~~ Gadgets - Performance, Looks, Apps, Hottest Models ~~

[vithagan]

Today HP Tablet sold for $99 for 16 GB ( normally $399), $149 for 32 GB ( normally $499).

Missed it.. HP site says out of stock!!

[vithagan]

I currently have $15 a month / 200MB. I downgraded a couple of months back since I was not using data as much as I used to.. Anyway thanks for all the inputs vithagan

Welcome

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Today HP Tablet sold for $99 for 16 GB ( normally $399), $149 for 32 GB ( normally $499).

Missed it.. HP site says out of stock!!

Recently Staples reduced $100 in all tablets. My friend bought Motorola xoom since Asus Transformer was out of stock.

Another offer - Logitech selling its Google TV kit for $99

Anyways, you guys will get fantastic offers during Thangsgiving and this time, Tablets are gonna sell like hotcakes!

Those in US interested in buying gently used Android Devices go here - http://swappa.com/devices/all

This is a trustable site

[vithagan]

Successfully got HP Touchpad 16GB for $100 at Bestbuy.com this morning.

Not sure whether its a Good deal considering the discontinued item.. but for $100 you can't ask for more

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Vithagan,

You will be lucky if Cyanogenmod is ported to HP Touchpad. Guys are already at it! Keep watchin' here - http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/2...-time-for-cm7/

There is also a geeky discussion going on here anout how to install Ubuntu on Touchpad - http://forums.precentral.net/webos-d...-touchpad.html

btw, here is an article which discourages Why You Should Avoid the HP TouchPad (Even at $99)

[vithagan]

Vithagan,

You will be lucky if Cyanogenmod is ported to HP Touchpad. Guys are already at it! Keep watchin' here - http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/2...-time-for-cm7/

There is also a geeky discussion going on here anout how to install Ubuntu on Touchpad - http://forums.precentral.net/webos-d...-touchpad.html

btw, here is an article which discourages Why You Should Avoid the HP TouchPad (Even at $99)

SKV,

Thanks for the links.

[Nerd]

Yaaro munnaadiyE kEtta maadhiri, can someone explain whats the use of a tablet PC? Onnu laptop-aa irukkanum illai chinnadhaa venumnna smartphone vaangalaamE

Sorry I am technologically challenged

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

உங்கள மாதிரி ஆட்களுக்குத்தான் Asus is coming up with Padfone! Its a Smartphone inside a Tablet. If u want only phone, then carry only phone. or else, dock the phone inside the tablet and coarry both.



Nerd, will come up with tablet pc usages, shortly!

[Bala (Karthik)]

Yaaro munnaadiyE kEtta maadhiri, can someone explain whats the use of a tablet PC? Onnu laptop-aa irukkanum illai chinnadhaa venumnna smartphone vaangalaamE

Sorry I am technologically challenged

Tangential kostin: The oft quoted maxim, it's business first and technology is its servant - does everybody here think this is "obvious"? Is there anyone who thinks this isn't always true?

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Nerd and Others, I will try to explain the usages of Tablet PCs in consumer/end user POV. I will discuss both Current/present usages & also futuristic/evolving ideas. I guess my post may grow as we discuss..

But the main question will be, Either Smartphone or Laptop, why the heck is a thing called tablet needed. That's what Bala/Nerd asks and Softsword long back asked why tablets, in place of laptops.

Tablet PCs are not new. A decade before, Microsoft tried it and flopped too badly. But why such a tablet craze now? Atleast to a particular section of consumers, if not all.

1. Form Factor & Portability(Not bulky as laptop). A Smartphone is too small and congested for some tasks. Laptop lacks true mobility. You cannot hold a laptop and type and walk. Forget PC. You can do that with tablet. Why carry bulk laptop?

2. Replaces PC/Laptop for most common functions(Browsing, Lightweight office-work(word excel), email, ebook reader, games, music, video, chat etc

3. Tons of Apps in market/appstore, yielding the functionality of many PC apps which are bulky/buggy and slow, even now

4. Make use of hardware - touchscreen, Accelerometer, GPS,

5. Use tablet as Virtual Machine, escape from Bulk PC/Laptop, operate ur computer from tablet.

6. Augmented Reality, LBS(location based apps) - this is possible in smartphone too but tablet has more screen real estate. AR in tablets is becoming exciting research area in Education. Already there are good no of AR Apps in both iPad and Android.

Random ramblings...

The absence of physical keyboard is no more a minus. There are ppl becoming fastest typers on tablets. Or else buy bluetooth keyboard. As of now, one reason why Asus tablet is a hit is, it has a superb keyboard dock with also has a touchpad, battery, and usb slots. this makes the tablet almost a laptop. Only missing things are a hard disk and a DVD drive. In future, generic bases will be available & they will be compatible with all tablets. They will have all built in - keyboard, touchpad, usb/sd slots, harddisks DVD drives, battery and much more.

Nicholas Negroponte, the brain behind OLPC $100 Laptop, himself is betting big on future of tablets.
Here is his superb vision - http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/0...blet_essays/3/

iPad concerts are becoming possible. Group of 4 or 5 ppl use tablets to play each instruments. laptops, even smartphones unusable this way!!
You can learn piano/play guitar with tablet. how about same in Laptop/Smartphone?!? Usages keep growing..

Why suddenly, after Apple's iPad success, almost all consumer electronics company are trying hands and testing waters in tablets?
Samsung, Motorola, LG, Acer, Asus, Lenova, HP, Dell, RIM(Blackberry), HTC, Toshiba,
Indian version is Reliance, Beetel(airtel), Infibeam, Spice, Olive Telecom, Notion Ink, HCL...the list keeps growing.
Recent market study stated that 2nd place in total volume sales, next to iPad, is not to any of these tablets, but it (collectively)went to unbranded China tablets from 2nd tier companies. Viewsonic G-tablet is one such. This itself should give some clue. Even though we have to wait for the ultimate All in one Tablet, there is no doubt that "Tablets are the future".

Tablet Computers coming recently are sporting dual core 1 GHz CPUs. This CPU is called ARM CPU. Now, even low power Intel atom can't run without a Fan*
(which is an important candidate in draining battery) so tablet is a fanless computer. Tablets won't do ALL which PC/Laptops do but is growing fast to become equal to computational power of PC. Even without a fan, with a battery much smaller than the one in laptops, tabs do excellent jobs - they run most of the apps which takes huge comuting power on a traditional PC.

Windows OS never cared an hardware platform other than Intel. PowerPC etc all survived purely becos of Apple. Now even Mac has only Intel CPUs. In this scene, all of a sudden, Windows had started the effort to port it's OS to ARM CPU. Why? Without ARM there just are NO Tablets. ALL tablets are powered by ARM CPUs, ARM-Cortex to be specific. (Unbranded china tabs use ARM11) So this move indirectly tells that Microsoft is prepping itself a tablet version of its OS. Incase, in future, "tablet hardware power" becomes fully equal to, or exceeds the raw computing power of today's PC/Laptop, MS has to release a tablet version. (Tablet HW power is already increasing, quad core 2 GHz CPUs likely to appear next year. Imagine 2GHz, 4 cores running without fan!!!)

Stats already say there are slight slowdown in PC Sales per quarter and tablet sales are increasing. There are lots of enterprises giving tablets to the Sales, Marketing ppl instead of laptops. In US, Many bank reps already using iPads.

The feeling that one day tablets will completely replace PC/Laptop is already is in air. kindly google something like "will tablets replace laptops"

As of now, one thing impossible in tablets are software development. You cannot run compile and debug your sophisticated big project, on a tablet. Complex IDEs are not available at the moment. But in android tablets, you can compile fairly complex programs etc. In future, tablet screen sizes may grow, and it will dock with a tons of accessories for multiple purposes which are assumed impossible now. Tablets will become highly flexible and each one can choose configurations of their interest.

Note 1: I will write the education scenario afterwards. There is also application specific/industry specific usage scenarios but i don't know how many are interested in discussing that...

Note 2: Bala, as you said, its business first and technology is its servant. May i dubb that like this? - "Any technology without solid use is a waste". But the usecases in tablets are only evolving, and limited only to imagination. for ex, a GPS on tablet has much more uses than in a Smartphone. For ex, you can see 2 totally different routes on single screen, at same time.

* - http://goo.gl/IuUga (Atoms are scoring less than ARM cores, even without fan)

Consider this: if there is no power & i am feeling sweat,, iCan use iPad as iFan(just hold the iPad in both hands and blow some air to your face). Forget PC, What about laptop/smartphone? is this possible?!? this feature works even if the battery is low. much needed feature in hot countries. Like fone app, this is called fan app, it comes pre-installed in ALL 7" and 10" tablets.