I’m always on the lookout for a new tablet, and never more so then I am at this moment. My trusty Lenovo X201T is getting old. At more than a year, it’s downright ancient in computer technology years. It’s a dilemma to be sure.
Fortunately for me there’s no shortage of tablets on the market: Windows OS, Android OS, iOS. Crud, based on reports from CES 2012 I’ll have a much bigger selection within another 6 months or so.
The Fujitsu Arrow Tab LTE F-01D is similar to many tablets currently on the market today. It has all the goodies like a 10.1-inch 1280 x 768 screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor, a pair of cameras, 16GB of storage, micro-USB, microSD card slot, and Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Now for the really cool stuff, it’s waterproof and obeys gesture commands via its front facing camera.
To borrow a phrase from Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, I’ve been doing a “hard-target search” recently for a new tablet PC. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Lenovo x201 Tablet PC, but I really want to try another slate.
In my mind the ASUS Eee Slate EP121 (who comes up with these names?) is currently the best tablet PC slate on the market. I’ve spent quite a bit of time messing around with it at the Microsoft Retail Store at Bellevue Square in Washington. The employees in there must think I’m some kind of stalker.
As far as the EP121 goes the inking is great, the touchscreen responsive, it’s fast, it’s the perfect size and it just “feels right” in my hands. So what’s the problem? The battery life is terrible? The information on the tablet states that the battery life is less than 3 hours. Online reviews have it at about 2 hours. That’s ridiculously bad in this day of hi-tech.
I looked hard at the Motion Computing CL900, but just don’t think it has enough muscle for me. It’s a bit slow and clunky. That’s a bummer as on the surface the CL900 looks like the perfect device.
While rummaging around the Motion Computing website for information on the CL900 I stumbled across an old friend, the Motion J3500. I’ve used it’s predecessor, the J3400 before and it was a great machine. I found the J3400 to be a good mix of functionality, toughness and battery life. With upgrades to the hard drive, processor and display the J3500 may just be the best option currently available, which says something about the tablet market; the J3500 is over a year old.
I know, I know, Android tablets are starting to stack up all over the place. A week doesn’t go by that another Android tablet hits the market. This week it’s the 8-inch Vizio tablet making the rounds.
However, it wasn’t the Vizio tablet that captured my attention this week. It was the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet. According to the Lenovo website it should be available at the end of this month.
I already have a couple of Lenovo machines – a T410S laptop and a x201 tablet pc – so it’s not much of a leap for me to be excited about the introduction of a Lenovo Android slate.
What separates this Android tablet from others is that it is targeted at business users. This basically means it comes preloaded with some productivity software as well as a couple of other nice touches like Gorilla Glass, ThinkPad Tablet Dock, ThinkPad Tablet Pen and foldable ThinkPad Tablet Keyboard Folio case.
Specifications:
I really like what the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet has to offer. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right Android slate to come along before I purchase another device. I was convinced that the Samsung Galaxy 10.1-inch tablet was it, but I think I’ll wait for the Lenovo to make my final decision.
I’ve been using a Lenovo T410S for several months now. It’s a great machine, but I’m not here to talk about that. Recently I took the T410S on a trip and busted the case just to the left of the trackpad. Bummer.
I jumped online and opened a ticket with Lenovo through their customer service portal. A few days later a box with appropriate shipping materials arrived. I packed it up, delivered it to the UPS store and sent it on its way. A few days later I logged into the Lenovo customer service site to check the progress of my repair. Imagine my surprise when I entered my ticket number and nothing appeared. A few minutes later I was on the phone to Lenovo. The gentleman on the phone was polite and courteous, but ultimately he couldn’t help me because my help ticket was no longer in their system. Doh!
Needless to say I was in a bit of a tiff wondering what the heck happened to my laptop. The next day I called the UPS store only to find out they couldn’t help me either. Double doh! Anyway, as I was ranting to my wife and threatening to hurt people I’d never met there was a knock at the door. When I opened it there was the UPS man headed back to his truck, and on the doorstep was my laptop freshly repaired by Lenovo.
Lenovo came through like a champ. They turned the repair around in just a few days and returned my machine to me in perfect condition. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I’ve been contemplating a new slate tablet PC. The market is full of them, which should make choosing one a piece of cake. Unfortunately it’s turning out to be much more difficult than originally thought.
The most common problem, for me at least, has been short battery life. Less than four hours just isn’t an option, which eliminates what I think is the best slate tablet on market the Eee Slate EP121. So you can imagine my elation when I saw the specs for the Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550. The screen size of the Q550 is a little small, but the pen and multi-touch input along with the claims from the manufacturer of extended battery life, up to 8 hours, caught my attention.
Motion News Release regarding their new CL900 tablet PC:
From Windows 7 Tablet Blog. Look at the screenshot and then watch the video. When you’re through being amazed jump to the website and read how this transformation took place.
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I purchased a Lenovo x201t Tablet PC back in November 2010. It’s been a great machine.
The new x220t is every bit as impressive as the x201t, but has a slightly larger 12.5-inch Gorilla Glass touchscreen. In addition it has a new ThinkPad battery pack that should provide the user some serious portability without the need to continuously be tethered to a plug. I get about 5-6 hours of continuous use on a single charge with my x201t extended battery pack. I expect the new x220t will get at least that. Throw in the new batter slice and users could potentially get up to 16 hours on a single charge. You simply can’t ask for more than that.
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The Digital Reader: “Due to weight I had to pick between my a Win7 tablet convertible or (as a pair) my iPad and Viewsonic gTablet. I’m taking the Inspiron Duo.
I can get more work done with it than the other 2 combined. I can run all the same apps on my Win7 laptop and on my Duo. I can start a project on one, email it to myself, and continue it on the other. I also know that no matter what I download I’ll be able to open it. Neither mobile OS has any real support for Office formats, not even basics like RTF, ODT, or others.
The same goes for all my other data. Just a few minutes ago I copied 70GB of work files onto the Duo. I didn’t need more than about 100MB, but copying the files over was so easy that I went ahead and grabbed them all. I know that I will be able to open whatever I happen to need, so why not?”
While I don’t completely agree with everything the author says I’m slowly coming to the same conclusion myself, i.e. that a Windows tablet is the way to go. I experimented with an iPad last year, but it didn’t meet my needs. I’ve been seriously considering an Android tablet, but just can’t seem to pull the trigger; can’t really say why. One thing I do know is that I use Windows 7 for a majority of my computing needs, including on my current tablet of choice, the Lenovo X201 Tablet PC.
The Inspiron duo is an interesting machine. I’ve played with it at the Microsoft Store in Bellevue, WA and wasn’t all that impressed with it. But I must say it’s a refreshing change from the standard slate and convertible designs I’ve seen over the past couple of years.
It just goes to show you that one size definitely doesn’t fit all. Different strokes and all that jazz.
