Tech, 2011: tablets

I usually don’t pay attention to tech gear that doesn’t have relevance to my work. When I pass on tech observations to Saipan’s business community, I’m just sharing my take from the work trenches. And on this note there hasn’t been much to share lately. Computers have matured to the point where even five-to-seven year old technology is amply serviceable for most of us. So there’s been less and less reason to talk about tech.

But I had an opportunity to get my hands on an array of tablet computers recently, and I want to share my impressions with you. Tablets are the big computer story of the year. Heck, they are the big story of the week, for that matter. Just yesterday Amazon unveiled a $199 tablet that is all the buzz in computer circles right now.

So, what’s up with this tablet stuff? What are they? What are they good for?

A tablet pretty much looks like a notebook computer screen without the notebook. It’s just a flat slab, maybe a half-inch thick or so, and the guts of the system are (somehow) stuffed into that thin space. Lacking a physical keyboard, the screen itself is used for inputs, and users push various virtual buttons or fields, and can typically call up a virtual keyboard that has the familiar “QWERTY” layout.

The advantage of a tablet is that it’s easy to haul around. Hey, after all, it’s just a flat slab. By contrast, if you’ve ever tried to use a notebook computer while you’re sitting in your car, or in an airline seat, you know how awkward that gig is. Speaking of airliners, tablets are starting to see use in the cramped confines of aircraft cockpits, serving as electronic versions of maps.

The semantics here aren’t very clean, by the way. “Tablet” can also refer to a notebook computer with a screen that bends around, which isn’t what I’m talking about here.

I think the most common use of tablets is Web browsing. After all, it doesn’t take a keyboard to web surf. So they’re well suited for this, as well as watching videos, reading e-books, and stuff like that.

Every tablet I’ve seen connects to the world via built in WiFi, and many can use cell phone data connections as well.

The dominant player in the tablet game is Apple’s iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen. The current versions I’ve seen (the iPad 2) were priced from $499 to $829.

Outside of the Apple realm, names such as Acer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and HP are part of the action now. Most of the ones I got to handle did not have Windows for an operating system but instead used versions of Android. But there are Windows tablets out there.

Tablets run in screen sizes from about 7 inches on up to roughly 10 inches. The 10-inch screens were by far easier on my eyes and far more inviting for Web browsing. Based on this experience, if I was to get a tablet or give one for a gift, I would steer for the screens in the 10-inch realm.

Costs of the major non-Apple brands that I looked at were around $300 to $850. As you might imagine, the smaller screens are usually the cheaper ones. To further muddy the waters there’s a surprising number of new (to me) brands, some of which can dive down as low as $100 or so.

As for Amazon’s $199 tablet, dubbed the Fire, it has a 7-inch screen, though I’ve read (but can’t confirm) that a larger screen model is due out in a few months.

Will I get a tablet? Not soon. I’ll admit that they are nifty. But I seek to minimize, not maximize, the time I spend looking at a screen; it’s all dead time to me and it’s not my hobby.

By contrast, people with larger appetites for screen time will be buying a lot of tablets, especially now that the holidays are approaching. Furthermore, specialized industrial applications, such as the aircraft example I mentioned, will surely increase the demand for tablets.

On that last note, tablets may become so integrated in work settings that we’re all going to wind up using them anyway, one way or another. I suspect this will happen, but that’s just a hunch.

If any businesses in the Commonwealth are using tablet computers I’d like to hear their wisdom and comments.