Tablet research - looking for input
I'm currently researching tablets. I've narrowed it down to 5:
Surface is compelling in its own way, but it's SO new... I get the whole argument that it's not the number of apps but the quality of the apps, but ... numbers count too! For instance, I've moved away from Outlook years ago and don't want to go back -- on portable devices I am totally in love with PocketInformant. And it doesn't exist on MS Surface RT yet... No idea what else is out there, but that's the first thing I look for...
So (glossing a bit) that brings me to a choice between the pen and multi-tasking and the iffy screen (Galaxy Note), the nice docking station (Asus TF700), or the best and brightest with multi-user capability (a "big deal" in my book) (Nexus).
From a screen perspective the Asus, the Nexus, and the iPad are all roughly equal. I've read reviews that "sell" one or the other (asus has higher nits, nexus has higher resolution, iPad has better color). So let's just call that a toss-up. Practically speaking if you don't have it right next to one of the other ones you're probably simply going to be wow'd. (Practically speaking you probably have to have one of these 3 sitting next to the Samsung Galaxy Note to know that you're missing something screen-wise!)
IF I could just ignore the screen (I don't think I can - I think the screen rules out the Note) then it would become a question of...
Anybody with some comparison experience on these devices that can give some insight?
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (the one with the pen)
- Asus Transformer Infinity TF700 (the one with the nice [and expensive] docking station)
- Google Nexus 10 (the newest guy on the block)
- iPad (can't believe I just allowed an Apple product to appear in my blog!)
- Surface (with one of the keyboard covers)
Surface is compelling in its own way, but it's SO new... I get the whole argument that it's not the number of apps but the quality of the apps, but ... numbers count too! For instance, I've moved away from Outlook years ago and don't want to go back -- on portable devices I am totally in love with PocketInformant. And it doesn't exist on MS Surface RT yet... No idea what else is out there, but that's the first thing I look for...
So (glossing a bit) that brings me to a choice between the pen and multi-tasking and the iffy screen (Galaxy Note), the nice docking station (Asus TF700), or the best and brightest with multi-user capability (a "big deal" in my book) (Nexus).
From a screen perspective the Asus, the Nexus, and the iPad are all roughly equal. I've read reviews that "sell" one or the other (asus has higher nits, nexus has higher resolution, iPad has better color). So let's just call that a toss-up. Practically speaking if you don't have it right next to one of the other ones you're probably simply going to be wow'd. (Practically speaking you probably have to have one of these 3 sitting next to the Samsung Galaxy Note to know that you're missing something screen-wise!)
IF I could just ignore the screen (I don't think I can - I think the screen rules out the Note) then it would become a question of...
- Note has a pen that would be very natural for taking notes. I think this could be HUGE. And it has that special capability of having split-screen apps (albeit a limited selection) which allows you to have multiple windows open and viewable at once. This is where tablets MUST go as they move closer to blurring the lines with PCs. No idea why nobody else has cottoned on to the split-screen multi-tasking yet. And still that pen that I think would be SO useful...
- Asus has a great docking station which seems like it makes the tablet into a PC replacement in so many different ways. Give me any of the dozens (?) of office suites available for Android and a keyboard and a trackball and I can do 98% of the work I do on my computer. Yes, every once in a while I need something more, but it would mean my laptop would become a stationary object and the tablet would be what would move with me. Add the fantastic battery life that comes with the docking station and you've got a real winner.
- And Google has a processor that is somewhat future-proofing the tablet. It's also as close to vanilla Android as you get which I like a lot. Add a BT keyboard (have you checked out the Jorno? Just wish it was already available...) and you're almost in the same productivity camp as the Asus -- just don't have the trackpad and the extended battery life. Of course it's so new that there aren't any real reviews of the real thing yet and I may be moving onto the "bleeding edge" of technology... (i.e., the Asus Prime had big problems with wireless signal and GPS signal - fixed by the next iteration into the Infinity -- what might I be getting with the Nexus that will be fixed with the Nextus? [ooh, that was a funny, that was! Now it'll go viral, but you saw it first right here!])
Anybody with some comparison experience on these devices that can give some insight?
posted by Peter Bowers at 12:38 PM
2 Comments:
Peter, you are more obsessive than me! Glad to hear there are others out there that lay awake at night mulling stuff like this over in their minds.
BUT, my question is a simple one... if you are not using Outlook, what are you into? I have been struggling with Outlook for Mac, and would love to find a better alternative. I realize I might have already crossed myself off from your solution because I'm a Mac user, but I'm a little desperate.
While I'm here, what do you use for task lists? I bounce around 3-4 solutions (e.g. Evernote, Outlook, Opus Domini, etc.) and none of them completely satisfy. Have found the holy grail of task listing yet??
Dan E.
Sorry, Dan - this is probably like 6 months after you left your comment. I'm a little inconsistent (!) about following up on comments - almost as bad as I am about writing new blog entries! :-)
I moved away from Outlook about 6 or 8 years ago. I've gone totally cloud-based.
For email I use gmail and would never look back - be sure you study up on how to use search capabilities like from: and to: and subject: and you'll find gmail becomes the holy grail of email. (Thunderbird is what I use to back gmail up onto my local machine for when I don't have email capabilities or if google suddenly burst into flame, but I'm not too good about that because I'm not too worried about it.)
For calendar I use google calendar. It comes onto my phone without a hitch and allows me all the capabilities I need to share on other tools (think doodle for scheduling meetings, etc.)
For tasks/to-do I use toodledo combined with my phone. I did pay for a silver (?) account so I could have multi-level tasks ("do the report" can be broken down into "get the info from Sam", "do a survey of the staff", and "write up the report"). It supports GTD extensively.
On my phone I use PocketInformant (PI) which also has an iOS app. In the Android world it's far and away the best calendar/task/contact manager that I could find. It especially excels in calendar and task management - I don't use it so much for contacts so I don't know. It supports GTD extensively.
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