With it being nearly October, we've seen nearly all the major flagship phones that we're going to see for the year (except for hopefully a certain fifth generation Nexus device...) But just because we don't have a whole lot of new phones to look forward to from this point on doesn't mean that we don't have anything to look forward to. Lately I've been seeing quite a bit of leaks and rumors around a few tablets, and just like with new phones that come out I have to decide whether another tablet is something that I feel like I really want in my life.

Here's the thing about tablets, though: my fellow editors here at PhoneDog, past and present, and I all seem to agree on the fact that we don't really use our tablets nearly as frequently as we thought we would when we bought them. After I bought my first tablet, I thought I would use it for everything, from Netflix to web browsing to playing music. It seemed like the perfect solution for on-the-go computing. I mean, I use my laptop all the time. So I figured hey, if I use my laptop all the time, surely I'll use my tablet all the time since it's easier and more convenient to carry around, right?

Not in the least bit. The only time my tablet really sees the light of day at all is when I get in an artsy mood, which isn't very often, or when my son wants to watch Netflix and I won't let him use my phone. Other than that, it makes a great dust collector. It's the most dormant electronic that I have in my possession. In fact, most people I talk to about their tablet habits pretty much match up to mine.  They had every intention of using it for various purposes, but just found that it wasn't all that useful after all. In a way it's kind of a good thing, because it seems to me that tablets hold their age better simply because a lot of people don't use them enough to justify an upgrade every time a new generation comes out.

Buuuuut that doesn't mean that I won't still do it.

Even though I don't feel like I need to upgrade my tablet all the time doesn't mean I don't still have the urge to buy them when a good enough deal comes along. You see, the thing I like most about tablets is that they usually come cheaper than their cell phone counterparts. When I was using iOS as my phone platform, but was missing Android, it was an easier bullet for me to bite to purchse an Android tablet rather than buy a full-priced Android phone to switch between. Even though the tablet I purchased was a hefty $399, the Galaxy Note 8.0 was cheaper (and better for me) to purchase than the $500+ Galaxy Note II. Also, it allowed me to keep using iOS without having to completely switch over to Android - it's a best of both worlds thing. It's not that I didn't like iOS at the time, it's just that I was just kind of bored with it. Admittedly, it probably would have been more cost effective to just go with a $199 Nexus 7, but hindsight is 20/20.

Since I switched to using Android as my daily driver I use my tablet even less now. And the thing is, I don't really want another tablet. Well, no, that's not it. I mostly just don't need another tablet, but when I see the leaks and the news for the upcoming new iPads I start to think to myself, "Oh man, look at how nice that looks. I kind of miss iOS. I kind of wish was using iOS still sometimes. Hey, you know what? I should get one of these. That way I can use iOS without having to keep switching between phones." And the cycle just kind of starts over. So, inevitably, I usually just end up getting a new tablet anyway and getting rid of my previous one.

I guess technically I upgrade my tablets every year, despite the fact that I hardly ever use them.  It's kind of a weird concept because you'd think if I hardly used them after the first two weeks or so that I would learn to stop buying them, but at the same time they are just so much easier and cheaper to get ahold of and use than phones are and it's a more convenient way to experience different platforms.

What about you, readers? Do you upgrade your tablets consistently or are you the type of person that has held onto one tablet for a long period of time?

Images via Gotta Be Mobile, Best Tablet