hiddentangent Geetaj ChannanA geetaj.channana@9dot9.in
The author is Editor (Online), CTO Forum
Resurrection of the Tablet. iPad may
have sold like hot cakes but the jury is still out on what should be the perfect tablet. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was launched for the first time in 2002 but it did not become commonplace till its 2005 avatar. Even then, it was portrayed as the laptop killer with handwriting recognition that improved with every update. But, the whole thing never took off. Probably its biggest USP of handwriting recognition was its biggest problem too. The argument of being able to write on your computer sounds so compelling – but why does it not work? Firstly, people who have some experience with computers can probably type faster than they can take notes on their notepad. Secondly, the fiddly stylus is hardly a desirable input method. Also, the touchscreens and the software at that time were not up to snuff. A lot of business users were pretty happy using their notebooks and did not opt for the snazzier tablet. So what is different in the tablets now? For starters, they are not positioned as notebook alternatives, but devices that complement the notebook and a smartphone. They are the new in-between devices, they have much better capacitive touch screen
options and some have given up on handwriting and styli. Let us start with the Apple iPad, which is one of the latest in this category. Apple has dabbled with the idea of a tablet for a long time, but never launched it. Finally, what they have is a device that is bigger than a phone but smaller than a notebook, does not have a keyboard or any extension ports and runs on software devised for phones. People have described it as a device that an executive will take on vacation where he wants to work a bit. It provides just enough functionality to run your business and be updated on the latest happenings while enjoying a host of multimedia features. Also, it has a beautiful 9.7 inch touch screen that does not require a stylus and has a software keyboard that pops up on the screen whenever you may need it. To say the least, the magic of Apple has worked in favour of the once forgotten tablet. They have sold more than a million iPads within a month of its launch. That hasn't silenced the sceptics, though. They think it is still a while before Apple should start counting their chickens. The product
“There seems to be a lot going on to find a device that will bridge the divide between the ubiquitous mobile phone and laptops.”
will need to survive the initial hype. Another device is the home-grown Notion Ink Adam. Running on the tablet edition of Google’s Android operating system, this tablet boasts of a 10.1-inch display with multitouch capabilities and full highdefinition multimedia playback and connectivity through 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Though it is still in the works, it has generated a lot of interest around the world. Not everyone wants to be in this space, though. Microsoft is said to have called off their ambitious project – codenamed courier – that was a notebook like device with touchscreen and stylus capabilities. They have other touch-based projects running in their labs, but have to find a niche and a quick distribution model. Nonetheless, there seems to be a lot going on to find that one device that will bridge the divide between the ubiquitous phone and laptops. The questions now are – do we really need something to bridge this gap and what is the right solution for it?
cto forum thectoforum.com
07 MAY 2010
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