What Do You Think About Tablet Computers?

[wcc]

I have a ipad that works nice for email and surfing the web. I never tried it for documents. But I've connected to websites that say I need adobe or adobe flash and I go to their site and it says it's not compatible with my device. So that sucks, unless someone knows a way to get it work that I don't. It will NEVER replace a laptop or desktop but it sure is nice to travel with as it's so slim and light.

[Halm]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Except the Slate which is Win 7 Pro.

And I think that the Slate has the little video card built in for decoding. It also has the hardware for 3G direct, but no way to open the back, without voiding warranty.

Right you are again. The Slate does all of that. As a matter of fact, it is really a modern laptop in a tablet format.

And it is probably a one off product. It exists only because HP and MS make a big deal about it at the 2009 CES and followed through with it. Over the last year, however, the market winds dramatically changed directions. Because HP bought Palm, from their new perspective, everything is now WebOS based. For MS, they are talking about better touch screen capabilities and Windows 8 is the tablet OS of choice.

Anyway, I'd love to use one for a couple of weeks and see how it compares to our Galaxy Tab.

[masraum]

I have a ipad that works nice for email and surfing the web. I never tried it for documents. But I've connected to websites that say I need adobe or adobe flash and I go to their site and it says it's not compatible with my device. So that sucks, unless someone knows a way to get it work that I don't. It will NEVER replace a laptop or desktop but it sure is nice to travel with as it's so slim and light.

Steve Jobs refuses to put flash support in the Apple stuff.

Android supports flash.

I think android is better than Apple.

[red-beard]

How much do the Android tablets cost?

[Halm]

The best Android tablet today is the Galaxy Tab, sold through the various cell carriers. About $600 without data contract. The soon to be released Xoom is rumored to be a couple of hundred more. FWIW, we paid $350 + 2 year contract with T-Mobile.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

The nook I'm typing this on cost me 250 clams.

[wcc]

Originally Posted by masraum

Steve Jobs refuses to put flash support in the Apple stuff.

Android supports flash.

I think android is better than Apple.

That is stupid! Android sounds better to me too. This is my first apple product and it may be my last..... However, it is doing mostly what I want it to do right now...

[red-beard]

If there is a Wifi Tablet which supports flash for about $250, I'll buy one for my wife in a second. She would use it for light surfing and reading. $499 is way too much.

[masraum]

Quote de masraum

Steve Jobs refuses to put flash support in the Apple stuff.



Android supports flash.



I think android is better than Apple.

That is stupid! Android sounds better to me too. This is my first apple product and it may be my last..... However, it is doing mostly what I want it to do right now...

I love my ipad, but I have no desire to own any other Apple products.

[rvanderpyl]

What is the battery life like on the slate, I can go a whole day of browsing emailing etc on the IPad which is what makes it perfect for me as a portable device.

[rvanderpyl]

Jobs refused to support both Flash and Java because he felt that they were both too memory and processor intensive and would make the IPad look bad when running them. I have to admit the the application I have the most trouble with when browsing with my PC is Flash, and any app that wants to update itself almost daily for security fixes isn't exactly a favorite of mine. I could really care less about Flash availability as I seldom use sites that really rely heavily on it, on the other hand I would have really liked to have Java support as it would have made the IPad far more business friendly.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by rvanderpyl

What is the battery life like on the slate, I can go a whole day of browsing emailing etc on the IPad which is what makes it perfect for me as a portable device.

I haven't run out yet. I expect it is 5-6 hours continuos. If you stop using it, it will sleep and hibernate. Sleep = instant on. Hibernate = 20 seconds.

BTW I'm using it for this surfing.

[jyl]

I love our iPad for reading, but for writing the onscreen keyboard is just not a real keyboard. For writing more than a few sentences, I reach for the notebook or netbook. I'm going to download dragon dictation to see if that works.

[jyl]

So, I am dictating this using Dragon dictation for the iPad. I am not going to edit the results in anyway. It is a free app, that you have to download to your computer first before sinking to the iPad. You launch Dragon dictation, dictate your text, then copy and paste it into your application, safari in this case. In Dragon dictation, you can bring up the keyboard correct things, which I am not doing. The processing takes place on the server, your voice file is sent over the Internet and return as text. The app does not work if you're not online. It seems to work about as well as voice recognition in windows seven. However, I do not think you can control the iPad using voice, or edit your dictation using voice. Until Apple integrates voice recognition into the iPads operating system, control will not be possible. I would like to see voice recognition, and handwriting recognition, integrated into the iPad at some point. The current processor may not be powerful enough, but the greater obstacle is probably Apple's desire for every feature to be very polished before it is released. That is interesting, you can dictate' and then S, and dragon dictation knows what to do. You also dictate punctuation.

[Hugh R]

John, that is pretty amazing, do you say "comma" or "period" or does it put it in for you? I just bought an iPad for $750 delivered (WiFi and 3G with 16 Gig). I like it, but maybe I should have looked closer at the slates and others. My understanding is they don't work with iTunes without some massaging of the video files. That would be an issue for me. I want to download music and video and be done with it. I don't have the time or inclination to have to futz around with 3rd party software. I just want it to work.

[red-beard]

I don't have iTunes on my Slate, no need. But I don't understand why it would work any different than any Win 7 machine.

[Hugh R]

You know James, I hadn't thought of that, it works fine on my Windows computer, so it may not be an issue.

[jyl]

Yes, you simply dictate punctuation and it inserts it; I tried that one: and this one? And that one! And this one. On the other hand, if you actually need to write the text quote, unquote, I am not sure what it does. Let's try. No, that did not work. How about if I spell out the word? COMM hey. Nope, I guess you won't be writing any English grammar textbooks with dragon dictation. How about some Porsche terms? CV joint. Fuel injection. Whale tail. Bill Steen shocks. Well, that was not bad. You should try it out.

[stealthn]

It really depends on what you need. I love apple products but have been holding off of the iPad because I don't really have a use for it. (I did buy a new air though )

I have a ASUS tablet and have been using it for about 3 years. I has a stylus which is key in my opinion. I use it for taking notes on OneNote that gets sync'd back to the servers when I am back in the office, I also do diagrams in Visio so I can show clients designs right on the spot.

It's handy to have a full blown (win7) PC as I use it for VPN'ing in, wireless site surveys and wireless site drawings along with all the office stuff.

The only negative about my ASUS is it only takes 2G of RAM, other than that it's been great.

[porsche4life]

I'm still not sold on the tablets... I was sitting waiting to go to a class the other day and the girl sitting next to me had out her iPad, I had my macbook. Its really not that much more to throw in my backpack and it surfs so much faster. I've got a small laptop, don't see a use for the tablets...