Tablet Wars 2011

[Mize]

Long flights don't bother me because 1) the longest flights i do are really to florida so its just under 4 hours of flight time. But 2) I have my cell phone for skype and email , I have my 3DS (its paid for already ..... just want it to come out darn it ! ) for gaming and i have my zune hd for music and podcasts.

I keep my phone on me no matter what so its not adding ot my travel size , there are very few real games on andriod and while slightly more still not enough to keep me busy on a flight with the ipad so i'd bring my 3Ds also . My zune hd is the smallest thing i got so its not a big deal to bing with me. I can prob fit the 3DS , phone , tablet , zune hd and an extra battery or two for my tablet in the space of my old 15 inch laptop that i would travel with .

Okay...now with that pile of electronics you've got there I want you to do a carry-on-only trip around Asia (4 cities in South Korea, 6 in Japan and 8 in China) over two weeks with lots of trains and flights.

Packing light is nearly a religion for me. I own a PSP, DS, iPod Touch, a couple netbooks, etc., but taking all that crap is crazy. My phone does do Skype (over Wifi too since I won't pay roaming data in Asia), but not with video since Fring and Skype got mad at each other.

One key device I always take is my travel wireless router...hook it up to the in-room wired and both my phone and laptop (and wife's laptop if she's along) work without having to pay for multiple MAC addresses.

 

[Arwin]

The things I would want that tablets don't yet offer are:

OpenVPN client
Putty (for supporting my IT people who know less about IT than I do)
Skype video
Good editor for Word and Powerpoint

That's about it. If I need more than that (CAD, etc.)

Doesn't the iPad 2 support most of that already? Well I don't know putty but the rest works afaik. For Word and Powerpoint you can basically use Apple's iPad ports, yes? Or DocsToGo perhaps (works for some stuff anyway, on my iPhone already). Skype Video works on my iPhone and should work on the iPad 2, and a friend of mine showed me taking over his PC with a VPN client already as well.

 

[Mize]

Doesn't the iPad 2 support most of that already? Well I don't know putty but the rest works afaik. For Word and Powerpoint you can basically use Apple's iPad ports, yes? Or DocsToGo perhaps (works for some stuff anyway, on my iPhone already). Skype Video works on my iPhone and should work on the iPad 2, and a friend of mine showed me taking over his PC with a VPN client already as well.

Pretty much.
iPad has iWork...the video out might be hdmi only (and in asia most projectors are still dvi/vga), but I don't know about an OpenVPN client.

But...but...it's apple...well, I have a MacBookPro, but I have this thing about a giant iPod...like I said, I want a Xoom that runs WebOS


Actually, if you read the ipad2 thread I said they basically delivered what I was asking for...it's just the linux geek in me that wants something dorkier like webOS or android.

 

[eastmen]

Okay...now with that pile of electronics you've got there I want you to do a carry-on-only trip around Asia (4 cities in South Korea, 6 in Japan and 8 in China) over two weeks with lots of trains and flights.

Packing light is nearly a religion for me. I own a PSP, DS, iPod Touch, a couple netbooks, etc., but taking all that crap is crazy. My phone does do Skype (over Wifi too since I won't pay roaming data in Asia), but not with video since Fring and Skype got mad at each other.

One key device I always take is my travel wireless router...hook it up to the in-room wired and both my phone and laptop (and wife's laptop if she's along) work without having to pay for multiple MAC addresses.

here is the thing. I would normaly just carry a 15 inch laptop with me. All my stuff would take up the same space and weigh less . When I do florida for 16 days ( i drive when its me and friends and fly with my family ) for the drive and everything i normaly bring one small duffle bag and a book bag. The tablet , 3ds , phone , zune sound like a lot but they are all pretty small compared to my laptop . If my tablet is runing andriod or ios then i'd have to brng my laptop also , if its running win 7 then i'd just bring the tablet and leave the pc

 

[Mize]

That's a really good point eastmen. If I could have an iPad sized device with a webOS-ish interface (touch friendly) with W7 and all it's apps that could run for 10 hours...I'd take it in a heart beat.

 

[eastmen]

yea , if i can get 6 hours with replaceable battery then i'm a happy camper

http://twit.tv/ww

you should listen to this podcast the guy talks about win 8 and what ms's plan is for tablets or lack of it. However he brings up that the metro ui (zune , win 7 phone) would be a switchable front end on win 8 that would allow you to use it for a more casual friendly experiance on tablets and then switch to a classic windows enviorment for power users and you'd be able to switch between them quickly

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Oak trail tablets run about 2 hours, that's comparable to 10 right? I expect fusion to be better, but its not going to approach 10.

Eh, Pinetrail slate are at 4+ hours. Expectations of Oaktrail are around 6-8 hours.

My Pinetrail slate with an 11.6" screen hits almost exactly 4 hours. Although I can get a bit more than that if I lower screen brightness and don't multi-task. Reduce the screen size and it could perhaps hit 5-6 hours.

I'll be getting a Core i5 based tablet soon. The user reviews of the Asus EP-121 mention a 3-5 hour battery life depending on screen brightness and use. I'm assuming it has more battery cells than the Pinetrail based slates. Either way I'm not getting this for the battery life obviously, but what I can do with it.

Pinetrail based slates are just too slow for my needs just like netbooks (no surprise there). After this I'll be waiting to see how the Windows based slates evolve.

Totally uninterested in Android or iOS based slate. Would be extremely interested if Apple were to release an OSX slate with dual active digitizer and capacitive touch screen with handwriting recognition as robust as Win7.

And obviously not voting on the poll as it doesn't feature a slate I'm even remotely interested in. Too bad no "other" option.

Been using tablets since 2005, and Android, iOS, etc. are all far too gimped in functionality.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlphaWolf]

Eh, Pinetrail slate are at 4+ hours. Expectations of Oaktrail are around 6-8 hours.

My Pinetrail slate with an 11.6" screen hits almost exactly 4 hours. Although I can get a bit more than that if I lower screen brightness and don't multi-task. Reduce the screen size and it could perhaps hit 5-6 hours.

I'll be getting a Core i5 based tablet soon. The user reviews of the Asus EP-121 mention a 3-5 hour battery life depending on screen brightness and use. I'm assuming it has more battery cells than the Pinetrail based slates. Either way I'm not getting this for the battery life obviously, but what I can do with it.

Pinetrail based slates are just too slow for my needs just like netbooks (no surprise there). After this I'll be waiting to see how the Windows based slates evolve.

Totally uninterested in Android or iOS based slate. Would be extremely interested if Apple were to release an OSX slate with dual active digitizer and capacitive touch screen with handwriting recognition as robust as Win7.

And obviously not voting on the poll as it doesn't feature a slate I'm even remotely interested in. Too bad no "other" option.

Been using tablets since 2005, and Android, iOS, etc. are all far too gimped in functionality.

Regards,
SB

I corrected that, I was thinking the i5 based slates not oak trail. Asus claims up to 3 hours so I'd be surprised if you get anywhere near that with any video play back or the like.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I corrected that, I was thinking the i5 based slates not oak trail. Asus claims up to 3 hours so I'd be surprised if you get anywhere near that with any video play back or the like.

Yeah, I'd assume that just like laptops if you put any sort of stress on the system you'll start dropping the battery life.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

The main thing about all of these pads are the price. $700 for a xoom out of contract

 

[Mize]

The main thing about all of these pads are the price. $700 for a xoom out of contract

No. $799 + 1 month contract = $820. It's insane. Oh, but you can have it for $599 with a 2 year, $30/month contract = $1,319

Gee. what a bargain.

They say the Wifi only will be $539.

 

[Pressure]

I mostly agree that the biggest problem for competitors facing the iPad is price.

They seem to cram every imaginable feature into tablets and then failing to hit a price that makes the package attractive, or just plain screw up on the software-side.

In its current form, the Motorola XOOM is a big mess with so many features "waiting" to get activated. They should have just taken their sweet time and released a 1.0 product.

Hurrying into this will hurt the consumer in the end. I also have my doubts, as seen by the smartphone Android OS, that these tablets will get a timely update whenever it gets available.

HP is the one with the biggest change, as they don't seem to be rushing and they understand the importance of the infrastructure that makes iOS devices so successful.

In the end I will, however, replace my iPad with the iPad 2. It just plays nicely with all my Apple gear.

 

[tangey]

http://www.umpcportal.com/2011/03/ecs-s10-oaktrail-tablet-pc-hands-on/

"We took a close look at the S10 production sample and saw some reasonable Windows performance scores and, after a 5 minute performance test, in-use battery life of about 5hrs. ECS tell us there’s more to come in the final version and are quoting 8hrs battery life."

 

[JohnH]

For me, iPad2 as none of the others listed are likely to be in the same league graphically...

 

[Deleted member 13524]

For me, iPad2 as none of the others listed are likely to be in the same league graphically...

AFAIK, Apple doesn't release their devices' specs to game developers before the announcement of each product.

This means there won't be decent games taking advantage of that hardware for quite a while (see how long it took epic to launch project sword after the 3GS was out), so the increased 3d performance might not show until we have NGP and higher-specced tablets in the market.



Of course, a C-50 equipped x86 tablet would go around all that.

 

[JohnH]

AFAIK, Apple doesn't release their devices' specs to game developers before the announcement of each product.

This means there won't be decent games taking advantage of that hardware for quite a while (see how long it took epic to launch project sword after the 3GS was out), so the increased 3d performance might not show until we have NGP and higher-specced tablets in the market.

Over its life time apps will appear that leverage it's significantly better graphics capabilities. Epic appeared to be waiting for technology that was able to run it's U3 technology, this delayed their entry into the market, by comparison ID embraced the new (handheld) form factor very quickly. There is no reason to assume that content that takes advanage of those capabilities won't appear quite quickly.

Of course, a C-50 equipped x86 tablet would go around all that.

Of course, when they appear, and with the proviso of reasonable battery life.

 

[Pressure]

AFAIK, Apple doesn't release their devices' specs to game developers before the announcement of each product.

This means there won't be decent games taking advantage of that hardware for quite a while (see how long it took epic to launch project sword after the 3GS was out), so the increased 3d performance might not show until we have NGP and higher-specced tablets in the market.

Depends largely on the graphic engine.

For example, the Unreal Development Kit scales pretty easily over various platforms and capabilities, so does others.

And top-tier developers gets early hands-on with the devices, this is no secret.

Project Sword got released late because the UDK was still in development for iOS.

 

[wco81]

How can you not consider software?

Greatest hardware in the world is meaningless without software.

Xoom and Honeycomb 3 sound like unfinished products. Maybe wait for Android 3.1.

But Android tablet sales are going to have to take off before more tablet apps. are developed.

As for size, definitely 10-inch around the home and office but 7-inch with 3G and GPS would be good for using as a Navigation device with augmented reality. I think some of the Xoom commercials show that like a map with animation showing the traffic? Not sure that's a real app. but that would be something.

 

[wco81]

I mostly agree that the biggest problem for competitors facing the iPad is price.

They seem to cram every imaginable feature into tablets and then failing to hit a price that makes the package attractive, or just plain screw up on the software-side.

In its current form, the Motorola XOOM is a big mess with so many features "waiting" to get activated. They should have just taken their sweet time and released a 1.0 product.

Hurrying into this will hurt the consumer in the end. I also have my doubts, as seen by the smartphone Android OS, that these tablets will get a timely update whenever it gets available.

HP is the one with the biggest change, as they don't seem to be rushing and they understand the importance of the infrastructure that makes iOS devices so successful.

In the end I will, however, replace my iPad with the iPad 2. It just plays nicely with all my Apple gear.

I think Apple is shipping on a much larger scale than any other single manufacturer so they have a cost advantage which is so far translating to very competitive prices.

Plus Motorola is tied to distributing through carriers for now. Apple is in all retail including their own stores. A lot of iPad sales were made through retail on-hands demos, not a spec sheet. So those stores help but it's attracting buyers who know they can get support or help from the Stores.

 

[Lazy8s]

The QNX OS seems functional for the combination of processes I'd typically run, and even just playing around experimenting with the performance of multiple simultaneous apps in multiple windows is an attractive prospect to me. Coupled with the very strong graphics, the Playbook is one of my top choices.

With Apple pushing the graphics envelope, the iPad 2 is another top choice. I really hope they included a gig of RAM... probably just wishful thinking.