Sumocat's Scribbles: Pinch me, I must be dreaming (of Tablet PCs)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Daryl D of Blogcritics claims "Tablet PC enthusiasts are living in a dream world." Can't argue with that; my Tablet PC experience has been quite dreamy. However, I think he means it in a negative sense since he closes his opinion with "give me plain old paper and a nice pen!" He also enumerates his frustrations with various mobile computers and the advantages of paper. Normally, I'd let it slide, but he called me a "geek" and not in a good way.

However, I can't outright counter him either because paper does indeed have advantages over computers. So I opted to run with his opinion and apply it to typewriters vs. laptops. Turns out it's damn near the same argument. Just swap the names and his logic demonstrates the advantages of typewriters over notebooks. Rather than sully my blog with this expanse of text, I posted it on the GottaBeMobile.com forum. Enjoy!

BTW, Daryl, it ain't the car; it's the driver.

Shoutback: jkOnTheRun: It's not about the ink, it's what you do with it
CateGoogles: Tablet_PC
Mood = outraged

Labels: Tablet PC

Pinch me, I must be dreaming (of Tablet PCs)

8 Comments:

Great job Sumocat!

By Anonymous, at 5/24/2007 02:37:00 PM
I responded to his rantings. But in a good way. I told him about how it helps a college student to have a tablet. I wouldn't let someone telling us that we are "geeks" and "dreaming" to worry ya though. He just seems like someone who is not meant to enjoy or understand the aspects of a Tablet. Maybe he tried too many UMPCs and hated the small size. Or he could be just computer illiterate. Who knows. Either way he has a good perspective to offer.

Although degrading people like he did us will not getting him anywhere. Thats playing like a middle school child.

By Anonymous, at 5/24/2007 05:11:00 PM
They're saying the Tablet PC market is on the rise as well. That true?

By Anonymous, at 5/24/2007 06:30:00 PM
Michael - Thanks!

Minda - Wow! That is quite a response you wrote up, but I sense he was trying harder to get a reaction than to open a serious discussion. And you'll notice he focused primarily on touchscreen devices, which are not ideally for ink, and the two active digitizer tablets he used were either too big or too small. Looks like he went out of his way to avoid "just right".

Timbo - Time will tell, but I think we'll see more tablet functionality being added as a feature, like in the TX1000, especially as touchscreen interface becomes more common. From there, we'll likely see dual-touch become the standard on tablets.

By Sumocat, at 5/25/2007 10:51:00 AM
Hi Sumocat,

I really enjoy your blog and your insightful commentary. I know it is a little bit late to leave a comment on this particular blog. His rantings are not polite and even insult people who love tablet pc and of course that includes me.

However, with all his rantings, I share his pains. Tablet PC biggest problem is that the "tablet" technology is functioned in an operating system that is not suitable to tablet functions. The apple computer can also be problematics too. I don't know whether it is the hardware problems or the softwares that demand all these heavy hardwares. But it simply annoys me in many ways.

For example, I am a graduate student. I LOVE my tablet pc. I have about five tablets for now. Each one disappoint me except my new arrival R400. All these tablet pcs disappoint me the most is the heat it produces. I have Fujitsu ST too. But after an hour of taking notes, the thing starts to kick in the heat. Of course, it is not hot but can distract my study. Ok not to mention the battery life. Yes, Fujitsu can last about 6 hours but you know how low the resolution it can be? It sucks.

I believe in the future of tablet pc. Truly beause I love it. Like in one the of "Everybody Loves Raymond", his mother told him, "You only love the idea of piano."

I love the idea of tablet pc but it simply is very difficult to use it in a prolonged period of time.

I hope you can understand my pains...

By Anonymous, at 6/02/2007 10:51:00 PM
I agree the Tablet PC is hardly a perfect computer, but I also know from experience that most of the common complaints are the result of unreasonable expectations of perfection.

For example, my first tablet is an Electrovaya Scribbler SC500. It's a fanless slate with a 130Whr battery. In its prime, it carried me through 12 hours without a problem and never got too hot to handle. However, it is slow and very expensive at full price (I bought mine refurbished). I recognized its limitations and didn't expect to overcome them.

But now I don't have a need for such endurance, so I've upgraded to a Toshiba R25. Battery lasts about two hours with regular use; three with aggressive power saving. I'm rarely far from an outlet (even in my car), so I can get by without an extra battery. I don't expect the same endurance as my Scribbler. But it packs a Core 2 Duo processor and a 14" widescreen. The processing power and extra screen space makes my computing more efficient, particularly useful as this is my primary computer (I don't have a desktop anymore).

Now, what really amuses me about Daryl's op-ed was that he seemed to go out of his way to buy models that did not suit his purpose. Of all the tablets he tried, only two had active digitizers, while the rest were touchscreens. That's just not going to cut it for inking. Of the active digitizer models he tried, one was huge and powerful, the other was tiny. If he had tried a model more suited to his apparent needs, I suspect he would have had a better outlook on the tablet scene.

Likewise, I don't doubt you've been dissatisfied with your tablets, but I believe it's a matter of the models you've tried, not the form factor. Most convertibles are designed as laptops first, tablets second, so they do tend to throw off a lot of heat. Slate makers, like Motion, pay more attention to this issue. However, Toshiba must be doing better with this because even my big R25 rarely gets very hot. Maybe the airflow is better due to the large frame.

But yes, I do understand your issues with heat, but my experience tells me it's a model-specific issue, not a flaw of the form factor. I think Daryl D had the same problem, but went out of his way to make it a problem.

By Sumocat, at 6/03/2007 05:36:00 PM
Thanks Sumocat :)

Since your comments are always insightful. As a frequent visitor of this website, would it be possible if you can give several blogs for people to choose a tablet PC? I believe some are notetakers (like me) and hope to store information digitally. By the way, I love your video about what if you grow up with a tablet pc. I love that. I hope if it is possible, if you can include your experience in regard using tablet pc. Recently, ubertablet gives a guideline choosing tablet pc. However, Hugo unlike you, plays his tablet mainly as toy and rarely use one station in more than a long period of time. Therefore his advice is nominal for normal users.

Also, I am very thankful for your reply. Have a nice Sunday!

By Anonymous, at 6/03/2007 08:54:00 PM
In the top menu, under "Cool Blogs", I have links to a number of Tablet PC related blogs I frequent. My personal fave is GottaBeMobile.com, and I'm sure you're already familiar with The Student Tablet PC. And now that I know someone is interested, I'll see if I can't post more about my personal usage.

By Sumocat, at 6/04/2007 09:10:00 AM