[wongarsu]

Tell that to the people who sit in public transport playing games on their smartphone. A lot of the tasks usually done are impossible without internet connection, but that can be said about almost any computer. That doesn't make them useless, it just restricts them to a (still very useful and big) subset of functionality.

[Retric]

Starting with a new iPad, load a game without connecting to another computer.

Yes, they do processing without connection to an external system. But, unlike say a play station you can't just go to a store and buy a game without connecting your device to another system.

[wongarsu]

The disk with your playstation game is pressed as a copy of a master disk that was created by a computer. In contrast, an iPad is connected via radio waves to a transmitter that is connected via cables to computers.

The only difference is the transport medium used for the computer-computer connection.

At least on Android Tablets there's also nothing really stopping me from buying a USB-stick with games and installing them, without any computers involved after the stick's creation (I would have to get a friend to create it and sell it to me, but the lack of market demand, and thus supply, is besides the point).

[Retric]

If every other computer in the world was off you could still load and play a game on a PlayStation. That's a difference in kind.

The reality is there are tablets are a third option between a standalone computer which could be programmed by hand and an dumb terminal.

[cesarb]

That might be possible on an Android tablet, though I haven't tested. Skip initial Google account setup, enable sideloading in the settings, plug a SD card (or an USB drive, if that's supported), use the built-in file manager to open the APK.