malexgreen
Contributor and PB User
Is Apple planning on releasing in the near future (within 3 months) a notebook that has a touch-sensitive screen that supports "digital ink?"
the answer to the Tablet PC
- Thread starter malexgreen
- Start date
KrinkleCut
crispy subgenius
Uhm, like the title of the post says, I'm waiting for 'the answer to thte tablet PC'. That is, I don't get it. Why do I want one of these?
Features? No, they're bound to be underpowered just because of the form factor. A touch screen? That's it? So why do I (or any other 'average user') need a touch screen? Sure certain specialized professionals might benefit, but I don't see it.
Flexability? I can take it... where? I don't need to carry my PC around, and if I do, why not get a laptop? Because of the size? Then why not an iPaq or something and leave the real computing to my desktop? These tablets don't seem much smaller than your average laptop anyway.
Wow factor? My local library has had touch screen computers for 10 years. Wow.
I guess I have to side with Apple on this - I don't see why they (or anyone else) need them. Give me features to enhance my computing experience, not just cause you can.
Features? No, they're bound to be underpowered just because of the form factor. A touch screen? That's it? So why do I (or any other 'average user') need a touch screen? Sure certain specialized professionals might benefit, but I don't see it.
Flexability? I can take it... where? I don't need to carry my PC around, and if I do, why not get a laptop? Because of the size? Then why not an iPaq or something and leave the real computing to my desktop? These tablets don't seem much smaller than your average laptop anyway.
Wow factor? My local library has had touch screen computers for 10 years. Wow.
I guess I have to side with Apple on this - I don't see why they (or anyone else) need them. Give me features to enhance my computing experience, not just cause you can.
The Tablet PCs are full fledged PCs/laptops. That's the point. They are supersets of traditional laptops. You get all the benefits of a normal laptop, (Power, all your software runs, etc.) plus the inking capabilities, and the benefits that go along with the platform's portrait (in addition to landscape) display capability (for ebooks, digital periodicals, and planning applications, etc.).
edX
mac shaman
Trip
Registered
If Apple made something like the tablet PC and sold it for less than $800 I'd be all over that! The drawing capabilities (in photoshop even!) would be absolutly incredible! And I could work at school without having to drag around a heavy peice of platstic!
*wakes up*
Oh, thats right...Apple still hasn't even released a PDA.
*wakes up*
Oh, thats right...Apple still hasn't even released a PDA.
KrinkleCut
crispy subgenius
Okay, so they're fully fledged laptops with a touch screen and handwriting recognition. Fine. But why would I pay for one over a 'traditional' laptop? Convince me. You've iterated features not benefits.
Maybe I'm a minority, but I would NEVER choose to read in a digital medium over print. Ebooks, digital periodicals? Why is it better for those than an ipaq, other than it's bigger (a hindrance in my opinion)?
Don't get me wrong, they're 'cool' in theory. Just don't see the point.
symphonix
Scratch & Sniff Committee
Very funny, Trip. Apple had the first PDA on the market: the Newton. However, it didn't sell very well and Apple abandoned it. Since then they've built a good relationship with Palm.
However, I find it hard to see the point of a TabletPC, or Mac-PDA, beyond the 'cool' factor. They would not be very useful. Still, at least we know that if Apple did make one, unlikely as that is, they'd be far superior to the PC based ones.
jeb1138
Carioca
Why not? Even if you had a folding digital book about, say, 10x15x4cm big, that used a reflective display technology, had a touch-screen interface and could store all the books you'd ever want to store? Never?
That's what I think Apple should invent, because it would really be useful and wildly popular if they could get a good reflective display and an excellent battery life, which I think is possible.
Also, you have to think, not necessarily about physical documents as opposed to digital ones (even though in that scenario, you get things like markup/annotation, digital dog-earing/bookmarking of pages, voice notes, and the ability to quickly search the document for the info you need).
Think about the documents you deal with that are already in digital form (such as PDFs or Word documents). Rather than sit at your desk, staring at a monitor all day to read those documents, or wasting ink by printing hundreds of pages, you can use the Tablet PC to carry those documents around with you, and read them in a more natural way, holding the PC like a book or clipboard, being able to adjust your gaze at the text, and being able to easily reposition the Tablet PC's distance and viewing angle from you just as you would a real paper document. The display is backlit, so you can also easily read or write in low-light environments.
Then there are people that use applications like Photoshop or 3DS Max, etc., that will be able to work better with the stylus interface.
College students (in a math class for instance) will be able to take their notes using the Tablet PC, including any equations or diagrams right next to the text, and gain the ability to search their notes even if they leave them in handwritten form. They can highlight their handwritten text, move it and insert other handwritten text, typed text, illustrations, equations, graphs, etc., and they can record the instructor's lecture as audio only, or as video by connecting a camera.
There are many uses you may not think of unless you had the device in your possession.
Think about the documents you deal with that are already in digital form (such as PDFs or Word documents). Rather than sit at your desk, staring at a monitor all day to read those documents, or wasting ink by printing hundreds of pages, you can use the Tablet PC to carry those documents around with you, and read them in a more natural way, holding the PC like a book or clipboard, being able to adjust your gaze at the text, and being able to easily reposition the Tablet PC's distance and viewing angle from you just as you would a real paper document. The display is backlit, so you can also easily read or write in low-light environments.
Then there are people that use applications like Photoshop or 3DS Max, etc., that will be able to work better with the stylus interface.
College students (in a math class for instance) will be able to take their notes using the Tablet PC, including any equations or diagrams right next to the text, and gain the ability to search their notes even if they leave them in handwritten form. They can highlight their handwritten text, move it and insert other handwritten text, typed text, illustrations, equations, graphs, etc., and they can record the instructor's lecture as audio only, or as video by connecting a camera.
There are many uses you may not think of unless you had the device in your possession.
jeb1138
Carioca
My thoughts exactly. My college bookstore has had some Acer tablet PC's for about a month now (we got 'em early so that they'd be almost on time for the beginning of the semester) and I've tried them out. They're really the only solution for taking electronic notes in most classes.
Can you imagine drawing physics diagrams or electronic circuits using a PDA or a laptop? I like drawing arrows, making diagrams and sketching out ideas! Coursey's article suggests that if keyboards were socially acceptable tablet PC's would be frivolous. He obviously isn't a visually-oriented person.
The only thing that keeps me from seriously considering getting a tablet PC is the lag while inputting with the pen. The resolution is awesome, the color is awesome and the anti-aliasing is awesome, but trying to draw anything even remotely intricate is frustrating because when you draw the "ink" lags behind the pen like Finder windows lag behind the mouse when resizing. When you're drawing usually what you draw next is in reference to what you just drew, so it's annoying to have to wait for the ink to catch up. I'm sure they'll get there soon though, and then I'll really be interested.
I still think electronic books will never catch on until they use ultra-low power reflective displays, however. You can't read an LCD anything like a book sitting out in the sun or under bright light. Also, projected light hurts your eyes and makes them tired much more than reflected light.
Ricky
Registered
I type much faster than I write. 
I really see no use for a tablet PC unless you were taking notes while walking or something. And then theres a much less costly way to take notes then...
Pen: Free from most businesses
Paper: 39 cents for a notebook
Clipboard: $1 to $3
-Compared to-
Tablet PC: Upwards of $1,699
Hmm...
I really see no use for a tablet PC unless you were taking notes while walking or something. And then theres a much less costly way to take notes then...Pen: Free from most businesses
Paper: 39 cents for a notebook
Clipboard: $1 to $3
-Compared to-
Tablet PC: Upwards of $1,699
Hmm...
KrinkleCut
crispy subgenius
Oh I see, you're talking about science fiction. I'd rather have a jet-pack first. This is not something I had heard any computer companies are looking into developing for pc applications, but if you have other information, let's hear it.
But, leaving the futurists behind and sticking with what is currently and foreseeably possible, no - I would never prefer these to paper. Sunlight either robs the displays of any legibility or, if I'm out of harsh daylight, my eyes get tired too quickly from the backlighting. I can't afford to mistreat my eyes. They're already giving out on me
And as far as storing "all the books you'd ever want to store" this too has problems. First, much of what I read is not available in digital format (thankfully). Further, the copyright issues involved in the distribution of digital 'writing' are nightmarish. One printed book equals one printed book. Much simpler.
Uhm, I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't have time to do any of those things DURING a lecture. Instead I used an inexpensive tape recorder to make an audio record and scratched down what I could. Maybe I'm just a slow writer. And how is a Tablet PC BETTER than a pen and paper here? If you work hard enough at it you can put diagrams and equations next to text on paper too. (I know it sounds far-fetched, but trust me on this)
It seems to me that the only thing you gain with a touch screen is you don't have to input notes again (I'll give you that) but is that it? My palm does that.
Now if it could record someone's droning lecture and use speech recognition to type it all up for me so I could study it, you might be on to something - but that doesn't have much to do with a touch screen does it? And isn't the screen the only new feature on a Tablet PC? Correct me if I'm wrong here...
So, unless I missed something, I still don't see any compelling reason for it, only gadgetry for the sake of gadgetry. Blah.
I already explained how it would be better. You can easily search your notes. They would be neater than normal handwritten notes (no eraseure marks or scratch-outs, etc.). No worrying about running out of paper or ink, or breaking your pencil lead during class. No ripping the paper. One small tablet right there to store and organize your notes from all of your classes for your years at school (try that with a conventional tablet). You can recognize the handwriting and inport the recognized text into Word, etc., to create a report, term paper, etc., from your notes without having to type them all in, and you could directly transfer any sketches or diagrams. And those diagrams and equations can be moved around the page and reordered if necessary, as well as copied to other pages, or cleanly deleted or corrected if a mistake is made. The handwritten or recognized text/diagrams can also be marked up, annotated, highlighted, bookmarked, etc.
Video, as well as audio of classes to better supplement your notes.
And your Tablet PC would not be obsolete in 5 years (as said earlier), it would be obsolete when you no longer deem it useful to you. If you're talking 5 years because a newer version of Windows will be available and you would want to run that version, you can. Just buy the new version of Windows. Plus, as I said before, buying a Tablet PC is no different than buying a Windows laptop, you get all the features of a normal laptop and then some.
At least try to come up with valid reasons not to purchase one. The above quote is valid, the one about obsolescence is not (No version of Windows to date has required more than a 233MHz Pentium to run [XP requires 233, 300 recommended]), and many people don't use/require the latest version of Windows.
jeb1138
Carioca
Ouch, that hurts!
Me too!
Well, you asked for it so here's a link: http://www.kentdisplays.com/.Originally posted by KrinkleCut
...leaving the futurists behind and sticking with what is currently and foreseeably possible, no - I would never prefer these to paper. Sunlight either robs the displays of any legibility or, if I'm out of harsh daylight, my eyes get tired too quickly from the backlighting. I can't afford to mistreat my eyes. They're already giving out on me
ChLCD, my friend. Reflective LCD technology which only uses energy when it needs to be changed. Exactly what I was talking about -- won't hurt your eyes and won't drain hardly any battery power (compared to normal LCD's). Granted, I really don't know if it is ready for primetime today but it's available now a with the type of technology that would be perfect for ebooks, in my opinion.OK - you only want to talk about what's available today. Well, I agree with you 100% then! But I don't think it's much of a 'leap' into the future to think that we could have this: Awesome quality, low-power reflective LCD ebook with an internal harddrive (for those who want to mess with copyright issues) and an external slot to stick in "book cards". One card is one title, simple as that. People that didn't try to pirate books wouldn't have any problems - they could lend it to a friend and everything. It could also be much, much cheaper, much smaller and easier to carry around. Plus you could use the harddrive to "check-out" a copy of the card, like Sony does with its Minidisc software. It wouldn't be a hassle at all as long as you kept your card, which would be easier than keeping a book. And, of course, if a great ebook technology was developed people would buy it and publishers would digitize their books, provided the cost-benefit was right (including risk of piracy -- which might be the biggest technological challenge, but definitely doable -- as well as all other factors.) Hey, it's all about making money in the publisher's view, right?
That's what I think Apple's answer should be -- touchscreen lcd tablet-sized device that would be useful and much better than the alternative.