I used to hate tablets, but now I use one every day

I can imagine some of you rolling your eyes right now. "That's where foldable phones come in, dummy!"

Tablets vs Foldables

The flexible screen revolution brought us the foldable phone. When I first saw the Royole FlexPai (the first commercially available foldable that a Chinese company showed at CES 2018), the déjà vu hit me hard. "Well, now tablets are really done for." I had the chance to test many foldable phones in the past couple of years, and at the moment, they're just not for me.

The main gripe I have with foldables is the process of folding and unfolding the phone itself. It annoys me so much that I end up using the cover screen and defeat the purpose of having a foldable in the first place.

Nevertheless, I can understand why people think that foldable phones are set to replace tablets. There are, however, two big constraints, at least at the moment. The first one is the price. Even the cheapest book-like foldable will set you back north of $1,500 (technically, you can get a Pixel Fold for around $1,200 if you're patient, but still, an average tablet costs three times less).

And while the price of foldable phones will eventually come down, the second problem is hard to solve. Foldable phone screens are soft. There's no way around it; it's physics. In order to bend, these screens need to have some level of elasticity, and this makes them susceptible to damage.

So, what am I saying here? Foldables can't replace tablets (not yet), but still, bringing a tablet out of the house is generally a terrible experience. What are these things for, then?

The tablet is a homeboy!

If the smartphone is a compact device meant to be with you when you're on the go, then what if the tablet is just a homeboy? A device that likes the comfort of your own house and doesn't like to go out much?

I changed my approach and started using my tablet as a home device, a smartphone proxy, and a small multimedia terminal. And things immediately got better.

My tablet almost completely replaced my smartphone when I was at home. I used it on the table while eating dinner (you're not supposed to do this, but hey, living alone has its perks). It found its way to the kitchen counter on the rare occasions when I tried to cook something.

And I found it much more comfortable to watch movies and series in my bed on the tablet rather than firing up my 55-inch TV. I can put it right in front of my face, lay on one side, and move it to fit my posture. The TV is fixed and using the remote is so old school, especially compared to a touchscreen interface. 

Gaming and browsing on a 10-inch tablet are also a different experience altogether and using a bigger screen puts less strain on your eyes.

Reinventing the wheel - I love my tablet!

So, through my experience, I found that the tablet is meant to stay home. I'm sure there are people who slap keyboards and use these things all the time for work and on the go, but I'd rather take my laptop for that.

I use my 10-inch tablet every day now, giving my smartphone a well-earned break after work. There's no point in using a foldable as you don't ever fold it at home, and firing up a laptop is just too bothersome, waiting for it to boot just to launch a streaming service or a browser. I don't think tablets would ever go extinct; they're just too good at being a home entertainment terminal, and at a very affordable price at that.

What do you think about this? Have I missed the point and used my tablet wrong? How do you use yours, if you have one? Drop a line in the comments below.