Quote:
Originally Posted by petermillard
I'll agree with you up to that point, though I think the reasons you cite are not the ones I'd choose. The tablets we've had so far have simply haven't been good enough on any front - too big, too clunky, too power-hungry - too much like cut-down PCs with removable/hidden keyboards, frankly.
A tablet needs to be better than that. I use a Moleskine-sized notebook for all my work-related notes and sketches, and I'd replace it in a heartbeat for a similar sized tablet that let me do similar work, for one reason alone; backup. But it needs to work properly, with a decent set of tools accessed through a UI designed for the device, not ported across from a general-purpose PC - something that nobody's attempted recently...
As for the 'death' of e-ink, why does it have to be one thing or the other? I have an e-ink reader which I like and find appropriate for many things; I also read paperbacks or hardbacks when they're give to me (don't really buy them these days) and read occasionally on my iPhone when convenient. If I had a tablet, I may also read on that (if the screen's decent, and I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't...) just like I did with an iPaq, and a Palm PDA before that.
Dedicated e-ink devices vs multi-purpose tablets is a non-argument, IMHO <shrug>
Cheers, Pete.
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Excellent look at the real reasons...I would also add that there has yet to be an OS with a UI that leverages the tablet concept as something different than a PC w/o things tethered to it. The closest device design I have found is from TabletKiosk and their Sahara 440i model. but price and the whole OS issue made it kinda pointless compared to what sort of business build laptop I could buy for 1/2 to 1/3 the price.
Something else is nobody had developed anything better than a keyboard for data entry. Hand written notes are fine for simple things, but when writing a report, book or whatever as long as it's more than a few pages, I can type it out faster and easier than using a pen device. In my mind a tablet should be along the lines of a large PDA with the ability to use wireless peripherals in the event one wants to more desktop sort of apps.
I actually think that the evolution of the ebook reading device has caused businesses to revisit the whole idea of how using tablet PC might actually improve many aspects of productivity. Still, the $3000ish entry point for real Slate PC's is far too much considering the cost of the components. Not when a top notch business build laptop is just over 50% of that...