The advent of Tablet PC's

I remember once very long ago when I swapped my notebook for a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC. I can still remember the nostalgic feeling of getting that machine on my hands, my very first time. I felt like a child with ice cream, with all the scoops the ice cream man had to offer. There’s a buzz going around, and its cause is this small device called a tablet PC.

Besides reviewing hardware, I want to introduce myself, I am Ozzitronics’ Technical & Sales Director. What I will be doing from time to time is taking you on a cruise around the world of technology, specifically in South Africa. I will be sharing with you a comparison of the prices we are so unfortunate to have to fork out, though a third world “developing Nation”. I want you to understand just what it is like to be in South Africa as a technology hungry, technology driven enthusiast.

Take the matter of the tablet PC's available today. Yes they vary, looking around you’ll find slate tablets which are your classical tablet (much like the ones used in ancient times to engrave notes) with just a touch screen deprived of a keyboard. Then there are the convertible tablets which are notebooks with touch screen capability. Hybrid tablets are convertible tablet PC’s with detachable keyboards. Not so hard to get, and the price too is catching up with the rest of the world in South Africa. It is unfortunate that we must wait sometimes even a whole year or more to get our hands on any of the latest devices, and many more for the price to come to an acceptable range.

The hype around tablet PC's was driven by the ever so popular Apple iPad. And very recently their iPad 2. The iPad 2 operates on Mac's iOS4, has a 1GHz Apple custom CPU, 9.7 inch touch screen, 16 – 64 GB flash for storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G is optional. The applications that one can expect with this jewel are the regulars like Safari, iTunes and FaceTime amongst a number.

My very first experience with the second tablet that we will be looking at which is the Samsung Galaxy was a rather odd one. I saw a gentleman in a mall holding it to his ear making a phone call. It is quite big and not exactly so ergonomic to be place on the ear. Running the popular Android OS along with the Android browser, 1.06 GHz with PowerVR SGX540, 7.0" WSVGA touch screen, 16 – 64 GB flash for storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth , 3G and an AGPS for navigation.

Just when one thought Motorola was a dinosaur and the likes of which only seen in museums, bouncing  back with the Motorola Xoom tablet PC. The Xoom also runs on Android OS, has a 1GHz  Nvidia Tegra Dual Core processor, 1GB memory 32GB flash storage. The Xoom brings something that the other tablets mentioned above don’t – the ever so loved USB ports. What is a PC without USB ports? It also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and a GPS. The momentum that has been gained by the Xoom is quite impressive, even passing the Galaxy tab at 0.486% market share and quickly catching up with HTC’s Nexus One at 0.601% market share.

Last is my personal favourite. I hope my partner reads this and knows what to get me for Christmas. The BlackBerry Playbook. Running a 1GHz dual core processor, OS based on QNX multitasking platform with 1GB memory, 16 – 64 GB flash storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. Though it does not support 3G or any data besides Wi-Fi, you can bridge it with your BlackBerry device. Once bridged you can now surf the internet, view your mail and so on. There are numerous rumours that the next one they’ll bring will have data support but I don’t see any drastic shift from the current methodology for functionality – meaning, I think it will still need to be bridged with your BB handset to utilise.

These make good gadgets to have when on the move or impressing your friends at a gathering. I do not foresee gamer's dumping their power house machines for these babies, but these should certainly ripple the tides within the portable gaming console’s domain, Sony's PSP, Nintendo's Gameboy and others will indeed be affected by the gradual adaption of these devices. I can’t imagine my bosses typing angry emails to me on one of these though, they’ll still need a keyboard to smash on.

Though developers will not move to tablets, I’m sure they will find these very handy when they quickly need to change a piece of code, or jot one down for expansion later, I on the other hand might just break it with my hands when my code is not working. I won't dump my notebook for one of these, but having one would certainly complement my notebook or desktop machine. All I can do for now unfortunately, is be good and hope father Christmas will nudge my partner in the right direction.