I've been using Toshiba tablet PCs for years. I only use the tablet functionality for taking notes and drawing pictures. I'm an engineer and I'm always drawing diagrams and schematics and it is great for that. I have hooked it up to a projector in a meeting and have been able to work on a sketch with other engineers. After the meeting I can send everyone a copy of what we did. Works just fabulously for that. Also use it to sketch something to stick in an e-mail. I suppose I could make my drawings on a piece of paper, scan it, and import the image to an email, but I'd have to travel with a scanner to do that.
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the problem with tablets is they're not rigid. with a netbook once it's closed the screen is safe. if you bump the screen of a tablet it's goodbye ipad.
So, you want...
A modern, designed from the ground up os with a system wide multi-touch interface that does away with the cumbersome desktop features without using a stylus, on fast enough hardware and with lots of purpose built apps that offer great usability?
Check.
iPad - check, check, check and check plus it's proven technology and available now.
But you wouldn't buy one?
Until Microsoft delivers? But they have shown no understanding or expertise or foresight in producing any of these requirements.
Unbelievable... quite unbelievable.
And they call Apple users deluded.
A modern, designed from the ground up os with a system wide multi-touch interface that does away with the cumbersome desktop features without using a stylus, on fast enough hardware and with lots of purpose built apps that offer great usability?
Check.
iPad - check, check, check and check plus it's proven technology and available now.
But you wouldn't buy one?
Until Microsoft delivers? But they have shown no understanding or expertise or foresight in producing any of these requirements.
Unbelievable... quite unbelievable.
And they call Apple users deluded.
I won't consider a tablet PC until such a device exists that can replace my pen-and-paper system for quickly jotting down notes, and finding something I wrote down yesterday. And it doesn't just have to satisfy this with some awkward notepad application or and on-screen keyboard, this device would have to be as immediately quick to use as real pen-and-paper. Until then, all a table PC will ever manage to do is waste my time (and money).
Not that I'm an MS fan, but I'm guessing you haven't seen the WP7 tablet concepts from them yet?
It's always funny to read what PC folks think is going to be successful (or not) in the future. A skewed view always results in skewed predictions; Ballmer is the perfect example of this phenomenon.
The iPad is about making multimedia easy for the general public, just as the iPod and iTunes did for music. When someone else besides Apple gets that, they they too will reap the rewards.
The iPad is about making multimedia easy for the general public, just as the iPod and iTunes did for music. When someone else besides Apple gets that, they they too will reap the rewards.
Tablets should really increase their pen precision so it feels more like pen and paper. They are horrible and slow for artists. They also need a virtual keyboard and screen rotation features. Price is high also, for most people it is way to expensive, they'd rather buy a cheap laptop that can do most things for them. OSs should be just as robust as the PC versions, that way you can port most apps you own and can use them on the go. I really think that when all of these features are implemented in a tablet, people will buy less laptops.
Yeah, my great grand ma was explaining to me I was wasting my time with computers back in the early eighties. She was convinced that all that crap would amount to nothing. I think she'd agree with you on this one.
saying that you have to use a virtual keyboard of tap anything out on a tablet simply shows that the last time you touched a windows tablet was XP tablet edition. I have owned a Gateway that came with Vista pre-installed, the only machine that I have ever seen never to have a problem with Vista, and its now happily running windows 7. Windows' handwriting recognition is simply amazing. There is no other word to describe it. Out of the box, it was great, but after about 20 minutes of training one time, its now completely usable without the keyboard. Its a convertible, but I do not remember the last time I opened the keyboard. For heavy data lifting and coding, I have a dual screen desktop that is much better suited, for portable computing, surfing, media, taking notes in meetings or classes, etc, I have the tablet, and if you have issues with a table, you have the wrong tablet, or simply have not tried it in the last 5 years
I got a Nokia N800 and it's been mostly excellent. Some suckiness with using the stylus, and some with experimental apps and interface, but with a BlueTooth keyboard it runs everything my laptop used to, including Emacs, Saxon, LaTeX, Skype, Gnumeric, Abiword, and a dozen other things, as well as the conventional email/browser/contacts/IM stuff and playing music and videos (the entire LotR trilogy fits on an SD card). Among the mistakes the manufacturers are making is believing there is a market for a tablet, when the market is actually for a pocket computer. Until they grok this, it's a dead duck.
OSX would have to be trimmed down to make sense on a tablet, but the IPhone is IMO not an acceptable general computing platform, and on a tablet, I expect general computing. Having to go through a single app store in a completely locked down device where Apple decides what I can install in it is just not going to fly with me. The only reason it works for phones is that most people's use of phones used to be even more limited by draconian phone companies.
I think that the problem with the IT folk (and I include myself in this group) is that we can't see why we would want lose the flexibility of a full blown OS - the reality is, I suspect, that we aren't the people who it is designed for.
My parents probably are though. They do email, look at pictures, listen to music and watch the odd TV show. Like many IT people, I have to provide technical support for them when stuff goes wrong - and if there is a product which doesn't need as much maintenance, I am happy to at least have a look at it when released.
The interesting thing is the level of commentary that new products (not just Apple products) bring about in the IT community. As a habit, we all shoot down every single new product - as do journalists in many cases - without actually having played with the product. Despite working in an industry where change is the only constant, we seem surprisingly willing to complain about it ;-)
My parents probably are though. They do email, look at pictures, listen to music and watch the odd TV show. Like many IT people, I have to provide technical support for them when stuff goes wrong - and if there is a product which doesn't need as much maintenance, I am happy to at least have a look at it when released.
The interesting thing is the level of commentary that new products (not just Apple products) bring about in the IT community. As a habit, we all shoot down every single new product - as do journalists in many cases - without actually having played with the product. Despite working in an industry where change is the only constant, we seem surprisingly willing to complain about it ;-)
ivan_chess
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Actually, the Microsoft handwriting recognition and auto-complete functionality is pretty good. Also to name a successful tablet manufacturer:
http://www.motioncomputing.com/
Granted this is in the business sector but the author did not do enough research. The consumer world is not the only world.
http://www.motioncomputing.com/
Granted this is in the business sector but the author did not do enough research. The consumer world is not the only world.
For over a decade, I've had tablets (plural), and I have monitored other people using tablets.
The big problem with tablets have been threefold:
a) Convertibles - they work as laptops, and as such remove the incentive of changing your ways of bad computing.
b) Producers of tablets only want a "presence", but really don't care much about the market, which can be seen by how the tablets are (not being) marketed.
c) Operating ENVIRONMENT. ( Not Operating System! ). What a tablet truly needs is an operating environment. That is the ecosystem of a specific OS and its applications. Where Windows "failed" (it really didn't, it just never caught on) in bringing desktop computing to the tablet, as will the iPad fail in bringing a cell-phone system to the tablet.
The market in-between is still unconquered and ripe for a good solution. Android with its roots on the desktop, but having shed its fugly window manager, may have a fighting chance. But there is still some definite room for improvement.
There is however a very large user-base, especially in the states. Schools like Virginia U. and others promoted the use of tablets in classroom environments with good success.
The big problem with tablets have been threefold:
a) Convertibles - they work as laptops, and as such remove the incentive of changing your ways of bad computing.
b) Producers of tablets only want a "presence", but really don't care much about the market, which can be seen by how the tablets are (not being) marketed.
c) Operating ENVIRONMENT. ( Not Operating System! ). What a tablet truly needs is an operating environment. That is the ecosystem of a specific OS and its applications. Where Windows "failed" (it really didn't, it just never caught on) in bringing desktop computing to the tablet, as will the iPad fail in bringing a cell-phone system to the tablet.
The market in-between is still unconquered and ripe for a good solution. Android with its roots on the desktop, but having shed its fugly window manager, may have a fighting chance. But there is still some definite room for improvement.
There is however a very large user-base, especially in the states. Schools like Virginia U. and others promoted the use of tablets in classroom environments with good success.
Great comment kisa, iPad is not for geeks ! But you know what ? Most people are not geeks either and most of them are tired to periodically need some geek fix !
If you don't like the product, fine, just don't buy it ! But don't make Ballmer style predictions (remember ? it doesn't have a keyboard ... HA HA HA ... I like our stratey, I like a lot LOL) that nobody will buy it. It will be greater than the iPhone !
Oh, and don't hold your breath for the open source, 10GHz, 1TB flash, dual graphics, 20h of battery, 1.1 pounds, 7 USB, BluRay, LTE, WiMax, HD radio, 1080p 3D at 120 Hz, slide-out keyboard, 1/4 inches thick tablet for $9.99 either !
If you don't like the product, fine, just don't buy it ! But don't make Ballmer style predictions (remember ? it doesn't have a keyboard ... HA HA HA ... I like our stratey, I like a lot LOL) that nobody will buy it. It will be greater than the iPhone !
Oh, and don't hold your breath for the open source, 10GHz, 1TB flash, dual graphics, 20h of battery, 1.1 pounds, 7 USB, BluRay, LTE, WiMax, HD radio, 1080p 3D at 120 Hz, slide-out keyboard, 1/4 inches thick tablet for $9.99 either !
I am not using a lot my iPod because of the screen size and I hate to carry on a laptop everywhere. The iPad should be seen as a device so you don't care or need to use it as a laptop replacement. A laptop in the portable world will always be the bigger screen with a real keyboard and connectivity with a full Os because it will be used to do some real work. Nettops are an awful need and transition. They suck because they are cheap underpowered laptops.
The iPad is not for me right now, but I can't deny that if "I have the money" in maybe 1 or 2 years I could find one useful. I agree with the screen size reduction to 9' or even 7' and I want a wide screen format.
The reason is I want a very light device that could be powered up instantly to check the internet and do manny things. Occasional gaming is good, internet gaming, even if for two minutes and this device needs to have its own Os. I want to carry manny of every kind of media and files and why not plug it to a projector or big screen to show a presentation or video. A full range of apps is a most even if a use them once or twice. I am sure the iPad will do all this and be all this in a few month or maybe a year. I don't care if it is from Apple or from HP or Dell... A bigger and better iPod is fine.
The iPad is not for me right now, but I can't deny that if "I have the money" in maybe 1 or 2 years I could find one useful. I agree with the screen size reduction to 9' or even 7' and I want a wide screen format.
The reason is I want a very light device that could be powered up instantly to check the internet and do manny things. Occasional gaming is good, internet gaming, even if for two minutes and this device needs to have its own Os. I want to carry manny of every kind of media and files and why not plug it to a projector or big screen to show a presentation or video. A full range of apps is a most even if a use them once or twice. I am sure the iPad will do all this and be all this in a few month or maybe a year. I don't care if it is from Apple or from HP or Dell... A bigger and better iPod is fine.
At my doctors office they carry around some form of laptop with a touchscreen and a stylus hanging on a string. I've been in there twice recently and they did a lot on the machine WITH the stylus, and without ever using the keyboard. This kind of function could be performed with a tablet.
I have an Asus T91MT. And while I do find myself wishing for a bit more horsepower under the hood, it is otherwise a good user experience. I find the tablet configuration useful and useable during a lot of casual web browsing, note-taking (OneNote or Evernote), e-mail checking, etc. I do like having the option to switch to a trackpad/keyboard for other activities.
My feeling is that a physical keyboard is still highly desirable, but a virtual one can work for short entries.
The tablet market is certainly poised to move forward as reasonable computing power is combined with battery life and portability (weight, WiFi/3G/etc.). The question of interface and the user experience remains to be seen. While I like using finger gestures and touch navigation, there is still a significant place for the stylus. When working in tablet form, it is not the Windows7 interface/setup which gets me reaching for the stylus nearly as often as the webpage design.
My feeling is that a physical keyboard is still highly desirable, but a virtual one can work for short entries.
The tablet market is certainly poised to move forward as reasonable computing power is combined with battery life and portability (weight, WiFi/3G/etc.). The question of interface and the user experience remains to be seen. While I like using finger gestures and touch navigation, there is still a significant place for the stylus. When working in tablet form, it is not the Windows7 interface/setup which gets me reaching for the stylus nearly as often as the webpage design.
I'm starting to see more prototypes of tablets with 10" screens and similar specs as many netbooks, some even claiming to be in the sub-$200 bracket (one was estimated for $100). And they have nothing to do with apple or MS. Most are ARM cpu based, which MS has no support for... but they are running android and/or some other form of linux (like a modified Ubuntu remix). They have the common connections needed (plug in a usb keyboard and/or mouse if you need it). Don't expect them to be like netbooks, think of them more as, a portable media device plus a little, that is open source and handles all the about any file formats that linux can use (which is quite a bit), and can surf the internet.
Tablet PCs don't suck at all. It's just that they are a very specialized tool which most people don't need.
I'm a professional illustrator, and I've been working with a Toshiba Tablet PC for a year now and it has absolutely transformed the way I make artwork in very positive ways. -Imagine having a single paintbrush which can do ANYTHING you want. It's a pencil, an airbrush, an oil/water/acrylic brush with a unlimited paint set and an UNDO button. And I can send my artwork directly to press without having to muck around with scanners and other annoying steps which degrade artwork.
But an airbrush, for instance, is totally useless in the hands of somebody who just wants to surf the web and answer emails. What point is there? One of the real strengths of the Tablet PC is in its strength as a universal art tool.
Saying "Tablet PCs suck" is like saying screw drivers suck because they can't hammer in nails.
I'm just happy that the laptop manufacturing world made a mistake and built factories for making Tablets in the misguided notion that everybody would want one. This made it possible for me to buy one at a reasonable price. If they'd known at the outset how limited a market it was going to be, I doubt they'd have spent the R&D money!
I'm a professional illustrator, and I've been working with a Toshiba Tablet PC for a year now and it has absolutely transformed the way I make artwork in very positive ways. -Imagine having a single paintbrush which can do ANYTHING you want. It's a pencil, an airbrush, an oil/water/acrylic brush with a unlimited paint set and an UNDO button. And I can send my artwork directly to press without having to muck around with scanners and other annoying steps which degrade artwork.
But an airbrush, for instance, is totally useless in the hands of somebody who just wants to surf the web and answer emails. What point is there? One of the real strengths of the Tablet PC is in its strength as a universal art tool.
Saying "Tablet PCs suck" is like saying screw drivers suck because they can't hammer in nails.
I'm just happy that the laptop manufacturing world made a mistake and built factories for making Tablets in the misguided notion that everybody would want one. This made it possible for me to buy one at a reasonable price. If they'd known at the outset how limited a market it was going to be, I doubt they'd have spent the R&D money!
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