Taken from an email I received informing me of the changes. Overall it looks like a pretty solid update.
Nice little review of the Transformer Prime (TFP) hardware at GigaOM. Make sure to check the game play at around 7:55 in the video. The reviewer plugs an Xbox 360 controller into the USB slot on the keyboard dock and uses it to play Shadow Run. How cool is that.
I really think the hybrid design of the TFP is ideal for many situations, especially for those people that truly want to carry a single device. As much as I like tablets I find that I still need a keyboard for any significant data entry chores, whether it be with a spreadsheet, word processor, etc.
I would really like to see tablet PC manufacturers like Lenovo and Samsung do something similar, i.e. a keyboard dock that increases battery life and folds into a laptop style portfolio with the tablet docked. My dream machine would be a Samsung Series 7 Slate with a laptop dock similar to the TFP. It doesn’t appear that Samsung is interested in such a docking solution, but I’m hopeful that a third party will take the hint and do it anyway.
Dec 222011
Apparently some Medscape mobile users with iOS 5 have had some issues. Below is the content from an email I received earlier today. Not exactly sure what the problem is as the email didn’t actually say. I’d be leery of the application until the fix is applied, which according to the email will be sometime in the first week of January. I’d recommend using something else in the meantime.
Hmm, it looks like we’re going to start seeing more and more Windows 7 slates as the end of the year approaches. The most recent sighting is the the Dell Latitude ST.
According to Tablets Planet the “Latitude ST tablet features a Intel Atom processor, Windows 7, Microsoft Bitlocker, Kensington lock, USB port, SD card slot, HDMI port, and a LCD that features finger multi-touch and a stylus for input, and there are also front and rear-facing cameras for video conferencing (front) and taking photos (rear).”
In addition the Latitude ST claims an 8 hour battery life. This is in line with the battery life claims of the Samsung Series 7 tablet.
Now if I could just get Samsung or Dell to develop a docking solution similar to the Asus Transformer we’d have something.
Oct 142011
It feels like a day doesn’t go by that I don’t receive an email letting me know of something cool for mobile devices. With the ever increasing onslaught of tablet and smartphone use in pharmacy practice it’s only a matter of time before everything will be available in some electronic media format.
In this case it’s ASHP’s Interactive Handbook on Injectable Drugs: IV Decision Support by Lawrence A. Trissel. Every pharmacist working in a hospital pharmacy knows about this reference. And if they don’t then they have a big problem because it’s only one of the most definitive reference sources for IV compatibility. Over the course of my career it’s simply been know as “the Trissel’s”. (kind of like “the Talyst”…just sayin’ – private joke people)
HP decided to discontinue the webOS, which means the TouchPad is no more. I can’t say that I’m totally surprised that it failed, but I am shocked at the speed at which the company pulled the plug. I thought this might happen. I even went as far as to say “the webOS died in 2010” in a post back on December 31, 2010.
I have no idea why HP killed the webOS, but I’m sure we’ll find out more in the weeks to come. The operating system itself was awesome. I personally think it had the best user experience of all the current tablet platforms. I was looking forward to it’s maturation as a mobile computing ecosystem. With that said I think HP failed to offer the smartphone variety necessary to make the HP TouchPad meaningful.
I considered buying a TouchPad, but ultimately decided against it. Like many others I have a host of tablets to chose from these days. Why did I baulk at the TouchPad? Basically it boils down to cost, lack of smartphone choice and the feeling that the TouchPad still had some growing pains to go through. These are the same reasons that lead me to hold off on purchasing many of the early Android tablets.
Good-bye TouchPad. Your death was premature to say the least. Shame on you HP for destroying such a beautiful tablet operating system.
Aug 112011
I’ve been using my rooted Nook Color, a.k.a. FrankenNook, for a couple of months now. Turns out that it makes a great Android tablet. There are a couple of things missing from my little lab experiment, the most glaring of which is a camera, but overall it’s given me a nice travel companion with great functionality and solid battery life.
The most common uses for the device to date have been:
- Games – hands down the activity that I use the tablet for most. Favorite games include Drag Racing, Pinball Ride and Peggle
- Reading – Pulse, Google Reader, etc.
- Interacting with social media – Google+, Twitter, Facebook
- Email, both work and personal
- Surfing the net – I don’t do this nearly as much as I thought I would. Most of my surfing is the result of following a link in Twitter or Google+
One of the things I’ve been playing with is launchers. Throw in the fact that I’ve been recently considering converting to a Windows 7 smartphone and you can imagine my intrigue when I came across Launcher 7 for Android.
Description from the Android Market:
A Windows Phone 7 style launcher for Android.
Unlike other current WP7 launchers (Windows Phone Android, Metro UI), this one allows you to properly modify your start screen. Just long press on a tile and drag tile where you want!
- I installed Launcher 7 and have been using it for about a week. I like it a lot. It does seem a little weird to be running a Windows 7 launcher on a Nook Color rooted to run Android.
- Overall I like the Windows 7 Phone experience. One thing that’s missing is widgets. Having widgets for Android is a real game changer for me. I use widgets for a lot of things; weather, Evernote, news, calendar, agenda, alarm clock, etc. I’m not sure I want to live without them.
- Final verdict? I think I like having widgets enough to continue using Android for now. My new launcher of choice? Go Launcher EX.
To me, easily the most appealing iPad competitor. But I think the Pre is the most appealing iPhone competitor, and it hasn’t fared well. HP has matched the iPad’s pricing: $499/599 for 16/32 GB Wi-Fi models.
I think the problem facing HP is summed up in the sub-head on this promotional page:
The ultimate in entertainment with Beats Audio and Adobe Flash.
That’s not a compelling answer to “Why should I buy this instead of an iPad?” I mean, who has even heard of “Beats Audio”?
Update: Lots of feedback arguing that Dr. Dre’s Beats brand has good consumer recognition. I remain skeptical that this is a flagship selling point for a tablet, though, no matter how popular their headphones are.
And Glenn Fleishman had a good quip:
Whenever a hardware maker has to put the name of another company
in its ads as a selling point, it may already have lost.
I don’t typically agree with anything this guy says, but I can’t ignore this post. Unfortunately he’s spot on. The HP ecosystem is incredibly well designed and for all intents and purposes is probably the best tablet/smartphone UI on the market.
While Dr. Dre’s Beats brand does in fact have a solid consumer following it won’t be enough to make the device compelling. And as I mention here, HP needs to expand their line of smartphones to compel consumers to make the transition; or at least design a device that people can’t ignore, i.e. like Apple and the iPhone.
I don’t consider myself a technology geek, but I do consider myself a power user. I like technology, but I’m not typically the guy who goes rooting around in the assembly of an operating system.
Recently I’ve been thinking, out loud, about getting an Android tablet. I’ve also been bemoaning the fact that I’ve never rooted an Android device. I’ve thought about rooting my Droid, but haven’t done it. I’ve also toyed with the idea of purchasing a Barnes & Noble Nook Color just so I could root it.
amednews.com: “With an estimated 81% of physicians using smartphones (up from 72% in 2010), according to a survey of 2,041 physicians released May 4 by Manhattan Research, Albany Medical Center was not alone in feeling pressure from physicians to allow them mobile access. Hospitals and health information technology vendors are realizing that the way to sell physicians on health information technology is to make it mobile. Instead of hospitals and vendors telling physicians to adapt to their preferred ways of using technology, physicians are gaining the power to sway hospitals and vendors to their preferred way of using it.”
There are a couple of take home messages from this article. First, the increased use of mobile technology is finally forcing healthcare systems to make changes to their approach to technology. It’s something that’s been needed for a long time. Second, the article clearly demonstrates that our healthcare system remains physician centric. It isn’t until physicians cry foul that changes are made. I first asked for “mobile support” in a hospital setting nearly a decade ago, and continued to ask for it until I left the industry about six months ago. Unfortunately I’m a lowly pharmacist. Even at the last facility I worked in, which considered themselves quite technologically advanced, it wasn’t until physicians began demanding iPad support that we got it.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just sayin’.
