Upcoming tablets

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

I'd be more interested in a device that just let's me read .... !

Without all the bells, balls and braces; it might be possible to produce something that is more affordable...

Yeah it'd be nice to have a device that does reading well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for just such a device in the future. It may be a long time before it appears though.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

There is one very significant brand name missing out of all this ... Sony. While their cell-phone partnership with Ericsson is putting out Android devices -- The Xperia X10 just coming to market now and a very fine device it ... Sony's fine line of premium laptops is missing both the lower end netbook market and now the tablets too.

They haven't completely ignored the low-end internet appliance market as they have that sony dash thing, but you have to assume their reasoning for not having anything in the netbook market is similar to that of apple, they have a mostly premium brand and there isn't much scope to take advantage of that with a netbook where margins are tight. Tablets, whether they are windows or android based would seem like a smart move for sony since the margins are higher.

[Steven Lake]

Hey, great list! Over at Raiden's Realm we've got a few of those on our "to be reviewed" list. If we get them, I'll be sure to link the reviews here.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

What I'm hoping for is an affordable tablet, not necessarily a full PC, that's able to perform many of the basic PC functions such as word processing. An iPad that's cheaper, lighter, and plays well with others (a more open system).

Same. I basically just want an iPad with a slightly bigger screen (to handle A4 PDFs a bit better) and a real file management system.

I don't want a tablet for computing---just reading (pdfs, comics, magazines and some novels), surfing the net, watching streaming video in bed etc.

The iPad came damn close--a lot more than I thought it would, so I have high hopes that something that suits my needs will be out in the next year or so.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

I'd be more interested in a device that just let's me read .... !

Without all the bells, balls and braces; it might be possible to produce something that is more affordable...

Then you don't need a tablet, and just one of the many e-reader devices discussed on this forum.

Threads like these are more for us who want tablets as e-readers are too limited for us (i.e. the few of us on here who aren't avid readers) and want something with all the other bells and whistles so we can get more use out of it than we can something that just let's us read.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by rakulos

There's also the Hanvon BC10C, looking good though the battery life needs improving on big time...

I am quite happy with Windows 7 ... but I would not fork out close to $1,000 on a 10" touch tablet running it. I get far better value out of $400 netbook. This is why I think the sub $500 tablets running Android might help create a paradigm shift. But virtually none of these tablets is quite on the market yet. So we'll all just have to bank the interest on that cash burning holes in various wallets worldwide a few weeks longer.

[CyGuy]

I am interested in the HP Slate the most, with the WePad coming in second. Actually, if the WePad can run Windows 7, that would be my first choice. The Notion Ink might also get some attention from me when it is released. Man, it sure is a good time to be in the market for a tablet, lots of promising devices on the horizon!

[Graham]

I'm interested in the WePad, but I noticed something today. Has anyone seen a picture or video of the WePad yet with the screen in portrait mode? At the moment everything seems to be landscape.

Graham

[dmaul1114]

yeah a lot of tablets seem to be going with 16:9 or close screens. Will be great for movies and web browsing, but suck for things designed for potrait mode.

The iPad got the screen ratio right IMO--4:3 screens work great in portrait and landscape mode. I don't mind black bars for wide screen video as you're holding it so close anyway. And I wouldn't do a ton of video watching on a tablet anyway. It would mainly be a reader and net surfer for me.

[Jadon]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

The iPad got the screen ratio right IMO--4:3 screens work great in portrait and landscape mode.

I don't see 16:9 as inherently ill-suited to reading. Legal-size paper has a 1.65 ratio, after all, solidly between 1.33 and 1.77. Though 14:9 would cut the difference evenly. Size and weight matter, yes, but ratio is pretty flexible. Very high ratios just mean text is better presented in a two-page layout, or even as several columns, when viewed landscape mode.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Jadon

I don't see 16:9 as inherently ill-suited to reading. Legal-size paper has a 1.65 ratio, after all, solidly between 1.33 and 1.77. Though 14:9 would cut the difference evenly. Size and weight matter, yes, but ratio is pretty flexible. Very high ratios just mean text is better presented in a two-page layout, or even as several columns, when viewed landscape mode.

It matters when you have a lot of A4 material you want to read.

And it matters for apps--if you want apps to work in both portrait and landscape ration like they do on the ipad, that's near impossible for many things with a 16:9 ratio as it's just too narrow in portrait for things designed for landscape and vice versa--compared to a 4:3 ratio.

In any case, both have their pros and cons. I personally won't consider a wide screen tablet. My ideal is a 8.5" x 11" screen personally.

[Crowl]

A4 is hardly ideal on 4:3 either and with a multifunction device you have to consider the various uses with 4:3 being particularly useless for video.

Probably the ideal ratio for a tablet would be something like 16:10 or 14:9, but that would push up costs since neither is commonly used for some odd reason.

[dmaul1114]

4:3 is hardly useless for video. I've watched several 16:9 tv shows on my girlfriend's iPad and had no problems. I'm used to black bars from years of watching DVDs on 4:3 TVs, and still plenty of movies have black bars on 16:9 TVs when they're shot in a wider aspect ration like 2:35:1. I just don't see that as a big deal.

On the iPad I think the ratio does a pretty good job with A4 files--at least can use landscape mode as the text is a bit small in portrait mode.. And I love that the apps all work fine in portrait or land scape mode--which is tough to do with a really wide/narrow screen. So I'd really like a 4:3 screen, but 11-12" instead of 9.7--as then most A4 docs I have would be fine in portrait mode.

That would suit my needs perfectly. Is it ideal for video? No, but I'd seldom use it for that as I'd mostly rather stream video on my 15" laptop or just watch it in glorious HD on my 50" HDTV (and I don't travel all that much). A tablet I by would mainly get used for reading, net surfing and random apps.

Not saying 16:9 tablets are useless--they've very useful for people who mainly want them for internet surfing and video. They just don't fit my needs very well. But that's why we'll have a wide array of different screen types--everyone can find the tablet that fits their needs.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

In any case, both have their pros and cons. I personally won't consider a wide screen tablet. My ideal is a 8.5" x 11" screen personally.

These modern tablets frequently field decent processors, and scroll is smooth. Paired with multi-touch scrolling gestures, I wonder how convenient/inconvenient would be a landscape (fit to width) view of the letter/A4 PDF document.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Ankh

These modern tablets frequently field decent processors, and scroll is smooth. Paired with multi-touch scrolling gestures, I wonder how convenient/inconvenient would be a landscape (fit to width) view of the letter/A4 PDF document.

Not bad at all.

Scrolling and zooming on the iPad is very good so I don't mind reading A4 PDFs on it as much as I thought I would. It's not ideal, but much less painful than scrolling on a lattop, slow e-ink device like a Kindle DX etc.

I'd prefer the whole page, but land scape is doable. Make the screen 4:3 and 11-12" and most stuff I have would be readable in portrait mode, so that's more what I'm hoping for. Then I can just use landscape for some multi column articles with small fonts etc.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Crowl

They haven't completely ignored the low-end internet appliance market as they have that sony dash thing, but you have to assume their reasoning for not having anything in the netbook market is similar to that of apple, they have a mostly premium brand and there isn't much scope to take advantage of that with a netbook where margins are tight. Tablets, whether they are windows or android based would seem like a smart move for sony since the margins are higher.

With respect, besides you (and now me) no one in this blessed world has ever heard of, seen in real life or possibly actually bought, the Sony Dash. Remind me: what is the point of this device?

Netbooks, OTOH, have been in market since CES 2008 when they were "all the buzz" at the January Las Vegas meet up and ASUS was leading the parade. An entire class of computing has emerged since and most major brand names have climbed onboard ... Sony and Apple being significant "no shows". There is (profitable) room between -- well, nothing, and "clunky" laptops -- where Internet mobility and physical portability are more important than a requirement to edit videos with the latest release of Adobe Premiere or being able to have the fastest smokin' CPU and video chips in order to play online games and crush all comers.

Jeez ... some of us really like light weight, long battery life, basic web and e-mail access in a small form factor that fits in the in-room safe while we're on holiday ... and in a pinch runs familiar software and can make a full VPN connection back to the office. And this is the market that Apple and Sony have walked away from; and Dell and a few others, are taking wait 'n' see. Meanwhile newish players like ASUS, and established players like HP, are reaping profits and locking in new customer relationships.

I see the new tablet space as the next playground and, in this instance, Apple may be kick-starting the playing field but has a lot of baggage which may prevent it from winning the game. This is not iTunes déjà vu. Apple believes the "low-end" tablet will cannibalize sales of pricier Macs and seeks to "cripple" iPad accordingly. It is supremely missing the point of what tablets brings to the party: mid-price, mid-range capabilities. Tablets are about playback; netbooks about contributing content -- why should playback only be priced at a premium? But that is Apple's view.

It has to be said Microsoft shares this view to some extent -- although it is more flexible. It wants to put Windows -- CE, XP, 7 -- onto every screen. Its biggest challenge is -- in spite of an incredible pool of talent -- Microsoft so far has not been able to develop any OS that truly embraces a touch screen. And that provides Android an opening as it takes a page from Apple's book and tries to expand the mobile phone OS onto larger -- but not too large -- screens. The biggest risk to Microsoft is Google's Android (or is it Chromium?) makes the leap from small screen (as in 7" to 12") to big screen (as in 52" HD TV) and bypasses the laptop/desktop altogether.

What would the world look like if: Apple and Android owned the mobile phone; Android and Apple owned the tablet; netbooks were owned by Microsoft but consumers were content with tablets?; Microsoft owned the laptop/desktop; and Android/Chromium/Logitech took over (the interface to) the big screen?

E-readers become a footnote here: a Lieutenant Kijé in a battle far above his rank. And that, too, isn't a bad thing: since e-reading for now remains about, well, reading -- and not video or live chat or social media. Perhaps e-ink and its successors can focus on just presenting the texts, ma'am.