If you think that Apple’s much-awaited entry into Tablet computing will give it the pleasure of having the market all to itself, you may be moving away from the truth. Microsoft, Dell and Acer seem to be working on overdrive to develop similar products and steal some cheer out of Apple’s euphoria. HP is supposed to be thinking in the lines of undercutting iPad’s price and the effect sure would be astounding.
Its quite sometime now that we have the tablet PC with us, though it’s the new generation of touch screen tablets that is making waves now. In fact, they are up to creating a separate niche for themselves, somewhere between smart phones and notebooks.
Coming to the forthcoming touch screen tablet from HP, the tech giant has partnered with Microsoft and tentatively named the product ‘Slate’. Powered by Microsoft Windows 7, the product was introduced by Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft Corporation, at ICES, 2010 in Las Vegas. The Slate seems to be the nearest in line to Apple’s i-Pad and has astutely included the features so glaringly missing from it, in order to keep critics at bay.
The Slate is touted to be more powerful than a smart phone and close at heels with a PC. It is perfect for reading, surfing the web and taking entertainment on the go. Resembling an Amazon Kindle DX in size, it aims at bridging the gap between laptops and smart phones. HP’s Slate will run on full version of Windows 7, complete with multi-touch capabilities. It comes with 3G connectivity as a standard feature and may cause a lesser pocket-pinch than iPad’s $629.
The 8.9 inch screen will have multi-touch capabilities, which you can flip through and experience a book in full color. The Wi-fi capabilities allow you to download content. It will focus on content consumption including games, e-books, music, videos and web browsing.
Microsoft is working on a tablet PC which is going to feature twin screens and is named Courier while Acer is all set to enter the fray with devices that the company says will be like the iPad. Then there is Dell that is looking at a 5-inch tablet for web surfing on the go. Whether these devices will ever see the light of day or will at all fight with each other for shelf space, spoiling the buyer with a gamut of choices is something that we need to wait and watch for. With the number of players going up by the day, we sure have a fascinating battle to witness, albeit from the sidelines.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
