Archive for the ‘Slate Tablet PCs’ Category

Motion Computing have today announced a major revamp of the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant and the F5 Field Tool. I personally use a C5 for my day to day tableteering, so I’m quite excited about this update.

The Motion C5v is of course commonly used in the healthcare sector while the Motion F5v can be found in field service sectors like construction, mining and emergency services.

The C5v and F5v have retained the successful MCA form factor as well as the exceptional Hydis AFFS+ reflective and transflective display and the recently added super tough Corning Gorilla Glass.

Highlights of the revamp include:

• A choice between Intel Core i5 and i7 processors (battery life v performance)
• 4Gb DDR RAM
• Gobi 2000 global mobile broadband option with standalone GPS
• MIL 810G ruggedness certification (up from 810F)
• 30% better battery life, now up to 5 hours
• Hot swappable batteries (up to 5 minute runtime without a battery)
• Intel vPro™ for advanced remote management (even from a fully powered off state)
• New front facing webcam for video conferencing and an upgraded 3mp rear cam
• A USB port – sorely missed on the current C5 and F5

This revamp will massively increase performance over the Core 2 even on the i5 model thanks to the new front side bus and DDR 3 support. Unlike other MCAs and field slates that use Intel Atom processors, the C5 and F5 has enough power to replace a laptop or desktop.

What I personally like about the F5 is that it is very mobile, based around a 10.1” screen, but it still has the power to be my mobile office. When I’m in the office, I have it docked with an external screen and keyboard and I use it like a multi-display desktop.

The combination of a fully operating Windows 7, Office 2010 (especially OneNote and Outlook) makes the F5 more than just a companion device. It much smaller and lighter than most laptops, and you can just grab it and go without limitations… And that’s what I want from a full time slate computer!

HP have added some fuel to the ongoing Adobe and Apple flame wars with a new video jointly created with Adobe and spoken by one of their marketing team.

One of the things that does bug me on the iPhone is the lack of flash support. The reason that it bugs me is that it completely limits the viewing of websites like YouTube. Yes, “there is an app for that”, but as the video here points out users should not have to be thinking about apps all the time – besides the YouTube app on the iPhone is unreliable and very limited in my experience.

So with Flash Player on the HP Slate device,  I’m able to access the full web and not just a part of it. – Alan Tam, Adobe Flash Marketing

Fortunately as you will see in the following video, soon we will have a consumer oriented slate device that will support flash in the HP Slate.

After my fantastic experience with Windows 7 multi-touch on the Fujitsu T4310, T900 and HP Tm2, I think it is definitely worth passing over the iPad to wait for a real consumer slate that acts just like my PC.

HP has been developing their new Slate Tablet for 5 years now, and we finally can get a better look at it via a special update from HP.

What we do know is that the HP Slate:

• Runs Windows 7
• Has a 10” multi-touch screen
• Is designed for viewing media
• Runs flash!

According to this video, HP has been holding back on the Slate for two years now to make sure that you could afford it!

We’re looking forward to getting our hands on the HP Slate soon!

Australia woke up to news this morning that the much anticipated Apple Tablet has been launched. Overturning all expectations, the Apple Tablet – for years known in some circles as a unicorn – is called the iPad and not the iSlate.

In form, the iPad is very much what Tablet users have been wanting for a long time. It is ultra-thin at just 1.3 cm thick, and weighs around 700 grams – about the same as the weight as the Viliv X70 UMPC.

iPad is based on the iPhone OS which will give the device the benefit of simplicity. Imagine the iPad like a large iPod touch with 3G options. There are no voice call capabilities, and there is no webcam. We wonder wether Google talk – famously banned from the iPhone app store for blurring the lines of the Apple / AT&T contract in the US – will be allowed on the iPad.

As long time iPhone users we know that the iPad will lack serious field input capabilities like digitiser driven handwriting recognition – which is now at least twice as fast as virtual keyboard input. That tells us that the device is squarely aimed at content consumption rather than creation.

Essentially, the iPad will make a great colour eBook reader, basic web browser (minus flash content) and email viewer. As we have experienced for many years now with UMPCs and Tablets, these features are hard to live without once you have experienced them.

From early news, some of the groundbreaking features of the iPad are:

• Long battery life – up to 10 hours claimed
• Access to iPhone Apps – Apparently all 140,000 of them
• Simple, sleek, thin and light weight design.
• Crystal clear wide viewing screen – allows up to 178 degree viewing angles – important for a good Tablet reading experience
• Apples usual smooth multi-touch functionality
• Great line of accessories including an attachable physical keyboard and protective portfolio case.

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On early details, there is still some work to be done to bring this device to the masses:

• On screen keyboard – Great auto correction, but frustrating to navigate to symbols and features that you would find on a normal keyboard. It appears that apple have stuck very closely to the iPhone Virtual Keyboard design Microsoft do this well in the Tablet Input Panel with quick access to localised common typing commands like .com and .au.
• Glossy screen – Judging by the video the screen is very reflective and glossy which makes viewing difficult, particularly in common business environments like fluoro lighting and outdoors.
• Oddly in a world awash with widescreen, the iPad has a standard aspect 4:3 screen with 1024×768 resolution.
• No webcam.
• No stylus, note taking or handwriting input – A pressure sensitive digitiser is more accurate and handwriting is about twice as fast as virtual keyboard input. Note taking is what makes a Tablet most useful and this is missing on the iPad.
• No ruggedness ratings – One thing we know for sure is that even Tablets used purely at home take much more of beating over time than a laptop does. We have seen countless broken screens and peripherals. Although the device does include solid state storage, a serious field Tablet needs to be rugged to last.
• Limited storage – storage is from 16Gb – 64Gb depending on model selected. Great for basics, but more storage is often needed.
• No freedom – one of the biggest drawbacks of the iPhone OS is the restriction on accessing your own content like video and audio files directly. Everything must be funnelled through iTunes or the App Store, meaning that you can not just plug in your files and go like you can with a windows based Tablet.

Apple Australia’s website carries no mention of the iPad leading us to expect a long delay before we see the device in Australia. Once it does arrive though, well be sure to get one and bring you a hands on review.

For many consumers, tomorrow’s launch of an Apple Tablet represents the birth of a new category of computing. But, what we known today as the Tablet PC has been making waves for a long time now.

Microsoft loyalists may think of the 2001 launch of Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition as the beginning of the Tablet PC while many apple fans will point to the “before its time” Apple Newton of the early ‘90s.

But in his recent article in Information Week, Dr Conrad Blickenstorfer of RuggedPCReview.com points out that Tablet PCs have been around much longer than you think and gives us a lesson in Tablet PC history.

…current coverage has been in creating the impression that Microsoft invented tablet computers in 2001, rewriting history in the process. Fact is, slate and tablet computers have been around for a good 20 years, and in 1991, there was as much hype about slates as we have today.

As it turns out, pen computing has been around for a long time and this isn’t the first time it’s hit the news either. But with the runaway success of the iPhone, tomorrow (our time) could be the birth of a Tablet PC for the masses – courtesy of Apple.

It would be hard to believe that there has ever been a more anticipated computer product release… We’ll wait and see exactly what Apple will have for us, and we’ll be especially relieved if it is actually a Tablet PC! Whatever it is we hope that Apple release the product in Australia within a reasonable timeframe.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduced a new HP slate Tablet PC at this weeks CES Show in Las Vegas USA. HP have published a little teaser video, but not much more information just yet:

Welcome HP and others back into the real Tablet PC market! This year you will be spoilt for choice in buying a Tablet PC.