Tablets and smartwatches.. Why?

Tablet

Great for watching videos, reading the newspaper and drawing (with a digital pen).

I actually don't have a laptop anymore, because I found that a tablet could do everything I needed on the go with less bulk, longer lasting battery and no fan noise.

Smartwatch

Tracks my heartrate (had some issues with elevated heart rate before), guilt-trips me into doing more excercise, shows me notifications without having to get my phone out, displays the time with a customizable watch face.

less functionality than a smartphone

Tablet is just a bigger screen

A bigger screen is more functionality.

Tablet is just a bigger screen...

And this is why I got a tablet, I needed more space in my screen 🤷‍♂️

I prefer to read manga and comics on a tablet screen, easy to make text bigger for someone with dyslexia, more portable than a laptop, not to mention cheaper. Smart watch makes it so u don't have to pull out my phone when i get a notification at work or when my hands are full, and i can glance to see if it's important. Also helps me reduce my screen time, and lengthens my phone's battery life. As far as tracking, i have almost all tracking disabled except what is necessary for operation of the "local"(i have precise gps disabled) weather. All health features and telemetry disabled/routed to 0.0.0.0. i understand not everyone has uses for these kinda of devices, but that doesn't mean no one does. My watch lasts 2+ months on a charge, my phone 1-3 days, tablet, lives connected to a wall unless i wanna read on the go. I don't worry about battery life.

I got iPad for drawing and reading comics/manga on a bigger screen and reading/writing on PDFs.

I use a Pine64 watch, and set it as a notification center. It shows me notifications as they come in, so I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket while at work. It allows me to see if the notification is urgent or if it can wait until break. When I'm not at work, I put on an analog watch. I don't use tablets, except for an ereader.

Edit: added link.

Because they're different than a laptop, desktop, phone, with different capabilities and limitations.

Why are you using Lemmy when reddit works better?

(By "better", I'm sure someone could make arguments why reddit works better for them, that would make as much sense as OP's opinion on "better" regarding these devices).

Or more simply, your opinion is just that - your opinion.

My partner is a mechanic and is often underneath a vehicle when a notification comes through; so for him, the watch acts like an extension of his phone that he doesn't have to worry about falling out of his pocket.

And while he does have to worry about damaging the watch, this would still be true if it was a phone in his pocket; but would just be more surface area to get knocked into things.

Personally, I work at a desk all day; so outside of a few phone calls a month, I probably don't even need a phone...

I have a Garmin for trail running, but it has a compass, offline maps, barometric altimeter, bunch of other stuff. I used it to plan a 2000 mile route through Canada while driving last summer because my phone had shit-tier 2G/3G roaming. I have it scheduled to go into ultra battery conservation mode when I should be sleeping and only need to charge it every 2 weeks.

It also records activities even without a phone, just need internet to upload it to Strava later, so pretty handy to be able to run without a phone (Strava or it didn't happen lol)

A tablet is nice because it's a bigger screen. I like reading ebooks on them. (plz don't tell me to get an e-reader)

A watch is nice because it means you can ignore your phone, but still reply to notifications. I like the more accurate step count. I'd really like a device that counts my lengths when swimming too, but I haven't had a chance to use one yet.

In both cases I've gotten devices that have more battery than I expect. I rarely found myself in a situation where charging was a hassle.

I use my tablet to take handwritten notes.

I've bought probably 5 or 6 tablets in my life. Each time, I thought I'd find a use for them. Every time, though, I ended up giving them away to someone so they didn't languish in a drawer.

The only use I found for a tablet was as an e-reader, but it was never really great at it (too large/awkward, poor battery life, etc). Bought a Kobo for that, and it's perfect.

Smartwatches? I can see the appeal for those. I don't wear it anymore, but the one I had was useful to use as a remote control for my phone (answer calls, see incoming notifications, music control, etc) while leaving my phone in my pocket. It didn't have any radio besides Wifi/BLE and was purely an accessory device. It synced with my phone via GadgetBridge, and everything stayed local.

And a smartwatch with a cell radio is no more/less a tracking device than the phone you're already carrying. Assuming you're not syncing your health data to some cloud service, that is.

Tablet: Read magazines and watch TV shows. You might be fine if you own a large phone, though.

since a lot of functionality at my job that doesn't require me to physically be in the office can be done on a web browser I use my tablet as a work computer if the office is occupied. before this year I used my smartwatch as a phone monitor because even vibrating I can't feel my phone ringing in my pocket or vibrate for text messages. and it was literally vitally important that I be available 24/7. these days I no longer need to be constantly available but I now have to monitor my glucose levels so I found a watchface and corresponding phone app to send that information to my phone.

tablets and watches still have a place for a lot of people.

It's about what I would or could use it for that I wouldn't use a phone for. I don't want a giant phone. I don't really enjoy watching videos/movies on a phone. For home control I don't need anything but wifi and maybe Bluetooth and I'm not interested in paying smartphone prices for the privilege. Same thing for viewing weather or schedules at a glance. Having that functionality to check on a smart phone is fine. Useful. Having it on a tablet where I can glance at it while getting dressed is better. And the speakers are generally better with better battery life (more space for a bigger battery) on a tablet. If you don't have the use case for a piece of tech, of course it doesn't make sense.

I use my tablet for site surveys and leave my phone at home or work. It is light to carry, has great battery life, has a sim card, memory slot, headphone jack. When I'm done work I can watch a film. It's some shitty Samsung thing work gave me, it's great. I don't think I would ever buy a tablet myself though.

I do not have a use for a smart watch.

I agree with you about watches. Tablets though, I disagree. I have several different tablets and they do different things in my workflow from my laptops or phones. My tablets can be an ebook reader, weather center, and video viewer. One of them, I read comic books on. They're easier to use for those purposes than my laptop. I would need a second monitor to do those things, and I would need to switch it to tate mode for comic books and other ebooks to be comfortable for me to read. Plus, I couldn't read easily in bed or somewhere like that even with the form factor of the smallest netbook in my collection.

I asked the same question, until I found myself overweight and needing to start some sort of exercise practice, started walking, so got a cheaper level fitness tracker/watch, which is easier to refer to while engaged in activity than removing my phone from my pocket, it also is able to take readings directly from my body being pressed directly against it, so yeah, that's why

I hate watches. Back before pocket phones (I'm old enough to remember when car phones were a thing for the rich) I carried a pocket watch instead of a wrist watch like most people had. Once I got a flip phone which fit in my pocket I stopped using the pocket watch. (I don't remember why I had both a "candy bar" phone and a pocket watch)

Tablets have bigger screen. This is important for some people but start watchs are something that i don't find useful

I use a smartwatch as a second phone that's always on me. Especially when I forget my main phone.

Tablets are better than a smartphone for drawing. They're also cheaper than a pen display and have a smaller learning curve than a pen tablet. They're also a bit more portable and tend to have better battery life than a laptop. I also like using a tablet for reading comics.

I don’t have a smart watch both because I don’t really see the point in them and because adding extra things to be on me bothers me, so I wouldn’t even be wearing a regular watch.

As for tablets: It’s just a convenient compromise between a phone and a laptop for basic browsing and video watching. I can comfortably lay in bed with a tablet rested against the wall or propped up on my nightstand. It’s harder to do that with a phone or laptop and obviously the phone screen is also just smaller. I don’t really take the tablet with me unless I’m going on a long trip, but when I am it’s nice to both have the bigger screen and actually have my media device be on a separate battery from the device I need for communication and navigation.

Smart watch will be what I get my kid instead of a smartphone. Its basically the modern day bepper in my eyes.

Tablet for me is mostly comfortable media consumption. Especially when the wife and kid are sleeping or when traveling.

My primary use for smartwatch is media controls when running, so I don't have to pull out my phone to play/pause/skip tracks etc.

I've also found that it's handy to use for timers for cooking.

I have a tablet with magnetic keyboard. It's about 20% as heavy as my laptop, doesn't make a noise when it's trying to keep itself cool and allows me to shop online, read some news, or browse Lemmy just fine.

Tablet: TV in my camper van. But it wasn't expensive. I spent $120 on it new.

Watch: Companion to the phone. Does strava things beyond just riding a bike.