Rhumgod.. you've been using them in a workplace situation, which is definitely different than my vision of a possible tablet market, but... i'm curious.. what, specifically, was wrong with the tablets you tried? i've never tried one myself, so i don't know what my expectations would be or how it'd fail, but i'd like to know exactly what makes current tablets imperfect, and what, if anything could be changed to make it work.. or is it just the tablet form? i feel like i've heard a lot of people say there's no market in tablets, mentioning how bad they are... but with so many people talking about them, there has to be some interest in a "perfect" tablet.
To sum up the experience, the intended purpose was to allow dictation and handwriting recognition. The dictation worked for normal phrases and even some learned things. For the specific use, a doctor's notes, it sucked. Translated some speech into utter jibberish. As for the handwriting, this was to allow electronic signature recognition and it failed at this too. We have since went with a product that allows the signature to be stored in a database and authenticate the doc via a different method.
A perfect tablet is a laptop, currently. There just isn't enough technology to allow a perfect speech/handwriting recognition solution. When those are perfected, if ever, then it is viable.
To pull the lynchpin in this theory: Tablet PC style screens are functionally much worse for this type of application than wacom tablets. The pressure/tilt sensitivity, which is a huge boon for the creative professionals' needs, just isn't there.
Umm... Tablet PC screens are pressure sensitive, and with minor mods, could be made tilt-sensitive as well. Thats partly why Sketchbook was made, as a showcase of the Tablet PC's pressure sensitive capabilities...
Which models? the way the technology was described to me way back when would preclude useful senesitivity. Even if they were, the fact that the sruface had "give" would have made them fairly unpleasant to use, tactily.
DId some research and found that Wacom apparently is supplying some of their technology to the tablet folks. My bad, haven't touched a tablet PC since they came out, it was such a bad experience.
The screen on a tablet PC is determined by price point.
Mine is a Wacom tablet, and it has no give what so ever.
There is a little bit of parallax, which can make hitting small targets tricky.
The tilt and pressure is calculated by the pen. The tablet just does location, so if a manufacturer wanted to supply the appropriate pen the could. My pen is pressure sensitive, but I dont have any software that uses tilt.
There are other touch screen technologies available. electrostatic, which is not pressure sensitive, and capacitive, which is pressure sensitive. Neither is fantastic, and you see them used in cheap products, ie: PDAs.
I would love to add a TabletMAC to my already extensive computer arsenal. My Nec TabletPC has become an irreplaceable companion in my every day life. It weighs two pounds which makes it a dream on the train to work or my short trips to the US. Why do some of you think it is a niche market? It?s only inevitable that in the near future all notebooks will be convertibles with slates being the niche. It?s the computer Darwin effect, it?s only progress, and I think everyone would benefit from a tablet, not just vertical markets.
Comments
No PDA.
Move along people.
Originally posted by confirmed
Rhumgod.. you've been using them in a workplace situation, which is definitely different than my vision of a possible tablet market, but... i'm curious.. what, specifically, was wrong with the tablets you tried? i've never tried one myself, so i don't know what my expectations would be or how it'd fail, but i'd like to know exactly what makes current tablets imperfect, and what, if anything could be changed to make it work.. or is it just the tablet form? i feel like i've heard a lot of people say there's no market in tablets, mentioning how bad they are... but with so many people talking about them, there has to be some interest in a "perfect" tablet.
To sum up the experience, the intended purpose was to allow dictation and handwriting recognition. The dictation worked for normal phrases and even some learned things. For the specific use, a doctor's notes, it sucked. Translated some speech into utter jibberish. As for the handwriting, this was to allow electronic signature recognition and it failed at this too. We have since went with a product that allows the signature to be stored in a database and authenticate the doc via a different method.
A perfect tablet is a laptop, currently. There just isn't enough technology to allow a perfect speech/handwriting recognition solution. When those are perfected, if ever, then it is viable.
Originally posted by ChevalierMalFet
To pull the lynchpin in this theory: Tablet PC style screens are functionally much worse for this type of application than wacom tablets. The pressure/tilt sensitivity, which is a huge boon for the creative professionals' needs, just isn't there.
Blark
Mine is a Wacom tablet, and it has no give what so ever.
There is a little bit of parallax, which can make hitting small targets tricky.
The tilt and pressure is calculated by the pen. The tablet just does location, so if a manufacturer wanted to supply the appropriate pen the could. My pen is pressure sensitive, but I dont have any software that uses tilt.
There are other touch screen technologies available. electrostatic, which is not pressure sensitive, and capacitive, which is pressure sensitive. Neither is fantastic, and you see them used in cheap products, ie: PDAs.