PC Tablet

There is a lot of talk about the future Tablet PC from Apple, but Google is also working on producing this new type of media, in cooperation with HTC, as it does for the Nexus One.

Why a tablet?

A controversy has been initiated between two very popular bloggers in the U.S.: Wilcox, who believes that the world does not need a Tablet PC, and TechCrunch, which replicates previous failures do not mean necessarily to a future failure if the technology evolves.

Indeed, the concept of tablet as defined in the new product is different from past experiences: it is based partly on the touchscreen, and also offers a screen quality close enough that of a magazine on paper.

And we can see that this latter quality to be adequate to the success of e-books, including the Amazon Kindle.

For the first quality, it provides a new type of interface to the computer and allows to be dispensed of a keyboard: the tablet PC becomes an alternative to the netbook, lighter, more compact.

It can, thanks to its wide-screen, replace e-books and through an Internet connection to replace a smartphone (for phone or exchanging emails).

Tablet and eBook

Viewed as a computer, the tablet's keyboard does not seem of great interest. Similarly, considered a smartphone it is not very practical either.
It's like e-book that it takes all its interest because it adds to it the qualities of a computer: power and multimedia.

This becomes evident with Notion Ink's Adam. Using the technology of electronic paper Pixel Qi (electronic paper with color and video), it fully meets the universal role that is assigned to this type of device: multitask, long battery life and highlighted reading in book mode, it displays movies up to 1080p.

Apple iPad

Both tablet and eBook, as well as mobile phone using the same system as the iPhone it is a perfect tool to read magazines, with its 24 cm (9.7 inches) touch screen.

iPad, unlike the Kindle supports the open ePub format and the color screen makes the latter obsolete.
For signing a contract with five major U.S. publishers, Apple makes of its tablet  a book reader with a browser for online newspapers.
It has  a Wi-Fi connection for the Web and 3G in option.

His weight is 700 grams for a thickness of 1 cm. With a memory of 16 gigas, it is sold US $ 500.

The pros:

The cons:

According to a study conducted by the site Retrevo, the iPad seduces users but does not motivate the purchase. Most feel they have no use to it. However 300 000 iPad have been sold on the first day of the availability.

The Google tablet

In cooperation with HTC, Google is also working on a project using the new tablet with the  Chrome operating system.
According to the Australian newspaper SmartHouse, this project began 18 months ago and several prototypes have already been produced.
According to other sources, it uses a processor Qualcom and will be available in November 2010 with a Verizon mobile subscription in the USA.

Concepts of the Google’s tablet, on the Chromium site.

WePad

More powerful than the iPad with a screen of 11.6 inches instead of 9.7, this German tablet is a good alternative.
It also weighs 120 g more, a problem for use as a book reader.

Comparison table with iPad.

The Freescale tablet

This American company, which produces SmartBook (PDAs), today announced for the year 2010 a tablet to 200 dollars (160 euros).

It’s a actually a great SmartBook with a 7-inch screen, it will be declined in several colors as shown in the image on the right.
It has a processor with 1 MH, 512 megabytes of memory and microSD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

A more precise description is given by the Freescale website.

Dual-screen tablet

We talked about a draft shelf by Microsoft, called “Courier”, news backed by Gizmodo that would appear as a book with two screens and the interface is a pen for writing or drawing. This project is now officially cancelled by Microsoft.

The principle of dual screen is taken up by MSI: by placing a virtual keyboard on one of two screens, we transform the tablet in netbook. But it will not be available until late 2010.

The Hewlett-Packard tablet.

A Hewlett-Packard tablet was actually presented at CES 2010 by Steve Ballmer, which works with Windows 7, and has the capabilities of a PC, to be used as a smartphone or mobile phone. It has a single screen.

According to TechCrunch, HP has decided to abandon Windows in favor of webOS, which makes sense since the firm has signed a purchase agreement for Palm, the publisher of webOS.
Sorry Mr. Ballmer!

New tablets

Controversy

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