Touch Tablets

[nedjer]

Just been blogging about the touch tablet news from MS, HP and others today.

These are the links I stuck on the end of the post. The details about Apple are still rumour but the MS tablet is plain to see in the BBC video:

BBC News - Microsoft and HP show off 'slate' PC
Dell slate (secret) hands-on -- Engadget
Internet Evolution - Alan Reiter - 2010: Rise of the Tablets

 

[Mark]

Anyway, I am liking what I see of the features of the Que though I think the information is thus far incomplete. It's on the bigger side, about as big as an 8 1/2 x 11 inch pad of paper, so we'll see what it weighs once it is out on the market.

Now available -

QUE proReader

*edit* Specs -

http://buyque.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=814311010043&

 

[paigeoliver]

I have an old Celeron 500 Tablet (bought on ebay for $100 maybe 4 years ago). I found it to be very useful at game conventions back when I played a lot of Living Greyhawk (I just copied the SRD onto the hard drive).

However it really isn't nearly as useful as it would seem. Even searchable PDFs are still miles behind actual books in useability. They work well for referencing obscure rules, but anything that requires you to flip around a lot is a nightmare.

 

[falcarrion]

Looks like tablets and e-readers will be the big things this year. I've been checking out the news from CES 2010. some great things are coming very soon. At least 2 tablets or should I say slates have been previewed. Leveno has a lap top where the screen comes off and funtions as a slate/tablet.
and HP showed off just one of there slate/tablets. As for e-readers the Que looks great. There must be about 6 new e-readers coming to the market. There is at least one in color.

Wait till you see the helocopter that is controled with an ipod.
Or the rc for you star war fans.

 

[pedr]

I was definitely looking forward to the Que. Something which I can read (almost) full-size books on which is light and uses liquid paper was definitely something I was interested in, as was the ability to annotate things (so I could use it for work, as well). But the price ($649 for WiFi/4Gb, $799 for 3G/8GB) means that it's unlikely to be significantly cheaper than any of the slates, and they run Windows 7, giving a significant feature-boost, although losing the no-eye-strain liquid paper/e-ink benefit. So now I'm torn. I was considering getting a Que as soon as they were available. Now I'm going to wait and see what the slates are like when they come out.

What I really want is something with a viewing angle I can read when it's lying on a table, which uses pen input for annotation, and which can display an A4/letter-sized document at nearly full-size. Not sure any of the things which are currently being suggested do that, which strikes me as the minimum specs for a 'paper-replacement'.

 

[falcarrion]

There is a unit that previewed at CES that folds like a book. It has an ereader screen on one side and a tablet / computer screen on the other. Best of both worlds.

 

[harpy]

I was looking forward to the Que also, but now that it's finally been revealed it isn't what I was hoping for.

The screen is unfortunately still too small. After seeing the Que, I pulled out a sheet of paper and just started measuring what I really need. The end result is that, at least in the States, you need an 11.2" (horizontal) viewable screen if you want to get the equivalent of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper's standard area of content.

To get the total sheet of paper, so that you have a viewable area that is to scale with a sheet of paper then you need a 14" (horizontal) viewable screen. Hopefully by the end of the year they'll get the 11" out, Sprint has that Skiff coming out, but it'll still be awhile before a complete to-scale sheet of paper is going to be on the market.

I have a tablet notebook and can read PDFs off of that just fine... if it dind't weight a ton and want to burn all of my skin off. I just need something that is light, cool, but huge compared to what is on the market right now.

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[jaerdaph]

I've gone from excited to so-so on the QUE proReader, the main reason being I think the price is too high.

On a lighter note, earlier tonight I watched the original Star Trek pilot The Cage for the first time in a few years. I couldn't help laughing as Mr. Spock (who's all happy and smiley in the pilot when he sees a musical flower) got a paper fax on the bridge, and all the crew members handed Captain Pike their reports - printed on paper!

 

[Mythtify]

I have a Motion LE1700. Its a full function slate tablet PC. I have almost done away with books at the game table. For 4e, using the character builder, monster builder, and window onenote 2007 is a great combination. I take the info, like monster blocks and character sheets, publish them to onenote. Once they are on onenote, I can resize them to what I need, and make all sorts of notes, either right on top of the character sheets/monster blocks, or beside them.

The tablets work much nicer at the game table than laptops. They take up less space, and there is no noise from typing.

I am looking forward to apples tablet. It will bring competition to the market, and make the format more popular. Right now, top of the line slate tablets are just to expensive for you average gamer.