The Tablet, by all accounts and common sense, will be predominately a CONSUMPTION device rather than a CREATION device. Distinguished from a full fledged laptop by focusing on consuming the INTERNET, MOVIES, TV, BOOKS, MUSIC, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, SOCIAL NETWORKING, etc. Many of the tech journalists are focused on INPUT, and the need for either a really cool on-screen keyboard and/or a bluetooth keyboard option. The former will be part of the OS, but mainly just for entering short messages, web URL's etc. The latter won't happen. No keyboard - forget it, Apple will distinguish the device from a laptop specifically by preventing the use of keyboards. An External add-on is just ugly and inelegant - not Apple's way.
BUT, there is a bit of a problem to solve. Pick up the iPhone, and you can use one hand - almost without fail - to operate every function on the device including text entry. Your thumb can basically reach the entire screen. Pick up your laptop, you rest to hands on the bottom keyboard/trackpad area to type and navigate. The tablet will have neither - so how can I navigate/control/input on it.
The answer is three fold. (IMHO) Your left hand will hold the device while your right hand uses touch to navigate. This will work great for 80% of what you do (browsing etc.). Sometimes, like when you put the device down to watch a video; it won't work so great because you'll have to block the screen with your hands in order to manipulate the input, and because you might be more than an arms-length away. Here's where camera-based navigation comes in. Tracking your motions you'll be able to FF/RW etc.
Now, imagine you're holding the device and need to enter text. If you put it down to type with two hands; you're hunched over and eating most the screen with a virtual keyboard; try doing this on the go and it's a real pain. You have to be able to hold the device with one hand while entering text with the other. You can do this via a smaller on-screen keyboard, but single-finger hunt & peck is not very efficient. What would work? A stylus. Now you're taking notes like using a clip-board.
Now, some people aren't good at handwriting anymore, or just don't want to do it. SO, the only other option is to make the BACK of the device touch-sensitive, present a split on-screen keyboard (half bottom-left; half bottom-right) and some real-time wizardy to show you where your fingers are in relation to on-screen keys. You then type on the back and see the results on the screen. This is efficient and fast for people who learn how to do it, but the other options also exist.
Input and PLACEMENT (how do you 'hold' this thing when using it) are the two great questions of the Tablet, I can't wait to see how Apple solves them. I'm sure their ideas will be bigger/better than outlined here, but this is what I can imagine.
BUT, there is a bit of a problem to solve. Pick up the iPhone, and you can use one hand - almost without fail - to operate every function on the device including text entry. Your thumb can basically reach the entire screen. Pick up your laptop, you rest to hands on the bottom keyboard/trackpad area to type and navigate. The tablet will have neither - so how can I navigate/control/input on it.
The answer is three fold. (IMHO) Your left hand will hold the device while your right hand uses touch to navigate. This will work great for 80% of what you do (browsing etc.). Sometimes, like when you put the device down to watch a video; it won't work so great because you'll have to block the screen with your hands in order to manipulate the input, and because you might be more than an arms-length away. Here's where camera-based navigation comes in. Tracking your motions you'll be able to FF/RW etc.
Now, imagine you're holding the device and need to enter text. If you put it down to type with two hands; you're hunched over and eating most the screen with a virtual keyboard; try doing this on the go and it's a real pain. You have to be able to hold the device with one hand while entering text with the other. You can do this via a smaller on-screen keyboard, but single-finger hunt & peck is not very efficient. What would work? A stylus. Now you're taking notes like using a clip-board.
Now, some people aren't good at handwriting anymore, or just don't want to do it. SO, the only other option is to make the BACK of the device touch-sensitive, present a split on-screen keyboard (half bottom-left; half bottom-right) and some real-time wizardy to show you where your fingers are in relation to on-screen keys. You then type on the back and see the results on the screen. This is efficient and fast for people who learn how to do it, but the other options also exist.
Input and PLACEMENT (how do you 'hold' this thing when using it) are the two great questions of the Tablet, I can't wait to see how Apple solves them. I'm sure their ideas will be bigger/better than outlined here, but this is what I can imagine.
For many people in certain fields it's just as important as the text if not more important.
