Been sleeping in class again. Ever been a student, worked in a lab, taken notes on the go?
Keyboardless 12" iBook G4? Too big to be used as a "pen and paper" unless you're seated. Once seated too limited and slow compared to a keyboard system. Not to mention completely out of the iBook's price range.
you know what i thought would be a great idea for wacom to create, alongside apple's help? just make a tablet (that, uh, didn't weight 15 pounds), with a large card reader in the top, similar to a digital camera. whatever you needed to do that day -- drawing, note taking, correspondence, whatever -- would be recorded to that card while you were away from the desktop.
then when you can back, you synced your "art" folder" and your "notes" folder from that card to your desktop (not sure if wireless would be necessarily good...). you could then have a function termed "blank slate" that would erase the card before going back out that day.
in essence, stop trying to make the tablet a full-fledged COMPUTER, and just make it do what you would expect it to do, a palette, a slate, a note pad, etc. a PDA for people with ideas, not just stenographer skills. and with a firmware that could be upgraded for other tasks later (kinda like the ipod).
now that i've written it down here, expect apple to take up the project 3 months from now.
Keyboardless 12" iBook G4? Too big to be used as a "pen and paper" unless you're seated. Once seated too limited and slow compared to a keyboard system. Not to mention completely out of the iBook's price range.
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
Forget the keyboard! If people really need one then they don't really want a tablet, for the rest an onscreen one is fine in addition to HWR.
For the tablet to succeed it needs to be its own device, not a hybrid 'Laplet'.
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
Forget the keyboard! If people really need one then they don't really want a tablet, for the rest an onscreen one is fine in addition to HWR.
For the tablet to succeed it needs to be its own device, not a hybrid 'Laplet'.
How small of a form factor could they do it though? You can't just get rid of the keyboard portion of the iBook because the components need to go somewhere. Ultimately Apple would have to use lower heat, higher quality parts to fit behind the screen without making it two inches thick.
How thick are the Tablet PCs?
Ultimately the table should be an extension of a computer (or network) rather than a truly stand alone machine. Like an iPod, functional, but not complete without a computer. It would probably need it's own OS (bring back the Newton!) that could run Safari & Mail, but not PhotoShop, Shake, Final Cut, etc.
A bootable ROM would be better, but more expensive. The iPod drive would be smaller and create less heat, but more expensive.
I suggested something in a different thread a while ago, but I'll try again. Use the iPod as the host that snaps into a new screen. The touch pad screen would basically be an accessory for the iPod. You could then balance the cost size of the screen because not much would be added to it.
More battery, maybe more CPU, airport card. But keep is small enough that a doctor or nurse could carry it around and at the end of the day disengage the iPod from the screen and connect it to the computer/network to syncronize the data collected throughout the day.
I don't know why so many of you are so against a tablet. All that needs to be done is add touch swivel screen to a notebook. Throw in an app, or 2, or however many you want, and Viola ~ It's tablet time. Your not missing anything. The Notebook portion is all there the exact way it was. All you have is access to another form factor, and style of operation if you chose to use it. Why is everyone in here so against adding more functionality to something you already have if you chose to use it?
If anything seems unreasonable it's the argument against it.
Kickaha and Amorph couldn't moderate themselves out of a paper bag. Abdicate responsibility and succumb to idiocy. Two years of letting a member make personal attacks against others, then stepping aside when someone won't put up with it. Not only that but go ahead and shut down my posting priviledges but not the one making the attacks. Not even the common decency to abide by their warning (afer three days of absorbing personal attacks with no mods in sight), just shut my posting down and then say it might happen later if a certian line is crossed. Bullshit flag is flying, I won't abide by lying and coddling of liars who go off-site, create accounts differing in a single letter from my handle with the express purpose to decieve and then claim here that I did it. Everyone be warned, kim kap sol is a lying, deceitful poster.
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.
As we said in other threads, the best tabletsize is A5. If it is possible best with a optional small keyboard (even cell phones have a keyboard and some pda have one).
Agree with who says that keyboard is faster then pen: but i think there are a lot of applications where keyboard is not much used. I use mac all day long but i don't write a lot..
I think apple won't make tablets in the near future for the tecnology is not ready for a fast and light portable tablet. I tried the Compaq and is heavy and very slow..
Another problem is OS.
Tablet is a very different concept and must work with a specific OS with a GUI made for it. MS doesn't do that.. the OS for tablet is too much similar at the desktop OS.. another reason for it's failure.
Tablet is a very different concept and must work with a specific OS with a GUI made for it. MS doesn't do that.. the OS for tablet is too much similar at the desktop OS.. another reason for it's failure.
That OS is bad enough to use even with a keyboard let alone without one.
I have the same viewpoint. A tablet would only work well with an OS designed specific for that type of usage. Perhaps not a different OS, as we would need OS X functionality for the apps, but the tablet would certainly have to have a different UI for keyboard-less input to be of any use. Otherwise it's just a clumsy laptop. It would have to be done via voice and/or hand written. We are not there yet. I'm sure Apple is looking into it.
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
There's nothing "proper" about the tablet you'd end up with, less offensive than what currently exists, but certainly NOT proper -- not at 11-12x8.5" footprint, 1.2" thick and about 4.5 lbs heavy (and that's already with small adjustmnts for the removal of the hinge and keyboard.)
What you mention is even worse than the laplet because it keeps all the size without any of the functionality (a keyboard)
And before you say, it's a tablet, I say, THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS, FERCHRISSAKES!!! I have any number of textbooks here that weigh between 3-5 lbs and have a roughly letter size (iBook like) footprint. You DO NOT want to use any of them as a clipboard for any amount of time. To use the thing as a tablet, and furthermore, to use it in a way where a tablet has any sort of advantage over a laptop, you have to use it in a situation where you cannot use a laptop in the same way. Go on then, do this experiment:
Get a roughly 4 lb textbook (that's your tablet) and tape a piece of paper to the cover (that's your screen), take any pen you wish to use (your stylus). Now, take that textbook with you everywhere and use it (like a pretend tablet) while standing or on the move and write your daily notes onto it always supporting it with one hand and writing with your free hand.
The following will happen:
You will drop, or almost drop it, numerous times. And you will scratch the screen or smudge it with you oily palms.
Your wrists will hurt.
You will write slowly or inacurately
You will start looking for seated positions so that you can take/view notes more comfortably, either with the tablet in your lap or on a desk.
Once seated you will lack the keyboard where even the most inept typist can manage 20-30 wpm in favor of a format where only the fastes writers can manage 30-35 wpm -- with practice and little or no formal training just about anyone can type 50-60 wpm.
Rinse and repeat this experiment with the same size "tablet" all the way down to weights of 2 lbs or slightly under. You'll get the same result.
DO YOU GET IT YET????
To make an acceptale tablet a lot of things have to happen in both hardware and software that have yet to happen, and furthermore, people have to realize what exactly a tablet can and should do well, and what it can do better (a limited range), and then you have to take all this HW/SF, and market attitude evolution (that hasn't yet happened) and build the thing down to a price that's cheaper than a typically "full fledged" computer. Yes, you have to make it cheaper if you want to have any hope of selling it to consumers, because as far as they're concerned a laptop gets them a fully featured computer for their dollar and a tablet does NOT! (only for vertical markets does that stipulation not matter, and as Amorph has pointed out, linux may be the best option for those applications)
I agree an 8" tablet would be lovely, but you'd get people wanting 10", 12" even 14" versions straight away. People are weird like that (just look at the calls for eye-bleeding powerbook screens).
There is room for models - iTab 8", iTab SE 12", PowerTab 14" - but the important thing is making it from current parts and the iBook gives a good idea how small you can go. Using a 1.8" HD would help too.
What Apple brings to this is firstly style, then an OS that screams out pen usage! We have built-in HWR and GUI built around using 1 button.
People are taking this device too seriously! It's a 2nd Mac. It's to look up recipes in the kitchen, it's for a quick sketch or notes in the office, it's for a DVD on the train, it's for a quick game of the Sims sat on the toilet iSight + iTab + AE = communication device!
Keeping the standard OS is vital as it not only means the user chooses the applications they want, it means they get to write their own should they feel inspired. Developing WinCE, Palm or Symbian apps is far less trivial than Mac OS or Windows.
I have a palm pilot (zire 75) that I enjoy using and even find useful on occasion. Its true that cell phones are replacing PDAs, its a bit of a hassle too carry two devices when going anywhere except work and the only reason I ever do is when Im in the middle of an ebook or taking a trip. Which brings me to my favourite use of the Palm pilot - reading ebooks. I love em. I would also look at PDFs if the processor was faster and the screen was larger.
This A5 tablet sounds like a good direction for Palm to go. They already have the OS which is pretty good (I think) . And as everyone has already commented its designed and focused for on the go use, notetaking and looking at notes and contacts whatever. I would probably purchase an tablet from Palm (the new T3 looks almost like a tablet) and this is a market they should think about getting into, I dont put any appointments on my palm, if I have something important I need to do it goes on the cell phone, I know I always have that on me and alarm/ringer will definately grab my attention (not too mention cell phones dont crash). Contacts can all be stored on cell phones as well.
A well designed tablet could replace the PDA easily I think, if its for entertainment rather than business. Apple already supports Palm Pilots, and a Palm manufactured tablet would just as easily fit in with their digital hub strategy.
So anyway I think the tablet is a job for Palm, theyv'e been doing the PDA thing for a couple a years now and pretty much know the market. All those things about hospitals and whatnot could just as easily be done with well designed software on the palm platform (and of course wireless networking).
People are taking this device too seriously! It's a 2nd Mac. It's to look up recipes in the kitchen, it's for a quick sketch or notes in the office, it's for a DVD on the train, it's for a quick game of the Sims sat on the toilet iSight + iTab + AE = communication device!
Keeping the standard OS is vital as it not only means the user chooses the applications they want, it means they get to write their own should they feel inspired. Developing WinCE, Palm or Symbian apps is far less trivial than Mac OS or Windows.
It could work.
See, but there's the trouble. If it's a second mac, then it need to be cheap. Absolutely no more than 999 (for something truly fully loaded) but closer to 500 for something with real resonance. It doesn't have to be a proper "mac" if they make something small and suitable to the task, but it does have to communicate wirelessly, have standard I/O and run Office type tasks (including web browsing)
OSX is neat, I could see it running OSX, not a thin version, but a special client perhaps, something that loads a thin shell so as to eliminate the UI bloat of a "computer" OS but nonetheless opens and runs OSX applications. A great many applications wouldn't be worth the trouble of actually running on the device, but you get the file format compatibility and interoperability you need to make the device easy to oufit and support. Some specialized iApps skinned just for the device (but available under any standard OSX desktop) would make sense. 3rd parties needn't make use of OSX per se, mebbe just Unix.
I have a palm pilot (zire 75) that I enjoy using and even find useful on occasion. Its true that cell phones are replacing PDAs, its a bit of a hassle too carry two devices when going anywhere except work and the only reason I ever do is when Im in the middle of an ebook or taking a trip. Which brings me to my favourite use of the Palm pilot - reading ebooks. I love em. I would also look at PDFs if the processor was faster and the screen was larger.
This A5 tablet sounds like a good direction for Palm to go. They already have the OS which is pretty good (I think) . And as everyone has already commented its designed and focused for on the go use, notetaking and looking at notes and contacts whatever. I would probably purchase an tablet from Palm (the new T3 looks almost like a tablet) and this is a market they should think about getting into, I dont put any appointments on my palm, if I have something important I need to do it goes on the cell phone, I know I always have that on me and alarm/ringer will definately grab my attention (not too mention cell phones dont crash). Contacts can all be stored on cell phones as well.
A well designed tablet could replace the PDA easily I think, if its for entertainment rather than business. Apple already supports Palm Pilots, and a Palm manufactured tablet would just as easily fit in with their digital hub strategy.
So anyway I think the tablet is a job for Palm, theyv'e been doing the PDA thing for a couple a years now and pretty much know the market. All those things about hospitals and whatnot could just as easily be done with well designed software on the palm platform (and of course wireless networking).
Just my 2c
I think that you might just have nailed it.
Palm OS 6 may well ride on a 'Matsuian' sized tablet. I, of course, have no evidence whatsoever that this is the case.
Yeah, some vendors are talking about building PalmOS-based 'palmbooks', similar to some of the really old ones. Basically, a notebook computer not much bigger than the Sony Clies.
Personally, I'd love to see a 6"x9" MacOS X tablet. It'd be good for wireless web browsing + light data input/communications. Doesn't have to be terribly powerful, since it's more an output device than a number cruncher.
Yeah, some vendors are talking about building PalmOS-based 'palmbooks', similar to some of the really old ones. Basically, a notebook computer not much bigger than the Sony Clies.
Personally, I'd love to see a 6"x9" MacOS X tablet. It'd be good for wireless web browsing + light data input/communications. Doesn't have to be terribly powerful, since it's more an output device than a number cruncher.
'course, it still won't happen.
Have you seen the clamshell Zaurus that Sharp refuse to release outside Japan? All it needs is Darwin in place of Linux
Amorph: "Given that tablets, currently, are not gaining any traction at all; and given that by your own account you're the only person using the tablet as a tablet, what makes you think Apple would sell zillions of them?""
Well, of course they will use the same magic as they did with the iPod. Apple will make a light, sturdy, small form factor device that just does things better (Ink, Quicktime, new notetaking app) and integrates smoothly with the host system (Airport, iSync, iChat, iTunes, iWords, iCal, etc), and allow you to interact with your stuff while you're away from your machine.
They can charge more for a product that outruns the competition by leaps. The iPod was considerably more expensive than other mp3 players at the time, although it was by no means the first mp3 player on market. I think they could price it around 200$ more than the top level iPod (thats 700$).
I agree with the small form factor, a bit smaller than A5 would seem perfect, but with a very high resolution screen, something considerably better than current 105dpi iBooks.
I also think that the economic and technological conditions for such a device are not quite yet there.. but you never know with Apple!
Comments
Originally posted by Blackcat
12" iBook G4
Touchscreen - no keyboard.
Job done!
Been sleeping in class again. Ever been a student, worked in a lab, taken notes on the go?
Keyboardless 12" iBook G4? Too big to be used as a "pen and paper" unless you're seated. Once seated too limited and slow compared to a keyboard system. Not to mention completely out of the iBook's price range.
then when you can back, you synced your "art" folder" and your "notes" folder from that card to your desktop (not sure if wireless would be necessarily good...). you could then have a function termed "blank slate" that would erase the card before going back out that day.
in essence, stop trying to make the tablet a full-fledged COMPUTER, and just make it do what you would expect it to do, a palette, a slate, a note pad, etc. a PDA for people with ideas, not just stenographer skills. and with a firmware that could be upgraded for other tasks later (kinda like the ipod).
now that i've written it down here, expect apple to take up the project 3 months from now.
Originally posted by Matsu
Keyboardless 12" iBook G4? Too big to be used as a "pen and paper" unless you're seated. Once seated too limited and slow compared to a keyboard system. Not to mention completely out of the iBook's price range.
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
Forget the keyboard! If people really need one then they don't really want a tablet, for the rest an onscreen one is fine in addition to HWR.
For the tablet to succeed it needs to be its own device, not a hybrid 'Laplet'.
Originally posted by Blackcat
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
Forget the keyboard! If people really need one then they don't really want a tablet, for the rest an onscreen one is fine in addition to HWR.
For the tablet to succeed it needs to be its own device, not a hybrid 'Laplet'.
How small of a form factor could they do it though? You can't just get rid of the keyboard portion of the iBook because the components need to go somewhere. Ultimately Apple would have to use lower heat, higher quality parts to fit behind the screen without making it two inches thick.
How thick are the Tablet PCs?
Ultimately the table should be an extension of a computer (or network) rather than a truly stand alone machine. Like an iPod, functional, but not complete without a computer. It would probably need it's own OS (bring back the Newton!) that could run Safari & Mail, but not PhotoShop, Shake, Final Cut, etc.
A bootable ROM would be better, but more expensive. The iPod drive would be smaller and create less heat, but more expensive.
I suggested something in a different thread a while ago, but I'll try again. Use the iPod as the host that snaps into a new screen. The touch pad screen would basically be an accessory for the iPod. You could then balance the cost size of the screen because not much would be added to it.
More battery, maybe more CPU, airport card. But keep is small enough that a doctor or nurse could carry it around and at the end of the day disengage the iPod from the screen and connect it to the computer/network to syncronize the data collected throughout the day.
If anything seems unreasonable it's the argument against it.
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.
As we said in other threads, the best tabletsize is A5. If it is possible best with a optional small keyboard (even cell phones have a keyboard and some pda have one).
Agree with who says that keyboard is faster then pen: but i think there are a lot of applications where keyboard is not much used. I use mac all day long but i don't write a lot..
I think apple won't make tablets in the near future for the tecnology is not ready for a fast and light portable tablet. I tried the Compaq and is heavy and very slow..
Another problem is OS.
Tablet is a very different concept and must work with a specific OS with a GUI made for it. MS doesn't do that.. the OS for tablet is too much similar at the desktop OS.. another reason for it's failure.
Originally posted by nevoz
Tablet is a very different concept and must work with a specific OS with a GUI made for it. MS doesn't do that.. the OS for tablet is too much similar at the desktop OS.. another reason for it's failure.
That OS is bad enough to use even with a keyboard let alone without one.
I have the same viewpoint. A tablet would only work well with an OS designed specific for that type of usage. Perhaps not a different OS, as we would need OS X functionality for the apps, but the tablet would certainly have to have a different UI for keyboard-less input to be of any use. Otherwise it's just a clumsy laptop. It would have to be done via voice and/or hand written. We are not there yet. I'm sure Apple is looking into it.
Originally posted by Blackcat
The iBook has a 30% ish margin and touchscreen technology adds $100-$200 at most. What you end up with is a proper tablet with a nice OS for far less than the competition. 800MHz G4s are plenty fast enough.
There's nothing "proper" about the tablet you'd end up with, less offensive than what currently exists, but certainly NOT proper -- not at 11-12x8.5" footprint, 1.2" thick and about 4.5 lbs heavy (and that's already with small adjustmnts for the removal of the hinge and keyboard.)
What you mention is even worse than the laplet because it keeps all the size without any of the functionality (a keyboard)
And before you say, it's a tablet, I say, THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS, FERCHRISSAKES!!! I have any number of textbooks here that weigh between 3-5 lbs and have a roughly letter size (iBook like) footprint. You DO NOT want to use any of them as a clipboard for any amount of time. To use the thing as a tablet, and furthermore, to use it in a way where a tablet has any sort of advantage over a laptop, you have to use it in a situation where you cannot use a laptop in the same way. Go on then, do this experiment:
Get a roughly 4 lb textbook (that's your tablet) and tape a piece of paper to the cover (that's your screen), take any pen you wish to use (your stylus). Now, take that textbook with you everywhere and use it (like a pretend tablet) while standing or on the move and write your daily notes onto it always supporting it with one hand and writing with your free hand.
The following will happen:
You will drop, or almost drop it, numerous times. And you will scratch the screen or smudge it with you oily palms.
Your wrists will hurt.
You will write slowly or inacurately
You will start looking for seated positions so that you can take/view notes more comfortably, either with the tablet in your lap or on a desk.
Once seated you will lack the keyboard where even the most inept typist can manage 20-30 wpm in favor of a format where only the fastes writers can manage 30-35 wpm -- with practice and little or no formal training just about anyone can type 50-60 wpm.
Rinse and repeat this experiment with the same size "tablet" all the way down to weights of 2 lbs or slightly under. You'll get the same result.
DO YOU GET IT YET????
To make an acceptale tablet a lot of things have to happen in both hardware and software that have yet to happen, and furthermore, people have to realize what exactly a tablet can and should do well, and what it can do better (a limited range), and then you have to take all this HW/SF, and market attitude evolution (that hasn't yet happened) and build the thing down to a price that's cheaper than a typically "full fledged" computer. Yes, you have to make it cheaper if you want to have any hope of selling it to consumers, because as far as they're concerned a laptop gets them a fully featured computer for their dollar and a tablet does NOT! (only for vertical markets does that stipulation not matter, and as Amorph has pointed out, linux may be the best option for those applications)
I agree an 8" tablet would be lovely, but you'd get people wanting 10", 12" even 14" versions straight away. People are weird like that (just look at the calls for eye-bleeding powerbook screens).
There is room for models - iTab 8", iTab SE 12", PowerTab 14" - but the important thing is making it from current parts and the iBook gives a good idea how small you can go. Using a 1.8" HD would help too.
What Apple brings to this is firstly style, then an OS that screams out pen usage! We have built-in HWR and GUI built around using 1 button.
People are taking this device too seriously! It's a 2nd Mac. It's to look up recipes in the kitchen, it's for a quick sketch or notes in the office, it's for a DVD on the train, it's for a quick game of the Sims sat on the toilet
Keeping the standard OS is vital as it not only means the user chooses the applications they want, it means they get to write their own should they feel inspired. Developing WinCE, Palm or Symbian apps is far less trivial than Mac OS or Windows.
It could work.
This A5 tablet sounds like a good direction for Palm to go. They already have the OS which is pretty good (I think) . And as everyone has already commented its designed and focused for on the go use, notetaking and looking at notes and contacts whatever. I would probably purchase an tablet from Palm (the new T3 looks almost like a tablet) and this is a market they should think about getting into, I dont put any appointments on my palm, if I have something important I need to do it goes on the cell phone, I know I always have that on me and alarm/ringer will definately grab my attention (not too mention cell phones dont crash). Contacts can all be stored on cell phones as well.
A well designed tablet could replace the PDA easily I think, if its for entertainment rather than business. Apple already supports Palm Pilots, and a Palm manufactured tablet would just as easily fit in with their digital hub strategy.
So anyway I think the tablet is a job for Palm, theyv'e been doing the PDA thing for a couple a years now and pretty much know the market. All those things about hospitals and whatnot could just as easily be done with well designed software on the palm platform (and of course wireless networking).
Just my 2c
Originally posted by Blackcat
People are taking this device too seriously! It's a 2nd Mac. It's to look up recipes in the kitchen, it's for a quick sketch or notes in the office, it's for a DVD on the train, it's for a quick game of the Sims sat on the toilet
Keeping the standard OS is vital as it not only means the user chooses the applications they want, it means they get to write their own should they feel inspired. Developing WinCE, Palm or Symbian apps is far less trivial than Mac OS or Windows.
It could work.
See, but there's the trouble. If it's a second mac, then it need to be cheap. Absolutely no more than 999 (for something truly fully loaded) but closer to 500 for something with real resonance. It doesn't have to be a proper "mac" if they make something small and suitable to the task, but it does have to communicate wirelessly, have standard I/O and run Office type tasks (including web browsing)
OSX is neat, I could see it running OSX, not a thin version, but a special client perhaps, something that loads a thin shell so as to eliminate the UI bloat of a "computer" OS but nonetheless opens and runs OSX applications. A great many applications wouldn't be worth the trouble of actually running on the device, but you get the file format compatibility and interoperability you need to make the device easy to oufit and support. Some specialized iApps skinned just for the device (but available under any standard OSX desktop) would make sense. 3rd parties needn't make use of OSX per se, mebbe just Unix.
It's a ways off, any way you think about it.
Originally posted by AsLan^
I have a palm pilot (zire 75) that I enjoy using and even find useful on occasion. Its true that cell phones are replacing PDAs, its a bit of a hassle too carry two devices when going anywhere except work and the only reason I ever do is when Im in the middle of an ebook or taking a trip. Which brings me to my favourite use of the Palm pilot - reading ebooks. I love em. I would also look at PDFs if the processor was faster and the screen was larger.
This A5 tablet sounds like a good direction for Palm to go. They already have the OS which is pretty good (I think) . And as everyone has already commented its designed and focused for on the go use, notetaking and looking at notes and contacts whatever. I would probably purchase an tablet from Palm (the new T3 looks almost like a tablet) and this is a market they should think about getting into, I dont put any appointments on my palm, if I have something important I need to do it goes on the cell phone, I know I always have that on me and alarm/ringer will definately grab my attention (not too mention cell phones dont crash). Contacts can all be stored on cell phones as well.
A well designed tablet could replace the PDA easily I think, if its for entertainment rather than business. Apple already supports Palm Pilots, and a Palm manufactured tablet would just as easily fit in with their digital hub strategy.
So anyway I think the tablet is a job for Palm, theyv'e been doing the PDA thing for a couple a years now and pretty much know the market. All those things about hospitals and whatnot could just as easily be done with well designed software on the palm platform (and of course wireless networking).
Just my 2c
I think that you might just have nailed it.
Palm OS 6 may well ride on a 'Matsuian' sized tablet. I, of course, have no evidence whatsoever that this is the case.
Aries 1B
Personally, I'd love to see a 6"x9" MacOS X tablet. It'd be good for wireless web browsing + light data input/communications. Doesn't have to be terribly powerful, since it's more an output device than a number cruncher.
'course, it still won't happen.
Originally posted by Kesh
Yeah, some vendors are talking about building PalmOS-based 'palmbooks', similar to some of the really old ones. Basically, a notebook computer not much bigger than the Sony Clies.
Personally, I'd love to see a 6"x9" MacOS X tablet. It'd be good for wireless web browsing + light data input/communications. Doesn't have to be terribly powerful, since it's more an output device than a number cruncher.
'course, it still won't happen.
Have you seen the clamshell Zaurus that Sharp refuse to release outside Japan? All it needs is Darwin in place of Linux
Zaurus taplet
Well, of course they will use the same magic as they did with the iPod. Apple will make a light, sturdy, small form factor device that just does things better (Ink, Quicktime, new notetaking app) and integrates smoothly with the host system (Airport, iSync, iChat, iTunes, iWords, iCal, etc), and allow you to interact with your stuff while you're away from your machine.
They can charge more for a product that outruns the competition by leaps. The iPod was considerably more expensive than other mp3 players at the time, although it was by no means the first mp3 player on market. I think they could price it around 200$ more than the top level iPod (thats 700$).
I agree with the small form factor, a bit smaller than A5 would seem perfect, but with a very high resolution screen, something considerably better than current 105dpi iBooks.
I also think that the economic and technological conditions for such a device are not quite yet there.. but you never know with Apple!
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