Gentlemen (and ladies), start your tablets …
First off, as I said recently, I’m not really voting here, merely passing along some information.
I am a recent convert to tablets. I have one of the original iPads (not the iPad2) – and, frankly, I love it. It is TRULY the perfect form factor. It’s big enough to do real, live work, yet it’s small enough to stuff into a briefcase or purse. iEnterprises’ Mobile Edge product runs on the iPad and Playbook, and our going-to-be-here-any-moment-now Android client will run on the Android tablets. So, business wise, also, we love them.
But, the war escalated this week, with the release of HP’s TouchPad.
A couple months ago, RIM’s PlayBook.
Seems that most pundits are still giving the thumbs up to iPad2, not any of the new contenders. InfoWorld went so far as to say that:
the TouchPad is a mediocre tablet that poses no threat to the iPad or to Android tablets such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Xoom. Even though the iPad 2′s high bar is no secret, it once again appears that corner-cutting or rush to market has been allowed to tie a potentially strong tablet’s arm behind its back.
Like, ouch. Their whole review HERE.
Gets worse.
Information Week opined:
It’s an innovative tablet with some fantastically juicy surprises that will make you want it now, but it carries enough disappointments that you’ll probably wait for the next version. It’s not enough to make you put down your iPad 2, or its near-equivalent Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but it will make you wish those tablets bestowed the TouchPad’s user experience and included its other innovations.
IW’s review HERE.
But, it’s not all bad news. ALL of the reviews had very positive comments about the OS and feature set, and PC Magazine says:
… the TouchPad offers a more enjoyable user experience than any of the current wave of Android Honeycomb tablets. It’s no iPad, but it’s the best non-Apple tablet we’ve seen yet.
PCM’s review HERE.
But then, the original iPad had its detractors when first released, also.
With the Android tablets either taking forever to actually get to market, and the PlayBook fighting the lack-of-email issue, this new TouchPad might have a chance. And, for the record, it does have some really interesting features. Not only does it use that TouchStone charging technology (you don’t have to plug it in, you can simply place it on a charging ‘stone’), but the “tap to share” capability is really intriguing. This feature allows multiple devices to share things. Bring up a web page on a WebOS tablet, and tap it with a WebOS phone and it transfers the page to the second device. Kind of how iPhones can “bump” to share contact information.
So, like I said at the beginning … I’m neither voting nor making recommendations between tablets. However, if you HAVEN’T played with a tablet, you really should.
Really …..
