Chiclet and tablet meet-and-match

I went to a big, impressive electronics store during my holiday travels, so I’m going to mention some of the tech stuff I saw. If you’ve been ensconced on Saipan, or some such other isolated island, I’ll be your eyes and ears for the Big City scene, at least insofar as it concerns computers.

It’s not a comprehensive survey, but just some highlights of things that caught my attention as I wandered the aisles.

One thing I noticed is that “Chiclet” keyboards seem to be the dominant breed in notebook computers. This style, so named, I surmise, for a brand of square-shaped chewing gum, has space between the keys, as opposed to the traditional arrangement where the keys almost butt up against each other.

I’m a touch typist and between the Chiclet style and the traditional style, I have a strong preference. There’s no need to mention my preference, however, since yours might not be the same as mine, or since you might not have a preference at all.

But I think that any computer buyer should be aware of the distinction. So I would not blindly order a computer from Saipan without first getting my hands on a representative keyboard for a try-out.

Having invited your attention to that subtle, but possibly critical, detail, I’ll mention something glaringly obvious: Smart phones are a big deal. Phones are now computers, and computers are now phones. This is apparent whether you’re in Marpi, Manila, or Manhattan.

As obvious as that is, a couple of things did surprise me. One was the sheer number of models of smart phones. I saw dozens of offerings. The other thing was the prices on these things, which were often over $600, and which went as high as $899.

While cell phones have been blurring into tablet computers, I noted that tablet computers have been morphing into notebook computers. On the big side of things, I saw many tablets that were up to 10.6 inches in size (measured diagonally). Some such tablets have folding covers (folios) that have integrated keyboards; this feature, from what I saw, is something extra to buy, not something included with the basic tablet.

In that realm, of the keyboards I tried, most of them struck me as OK for sending a quick e-mail, or other minimal duties, but were certainly no substitute for a normal keyboard.

However, one keyboard struck me as really good. This was the Microsoft Type Surface 2, which was priced at $130. This mates with the 10.6-inch screen Microsoft Surface Pro tablet; the examples I saw ranged from $349 to $1,299. Of course, you’re in Windows territory here, with versions of Windows 8.1 being used.

This Windows thing introduces a broader issue: operating systems. The old Windows-or-Mac decision faced by average consumers is no longer so simple. For one thing, as tablets have grown in popularity, so, too, has the tablet-centric Android operating system, which is by Google.

But Google has another operating system, called Chrome, that is also growing in popularity. Chrome is a system that operates via the so-called “cloud,” meaning that all the heavy lifting is done on Google’s side, not the user’s side, of the Internet.

As a result, Chrome computers (which are made by a variety of big names, including Samsung and HP), are simple and cheap, since they are basically dedicated Internet appliances. I saw some “Chromebook” computers, generally smallish notebooks, for as little as $200. The Google Docs office suite, which is free, meshes with this system, and takes care of such common tasks as word processing and spreadsheets. Google Docs works on more than just Chrome systems, by the way, so it’s not limited to this single realm.

Meanwhile, Apple is still going strong, of course, but I didn’t get a chance to eyeball their products other than the MacBook Air. The example I saw had a 13.3-inch screen (which, as a frequent traveler, I think is an optimal size), was extremely light, had 128GB of flash memory, and cost $1,099. I’ll note that it uses a Chiclet-style keyboard. If you like that style of keyboard, you might really like this computer.

Overall, in terms of brand names, I noticed that Samsung is really coming on strong, not only with its line of smart phones but also in tablets, notebook computers, and laser printers. On the other hand, I saw very few offerings from Toshiba, which used to be a popular brand of computer.

Anyway, that’s what I saw in the big store in the big city.

What’s the big thing for 2014? I think that Google Chrome will be the star of the year.