Looking Like An Idiot When Using A Tablet Computer
Tablet computers are slowly becoming more and more mainstream as the technology improves and the overall prices drop.
Similar to the rise of smartphones and all of their advances over the past ten years, tablets many one day replace laptops. I’m still not sold on getting a tablet yet, but I do recognize their potential and the handiness of using one.
That handiness, however, brings us to the subject matter of this article.
No, I’m not here to make fun of the retards who sit in coffee shops, trying to look sophisticated on their laptops and tablets when all they’re really doing is playing around on Facebook and Twitter, or just reading an e-book. That cliché was exposed a while ago.
This article is about people using the camera feature on their tablet computer while on vacation.
I understand that the camera feature is handy for video chatting software such as Skype. No problems there. But when people choose to lug around their tablets through theme parks and other vacation destinations, and then use said tablet product as their camera for taking pictures, those people look like complete fools.
Last week my parents came home from their trip to the central Florida theme parks. I asked them to keep an eye out for those idiots using tablets to take their vacation pictures. Take a look a several scenes of those people in action.
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Why these masters of decency choose to not only use an expensive tablet computer as a vacation camera, but also have to deal with the worries and inconvenience of carrying such an electronic monstrosity all day in the theme parks is beyond me.
“Hey. This cool tablet can take pictures! I’m going to use it as a vacation camera!”
No! No! No! No! No!
Just because something can take pictures does not mean that you should use it as a vacation or special event camera. Doing so will only show off your true ignorance of photography (and laziness as well). In other words, YOU LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE MORON!
“But I want to upload these photos to Facebook and show my 674 friends (only about 20 I actually talk to regularly) that I have a social life.”
Yeah, like it’s really hard to do that from the hotel room that evening. On vacations, somehow I manage to download my pictures to my laptop on a daily basis without any problems. This is easily accomplished by transferring everything via the camera’s SD memory card(s) OR the handy USB cord. I can then upload anything I choose to through the hotel’s wireless network.
Don’t want to lug a laptop on vacation? Want to take your tablet computer instead? No problem. Keep it in the hotel room and download your camera’s pictures to it. Many tablets have a USB port. You can transfer your pictures there and then upload to a cloud service or your favorite social media website. There’s no need to upload vacation photos instantly. Stop sharing every single moment with the world the moment it happens. Get a life.
This has to rank up there with the idiots I saw a few years ago trying to photograph an air show with their damn smartphones. An AIR show of all things with fighter aircraft zipping all over the sky. And these “scientists” were trying to photograph the aircraft with a damn phone that doesn’t even have an optical zoom!
“Derrrrrrrrrrr. This thing can take pictures. It has a digital zoom. I can therefore pretend that it’s a real camera. Derrrrrrrrrr. I just saved me $60 from buying one of those little pocket cameras. Aren’t I so smart and sophisticated?”
Yes, people using their damn smartphones as vacation and everyday cameras annoys me as well. I get it that it’s handy to take a quick photo and send it electronically to a friend, but too many people use their damn phones to document vacations and other important events. How many graduations, birthday parties, vacations, and even births of children have you seen documented (and shared on Facebook, of course) with lousy pictures from a damn phone? And to think, many of those people are proud of their crappy photos, too!
The image quality is slowly improving in the world of smartphones. I’ll concede that much. However, I’ll still shoot better quality photos with my pocket-sized Canon PowerShot A490 camera than you will with that iPhone or whatever overpriced smartphone or tablet you substitute for a real camera. The low-light level photos that I shoot with my Canon PowerShot SX-10 can and do destroy yours. When I want to take really high-quality pictures, then it’s time for the Digital SLR. But that’s also where things get really expensive. Then again, how expensive are those fancy Apple iPads and other tablet computers that people choose to also use as a vacation camera?
I purchased my pocket-sized Canon A490 almost two years ago for about $80. Throw in a set of four rechargeable batteries (about $15 for the four-pack, though the camera only needs two AA batteries) and a 4 GB SD memory card (about $5), and the grand total came to around $100. That’s pretty good for a 10 mega pixel digital camera with a 3.3x optical zoom that can also record 640×480 resolution video at 30 fps AND easily fit into most pockets. A price like that almost makes it disposable for vacations. No, it’s not 720p or 1080p high-definition video, but it’s still great video quality for everyday stuff. Most of the people who do shoot HD video with their smartphones still suck at shooting good (or even horizontal) video clips.
This laziness in people and slow upgrade in cell phone camera quality is destroying the market for pocket-sized digital cameras. What gets me is that too many people are preferring the handiness of a cell phone instead of using a real camera. Some people are just ignorant on the subject matter, thinking that a camera is a camera. Others are too lazy to bother with a real camera, no matter how simple and inexpensive many of them are today.
People, save the “camera” feature on your smartphone for emergencies. If you’re going on vacation or planning on attending special events, get yourself a real camera.
That person pointing and laughing while you use a smartphone or tablet to document vacations, birthdays and other special events is me.
I sooo agree.
Man, what is it with some people doing things the WRONG WAY? Grr, makes me so angry!