Handheld Tablet

Students Handheld Tablet for $35 from India

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:30:19 +0000

The India government today unvieled a prototype of a handheld tablet targeted to students. The central minister for HRD briefed the attendees that this was a low cost computing-cum-network-access device for students and teachers and would be available through educational institutions by 2011.

The price is expected to be about $35 (INR 1500) which would drop down to $20 and ultimately to $10. The minister said “this is real, tangible and we will take it forward”.

Most of the parts to be used in this device are available off-the-shelf and some technology is being patented by the government. The device will have: Touchscreen, Multimedia, Searchable PDF Reader, Video-Conferencing, Storage and File-Compression.

The India government is looking up to corporate entities to participate in the project which is estimated to cost about $2.12 billions (INR 10,000 crores). Because the major portion of the investment is for connectivity and distribution logistics, we expect the telecom majors should be jumping on to the bandwagon.

50 tablet pc models expected

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:16:27 +0000

According to an ARM executive, year 2010 will see the arrival of at least 50 new Tablet PC models. ARM is privy to developments on this front as they are asked to provide engineering support or partnerships for the mobile processing platforms who use their chips, handheld tablet being the latest trend.

Dell Streak

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:53:46 +0000

Wow! Wow! Dell’s joined the race too. Their Mini 5 – a 5″ tablet with a 5MP camera is going to hit the US market by the name Streak. Engadget seems to have got some leaked papers, which also shows that it may have a content partnership with Amazon.

Adam Tablet

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:34:05 +0000

And to beat them all is an Indian team of seven geniuses based at Hyderabad who have demonstrated their Adam handheld tablet at the recent CES. Read more about this at India.com.

The features leave me drooling and the price is verrry tempting. I take back my invite to Steve in a previous post to look India ways. Do we really need the bl…ed iPad?

Microsoft Courier

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:31:01 +0000

Also in the reckoning is Microsoft’s Courier, although not much is known yet about this project under wraps. We will post updates as we get to know more. Keep watching. This image was sourced from Gizmodo.com. There is no official release from Microsoft.

HP Slate

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:26:02 +0000

Just came to know, there is some movement at the printer giant HP. Their Slate is rumored to undercut the iPad price and give Apple a tough time. Here’s a pic sourced from a video released on YouTube.com.

iPad

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:31:17 +0000

Well Steve Jobs has done it again. The iPad does look like something people have been waiting for since long in the mobile computing arena. 5 publishers provide over 1 million publications through iBooks!

The iPad is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G enabled, has battery power for 10 hours, has a 24.3 x 18.9 cm multi-touch led color screen usable in both portrait and landscape orientation, runs on a 1 GHz processor and is going to cost $499 for the basic model with 16GB storage and weighing 680 grams.

So, is it worth the wait (pun intended)? Steve feels the “bar is pretty high” to live up to public expectations for a computing genre between a smartphone and the laptop. To some, it’s just an upgraded iPod touch!

Industry watchers say book aficionados will still prefer cheaper ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader and those looking for mobile computing would prefer the net-book.

I dare to differ! If Apple does some improvement in the product like increasing processor power and storage, adding a webcam, making compatible with all ubiquitous software like “flash” and seamlessly integrating VOIP and still keep it under $500, then there’s a surefire winner. Steve! target the Indian market. It’s hungry for such a device – the market has still not picked up the smart-phones or the net-books with much enthusiasm because these fall just a wee bit short of the desired combined features from an Indian viewpoint. An improved iPad is what is badly wanted and I bet if you ran an advance booking campaign you would get 1 million orders on the opening day!

Beware, Google with their insight of the Indian market, could be already working secretly on this! India based HCL had a similar flip-top product with a 7 inch tablet, which did not take off much though retailing at under $250. They too could make a comeback with some improvement.

Well we are still waiting…

(Image courtesy Apple.com)

Favorite Application

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:45:44 +0000

As the world postulates and rumor mills do the grind, we will take a look at who will benefit the most with a handheld tablet pc technology.

The 1st one are students. My pre-university (baccalaureate) daughter for one! I hate to see more than she herself does, her need to daily carry reference materials weighing almost 10 pounds! I really look forward to touchscreen programs, which will convert the handheld tablet into a touchscreen reader. The hardware and software developers would also need to look into tie-ups with the text book and reference book publishers. This is my most favorite application for the handheld tablet pc. In fact, this thought was uppermost when I had the idea for this product and this website about 2 years back.

-Sri.

Introduction

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:39:29 +0000

Advancement in technology has made us truly mobile. Information technology for instance has evolved tremendously from the times when computing required huge room-sized mainframes for analyzing and processing data to the handheld tablet computer types we see today. The desktop PC was a very welcome change from the mammoth mainframe. The desktop went mobile with the introduction of the laptop. But, that’s still a heavy flip-top! We were not satisfied with that. We wanted true mobility in the sense we wanted even smaller and lighter computer models with more free-form user interface. The handheld tablet or the handheld tablet pc is the answer to our current mobility needs.

Though a handheld pc or a handheld tablet pc may not be as advanced as a regular pc, as the scope for high end computing operations and also data storage is limited, it still is a viable alternative to carrying heavy laptops. A handheld tablet with a display larger than the smartphones but smaller than regular laptops can be carried easily and some can even be carried in the jacket pockets. A good handheld tablet will have good computing features and a good connectivity facility. If you are a person whose computing needs revolve around only the internet and some basic word processing then a handheld tablet will more than meet your needs. A major drawback in a handheld tablet or handheld tablet pc could be the absence of a built in CD/DVD/Blue Ray drive but these features too are integrated in some models although escalating the expense. It could even open up demand for separate devices like say a handheld video player as a purely entertainment module.