Fat Fingered Sumo Wrestlers Given iPads

The Japan Sumo Association is handing out about 60 iPads to training stables to help the wrestlers communicate because their fingers are too fat to use a regular mobile phone. From the article: "The iPad was chosen because the sumo association believed the device was big enough to cater to wrestler's fat fingers, unlike the smaller keys on mobile phones, according to reports."

Comments

iPads are not phones

[longacre]

Only a matter of time until the wrestlers fashion these iPads into ninja stars when they learn of their uselessness for communication.

Re:iPads are not phones

[gilesjuk]

I keep hearing this "useless" argument. It's a tablet device, it's no desktop replacement.

Have you noticed that time and time again that tablets running a full blown desktop OS have failed to sell? Even Bill Gate's estimates for tablet PC sales were completely wrong and sold a tiny fraction of what was estimated.

An iPad can do word processing, it can play games, it can go on the Internet, it can play music, it can play films, there are utility applications, there are music production applications, there are drawing and photo editing applications.

Useless? what use are you say it lacks?

Sure, if your criteria is a DOS prompt, Bash shell, File manager and so on then yes it is useless. It is stripped down and not the full desktop experience, but who says that File managers are fun or that messing around with config files, registry settings or writing scripts is enjoyable?

There is a lot of needless complexity in computing devices. We are moving on from big dusty boxes filled with cooling fans to small more portable devices. Desktop machines are 10% of the market, laptops are popular and tablets will replace laptops in many mobile computing applications.

How do other fat people use phones?

[edmicman]

Whaa? How do the millions of other fat people in the world manage to use cell phones?

Why not?

[SuperKendall]

Sure you could put Skype or I guess now the new Google service, but strictly speaking it isn't a cell phone.

If I am on a cellular network, talking to another person on a phone, why is what I'm talking on not a phone? If it acts like a phone, I can use it like a phone, and the person on the other end can't tell anything - how is that not a phone?