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Aug 26

The Pointless History of Stylus Advertising: The ...

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“Who wants a Stylus? You have to get ‘em; put ‘em away; you lose ‘em–yuck! nobody wants a Stylus! We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world…We’re going to use our fingers.”

That was Steve Jobs in 2007, as he unveiled the iPhone to the world. but even five years after the unrivaled success of Apple’s smartphone and its subsequent touch-screen iPad cousin, competitors in the space are still heralding the Stylus pen as central to interacting with mobile devices–fingers be damned. a whole range of smartphones and tablets still come with a pen accessory; Microsoft showed off a Stylus in June when it revealed its much ballyhooed Surface tablet; and only this week, Samsung made the S Pen the key differentiator for its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. “The S Pen…really, truly changes the game,” said Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter.

But even after over a decade on the market, it’s clear brands still have no idea how to market e-ink accessories. looking back at years of promotions for Stylus pens, what’s readily apparent is how few benefits marketers can imagine for the devices–which is perhaps indicative of how little benefit Stylus pens actually provide consumers. Instead, the world’s tech giants–including 1990s-era Apple–have been forced to flaunt ridiculous, exaggerated, or downright fake use-cases for Stylus pens, in some desperate hope that they’ll actually appeal to consumers, rather than acknowledging their true impact: transforming digital text into bulky, childish scrawl. after all, who wouldn’t want the ability to adopt Perez Hilton’s penmanship?

Take Samsung’s commercials for the Galaxy Note smartphone, which wouldn’t be complete without its Stylus pen. in one ad, aimed at Apple fanboys, a line of customers is shown waiting outside what appears to be an Apple store in anticipation of Cupertino’s next device. That is until one slouching twenty-something in line catches a glimpse of a passerby’s Samsung Galaxy Note.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that?” he says. “It’s got a pen? This is awesome!”

Despite the fact that no one in the history of earth has ever uttered those words, Samsung then tries to make a big show of all you can do with the help of a Stylus pen: such as drawing a doodle on your Google Map or getting an e-ink autograph from football star Brian Urlacher. You see this repeated throughout commercials for Stylus pens: Often, the best demonstration of the technology is to show off randoms scribbles or signatures.

In that sense, perhaps the most difficult part of advertising a Stylus pen is actually advertising what a Stylus pen can do. in several commercials from tech companies, users are often just shown hovering the pens above their mobile devices. in the rare instances we get a peek at what happens when pen meets screen, the results are hilariously inconsequential. for example, in Asus’ ad for the Windows 7 Eee slate, a business owner talks to the camera, Stylus pen in hand. but when he actually goes to show us the Stylus in action (zoom to 0:25), he uses the pen to simply minimize a window, and then un-minimize another. Voilà!

Outside magically minimizing files, Stylus pens are often shown circling things and crossing things out. in tons of ads that feature Stylus pens, users are constantly shown looking at an image or a website or some product, and simply using the pen to circle things, point to things, or cross things out. in another ad for the Asus’ Eee slate, for example, a fashion blogger is showing doing all three (0:33): X-ing out one picture, circling another, and then drawing an arrow for good measure.

Of course, the real benefit of e-pens are to take notes–just as we used to do with traditional pens and pads of paper. the problem with this use-case is that it’s totally unclear why writing with a digital pen is better than using a digital keyboard–the latter is faster, cleaner, and more reliable. which makes showing off productivity applications of the Stylus pen next to impossible.

In a promo for the HP Slate 500, the company struggles to demonstrate how users would use the device in the workplace: at the doctor’s office, in a restaurant, and so forth. Yet we never see the Stylus pen in action. for instance, when one suited businessman opens up Excel, he simply uses the Stylus pen to highlight a string of text…before using his finger to copy and paste it. (Who would use a Stylus pen to interact with Excel, anyway?) the doctor taps around the screen before throwing the pen in his pocket. And when we finally see a user scrawl some words on the device with a pen (1:38), it is so very painfully slow. look how long it takes the user to write out “rear light”!

Stylus pens also give marketers the opportunity to bring artists into the mix to tout how awesome it is to draw things on smartphones and tablets. Rule of thumb: wherever there is e-ink, there will be graffiti artists, architects, and graphic designers. My personal favorite is another ad from Samsung which features artists from creative agency Doubleday & Cartwright seriously trying to convince the public that they design products on the tiny Galaxy Note screens. It’s hard not to laugh when watching them hunched over their smartphones, squinting at what they’re drawing, and using the Stylus pen to cut and paste, expand graphics, design skateboards and clothing…especially when the office is shown with a dozen or so laptops and wide-screen monitors.

The justification? “To click all day is not that rewarding,” says one designer. Adds another, after reviewing a design on a smartphone before shipping it off to the manufacturer, “Pretty metal.”

And as for brands just manufacturing raisons d’etre, look no further than the Asus PadFone, which combines a tablet and smartphone. How do users answer a phone call and talk to a friend with such a device? with the help of a Stylus pen (1:37). Give the company credit–this is by far the most creative use case of any ad I’ve seen–but if you ever see someone actually talking into a Stylus pen on the bus, I’ll personally write you a digital check with an e-ink pen for the unit cost of an Asus PadFone.

Of course, when running out of functions for the Stylus pen, brands can always make them into some sort of fashion statement. just as Apple did in the 1990s with its Newton tablet (the very pre-pre-pre-cursor to the iPad), which the company tried to tout as not only the go-to-business tool but the cool tech-fashion accessory. rather than showing the pen in action–at the time it had very few appealing use cases–Apple chose to put the Stylus pen in its natural setting: in a meeting, in a phone booth, by a riverbank, in a café, a park, a conservatory, a bocce court even. with snappy camera zooms and pans of suavely dressed businesspeople jotting down notes on their Newton, Apple aimed to show the Stylus pen was something you take with you, wherever you go.

A similar, more recent example of this strategy comes courtesy of Arctic Accessories, maker of e-ink pens for iPads and Amazon Kindle Fires. There are loads of third-party Stylus pen makers. in Arctic’s case, though, the company tries to not only show that Stylus pens are Stylish but that they’re sexy too. in its commercial for the Architect Stylus, a thick writing device with about as much sex appeal as a tampon, Arctic shows how Stylus pens are what you now keep in your suit coat pocket–the modern day quill pen. Although the pen’s tip is as pinpoint precise as your big toe–so of course a professional architect would be using one–the commercial’s biggest stretch is that Stylus pens can somehow lead to flirtation. Fast forward (to 0:53) to see the architect respond to the Stylus-wielding femme fatale with a creepy, Herman Cain smile.

And if all else fails, there’s always one time-honored strategy: bash the original pen. take the Palm Pilot, one of the most popular devices for the Stylus pen. This ad, dramatizing the drawbacks of pens (Stylus pens aren’t unreliable! Pens are unreliable! look at that ink smudge! How will I ever remember what floor my meeting is on!?!), happens to be a spec spot. but still, it says everything about the fundamental issue with the marketing of stylus-based devices: if you’re having this much trouble making ads that make sense, maybe the product doesn’t either.

The Pointless History of Stylus Advertising: The Worst E-Ink Spots From Samsung, HP, Apple

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Aug 26

Google cutting 4,000 jobs at Motorola unit ...

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In this Feb. 2, 2011 file photo, a Motorola Mobility Xoom tablet is shown at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. On Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, Google announced it is cutting about 4,000 jobs at its Motorola Mobility cellphone business and will close or consolidate about one-third of its 90 locations. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

(AP) — Google inc. is making its largest round of layoffs ever as it announced plans to cut about 4,000 jobs at Motorola Mobility just three months after buying the struggling cellphone pioneer.

The move isn’t surprising given years of plummeting sales at Motorola, but it signals that Google doesn’t intend to drag Motorola along as a money-losing venture.

After the announcement, Google’s stock rose $18.01, or 2.8 percent, to close Monday at $660.01.

The reductions represent about 20 percent of Motorola Mobility’s 20,000 employees and 7 percent of Google’s overall work force. Google says two-third of the job cuts will take place outside of the U.S.

Google, which has been growing for more than a decade, doesn’t have a history of mass layoffs. in previous rounds of layoffs, Google at most had cut a few hundred workers.

Motorola, however, cut thousands of jobs in recent years as its cellphone division saw sales plummet. Although it pioneered the U.S. cellphone industry in the 1980s, it hasn’t produced a mass-market hit since it introduced the Razr cellphone in 2004. Once the second-largest phone maker in the world, Motorola no longer ranks in the top 5.

Motorola now makes phones that run on Google’s Android operating software, but rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. have been more successful at it.

Motorola split into two in early 2011. Google snapped up Motorola Mobility, the half that makes cellphones and cable set-top boxes, for $12.4 billion. Motorola Solutions, which makes police scanners and other professional products, remains a separate company.

The Motorola deal is Google’s largest acquisition ever and plunges it into the business of consumer products. It puts Google in a position of competing with the same companies it considers partners.

Google has pledged to keep the Motorola hardware business separate from its Android software division and promised to treat Motorola like an outside company. It turned to AsusTek Computer inc. rather than its own division to make a Google-branded tablet computer called Nexus 7.

Google’s chief goal in buying Motorola was to use its large patent portfolio to bolster its legal defenses.

Apple has been suing Samsung, Motorola and other makers of Android smartphones, saying they copied the iPhone. By acquiring Motorola’s patents and transferring them to Android phone makers such as HTC Corp., Google can bolster their legal defenses and set them up to counter-sue Apple.

Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt wrote in a morning report, before Google’s announcement, that he believes Google is limiting its ambitions for Motorola Mobility, a strategy he believes to be good for investors. Devitt expects Google to curtail Motorola to producing just a few smartphone designs per year and perhaps some tablets as well.

Before the acquisition, Motorola had been trying to turn itself around by focusing on smartphones, which have higher profit margins than regular cellphones. in the first quarter, Motorola sold 5.1 million smartphones and 3.7 million “dumb” phones. the cuts announced Monday will shift the company toward smartphones even further.

The migration toward smartphones has slowed Motorola’s decline, but it has still lost money in 14 out of the past 16 quarters.

Google said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the latest cuts are intended to make the business profitable. But the company warned that investors should expect revenue to fluctuate over the next few quarters, and sales will drop before the cost savings take effect.

Severance payments will cost Google about $275 million, which will largely be charged in the current quarter. the company also expects to book an unspecified amount in restructuring charges, mostly in the quarter.

Google also said it will close or consolidate about one-third of its 90 locations.

Motorola announced in June that it would move its headquarters from the Chicago suburb of Libertyville to downtown Chicago.

Copyright 2012 the Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Google cutting 4,000 jobs at Motorola unit (Update)

May 23

Half a billion people to use Windows 8 next year ...

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicts that more than 500 million people will be using Windows 8 by the end of next year, AFP reports.

Ballmer, who was speaking at a forum in Seoul, South Korea, also expects Windows 7 to hit the 350 million device milestone later this year.

Windows 8 was described by Ballmer as the “deepest, broadest, and most impactful” operating system the company has made to date. he promised the “best economic opportunity” for hardware makers and Metro application developers who opt to support the upcoming operating system.

Corporate and enterprise demand have boosted Microsoft’s sales ofWindows 7, Bloomberg reports, following the more than half decade of Windows XP success — and inadvertently helped along by the sudden requirement to shift away from Windows Vista.

One of the reasons why Windows XP remains so popular is the reluctance to upgrade to Vista in the first place. With many legacy applications still running suitably well on the decade-old platform, there was no incentive to upgrade. Vista suffered with poor backwards compatibility and performance issues, which led to many upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as it was released.

Windows 7 shot ahead of Vista and became the fastest-selling operating system to date. according to Net Applications, Windows XP has a declining share of 46 percent, while Windows 7 has a rising share of more than 38 percent.

At the current trend, Windows 7 could overtake Windows XP in October — coincidentally the month slated for the forthcoming release of Windows 8.

Windows 8 should be an interesting and testing time for Microsoft. While the upcoming operating system will run on PCs andtablets alike, the ultrabook market is still developing — in competition with Apple’sMacBook Air — and will likely boost sales in the slimmer and more aesthetically attractive notebooks.

Gartner says more than 100 million tablets will be sold in 2012, with the figure tripling to more than 320 million tablets in 2015. the research firm estimates that Windows 8 will gain more than 12 percent of the tablet market, dwarfed by Apple’s nearly 60 percent, with the iPad.

Last week, BMO analysts cut Hewlett-Packard and Dell’s price targets, after one of its analysts claimed that “Windows 8 will prove to be a disappointment, at least out of the gate.” Analysts do not think that Windows 8 will be as successful as Windows 7 was and continues to be, and that PC sales could suffer as a result.

Having said that, if Windows 7 continues to sell hot off the shelves and overtakes Windows XP in time for an October arrival, Windows 8 could push through the expected worst of it and prove analysts wrong.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet’s between the Lines under the headline “Microsoft: 500 million will run Windows 8 in 2013.”

Windows 8 beta unifies desktop and tablet–but will people like it?

Half a billion people to use Windows 8 next year — Ballmer

May 06

Android 3.0 Tablet

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What is an Android Tablet?

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past decade or so you will have noticed that computers have been getting smaller and smaller. as of today the pinnacle of all that technology is the Android 3.0 tablet.

The Android 3.0 tablet has Arrived

These tablets are based on Google’s Android Operating System. The latest version being 3.0 also known as Honeycomb. Android built Honeycomb for all types of mobile devices, however other than tablets the only other devices that generally use Android are mobile/cell phones. Android inc the original creators of the Android operating system was acquired by Google in 2005. Google in conjunction with the Open Hand Alliance (OPA) worked on the initial launch of the operating system. However the overall control, governance and maintenance of the Android now falls upon the shoulders of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).

So what is different in Honeycomb?

Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb as we have already mentioned was designed with tablets in mind. particularly it was built with the ability to grow with the ever increasing screen sizes of the modern tablet pc. on the Android Developers Forum there is a sentence that really highlights what Google are trying to achieve with this version of the Android operating system, “It introduces a brand new, truly virtual and “holographic” UI design, as well as an elegant, content-focused interaction model”. they have really raised the bar with features that we have enjoyed in our current Android tablets. Things like multitasking, notifications, 3d and widgets have had a big overhaul and run seamlessly and smoother than they did in Gingerbread (Android 2). Also graphics have been beefed up and the whole UI experience is just a lot more pleasurable.

However I have to say personally I love the new keyboard redesign. I just find it more user friendly and intuitive. The positioning of the keys now makes the whole unit feel more responsive and almost empathic to the user. I might be getting carried away with this but I really feel it has made a huge difference.

If the actual on-board keyboard is still not intuitive enough for you? Then you can just connect a full sized keyboard, either via Bluetooth or USB. Networking has been made more seemless also and is faster in every way. Connecting to the network seems to happen very quickly. this is probably due to the decrease in scan time and filtering.

Although I don’t really use Face Time alot I know people who  do and they are going to love Android 3.0 just for this upgrade. you can now use video chat in Skype, Gtalk aswell as Face Time.

Android 3.0 Apps

Firstly nearly all Gingerbread  based applications will work on Honeycomb. However I think anyone with an Android 3.0 device will quickly move beyond these applications as the apps built specifically for the new tablets are visually more appealing and richer in both sight and sound. Android 3.0 Apps do seem to be bigger and therefore take a little longer to download but not remarkably so.

Final thoughts on Android 3.0 tablets

The first two Android 3.0 tablets were the Motorola Xoom and the LG G-Slate, I played with both and ended up buying the Xoom. Why? It just felt nicer in my hand. both are just as good in terms of functionality and ease of use and all those other criteria tablets are usually reviewed on. However What I am really waiting for is the new Samsung p10000. I love the swipe type and hate having a device that does not do it. Do I recomend upgrading from a Gingerbread based Tablet to a Honeycomb Tablet? The simple answer is yes. I loved my old tablet but I love my new one way more.

Android 3.0 Tablet

Feb 01

O’Brien: Confronted by the ugliness of tech ...

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The drumbeat of revelations about conditions in the factories that manufacture Apple products in recent weeks has had a sobering effect on me.

I got an iPod in 2006, my first Apple gadget in a decade. Then I bought a MacBook in 2009, followed by the iPhone 3GS in 2010. and this Christmas, I received the iPad2. Throw in iCloud, iMatch for music, and a possible Apple TV in my near future, and it’s fair to say that I’m ensconced in Apple products.

And that was just fine, until the past two weeks when my Apple lifestyle ran headfirst into a pair of new York Times investigative articles, an episode of the radio show “This American Life,” and a detailed report by Apple itself that made plain the ugly conditions under which the company’s products are manufactured. The people who built my beloved gadgets did so under inhuman conditions that would never be tolerated in this country.

For the past week, I’ve struggled with two questions: how should I feel about this? and what should we, the consumers of these devices, do?

Let me start by making clear that while the focus has been on Apple, this is how almost all tech companies build their products. while some of the Times’ stories try to make the case that Apple may be worse than other tech companies, I find that debatable.

Apple declined to comment on the recent barrage of bad publicity. Yet I’m sure the company feels unfairly singled out, and not without some justification. Apple understandably could argue that it handed its critics the club to beat the company with.

As the Times’ stories note, Apple established a code of conduct for its suppliers in 2005 and has released annual audits of working conditions in its supply chain since 2007, conducting hundreds of inspections. Two weeks ago, the company’s latest report made big headlines because it disclosed the identities of most of its suppliers.

Apple’s own report noted repeated violations of child labor laws, living conditions, working hours, and safety among its suppliers. Still, the company expressed pride that conditions were improving, that it was more transparent than any competitor, and that it had agreed to allowed a nonprofit called the fair Labor Association to conduct its own monitoring.

“We also used our influence to substantially improve working conditions for people who make our products,” wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook in a letter to employees that was leaked. “No one is making improvements for workers in the way Apple is doing now.”

So is the sole focus on Apple unfair? Yes, to a point. The company does disclose more than other tech companies. and it has taken clear steps in some cases to stop the very worst practices.

But it’s also fair for critics to ask why Apple hasn’t been able to stop all violations. why hasn’t progress been faster? If Apple did even more, it’s reasonable to think others would follow since they use many of the same outsourcing firms.

And yet, even if most of these suppliers were in compliance, that still often means getting them to norms that we would never tolerate in the U.S. Workweeks of 60 hours, employees squeezed into dorms, and treasured because they are so pliable. should I be feeling queasy about this?

To my surprise, “This American Life” quoted new York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, a noted human rights crusader, as defending the Chinese labor system as a positive step in the evolution of the country’s economy. Indeed, he’s not the only person who believes that while the work may be harsh, it’s an improvement over the hardscrabble, poverty-stricken conditions that existed previously.

“I think it’s useful to be reminded about how grim the conditions are,” Kristof says in the show. “But again, I just think that if you try to think how you can fight poverty most effectively, and what has fought it within China, then I think sweatshops are a key part of that answer.”

If this is true, then we also have to recognize that conditions have never magically improved on their own. Progress happens because people demand it. and so while Apple deserves kudos for being better than some, the company began to take many of these steps only after being pressured to do so.

Tech companies rationalize the need to cut costs despite mounting profits because they need to appease Wall Street expectations for growth and higher margins. But it seems Cook and Apple have an opportunity to draw a line here and challenge the power of Wall Street by raising pay for factory employees, offer bonuses to suppliers who improve conditions, while still making fantastic piles of money.

But this doesn’t excuse us. Because at the end of the day, tech executives offer a simple reason as to why they claim they have no choice but to turn to places like China to build these products.

“You can either manufacture in comfortable, worker-friendly factories, or you can reinvent the product every year, and make it better and faster and cheaper, which requires factories that seem harsh by American standards,” a current Apple executive told the new York Times. “And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China.”

That raises the issue of our personal responsibility here. this is where I’ve been feeling morally ambiguous. My first instinct was to ask, “Should I dump all of my Apple products?”

No, said Liana Foxvog, a spokeswoman for the International Labor Rights Forum, in an email.

“Consumers shouldn’t necessarily stress too much about what laptop, smartphone, or tablet they are buying since the working conditions are often similar between brands given the overlap in contractors,” she wrote. “Rather, through collective action, consumers could demand a living wage for the manufacturing workers, compliance with labor laws of the country and with international labor standards.”

And this is where things get uncomfortable. how far are any of us willing to go to put pressure on the tech industry and lawmakers? Are you willing to boycott the tech industry? Could you go a whole year without buying any gadgets?

Many folks I put this question to on Twitter and Facebook answered, “No way!” some argued this would hurt employees and factory workers , while other said we have to hope the negative press will improve things. But that still strikes me as a rationalization for doing nothing.

In other circumstances, such as grape boycotts to protest farmworker conditions, poultry boycotts, or pressure on companies to cease investments in South Africa, boycotts have proven the most effective means for average folks to wield their collective power. Indeed, just recall the impact of the Internet blackout Jan. 18.

I don’t think it’s come to that. Yet, we would be wrong to believe we are powerless to change things. If things don’t improve, and we make excuses to turn our heads away, then the real blame for these conditions falls squarely on us.

Contact Chris O’Brien at 415-298-0207 or cobrien@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at obrien and read his blog posts at http://www.siliconbeat.com.

O’Brien: Confronted by the ugliness of tech manufacturing with stories focusing on Apple, what’s a consumer to do?

Jan 04

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review – ...

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Samsung has released at least half a dozen Android tablets in the last year or so, but the Series 7 Slate is something different. It’s full-fledged Windows computer with a high resolution 11.6 inch display, a powerful Intel Core i5 processor, and support for finger or digital pen input.

It’s likely that more tablet computers have hit the streets in the past two years than in the previous decade. but tablets have been around for years — they just didn’t always look like the iPad.

Apple’s table and devices running Android, webOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and similar operating systems have all been designed from the ground up for finger input. they tend to have capacitive touch displays which react to your fingertips, and pinch-to-zoom technology which lets you resize pictures, web sites, and other content with two fingers. All of the buttons, menus, and other graphics are designed for fingers and thumbs, not a mouse, keyboard, or stylus.

Windows tablets have typically relied on expensive technology including an active digitizer and digital pen that allows you to interact with Windows seamlessly without a physical mouse and a keyboard. when implemented properly these Windows tablets support handwriting recognition, precise, pressure-sensitive drawing, and even “hover” functions that let you move a cursor over elements on your screen without clicking on them.

In other words, you can run full-blown Windows applications and visit websites that are optimized for a desktop web browser when you’re using a good Windows tablet.

Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of bad Windows tablets recently. In order to keep costs down, companies have released devices with resistive or capacitive touch displays, but left out the active digitizer. Without a digital pen, Windows 7 is a pain in the rear to use on a tablet. Menus are too small, it’s easy to tap the wrong link on a web page, close a window you meant to minimize, or make other “mistakes” because your finger or even a resistive or capacitive stylus just isn’t precise enough for the Windows graphical user interface.

When you add a good digital pen, on the other hand, the experience is very, very different. Suddenly you can use Window almost as easily on a tablet as on a desktop or laptop computer without lugging around a keyboard and mouse or touchpad.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC  offers the best of both worlds. It has a capacitive touch panel which lets you tap the screen with your fingers, but it also features a Wacom active digitizer and digital pen which offers far more precision than you’ll get from a touchscreen-only interface.

Samsung also includes a handful of touch-friendly applications including a Touch Launcher app which offers an alternative to the Windows start menu and desktop, and the Swype keyboard which makes entering text with your fingers much easier than it would be if you tried to rely on the Microsoft keyboard that comes with Windows 7.

I’m not an old school tablet guy. I’ve spent far more time with Android tablets than Windows tablets, and I don’t use some of the apps that really benefit the most from pen input such as Adobe Lightroom or other graphics. but when Samsung offered to lend me a Series 7 Slate for a few weeks, I jumped at the chance to see how it stacks up against today’s tablets.

The Series 7 is probably the best Windows slate that I’ve tested — which isn’t saying much, since so far my experience has been with low-end tablets such as the CTL 2Go Slate and Netbook Navigator Nav9. It’s the first Windows tablet I’ve spent time with that really could replace a laptop, and maybe even a desktop computer.

But a computer this capable doesn’t come cheap. the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC has a starting price of $1049, for a model with 64GB of storage, and if you want a model with a Bluetooth keyboard, docking station, and 128GB you’ll need to find $1349in your couch cushions.

Despite that high price, there are some things that a $200 Android tablet does better than the Series 7. I have to wonder whether some folks might not be better off spending their money on a cheap laptop and maybe an Android tablet.

The situation will likely change once Windows 8 is released in 2012. Microsoft’s new operating system takes a new approach toward tablet computing by supporting not only pen input, but also finger input. There’s a radically redesigned user interface which could make Windows 8 just as easy to use on tablets as Android and iOS, while still offering the option of running full-blown desktop applications such as Office or Photoshop.

Overview

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel glossy LED backlit display. Samsung says it’s a matte display, but there is a bit of glare when you use the tablet in direct sunlight.

Samsung offers two different configurations in the US. for a $1049 and up you can pick up a model with a 64GB solid state disk. for $200 more you get a 128GB solid state disk, a docking station, and Bluetooth keyboard. if you don’t need the extra storage space you can probably save a few bucks by just picking up the keyboard separately.

The tablet has 4GB of RAM and a 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-2467M processor. There are stereo 1.5W speakers and a woofer, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 3MP rear camera a combination headphone/microphone jack.

There’s a full-sized USB 2.0 port, a u-HDMI port, and a microSD card slot.

Like most high-end Android and Apple tablets, the Series 7 Slate has a capacitive touchscreen display with support for up to 10 touch inputs at once. This lets you navigate with your fingers, enter text with an on-screen keyboard, or drag and drop to your heart’s content.

But Windows 7 wasn’t really designed to be used with your fingers. Samsung has a few touch-friendly applications that help address this, but the company also throws in a Wacom digitizer and digital pen. Unfortunately there’s no place to store the pen.

The Series 7 Slate doesn’t have a slot for a stylus, so you’d better not misplace the one that comes with the tablet. the good news is that the digital pen doesn’t require a battery.

The tablet supports 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and WiDi wireless display technology. It has a 4 cell, 5520mAh, 40Whr battery which is not user replaceable.

Design

Measuring 11.7″ x 7.2″ x 0.5″ and weighing nearly 2 pounds, the Series 7 Slate is light for a laptop — but you don’t hold most laptops in your hands while you’r using them, and the Series 7 Slate is kind of heavy for a modern tablet. It’s not particularly uncomfortable to hold for brief periods of time, but after a while the extra weight becomes noticeable.

The tablet is also wider than most tablets I’ve tested, which means that while it’s reasonably comfortable to hold and use in landscape mode, the screen feels very long in portrait mode.

If you’re holding the tablet in one hand and using the other to scrawl handwritten notes on the screen, this extra length might be a good thing. but if you’re reading web pages or watching videos you’ll probably want to hold the tablet in landscape orientation.

The front of the tablet is almost nothing but screen. There’s a glass panel that stretches from one edge of the device to the other, with a black bezel surrounding the viewable display. There’s a single button below the screen which you can press to bring up Samsung’s touch-friendly application manager.

Above the screen is a front-facing webcam.

On the back of the Series 7 Slate you’ll find a higher quality camera for snapping photos — but there’s no flash. There are also a series of vents on the back of the device.

While the tablet doesn’t have a hard drive, it does generate a fair amount of heat. It gets warm (but not particularly uncomfortable) to the touch even with these fans.

I suspect the Series 7 Slate would overheat if it relied on passive cooling alone. Unfortunately this means that the tablet can get a bit noisy at times.

On the left side of the tablet you’ll find a full-sized USB port, a headset jack, volume buttons, a u-HDMI port, and the power jack. the USB port is protected by a small piece of plastic. It seems Samsung doesn’t expect you to remove it very often, because I was unable to open the USB slot with my fingers. I had to grab a paperclip to pry the plastic protector out before I could insert a USB flash drive.

There are just two buttons on the right side of the tablet. one is the power switch (which also puts the tablet to sleep), and the second is a screen orientation lock button which prevents the screen from rotating when you don’t want it to.

The top edge of the tablet houses stereo microphones and a spring-loaded microSD card slot. It’s much easier to pop a microSD card in and out than a USB flash drive, since all you have to is push down on the fake card that comes with the tablet to unlock it and then you can pull it out.

At the bottom of the tablet you’ll find the stereo speakers which are actually located far enough apart to provide something resembling a real stereo effect. There’s also a docking port which lets you plug in the optional docking station.

The Series 7 comes with a Wacom digital pen. I don’t have a lot of experience with this form of input, so I’m not going to compare it to other digital pens — but using the stylus with Windows 7 sure beats the heck out of trying to interact with a capacitive or resistive touch display. almost everything that’s hard to do on a touchscreen-only slate is made easier by the inclusion of this accessory.

It’s about the size and weight of a real pen, although it actually reminds me more of a mechanical pencil. In some applications you can even use the little plastic nub at the top of the pen as an “eraser.”

The pen feels comfortable in the hand, and has a clip so you can go full nerd and stick it in your pocket protector if you really want to. There’s a thin point at the tip which you can use to tap the display, and there’s a button close to the front that you can press while you tap to emulate a right-click action.

I found that it’s a little tough to get used to locating this button with your fingers and right-clicking, but most of the time you can also simulate a right-click just by tapping and holding the pen against the screen for a few seconds.

Overall the only complaint I have about the pen is that there’s no slot in the tablet to store it when it’s not in use. Pens have a way of disappearing, and the Wacom digital pen for the Series 7 Slate is going to be a bit tougher to replace than your average Bic.

The demo unit Samsung sent me for review came with the optional Bluetooth keyboard. It’s a full-sized keyboard with an island-style layout. that means the keys are flat instead of concave and there are gaps between each key.

This design allows the keybaord to be very thin and light, although it’s thicker near the rear where there’s a battery compartment for two AAA batteries.

The power button is on the side of the battery compartment, although the only time you really need to press this is when you’re first pairing the keyboard with the computer. After that you can start typing just by tapping on any key to wake up the keyboard and then proceeding to type.

I found the keyboard comfortable and easy to type on. It works great if you prop up the tablet in its docking station and set the keyboard on a desk or table.

Unfortunately this two piece setup (or three, if you count the dock) doesn’t work as well if you want to use the tablet on your lap while on the couch or on a bus. Under those circumstances you’re probably going to have to rely on the touchscreen or digital pen for entering text. if you’re a fan of writing things out by hand, that might not be a big sacrifice, but I type much more quickly than I write — and my handwriting is pretty bad, so I love a good keyboard.

Speaking of the optional docking station, it’s a pretty nifty little device. It’s a little smaller (but thicker) than a CD case and has a soft rubberized bottom which helps prevent it from slipping when placed on a table.

At the back of the dock you’ll find full-sized USB, Ethernet, and HDMI ports as well as a headphone jack and power port. This makes plugging in an external keyboard, mouse, or display a snap.

When docked you actually have two full-sized USB ports, since the tablet already has once of its own.

To place the tablet in the docking station you just lift a flap on the top to expose the docking connector. the flap clicks into place and becomes a stand for the tablet. It’s not adjustable, but it does position the tablet at a comfortable angle.

Software

When Microsoft introduced Windows 7 a few years ago, the company spent a lot of time talking about how touch-friendly the OS was. that was before the iPad and Android tablets hit the streets and showed what operating systems designed from the ground up for touch really looked like. but there’s no doubt that Windows 7 is a bit easier to use with your fingers (or a digital pen) than Windows Vista or XP.

For instance, the taskbar features nice big app icons that are easy to aim your fingertip at. the start menu is likewise choc full of big icons.

But things get even more touch friendly if you enable support for flicks and other gestures, which allow you to do things like skip forward and back in web pages by swiping your finger quickly from left to right or right to left.

Windows Aero snapping is also a pretty awesome experience when used with touch. you can tap and drag any window to the top of the screen to maximize the window, or drag it to the left or right to automatically fill half the screen.

This makes it incredibly easy to do things like open two Windows Explorer windows and copy files from one to the other.

The Internet Explorer 9 web browser that comes with the Series 7 Slate also features support for touch-based navigation, allowing you to scroll through web sites by moving your finger up and down the screen (rather than by relying on the tiny scrollbars on the side and bottom of the window). when I installed Firefox it worked the same way, but the latest version of Google Chrome doesn’t feature touch-based navigation unless you install a third-party extension.

Windows 7 still isn’t quite as easy to navigate with your fingers as iOS. It can be hard to tap a precise point on the screen using a fat finger, and sometime you end up closing a window instead of minimizing it. Other times you might have to tap half a dozen times before you hit the item you’re aiming for.

The digital pen alleviates most of these problems. when you wave it over the top of the screen you can see a cursor on the display. This lets you drag the cursor exactly where you want it to be before tapping — just like you would with a mouse.

You can also “hover” the cursor over on-screen elements in a way that’s impossible to do with a fingertip or resistive stylus. you don’t realize just how many elements of the Windows operating system or how many web apps rely on hover actions until you try using Windows without a device that supports hovering.

For instance, when you wave the stylus over an icon on your desktop it will be highlighted. Move over the battery icon and you can see how much time you have left remaining. and I would have had a difficult time writing much of this review using the WordPress web app if I couldn’t access menus that are only available when you hover over a certain area of the screen.

The pen also makes it easy to “right-click” by either tapping and holding or by pressing a button on the pen while you tap. Selecting text is easier, and drawing pictures, cropping images, or performing other precise actions are easy as pie.

Overall I found that there wasn’t much I could do with a mouse that I couldn’t do with the digital pen — and some things work better with the pen.

For instance, I wouldn’t even attempt to use handwriting recognition with a mouse, but it works quite well with the pen. My handwriting is pretty awful, but you can train Windows to adapt to your handwriting so that it does a better job of recognizing what you write.

You can also switch to an on-screen keyboard to tap out letters, numbers and symbols one by one. I’ve used the on-screen keyboard on a handful of other tablets — but like many Windows features it’s clearly not designed for use with your fingers.

While Android and iOS virtual keyboards are designed for your thumbs and fingers, the Windows 7 keyboard is designed for use with a pen or stylus and touch-typing is nearly impossible.

Fortunately, Samsung does include a finger-friendly keyboard option. It’s an app called Swype which was initially developed for Android phones and tablets.

Swype has nice big keys that are easy to tap with your fingers. but it also lets you enter text quickly by sliding your finger from one letter to the next without lifting your hand from the display. when it works, Swype is the fastest way to enter text on the Series 7 Slate without using a physical keyboard.

Unfortunately Swype doesn’t always work perfectly. once you pull it up, it’s sometimes tough to switch back to the default Windows input panel to use the original keyboard or handwriting input. Swype is also a bit more aggressive in asserting itself than the Windows keyboard. Pretty much every time you tap something resembling a text input panel Swype pops up.

For serious text entry the optional Bluetooth keyboard has proven indispensable during my testing — but since the tablet has Bluetooth and a full-sized USB port you’re not stuck with Samsung’s keyboard. you could connect virtually any keyboard to the tablet.

Swype is just one of the finger-friendly apps Samsung loads on the tablet. There’s also a Touch Supported icon in the toolbar that you can tap to bring up shortcuts for frequently used Windows shortcuts such as Ctrl+C for copy, Ctrl+V for paste, F5 for refresh, or Ctrl+Alt+Tab to switch between running applications.

You can pull up an Easy Settings app for quick access to power, internet, audio and display settings. While custom settings apps are nothing new, the Easy Settings app is relatively easy to navigate with a fingertip thanks to big icons and text and large sliders and buttons.

There’s also a Touch Launcher app which brings up a full-screen application launcher with shortcuts for apps designed to run in full-screen. for instance there’s a weather application that displays current conditions and a brief forecast with attractive graphics.

Samsung also includes a few other full-screen apps, including software for taking notes, listening to music, watching videos, or keeping up with Facebook and Twitter. Some of these apps are more useful than others, and a few of the icons in the Touch Launcher menu are just shortcuts to websites. the YouTube icon, for example, simply opens YouTube in your default web browser.

We’ll start to see more of these touch-friendly apps once Windows 8 is released in 2012. Windows 8 includes a new Metro user interface for full-screen applications and the operating system will also include an app store for free and paid Metro apps.

But the Touch Launcher makes it a little easier than it would otherwise be to use the Series 7 Slate without a mouse, keyboard, or digital pen. the experience isn’t very consistent, since you still need to use the Windows 7 Start Menu to launch many apps that aren’t accessible from Touch launcher, and the tablet comes with a mix of apps that run in full screen mode and apps that don’t.

Samsung is apparently pushing the Touch Launcher experience though, because the Series 7 Slate has a hardware button dedicated to bringing up the app launcher. Just press the little square button below the display to bring it up from any window.

Performance

The last two Windows tablets I tested were 10 inch models with 1024 x 600 pixel displays and Intel Atom processors. they didn’t have active digitizers and while the Atom chips were fast enough for basic laptop-style computing, the Netbook Navigator Nav9, CTl 2GoPad SL10, and ExoPC Slate all felt sluggish when used as tablets.

Samsung’s Series 7 Slate doesn’t suffer from those problems. In fact, it’s one of the fastest computers I’ve tested over the past few years. take that statement with a grain of salt, since I tend to focus on low-cost, low-power mobile devices. you can certainly find computers with more power than the Series 7 Slate, but it’s faster than most low-end Windows tablets or notebooks.

That extra power comes from the speedy Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, and solid state disk. those features don’t come cheap, which is why the Series 7 Slate costs about twice as much as the Netbook Navigator or CTL tablets.

But while the processor can handle number-crunching duties with ease, the tablet’s not exactly a beast in the graphics department.

The computer has Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. It can handle 720p or 1080p HD video playback with ease, but computers with slower processors and higher-performance NVIDIA ION or AMD Radeon graphics out-performed the Series 7 Slate in gaming benchmarks.

A few years ago I started running a few tests on laptop, netbook, and tablet computers to measure performance at everyday tasks such as creating a ZIP archive with a few thousand files and transcoding audio and video files.

The test is kind of dated, since it relies on tools that may not take advantage of all the features of modern, multi-core chips. but it does provide a bit of a basis for comparison, and when I ran the tests on the Series 7 Slate it came out on top in all three scenarios.

In fact, it was three times faster than the Intel Atom-powered Netbook Navigator at transcoding audio and more than 2.5 times faster when converting an uncompressed video file to Xvid.

Other devices featured in this test include the Asus Eee PC 1215B notebook with an AMD E-350 dual core processor and Radeon HD 6310 graphics and an Asus Eee PC 1015PN netbook with a 1.5 GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core CPU and NVIDIA ION graphics.

For graphics performance I ran the 3DMark06 and Street Figher IV benchmarks. the tablet scored lower on the Street Fighter test than machines with AMD or NVIDIA graphics.

While the Series 7 Slate had the highest 3DMark CPU score of any of the devices I’ve tested recently, its overall score wasn’t as high as some computers with better graphics features.

In other words, the Slate’s graphics capabilities are decent, but not spectacular. It’s other features such as the processor, active digitizer, 4GB of RAM, and SSD which help set the tablet apart from cheaper devices.

I was also surprised to see that screen rotation on the tablet takes a second or two. I don’t know if this has something to do with the processor, graphics, or Windows operating system, but ARM-based tablets with Android or iOS operating systems seem to handle automatic screen rotation much more smoothly than most of the Windows tablets I’ve tested.

Ultimately the point might be moot though — because I can’t think of many reasons why I would rotate the screen. the Slate has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display that looks great in landscape mode. but it’s almost ridiculously long when you hold the tablet in portrait mode.

Web pages don’t really scale that well to a screen that’s just 768 pixels wide, and 1366 pixels of vertical resolution is more than you really need to read web sites, documents, or digital books.

The best reason to hold the device in portrait orientation is to rest it on one arm while using your other hand to scribble notes on the screen, but this is much easier to do with a smaller tablet with a screen that has a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Weighing just under 2 pounds, the Series 7 Slate is a little heavier than an iPad or most Android tablets. It’s not particularly uncomfortable to hold for a little while with two hands, but it’s most comfortable to use when you can prop it up on a table or on your lap. actually, it’s most comfortable to use when it’s standing up  in the optional docking station.

Here’s the thing about the weight though: the Series 7 is still lighter than almost any laptop computer you’re going to find. I slipped it in my bag this morning to go work from a coffee shop, and as I stepped out the door I had to double check to make sure I hadn’t forgotten it. My backpack felt too light.

If you plan to sue the Series 7 Slate like a laptop, that’s great. but it does feel kind of heavy when you hold it in your hands for an extended period… and that’s how most people actually expect to use tablets.

The 40Whr battery provides about 4.5 hours of run time with WiFi turned on and the screen backlight set at around 40 percent. That’s less than half of what you’d get from an Apple iPad or some Android tablets, but it’s not bad for a computer with an 11.6 inch display, a Core i5 processor, and no room for an enormous battery.

The display is reasonably bright and has wide viewing angles. but it has a glossy finish which tends to reflect glare when used in direct sunlight.

There’s also an automatic brightness option that can adjust the display settings based on the light levels in the environment where you’re using the tablet. but I found that the automatic brightness setting was a bit over-aggressive and the display kept brightening and dimming unexpected when I was testing it.

Verdict

The Series 7 Slate PC is a tablet computer that’s powerful enough to be used as a laptop or desktop. It may be the only computer you need, which is something that sets it apart from most Android and iOS tablets which are best seen as items that you might buy in addition to a computer.

If you add a keyboard and stand or docking station to the Series 7 Slate, you can use it like a portable laptop — assuming you don’t feel the need to actually place it on your lap to type.

The computer can run full-blown Windows apps as well as some full-screen apps that feel a bit more like the software we find on mobile devices such as smartphones or media tablets. We’ll probably see far more of these full-screen apps once Windows 8 is available for the Series 7 Slate in 2012.

But with a starting price of $1049, the Series 7 Slate isn’t for everyone. Laptop prices have fallen considerably over the last few years and you could easily buy a portable laptop computer and an Android tablet such as the Amazon Kindle Fire for a few hundred dollars less than the price of Samsung’s Windows tablet.

It’s not that the Slate isn’t worth the asking price. It’s just hard for most consumers to justify the premium price for features they may want but probably don’t need.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a high quality tablet for writing, drawing, or using pen-friendly apps such as Microsoft OneNote, it’s hard to find a better deal right now than the Series 7 Slate.

I’m hopeful that when Windows 8 arrives we’ll start to see more high quality tablets hit the scene and help drive down prices. but I’m also a little worried that in order to keep prices down companies will stick with the finger-friendly Metro UI and forget about the powerful processors and active digitizers that make tablets like the Series 7 Slate fun to use.

It’s also easy to forget sometimes that the Series 7 isn’t a media tablet like a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Apple iPad. for instance I decided to carry it around the house one day to listen to internet radio — but realized that I couldn’t simply tap the power button to turn off the display while I prepared dinner and listened to the news.

Hitting the power button turns the tablet to sleep. To turn off the screen you need to adjust the power options and wait for the screen to time out.

In other words, there are still some things that a cheaper tablet may be better suited for than a full-blown Windows 7 computer.

If you’re not turned off by the price of the Series 7 Slate, I recommend picking up a keyboard and stand. you can opt for the $1349 model which includes a 128GB solid state disk and the docking station and Bluetooth keyboard. Or you can buy the docking station for $100 or the keyboard for $80.

Samsung also offers a $50 case which functions as a tablet stand if you don’t need all the features of the docking station. I suspect you may also be able to find third party cases and keyboards for better prices.

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review – Liliputing

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Sep 15

Top five tablets of Aug-Sept

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In last decade, two new computing segments emerged &#151 netbooks and tablets. However, the craze for the later has been surprising. Today over 20 different tablets are available or announced at global level and more than ten different brands have introduced their tablets in India. from all those tablets that have been officially launched and already available through the retail as well as online channels, we have selected five best tablets to suit all possible needs considering price &#151 features ratio.

The criteria for choosing these best five tablets includes larger display, good combination of hardware with software, presence of basic ready-to-use applications, 3G network support, Adobe Flash Player support, WiFi, Bluetooth and longer battery life.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 (Galaxy Tab 10.1)

Samsung’s top of the line Galaxy Tab 750 is so far the best tablet with a good combination of hardware and compelling software.

Galaxy Tab 750 comes with 10.1 inch TFT LCD touchscreen display that supports 1280×800 pixel resolution and 149 pixels per inch. Since the tablet doesn’t have any capacitive buttons on the bezel, it supports four-way rotation.

Powered with dual-core 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC Processor, the Galaxy Tab 750 comes with Android 3.x Honeycomb operating system with Samsung’s own TouchWiz user interface laid on top of it with Live Panels, which provides a magazine-like widget view for immediate access to weather, social updates, email, news, photo gallery and more, all of which can be customized on the home screen.

At the back of the tablet, a 3 megapixel camera is decent yet unexplainably below par as the company uses 5 megapixel camera even in mid-range handsets. Users need to wait for the cross platform instant-messaging service ChatON.

In terms of hardware, the Galaxy Tab 750 is almost at par with other top of the line 10.1 inch display bearing tablets. It gains few brownie points with Bluetooth 3.0, 3G and dual-band WiFi support. Samsung has used its proprietary 30-pin connector port for charging and data transfer needs. The tablet comes with 8.6-mm slim form factor and offers 9 hours of battery life runtime.

Promising full 1080p HD playback, the tablet promises multimedia fun with the twin stereo speakers. Over all, the Galaxy Tab 750 models have elegant form factor with top of the line hardware and growing software.

The Galaxy Tab 750 is available in India for Rs 33,999. The heavy cost could’ve been justified if the HDMI adaptor and the USB adaptor had come bundled with the tablet.

Apple iPad 2

Owing to the popularity of the Apple products, the iPad 2 is undoubtedly the most popular tablet amongst the consumers. The Apple iPad 2 tablet comes with a nice 9.7 inch LED-backlit multi-touch display built using IPS technology supports 1024×768 pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch. Packed with a dual-core 1 Ghz Apple A5 processor, the Apple iPad 2 comes with decent enough hardware power to run the iOS operating system smoothly. Apple has added two cameras &#151 one at back and one in the front which allows video chat over FaceTime.

The Apple iPad 2 has two major advantages over rest of the tablets &#151 several ready to use apps and clear video chat facility with FaceTime. Apple App Store has myriad applications ranging from Education, Productivity, Social Networking, eBooks and thousands of others developed specifically for the iPad 2. With iOS 5, which is set to come in the near future, this tablet will get iMessage app that will allow instant messaging over WiFi and 3G with other iOS devices.

However, even Apple iPad has Achilles Heel such as lack of ports and closed sync features (single-computer sync). One should seriously access these shortcomings before buying the iPad 2. Currently, the Apple iPad 2 (16GB, 32GB and 64GB) is available in India in two versions WiFi and WiFi+3G. Check this link to know the latest official pricing of the different models.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is meant for features-rich tablet lovers. Sporting the 10.1 inch LED Backlight touchscreen display which is scratch resistant, the tablet supports WXGA 1280×800 pixel resolution. Under the 13mm hood, the tablet packs a dual core 1 Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor coupled with 1 GB memory.

The Transformer runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb out of the box with ASUS Waveshare user interface layered on top of it. in terms of hardware and software, Transfomer is at par with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750.

ASUS has paid attention to the short comings of the first generation Apple iPad and hence added several features to the Transformer tablet. for instance, the physical connectivity is powered with micro USB 2.0 port and micro HDMI ports that serve to be quite useful for connecting the tablet to the computer and larger displays respectively.

Transformer is yet another Android 3.x Honeycomb tablet sans capacitive buttons. at the back lies a 5 megapixel camera which is good enough to click images but lacks LED flash. in the front is a 2 megapixel camera meant for self-portrait imaging and video chat. Apart from the 16 GB internal storage, the tablet can accommodate up to 16 GB or 32 GB through a micro SD card depending upon the version. The tablet also comes with a built-in card reader.

Watching movies and videos is fun on this tablet since it supports SRS Surround sound with twin stereo speaker. Voice chat and Voice Search can be used with the built-in high quality microphone. Transformer stands out with the bundled keyboard with touchpad dock which boosts up the battery life to 16 hours for the tablet. The dock comes with its own 2 cell battery pack to power the tablet.

When it comes to price-features comparison, the ASUS Transformer takes the cake by offering almost all possible features at current street price of Rs 29,500.

Acer Iconia Tab A500

So far, the Iconia Tab A500 is the only Android tablet that stands close to the ASUS Transformer with similar features &#151 10.1 inch TFT LCD display with 1280×800 pixel resolution support, dual-core 1 Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1 GB memory and 16 GB onboard storage.

Acer Iconia Tab A500 comes with Android 3.x Honeycomb operating system with Acer UI layered on top of it. Along comes a set of custom set of Acer applications and improvements for better experience on the tablet. at the back lies a 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash for better imaging and in the front rests a 2 megapixel camera meant for video chat. Unfortunately, one needs to buy a Wireless Keyboard for the Acer tablet separately.

For physical connectivity, the tablet features micro HDMI, micro USB and also a full sized USB port. Acer has recently introduced the new Iconia Tab A501 model which comes with 3G Network support as well and is priced at Rs 32,990. While the Iconia Tab A500 WiFi version is available for as low as Rs 26, 900 online.

Acer falls behind when it comes to keyboard dock and also additional battery life. Acer has also introduced a Windows 7 running tablet Iconia W500 series which comes with AMD Fusion processor.

Motorola XOOM

First Android 3.0 Honeycomb based tablet &#151 Motorola XOOM comes with a premium finishing and the sleep/wake button at the back next to the camera. Motorola offers XOOM in WiFi Only and WiFi+3G models for India with 32 GB on-board storage. One can always expand the storage by adding up to 32 GB Micro SDHC card to the tablet.

Motorola XOOM comes with 10.1 inch display supporting WXGA 1280×800 pixel resolution. made form anodized aluminum and soft finish, the XOOM does end up being bit heavy with 730 grams weight. It would be fair to say that XOOM offers the pure Android 3.1 Honeycomb experience to the users. Under the anodized aluminum chassis rests a dual-core 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor coupled with 1 GB memory to power the operating system.

The company so far has no plans to add any custom interface on it. Using XOOM one can record 720p HD videos with the 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED Flash at the back. front facing 2 megapixel camera is meant for clicking self portraits and video chat. Motorola has added micro-USB and micro-HDMI for physical connectivity.

Motorola XOOM offers impressive 10 hours of battery life. Currently, the WiFi version of Motorola XOOM tablet is available for Rs 29,999 online. However, there is a good Rs 6,000 difference between a WiFi only model and WiFi+3G model.

Wrap up

Out of these five, the best tablet would be the one which would suit your requirements and also the budget despite of the fact that almost all tablets cost above Rs 28,000. for those looking for a tablet that offers consistent ease of use and loads of applications to enjoy &#151 Apple iPad 2 takes the cake. when it comes to design, polished software performance and light weight body, Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 wins over all.

For the well-informed folks who look for a feature rich tablet, should ideally go for ASUS Transformer for the overall feature-rich package.

Top five tablets of Aug-Sept

Sep 03

Lenovo: Apple Can’t Dominate Tablet Market ...

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John Paczkowski, On Monday August 22, 2011, 7:00 am EDT

Apple overtook Lenovo in revenue in Greater China for the the first time in about a decade last week, and the company’s leadership seems to be having a difficult time accepting the news.

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanquing’s first response to Apple’s achievement? To dismiss it. In his view any comparison of the two companies’ revenues is incongruent.

“That is not an ‘apples to apples’ calculation,” he said. “Their calculation includes the phone business but Lenovo’s main focus is in PCs; our phone business isn’t that strong even in China.”

But then that’s sort of the point isn’t it? if that business were stronger and Lenovo’s Android-based Lephone was better established in the market, Yang might not have cause to take issue with the assertion that Apple’s sales have overtaken its own. But the fact is that Cupertino’s third-quarter sales in greater China hit $3.8 billion and Lenovo’s did not.

But Yang intends to change that and soon — with a portfolio of Android and Windows tablets that he hopes will end Apple’s domination of the tablet market. “We will be one of the strongest of the players in this area,” Yang told the Financial Times.

But how, when even once promising tablet challengers like Hewlett-Packard’s webOS-based TouchPad have failed so miserably? By targeting every single strata of the tablet market.

“Apple only covers the top tier,” Yang explained. “With a $500 price you cannot go to the small cities, townships, low salary class, low income class. … Apple is very strong, but when IBM created the PC market there was just IBM; if you look at the PC industry now it is very diversified. I believe that will happen in tablets as well.”

Lenovo: Apple Can’t Dominate Tablet Market Forever