Trades people all know how hard it is to accurately measure and estimate areas. Some incredible software for Tablet PCs can help you to get it right before you even leave the property.

The Apex Nexus software demonstrated below is one of the most intuitive Tablet PC applications that I’ve ever seen. It allows you to quickly and easily sketch lines while adding angles, curves and dimensions.

Importantly, you can quickly calculate accurate area. A trades person with this kind of power could even produce a quote on the spot. Goodbye competition!

With Nexus, you can sketch a house, a plan, a driveway, a window or anything that has lines and measurements. Click on the picture for a video demonstration.

The Nexus software is often used by:

• Property valuers
• Insurance assessors
• Real estate agents
• Construction engineers
• Builders, concreters, pavers, landscapers, carpenters, carpeters, floor installers
• Anybody who needs to measure and quote.

Nexus also works beautifully with Disto Bluetooth laser measuring devices. Amazing stuff!

I’ve had a really great run with the HP TC1100 Tablet PC. It was a fantastic unit, and up until it was cancelled by HP we sold many of them. Just about every managing director that I worked with at the time bought one because it was so cool. We had them in construction, insurance, engineering, sales and project management roles amongst others.

Some of the things that we loved about the HP TC1100 were the:

• A4 sized form factor – it literally was as big as an A4 sheet so it could pass off as a big diary when it was in it’s case
• Docking station
• Detachable swivel keyboard
• Super low weight, 1.2 – 1.6 kg

Time has run it’s course and the TC1100 is now too slow to satisfy my daily Tablet PC needs. It’s time to move on, but I’ve struggled to find an adequate replacement.

The reason that it’s hard to replace the TC1100 is that it was the only hybrid Tablet PC on the market in Australia. With a hybrid you could detach the keyboard completely. So that means that the TC1100 could function as a normal laptop with a keyboard, but also as a pure slate tablet PC.

This gave us the flexibility to choose whether to carry the extra weight around. A very handy option.

So we finally found a replacement. I’ve known about the motion computing LE1600 and LE1700 for some time now, but only recently got to have a closer look. It’s a really nice Tablet PC made by a company that is 100% dedicated to making Tablet PCs.

The clincher for me was the detachable keyboard option. While it’s not a swivel hybrid style option like the Tc1100’s keyboard, it does clip onto the screen of the LE1700. So it’s portable, and it protects the screen while it’s in transit.

The LE1700 is about 1.6kg and it is super thin and super portable. The docking options are brilliant too. The hardware is inline with all of the convertible Tablet PCs on the market, but Motion have their View Anywhere display that works well outside in the sunlight.

This is a brilliant Tablet PC. It’s perfect for anyone who uses a computer outside – think construction, insurance assessors, engineers, architects, supervisors, surveyors…

I’m sold.