Upcoming tablets

[dmaul1114]

Can't say I care about hand writing recognition. My hand writing is absolutely terrible, so I'd have to write so slow to be neat enough for the software to have any chance accurately recognizing it that it would probably be slower than even an on screen keyboard.

But I'd do very, very little text entry on a tablet. Just URLs in the web browser and maybe occasionally respond to e-mails that just need a one line response.

Any writing required tasks would still get done on my laptop or desktop.

Hand writing is pretty much dead for me anyway. I mostly don't remember cursive, and pretty much the only times I write anything by hand are scribbling notes to myself, or writing feedback on student papers I'm grading.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

A TV without VGA?

Yep. 50" Sony E2000 series rear projection LCD TV I bought a couple years back on close out. Has HDMI, Component, S video and composite inputs, but not VGA.

Wasn't a big selling factor for me as I don't watch a lot of streaming video and have no real interest in a home theater PC (I'll always have cable/satellite), and I couldn't pass up the deal on it for $999.99 at the time which was a great deal for a 50" HDTV at the time.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

... I think most people will use on-screen or external keyboards on tablets rather than handwriting. With word prediction features, etc. keyboards are just too far ahead. So I dare say you are part of a relatively small minority in the West today....

Hm, have you ever been to a meeting...?

Physical keyboard is a no-no (noise), on-screen keyboard would be way to slow and you have to stare at the screen.

So if there is a great solution to scribble on screen, it would be welcomed by many. If not, sales of yellow pads will continue booming.

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, I'd probably stick with paper for notes in meetings even if I got a tablet. My handwriting is so bad (and seldom used--even in meetings) I doubt I could read anything I wrote on a tablet anyway.

So I'll just keep grabbing legal pads from the copy room.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

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?

I would guess it would appeal to the kind of people who also buy digital picture frames, I don't get them either, but the market exists.

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

All the buzz they might have been, but the profit margins on them have never been very good, its one reason why the screen size continues to creep up as there's more scope for them to increase their margins if they move to a less crowded segment of the market.

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.

Apple are a spearate issue since they have chosen to limit their range, but sony haven't walked away from making light weight hardware with long battery life, what they have actually done is avoided the potential to harm sales of their more expensive and slightly more powerful ultraportables by not releasing a netbook.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by dmikov

Since it's not available till 4/29 nobody could. I for one will buy it, since I like the idea of alarm, photo frame and pandora radio sitting next to my bed.

There are other similar ideas such as the chumby or the o2 joggler that all have similar ideas, I guess in some ways it is a logical next step up from digital picture frames.

[Cryogaijin]

Am I the only one excited about the Adam? The Tegra 2 should be powerful enough to run most video, and the screen tech looks like it might be the perfect mix of quality and low power.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Cryogaijin

Am I the only one excited about the Adam? The Tegra 2 should be powerful enough to run most video, and the screen tech looks like it might be the perfect mix of quality and low power.

Yes it'll probably be nice, if it ever becomes a real product.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yeowch. That is one fugly website. For someone emphasizing the value of visual presentation, the website is almost comically bad.

The 90s called, they want their website back...

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yes it'll probably be nice, if it ever becomes a real product.

I like it as well, I'm also interested in what Google is working on. If either of them can come up with something that meets most of the specs their tossing about I'd be very interested in purchasing.

I'd love to try a handwriting feature that I could then convert into type for inclusion in, or as the basis of, project specs and the like.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Cryogaijin

Am I the only one excited about the Adam? The Tegra 2 should be powerful enough to run most video, and the screen tech looks like it might be the perfect mix of quality and low power.

I said in the 2nd post in this thread that the Adam and Google were the ones I had the highest hopes for.

I'm skeptical on Adam since it's a new screen tech and a new company making it--but it does look promising from early mock ups etc.

But we'll see how battery life, the user interface, the responsivity of the touch screen, the screen quality for video etc. compare to the iPad and other tablets.