Acer Aims to Kill Laptop

Like this writer, you may be tired of hearing about yet another entry into the brand new world of tablet computing. So what if Acer is offering not just a 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab-sized alternative but also a 10.1” iPad-sized alternative. So what if Acer, like so many other companies, is making a grab at Android software for its tablet without making virtually any changes (yet) to the interface compared to a puny little phone.

But Acer's plans may be more than just a “Can I play too?” from the annoying kid down the street.

Instead of a Laptop?

By offering two different screen sizes and a fun way to dock your machine at home, Acer appears to be moving ahead with the plan to kill laptops set forth by tablet PCs everywhere. If you ask me, Acer is making a smart move to offer both previously-exclusive screen sizes. Whereas before a consumer's choice to board either Apple's or Samsung's corporate train was bound together with the choice of what screen size to get, now a customer can leave out the choice of screen size from the decision of what company and software to side with.

Some commenters say that a tablet PC is good for on-the-go use or media consumption such as videos, photos, and web, but not great for creating things such as spreadsheets, word documents, and photo/video editing. However, by offering big screen sizes and a keyboard dock, your on-the-go machine can take a break from travel to become a dedicated creation control.

It should be said that the iPad has a dock and a physical keyboard you can get to let your on-the-go Apple tablet become a powerful home computing device. As a matter of fact, the Samsung Galaxy Tab has all these things too. I'm not saying that Acer does these things better than its opponents necessarily, but that to me it illustrates the slow decline of the laptop as we know it. I think the tablet PC is coming into its own as a more mobile choice than a laptop; especially now that tablets now widely come with the capability of an in-depth user interface that doesn't sacrifice an already-small screen space for a virtual keyboard or a drop-down menu of input options.

Laptop Fused with Tablet?

Acer stands ahead of its competitors because of its variety of personal computing options right now: not just 7” and 10.1” tablet PCs, but now a laptop that might combine what's fun and useful about a tablet touchscreen and double it. This laptop has a touchscreen that replaces the keyboard, unveiling yet an even more advanced way of breaking down the wall between a user's mind and a computer's response. Take a look at this video here:

Cage Match: Apple iPad versus Samsung Galaxy Tab

In this space we'll take a look at the breakdown between the world's first significant tablet PC competition. In the first corner we'll start with the iPad, since it came out first and currently rules the market sphere for tablet PC. In the second corner, we'll take a look at what the Samsung Galaxy Tab brings to the table.

LLLLLet's get ready to rumble!

Apple iPad Strengths and Specs

• Large 9.7” screen diagonal
  
• 40,000+ apps in a moderated app marketplace
  
• 10+ hrs battery life
  
• seventh-month headstart on market share and customer feedback
  
• cheapest model is $100 cheaper
  
• rumored to multitask as of iOS 4.2 releasing apprx. 11/16/10
  
• bigger screen makes viable eBook reader

Samsung Galaxy Tab Challenges and Turn-Offs

• Even Google despaired at the Tab using its Android—it was designed for a cell phone, not a tablet
  
• much less battery life
  
• no USB charging (ex. via laptop)
  
• smaller screen has less than half of the area than iPad

Samsung Galaxy Tab Strengths and Specs

• 7” screen diagonal viewed by some as refreshingly large compared to cell phone
  
• runs popular Google Android 2.2 interface
  
• cameras in front (video conference) and back (taking photos)
  
• 6+ hrs battery life
  
• like iPad did, Tab may spark renaissance of specific-to-device app development
  
• can see Flash web pages
  
• multitasks
  
• easier to hold in one hand
  
• Fits in more places, such as purses or jacket pockets

Apple iPad Challenges and Turn-Offs

• Although small and thin, does not pack as easily as the smaller Galaxy Tab
  
• significantly heavier than the Tab
  
• less mobile carrier options for 3G model
• no cameras... period

Conclusion
Choosing which competitor you favor will depend on your needs from the machine. For business purposes including video conferencing and ultra portability, you may like the Galaxy Tab. For personal purposes including a huge variety of fun and useful apps, the iPad may be for you.


Seeing the possibilities of the Samsung Galaxy Tab is somewhat of a changed attitude from my initial reaction, which you can read here: Dead on Arrival: Don't Need Tablet's Limited Size and Software for $600

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Hamlet's Blackberry

Did you know Hamlet had a Blackberry?


The Bard's greatest non-actor tackled an issue that confronts our society today: connectedness or nonconnectedness. Whereas he wrestled with whether to follow up on his ghost-father's plea for vengeance (connectedness) or go ahead and wash his hands of all that rotten mess in Denmark (nonconnectedness), author William Powers addresses our society's ability to use our new powers of constant digital connection to create real connections between people--or does this constant connection drive us further away?


You can read/listen to Powers' interview on NPR, where he talks about taking each weekend off from digital connectedness. A sort of "Internet Sabbath," the article says.

In his 2007 essay,  "Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal," Powers explains that when Hamlet is overloaded with new and shocking information, he does the same thing we do in that situation: pulls out his smart phone and processes. For all we know, he may have been adding the ghost as a contact.



In fact, Powers describes a little tablet popularly carried around by people of the 16th century, and later by the likes of even Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. Hamlet pulls out his tablet, which he calls a "table," and begins making notes. He can erase the notes with a sponge at any time to make room for new notes, which he says he will do upon hearing the ghost's chilling news.


Hamlet's tablet, like the modern Blackberry, came before the iPhone.

Dead On Arrival: Don't need tablet's limited size and software for $600

This toy is neat, but for $600
I wouldn't called it a "must have."

“Dead on arrival.” Steve Jobs' dramatic exclamation may be true for a neat product for which there is high cost and little need.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab, although super neat, has two major disadvantages:

1. Seven Inch Screen Size

How are they going to compel the American wildlife of tech users to shell out another $600? Because now I have an even smaller, less capable stopgap between what my phone and laptop already do? Seven inches of screen real estate means that any typing is still going to be thumb based, as on a cell phone. Any finger pushing or pulling as on a web browser will be like a cell phone.

2. Non-Ideal Software

It uses Google's Android system developed for mobile phones, but even Google says this system wasn't designed for tablets. It will be like a big phone that can't call anyone. What makes the iPad/iPhone/iPod products so effective is that they managed to convince the vast array of app designers to make a vast array of well illustrated, finger-friendly apps. Will the Galaxy Tab go this way, or will it be like my Windows Mobile phone: promising to balloon in an exclusive app marketplace but instead flopping on the ground? Two of Samsung's partners in this endeavor, Blockbuster and VCast, have for me always been poorly made expensive substitutes to other products out there. Please change my mind.

And why is it more expensive than an iPad? I cannot be convinced to pay more money to take a risk on what could be less. That's one teacher's opinion.