The days of bringing the "heavy" laptop are long gone my friends! Introducing the netbook, notebook, and tablet (including the ever-so-proud iPad). The capabilities of such devices are still somewhat unknown. But what is a FOR SURE is that tablets and netbooks offer lightweight connectivity just about anywhere in the world (more on this in a minute). The size of netbooks/tablets allows you to easily pack them in a purse or backpack with fantastic graphics, apps, and standard operating systems such as Windows 7, Windows XP, Android 2.2, and iOS 4 on the iPad.
Netbooks, the Mini Laptop
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| Samsung N310 Netbook |
There are many offerings on the market today in the netbook catagory. These devices look and feel like a smaller standard laptop computer. They offer a standard QWERTY keyboard, great LED screens, in-use battery life from 3 to 9.5 hours (on the Dell Inspiron Mini 10HD), processor speeds from 1.2 to 1.66 Ghz, and hard drives of 160to 250 GB.
All the netbook options offer connectivity via WiFi. Many of these devices today are also offered through wireless carriers (AT&T, Verizon, etc) and big box outlets such as Best Buy Radio Shack with 3G capabilites as well. If you are willing to sign a 2-year data plan contract, you may be able to pick up one of these devices for less than $50.00. The obvious benefit for 3G connectivity is being able to stay connected anywhere you can grab a cell signal.
These devices are not intended for hardcore data crunching or building your next empire. Multitasking is a bit limited on the devices as well. But they offer great option to those who want to stay connected while on the go and like a REAL keyboard!
iPad...ever heard of it?
First of all....if you haven't heard of the iPad yet, I know you have no idea what a blog is!!! Apple created the market with a true tablet that is more than an e-Reader. The first generation of Apple's iPad offers a bright, reactive touch screen that runs native programs such as the Safari web browser, iTunes, and iPhoto (all the same features you will see on your Mac desktop or Macbook). The operating system currently running on most iPads is iOS 4, but version 4.2 is now available for download on Apple's website.
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| Apple iPad |
Some of the critics of the first-to-market iPad complain about the lack of camera, difficulty of connecting external devices (need an adapter for USB connections), doesn't support Flash websites, and is somewhat limited in multitasking abilities (depending on who you talk to). It's my belief that everyone including Steve Jobs planed to roll out next generations of iPads with many of these features built into version 2.0 and beyond just to flat out sell more devices. Who knows...good marketing is what I say.
All in all, the people I've scientifically interviewed who own iPads (i.e. "hey man, you like your iPad?") rarely complain and wish they'd have never bought the damn thing! It's a cool device that offers TONS of apps, cool things like AirPrint (wireless printer connectivity) and AirPlay (stream digital media wirelessly), and frankly an "out-of-the-box" usable device that you'd be hardcore to hate.
Tablets...the second coming of mobile connectivty!
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| Samsung Galaxy |
With the invention of the Android platform, many cool devices have been able to offer similar touch-screen interface as the original iPod touch and now the iPhone and iPad. One of the coolest devices I've been able to get my hands on lately is the Samsung Galaxy tablet. This device is slightly smalthan the iPad (7" screen vs. 10" screen on the iPad), but utilizing the Droid platform, the Samsung Galaxy tablet offers just about everything the iPad can with features such as a forward and rear facing dual cameras, USB connectivity, and frankly, the Android Market (similar to the App Store with Apple) offers an app (or fifty) for just about anything you can think of!
The Samsung Galaxy tablet is basically a larger version of the Samsumg Galaxy S phone that was released earlier this year. The only thing different (other than the obvious size) is that the Galaxy tablet is unable to make phone calls in in the US at this time. It is WiFi enabled, can come with a 3G SIM card for connectivity via cell signal, and can do just about anything that most laptops can.
Keep in mind though, that with both the iPad and other tablets, a lack of a traditional keyboard takes some getting used to. But like anything else, once you get used to it, it's hard to put the darn thing down!
Coming on the horizon....
For all you card-carrying Blackberry users out there (don't worry, I'm one of them too), RIM wants a piece of this action too! The Blackberry Playbook is slated to be released sometime in early 2011. I am apparently not considered to be an "insider tech critic" since RIM didn't send me one of the prototypes to play with. But from what I know, the Playbook will be marketed similarly as the flagship Blackberry cell devices...i.e. marketed to the corporate enterprise user. Blackberry Playbook will come with a 1080p HD video camera and will have dual cameras able to take up to 5 MP photos with the rear-facing camera (only 3MP on the forward facing camera), and will have 1 Ghz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM for lightning fast processing (that's what they claim anyway!).
The Blackberry Playbook will have a slightly different OS (Blackberry Tablet OS), so it is unclear of interfacing handsets with this tablet, but I'm sure the good folks at Blackberry have something up their sleeves on this one. I can't wait to check it out....hopefully the Playbook is a strong player in this market.
Please note: I did not discuss eReaders such as the Kindle, Nook, and others. Not because they are not valid, in fact they are quite the devices. They just do not offer the computing power that the devices discussed do (and I like the iPad, Galaxy, and Playbook better).
Up for next week: Air travel and Mother Nature...ugh!
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