Jerry Fahrni

Tag: Tablet PCs

  • Windows haters out in full force following Surface announcement

    I’ve been reading quite a bit online about yesterday’s announcement for Microsoft’s Surface tablet. As I mentioned last night, I’m thrilled. But I can’t say the same for everyone else. For some inexplicable reason there’s a lot, and I mean a lot, of negative press online today in regards to Surface. Some are simply Microsoft haters, others Window haters, and of course there’s the Apple fanboys, and so on.

    Many are comparing Surface to the iPad which is ridiculous as they’re completely different machines. That’s simply not the right comparison to make. I’ve written about my thoughts on that before so I won’t bore you by repeating myself here. Suffice it to say, one is a mobile OS and the other isn’t.
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  • Microsoft announces the Surface tablet

    It’s not often that I become giddy at the announcement of a new piece of technology. I mean let’s face it; everything is pretty run of the mill these days. But tonight I am giddy.

    In case you missed it, today Microsoft announced the Surface tablet. And no, it has nothing to do with the Microsoft Surface we’ve come to know over the past several years (now PixelSense). Why they’re calling it “Surface” is beyond the abilities of mere mortals to decipher. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about marketing folks it’s that they don’t know dick about a great many things. The “new” Microsoft Surface is a slate tablet PC.

    The Surface tablet will be available in two models, RT and Pro. Both will run full versions of Windows 8, RT and Pro respectively, but will utilize different hardware; RT for machines with ARM-based processors and Pro for Intel processors.
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  • People are irrational

    Two disclaimers:

    1. To be absolutely clear, this is a rant. Sometimes I rant to my wife, other times on paper. This time I felt compelled to throw it up here.
    2. I’m a tablet PC fan, and this is my opinion. If you have an alternate opinion, that’s cool. If you want to talk about tablets with me, by all means let’s talk. I love it when people show me cool things they’ve done with their tablets. But if you want to argue with me about my opinion, fell free to stay away. People that want to counter my opinion with useless drivel tend to do nothing more than make me think less of them than I already do. And trust me when I say that I have a pretty low opinion of most people to start with. Not all people mind you, but many. It’s unfortunate I know, but society in general has done little to change my mind.

    Ok, let’s begin ….
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  • Technology still can’t beat pen and paper

    I am a tablet PC guy, no question. My tablet of choice is the Levnovo x201t, but I’ve tried several and enjoy the constant hunt for a new one. I don’t travel with it much these days as I’ve grown tired of carrying multiple machines, dealing with security, etc. But when I’m at home my tablet PC is a workhorse. Between Microsoft OneNote and Evernote I’ve basically eliminated my need for a notebook. Or so I thought.

    For whatever reason I decided to take a long hard look at my note taking needs this week. I’ve been rather irritable lately and found myself nitpicking many of the cons associated with using a tablet PC for taking notes that I previously overlooked. The shortcoming of using a tablet PC are obvious: battery life, “boot time”, size and the mother of all….you can’t take notes on a tablet of any kind when it’s turned off, which has been a real issue for me while traveling.
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  • Physician shares thoughts on using tablet PC in the field

    Mobile Healthc Computing.com: “Dr. R. Dale Walker, from the Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma, is a professor of Psychiatry, Public Health and Preventive Medicine as well as the director of the Center for American Indian Education and Research at Oregon Health and Science University and director of the One Sky Center.

    … “When out in the field, you want to eliminate as many things that could go wrong as possible, and the J3500 Tablet PC does just that with its battery life, ruggedness, power and performance,” said Dr. Walker. “Consumer tablets just can’t compute like the Windows®-based Motion Tablet PCs, and who wants to carry around multiple systems when you have everything you need in one device?”

    According to Dr. Walker, using the J3500 Tablet PC is just like taking notes on paper, but much more efficient. An hour’s worth of notes can be converted to text and emailed out in just minutes. “The ability to capture information, report back on my findings and share knowledge in near real time is an invaluable capability,” said Dr. Walker.

    The tablet serves as a desktop replacement or portable library, helping Dr. Walker look up, verify or access educational tools on the fly, which proves extremely valuable considering the often remote locations of the communities. The access to information also reduces the amount of time spent on each subject, meaning more time to cover more topics. “It’s giving them the gift of information,” said Dr. Walker.”

    The article reads a bit like a propaganda piece from Motion Computing, but I agree with pretty much all the highlights. I’ve been a fan of the Motion J3500 for a while. I’ve written about it before and stand by my opion. The only negative to the device is the price tag. In this day of inexpensive consumer tablets it’s difficult to swallow the price tag, which is a staggering $2-3K. You get a lot for your money, but it’s still hard to swallow.

  • If I were to buy a tablet today…

    imageI’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.

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  • New Windows 7 slates on the way

    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.

  • Evaluating my travel technology

    My typical travel gear includes:

    Lenovo T410S Laptop or Lenovo x201t Tablet PC – I go back and forth between these two machines. The T410S has a bigger screen, faster processor and more memory, but it’s not a tablet PC. The x201t is smaller, easier to use and I can take notes directly on the screen. The smaller size is especially important when I have a long flight; the T410S doesn’t fit well in the cattle-car seats on planes.

    Motorola DROID – I love this phone and haven’t seen anything new to convince me to change, although I think I’ll have a Motorola DROID BIONIC shortly.

    Kindle DX – Still nothing better than an e-ink screen for reading. Period. When I see a journal article worth reading I simple dump it in a “To Read” folder on my computer. Every so often I move those on to my Kindle DX and read them when I have down time. The DX’s large screen works well for PDFs.

    Android Tablet (my rooted NOOK Color) – Games, email and social media in a small package with long battery life.

    Verizon MiFi, a.k.a. “Mobile Hotspot” – Simply can’t live without connectivity

    I recently purchased an HP TouchPad. It’s turned out to be a really nice tablet. I’ve enjoyed using it over the past few weeks.

    On a recent trip to Cincinnati, OH I decided to leave my Kindle DX and Android tablet at home, and take the TouchPad instead. I used it for email, web surfing, social media and games; just like its Android counterpart. I tried using it for reading in place of the Kindle DX. It worked, but found that I like the e-ink screen better.

    I’ve heard people say they use their tablets, specifically their iPads, for document creation, editing, etc. I managed to use the TouchPad to compose a blog post for another website while en route to Cincinnati, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it on a regular bases. Sure, I was able to create the post, but there were several things I missed. I’m not a natural writer and many of my blog posts go through several edits before getting pushed to the web. In my opinion a keyboard and mouse work better than a touchscreen for editing a document. Overall it worked, but certainly not as good as a laptop.

    So, what’s the final verdict? The TouchPad could easily take the place of my Android tablet and my Kindle DX, but I still prefer the Kindle for reading. And you can forget about using something like the TouchPad in place of a laptop, it’s not even close.

  • Is the Motion J3500 still the best Win-Slate on the market?

    j3500To 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.

  • HP webOS dies a quick, albeit painful death

    hpTP_deathHP 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.