN: What's your use case for iPads/Android pads?

I use an iPad continuously for browsing the web, controlling IoT devices in the home, playing music on the HEOS system, etc.

I live in a place that carriers choose not to serve so I don't spend a lot on a smartphone and plan, sometimes I have a cheap prepaid phone, sometimes I go for years and not renew it. Skype is my preferred way to make phone calls both with my PC and the iPad. It works in most places I want to make a call because public WiFi is available in a lot of places.

The real problems w/ the iPad as I see it are: it refuses to use play music over Bluetooth when using WiFi (Android devices try and usually fail because of interference between the two services) and Apple doesn't allow access to NFC on the device except for Apple Pay.

I have a lot of android tablets that I bought for testing software. Before I had the iPad I used Amazon Fire tablets pretty seriously (read software docs when doing cardio at the gym, I took my best photo of the last decade w/ a Fire tablet) but all of my Android tablets go unused for so long that I can't count on them being charged when I need them.

Both of our older iPads(and a very slow Kindle Fire) have become devices solely used for streaming video: Netflix/YouTube TV.

My iPad is my main book reading and video watching device, with a little light gaming sometimes, too.

Sheet music. I have a cheap Android tablet that sits on my music stand all the time.

I could use a laptop instead, but I would need something to hold the laptop. Plus laptop displays are landscape orientation, whereas I need portrait. Also, there would be a laptop keyboard sticking out and getting in my way.

The drawback is tablet screens are not very large. If someone made a large-screen (15" or even bigger) tablet, I might buy it. But I would want a cheap, low end one, because all it has to do is display PDFs.

Current iPad: Content consumption/games

Old iPad: Dedicated Paprika (recipe app) machine in the kitchen. I cannot rave enough about Paprika. [0-4]

If I had more (that weren't earmarked for development) I'd consider using one as a digital picture frame, status board, and/or home assistant dashboard/controller.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31159358

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29796425

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14474563

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13886047

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12491028

I use it to play Settlers of Catan, Pictionary, Codenames, etc… several times a week with family.

It’s my only travel device and I use it to watch movies on planes.

I also use it for al my social media apps. Not having them on my phone has done wonders in reducing my screen time.

Edit: I almost forgot! I use it for podcast editing with Ferrite!

Consuming books, articles, web browsing, and videos.

I have an Apple Pencil and a keyboard, but I rarely use the Pencil, and only use the keyboard when I don't have a Mac nearby.

A) GaiaGPS https://www.gaiagps.com/ when I have the jeep offroad.

B) Movies/TV when I'm on a plane.

It’s a giant perfect e-reader, and a small kitchen computer/TV.

I carry my iPad mini 5 with me everywhere, a lot more than my iPhone.

Work tasks

- managing Trello

- sketching apps like Wacom Bamboo and Concept

- note taking/reading on Bear

- Miro, upload photos directly using the camera app

- sometimes I check issues and PRs on the GitHub app

Consumption

- general web surfing

- lots of ebooks

Android Samsung Tablet S7.

Used for sketching (mostly UI),reading articles on the couch and ofcourse playing games

OP: get Notability (iPad). Notability is the greatest app for taking notes (text and doodles) and sketching too.

Consuming media at night and on the go is also better/richer on a tablet.

I have a cheap tablet that is nearly exclusively used for reading comics books and various PDFs. It’s great!

iPads are great for note taking, content consumption, some remote terminal things. The battery life is really darn good.

For most remote work and management I find a Windows tablet is much more useful. Even if it feels slower in use, having the same programs natively as a workstation is extremely convenient.

For content consumption or idling CPU use cases, iPads are tough to beat. For most anything else I think a surface go, small yoga, whatever is much more functional.

Recently, I started using the iPad at the lunch/dinner table. I've always lived alone and just ate lunch in front of the TV, but in trying to get away from that, I moved to a proper table with the iPad. This lets me watch videos from an online course or read some articles while eating. I prefer this to just looking at the wall. I guess one could think of it as a digital version of the back of a cereal box.

Back when I traveled more, the iPad was always a good option for watching movies or TV shows on the plane.

Recording data in the field, a well crafted spreadsheet taking the place of a clipboard and pages of paper. Works like a charm.

My nicer one is in the living room for end of the day games and such, but my older one is an always-on weather display.

I have an iPad with a keyboard case that I use every day

80% of the time it sits under my monitor with Things app to-do list and upcoming meetings linked to my work calendar so I can add stuff to it that people bring up during calls

Other times I have Obsidian open during a meeting and am typing notes. It is also pretty useful when you don't want to drag a laptop over to the couch and just browse.

Apple's Universal Control with iPads is another use case that I haven't been able to use at work but with my personal computer it's great: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212757

My main uses for an ipad are drawing (procreate), showing materials at meetings with clients, and annotating pdfs synced with dropbox.

I use my iPad (and I pencil or whatever it’s called) for reading technical books, legal documents, tech documentation etc. then I write notes, thoughts, todos, questions all over it, it’s extremely useful for summarizing a boring document, then going back any pulling out the important bits

I also use my iPad for dissecting sheet music in a similar way

One day I hope to stick it on my wall and have a max headroom type avatar that greets me and turns on my roomba etc. until then value I get out of the above ^^ is worth the silly price tag

Oh and I also read comic books on it

iPad is a great creative device for music production (Gadget and dozens of amazing multitouch-enabled music apps) and digital art (Procreate + Apple Pencil.)

It's also great for sheet music (forScore), books/papers/PDFs (Books, Kindle), and magazines (Apple News+).

It's also a pretty great portable video game device (both native and streamed, and it works out of the box with PS5 and Xbox controllers), great for digital board and card games, and obviously great for streaming music and video and for web browsing when a keyboard just gets in the way.

I also use it as a capture device for random notes and ideas.

It’s good as your eyes get old and tiny screens are too hard.

For ipad, reading only (no social media, slack, etc).

They're both toys. Load them up with educational apps for the kid. For productivity and entertainment (and if your kid were older, teaching them to type and code), a convertible Chromebook is superior to both devices.