GearWERKZ TechBlog

Thanks CES. There have been more Tablet discussions than I can keep up with. And I mean generic Tablets...Tablets being rolled out by all of the manufacturers. No, the Apple Tablet is not the only Tablet being released on the planet. One of the more productive conversations I was involved in was over on Carrypad.com. Productive for me anyway, because in ruminating upon my response, I finally came full circle to defining my specific needs for a Tablet. And here they be:

Follow up:

"Of course no one asked me, but IMO: 7″, should support both landscape and portrait VKBs (would be great if display tech would allow a light enough touch for you to tap-type with one hand while you held it with your other hand); desktop display should allow something like OS X’s Spaces but be “swipe-able” like WebOS; a little nub-arm prop like the ones that come with the iMo 7″ USB sub-monitors but that snaps into a recessed cavity on the back of the device would be great for watching video. Protecting the screen? A chemically-hardened screen like on the HP 2730p EliteBook? (but then maybe the display is not so bright-and-shiny; I could stomach that knowing that you could take a baton to my screen and it wouldn’t break, but the mainstream user wants a glossy screen).

It does not matter to me if this device comes from Apple or someone else. I just need a slate-style companion device that has a 7″ screen, has a decent VKB and allows a USB KB plug-in, allows me to view and edit any MS. Office docs, and lets me both consume media and create/produce content on the go. Not a tall order, is it.
– Zeux..>> (from my Palm Pre)"

In the recent days, I have added that this device MUST support inking. If I can't pick the thing up and scrawl a quick digital post-it, then I have no use for it. And the OS, whatever it is, must allow me to access and interact with iGoogle (Docs and Calendar specifically), Evernote, and allow me to create and post a blog article.

So my fear is that only Windows-based Tablets are going to support the inking (Come on, Microsoft, where and when is Courier?!). Why the other OS vendors choose to ignore this capability is beyond me. The Entourage Edge is apparently going to support it, but I am not sure that it's implementation will be robust enough to make for an effective degree of productivity. John Hill (from TabletPCBuzz), Sumocat (GottaBeMobile), and I seem to be on the same page. While the bulk of potential Tablet consumers want a device for consumption, I need a device that permits productivity as well.

My largest fear is that as devices are designed for the mainstream user, the power user will get left behind. The Tablets that are about to be deployed will likely, in the majority, fall short of the features most needed by mobile professionals and gear-heads. This has already begun to occur in the smartphone space. Hopefully some of the more business oriented companies (Microsoft, HP, Lenovo) will stay the course and offer the devices that some of us need.
- Vr/Zeuxidamas..>>