Tag: tablet computer

Article

5 Things To Know About That In-Room Hotel iPad || HotelChatter

From the horse’s mouth

Intelity (software developer of these apps)

Company Web page

My Comments

An increasing number of hotels are providing guests with an iPad or similar “mobile-platform” tablet in your room for you to use. These typically are running a custom-designed app that works as an information source for the guest and, in some cases, provides self-service access to a wide range of services like in-room dining, housekeeping requests and check-out.

These devices are the same hardware as the iPad that you have, and this customer-service software is most likely to be available at the iTunes App Store for your iOS device or Google Play for your Android device. In some cases, the software may also be finished as an HTML5 Web app for use on laptops running the latest Web browser or on mobile devices that don’t have a native version written for them.

By you running this kind of customer-facing software on your device, you have access to the same benefits as you would have on the device that is located at the property. This can benefit you if you end up being enamoured by the hotel you are staying at and can allow you to take it further. For example, you could use the “local knowledge” functionality when you are out and about or even to plan your visit to the same town again; or refer to “in-room dining” menus for suggesting menu options that you have liked.

These kind of customer-facing apps can benefit customers who want to take the experience with your product or service further. This is in a similar way to the concept of the “app-cessory” where there are mobile-platform apps that enhance the functionality of a device or provide an improved user interface for the device or the apps that extend sports events or TV shows by adding value to them.

What I would like to see of these apps is that developers write native apps for the common mobile platforms while writing Web apps for use with unsupported platforms.

You have just bought that new smartphone or tablet and want to make sure it is complete when it comes to accessories. These are about charging that “do-it-all” device up or running it from external power; connecting the device to other devices like speakers or car stereos; or simply allowing you to operate your device safely and protecting it from unnecessary damage.

Power supply

Each charger should have at least one USB Type-A socket so you can connect the smartphone, tablet or other mobile device to it via its USB data cord. Some devices that use a DC plug or other connection form can be connected to these chargers using a USB power-adaptor cable which may come with the charger or can be picked up as an accessory.

As for power capacity, I would recommend using a charger that works at 2.1 amps if you are using a tablet or are likely to charge two or more devices at once. It is also worth noting that you can use a charger as a way of powering the phone or tablet in a manner to conserve battery runtime. This comes in handy when you are, for example, using your phone for navigation or music as you drive or using a smartphone as a network access point.

AC-USB charger

AC-USB charger

You never can have too many of these chargers especially if you need to top up a phone or tablet that is always running out of juice or being used heavily.

The small USB chargers can be useful as part of a small accessory bag that you take with you when you travel, even as you go out and about. Similarly, there are the USB chargers that have an integrated AC socket as well as the USB sockets. These are very handy if you come across situations where lamps and appliances are constantly unplugged by people wanting to charge up their smartphones or tablets or run these devices at home without compromising their battery runtime.

On the other hand, a self-powered USB hub with its power supply can serve as an AC-USB charger for up to four or seven devices.

Cigar-lighter-USB car charger

USB car charger which plugs in to a vehicle’s cigar-lighter socket

The USB car chargers that plug in to a vehicle’s cigar-lighter socket can be very handy whether you drive a vehicle or not. In some cases, they can come in very handy with other accessories that work on the same voltage such as Bluetooth audio adaptors and most of these are as big as a thumbnail thus not occupying much space in your accessory bag.

External battery pack

USB external battery pack

These accessories come in two forms – a rechargeable battery pack that is charged by a USB connection or a battery holder that takes two to four AA batteries and converts the power from the batteries to USB power for your phone.

There are variants of this device that are designed for the older Apple iPhones which use the legacy 30-pin dock connector. Here, these units can be charged from an Apple-compliant dock and be clipped on to the iPhone they are to power. Further variants of this device come in the form of a case that the iPhone sits in rather than a battery pack that clips on to the iPhone.

Similarly, some of the rechargeable battery packs may use an integrated or accessory solar panel to allow you to charge them from the sun. These typically are to allow you to operate your phone independently of the AC power and are sold on an “eco” or “green-living” promise, but they take a long time to charge up fully from the sun and require the charger to see bright sunshine.

Lower-capacity devices may work well for charging up a smartphone once or “boosting” (adding power) to a 5” smartphone or tablet. This is compared to higher-capacity devices which could charge up a smartphone two or three times or a tablet once or twice; or simply be effective in providing “long-run” power to the smartphone or tablet.

It may be worth noticing with some of the rechargeable battery packs that have two or more USB output sockets in that if they are connected to a charger and switched on, they could supply power to two or more devices. This can come in handy if you want to cut down on the number of AC or car chargers you take with you.

Cables

USB data cables

USB data / power cable

This cable is essentially how you get power in to your phone or tablet and it should have a Type A USB connector on one end and the connector that fits your device on the other end. This typically will be a MicroUSB connector for most non-Apple devices, a 30-pin Apple Dock connector for older Apple devices or the small Lightning connector for new Apple devices. You could get by with one or more cables that have the Apple Dock connector and some Dock-Lightning plug adaptors if you have a mix of Apple devices that have the different connectors.

Audio connectivity

For any portable audio device, I consider the following cables as essential to keep with the device:

• A cable with a 3.5mm stereo mini phone plug at each end
• A cable with a 3.5mm stereo mini phone plug at one end and two RCA (phono or cinch) plugs at the othe end
• A cassette adaptor which slots in to car cassette players and connects to your phone or tablet

3.5mm to 3.5mm stereo audio cable

The first cable comes in handy with an increasing number of car stereos, home-theatre receivers and other AV devices that use a 3.5mm (1/8”) mini phone jack on the front. This is to allow you to walk up and connect portable audio devices to these units and have them play through the system’s speakers.

3.5mm stereo to 2 RCA plug audio cable for most audio equipment

The second cable comes in handy with connecting your phone or tablet to just about every piece of home audio equipment, including some mid-range and higher-end “ghetto blasters” made through the 1980s and 1990s just by using any vacant line-level input i.e. a “tape”, “CD”, “tuner” or “aux” input.

A cassette adaptor that allows you to use your smartphone with a cassette-based car stereo

Some of you may see the cassette adaptor as a dated accessory especially with an Apple iPhone but it still has its place with your smartphone or tablet. For example, you may be using a late-70s / early-80s classic car that is kept “true to its era” and have tracked down and fitted a cassette player or retained the factory-supplied cassette car stereo in the dash of that car to keep the car that way. Similarly, some of you may have kept a cheap old car radio-cassette stereo with that “fast-forward / eject” button in that old car because you are in a risky neighbourhood and a nice car stereo would be asking for a brick through the window. You may also deal with a late-80s or mid-90s car that has an integrated cassette car stereo and you can’t substitute it easily with aftermarket car audio equipment. Here, the cassette adaptor effectively converts the cassette mechanism, hence the cassette slot, in to an auxiliary input through the use of a head mounted in the adaptor that inductively couples with the cassette player’s playback head to pass the sound to the player’s amplification circuitry. This means that even if the mechanism was prone to “chewing” the tape when it played tapes, it can work with these cassette adaptors.

With a cassette adaptor, you can play your smartphone or other device through this old car stereo

Other accessories

Removable windscreen mount

Another accessory that I find very important for smartphone users is the removable windscreen mount. Here, this device “grips” the phone and sticks to the windscreen (windshield) using a suction cup so you have the phone in a stable position. This is important when you are using the phone with a good maps app for navigation, as a music player / Internet car radio, or want to be sure whether to answer that incoming call when it rings. The fact that you can remove the removable windscreen mount is important if you need to take your device between cars that don’t have a phone mount, such as rental or borrowed vehicles, or want to conceal the phone mount thus avoiding the chance of your car being broken into.

Bluetooth audio adaptor with microphone.

Now these good headphones or other audio device can work as a stereo Bluetooth headset for your smartphone with a Bluetooth audio adaptor

A device that can come in very handy with any smartphone or tablet is a Bluetooth audio adaptor like the Nokia BH-111 or a recently-issued Kogan Bluetooth adaptor. These devices effectively work as Bluetooth handsfree kits by supporting headset or hands-free operating modes as well as the A2DP media-streaming operating mode, but are connected to headphones or external audio equipment for their audio output.

This can be handy with temporary setups where you want handsfree telephony or audio playback through existing equipment such as with home or portable audio equipment or rented or borrowed cars.  For car use, they may be best secured to the middle of the dashboard with double-sided tape or a good amount of Blu-Tack.

A lot of these devices will have an integrated microphone so you can speak to your caller during that call. There may be some good Bluetooth portable-handsfree kits which have an integrated speaker that may also have a 3.5mm stereo mini phone jack as an audio output especially when streaming music content from your device. This kind of setup may feed the Bluetooth Headset / Hands-Free Profile audio to the integrated speaker and the Bluetooth A2DP stereo audio to the external device.

Wraps or covers for your device

Any of the wraps or covers that are available for your particular phone or tablet work well in protecting the device as well as conveying your sense of style to your device. Some can range from a simple vinyl finish to a luxurious leather finish which has that look of that special wallet and, of course, the more you pay the more likely it will last for a long time. But, if you use an NFC-capable Android phone or tablet, you have to make sure that the wrap or cover doesn’t interfere with the NFC functionality. Similarly, you may find your Android device thinking it has cottoned on to an NFC device if you store your “touch-and-go” transport card or security pass in your billfold-style device cover with your device.

Conclusion

When you equip your smartphone or tablet with these accessories, you have the ability to gain more flexibility out of your mobile device. This is whether to avoid compromising your device’s battery runtime or have your device highly available; or to make it work with a wide range of computer or audio equipment; or simply be able to use the device safely and protect it from damage.

Articles

Desktop, Laptop und Tablet kombiniert – Acer Aspire R7: Acer Aspire R7: Science-Fiction-Notebook mit Touchscreen | Computer Bild (Germany – German language)

Acer intros Aspire R7, a laptop with an adjustable display like an all-in-one (update: video) | Engadget

Acer Reveals Aspire R7 Convertible, Aspire P3 Ultrabook | Tom’s Hardware

Acer launches 2 notebooks, tablet that emphasize touch | CNet

My Comments

After Dell released a 15” mainstream laptop that is enabled for touch at a reasonable price of AUD$600, Acer staged a global press event to launch a run of touch-enabled portable computers. These, again are to capitalise on the Windows 8 platform with its touch-driven Modern user interface along with a lot of the software being offered with touch-optimised operation.

Acer Aspire R7 convertible laptop

They launched the Aspire R7 convertible laptop which uses a 15” screen and can appear on the desktop like an easel, a regular laptop or a tablet computer. Typically the convertible tablet computer was at 11” and had less specification, typically showing up in the secondary storage area with 64Gb or 128Gb solid-state storage.

As well as having the 15” (1080p) screen, this convertible uses an Intel i5 processor as its CPU and has 500Gb hard disk capacity along with 24Gb solid-state caching and 6Gb RAM. This can make it capable for use as a main or sole computer and it comes under US$1000 at Best Buy.

Some of us may think that the 15” convertible form factor may be too large for personal tablet use but it could come in handy for group activities. In the business sense, this could also extend to a group of a few viewing a PowerPoint presentation or a video, or participating in a videoconference.

But what I see of this is that the Acer Aspire R7 has shown that the 15” mainstream size can be kitted out with the full touchscreen options and be equipped with the expectations for a regular mainstream laptop that is to serve as a main or sole computer.

Acer Aspire P3 tablet

The Aspire P3 is a detachable-keyboard hybrid with a Bluetooth keyboard as part of case. This uses the typical laptop resolution of 1366×768 which isn’t necessarily HD, but isn’t necessarily a problem for text-driven work. As for the screen, it is typically an 11.6” touchscreen.

What is pleasing about this model is that the baseline variant would come with an Intel i3 CPU, 4Gb of RAM, and 60Gb solid-state storage as its specifications and the keyboard case would be considered a standard accessory. This is all for a reasonable price of US$799.

Further comments

With these two machines and the previously-mentioned Dell laptop, could this legitimise the touchscreen as a valuable option for the Windows-driven “regular” computer? This is although I have been hearing a lot of talk panning this idea and the Windows 8 operating system.

As far as laptops, notebooks and similar computers are concerned, the touch user interface can provide a definite improvement over the trackpad as far as navigating the display as I had noticed with the recent crop of Windows 8 laptops that I had reviewed.  The trackpad still serves as a “fine” “relative” navigation tool at a pinch while the touchscreen works well for requirements like quick coarse absolute navigation.

Once we see more 15” and 17” touchscreen laptops with mainstream credentials like at least a mid-tier CPU, at least 500Gb on the hard disk and a decent graphics subsystem, these computers could legitimise the concept of touchscreen computing in the home and small business rather than just with the iPad or Android tablets.

Sometimes you may be stuck for technological gifts to give Mum on her special day. Here, I have assembled a list of ideas to get you going, especially when it comes to high-value gifts where you can pool resources together to fund these gifts rather than buying many low-value gifts.

Tablets

Small size for the purse

Toshiba AT1S0 7″ Android tablet

The small 7” tablet computers come in to their own if the main goal is to have it on hand in your coat pocket. They can also fit comfortably even it to mid-sized handbags to use as an electronic notebook or electronic reference book.

• Google Nexus 7 Series
• Toshiba AT1So (review)
• Apple iPad Mini

To keep in the handbag, at home or the office

A 10” tablet may come in to its own if the main goal is to read or view online content while relaxing in that armchair or in bed. Similarly, they could come in to their own with a larger handbag or shoulder bag.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8
• Toshiba AT300 Series tablets (review)
• Apple iPad

No tablet computer is complete without a matching accessory cover or wrap that suits Mum’s taste. If she owns a tablet computer, you may offer her a newer cover or wrap, perhaps to replace that tired old one that she has on that tablet.

Computers

Small ultraportables

HP Envy X2 detachable-screen hybrid tablet-notebook computer

Small ultraportable computers that range from 11” to 14” can earn their keep for “on-the-go” computing tasks. This is more so if Mum wants to create a lot of content like typing up many email letters, writing memoirs or simply working a blog.

• HP Envy X2 detachable (review)
• Dell XPS 12 flip-head convertible
• Sony VAIO Duo 11 slide-out convertible
• Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook
• Asus Zenbook UX31A
• HP Envy 4 Touchsmart Ultrabook (review)
• Toshiba Satellite P840
• Apple MacBook Air

Larger laptops

On the other hand, a standard-size laptop or “desktop tablet” computer may come in handy if the goal is a computer that is mainly used at home and the desire is to store it away neatly when not in use.

• Acer Aspire 5733
• Dell Inspiron 15
• Sony VAIO E Series 15” (review –high-end)
• Toshiba Satellite P870 desktop-replacement (review)
• Sony VAIO Tap 20
• Dell XPS 18
• Apple MacBook Pro

All-in-one

The “all-in-one” desktop computer, with the computing power, screen and storage in one slender box, can become an alternative computer option if you want an elegant desktop computer. They are also becoming increasingly capable rather than glorified “kitchen kiosks”.

• Sony VAIO J Series (review)
• HP Touchsmart all-in-ones
• Apple iMac series

Printers

HP Photosmart 7510 multifunction inkjet printer – predecessor to the Photosmart 7520

As for printers, it may be worth looking towards a durable network printer that is cost-effective to run. Be careful of the printers that are cheap to buy because these units will be expensive to run due to short-capacity inks and toners, with situations where the cost of replacing ink or toner is as much as buying a printer of the same standard.

HP Photosmart 6520 or Photosmart 7520 desktop printers

HP Envy 120 – a neat aesthetically-pleasing printer for low-demand applications such as being a secondary printer

Brother MFC-J825DW or DCP-J725DW / DCP-J925DW

Small music system

1-piece including speaker docks and wireless speakers

Marantz Audio Consolette speaker dock

These single-piece systems, including speaker docks and wireless speaker systems, typically have a small footprint and can fit well on the kitchen bench or on the sideboard. Some of these may offer a “full” sound that encompasses te bass notes and the treble notes properly.

• Denon Cocoon series
• Marantz Audio Consolette network speaker
• Pioneer XW-SMA3 network speaker
• Pure Sensia 200D Connect (review)
• Roberts Stream 63i internet radio with CD
• Bose SoundDock 10 Bluetooth speaker system

3-piece

Sony CMT-MX750Ni – an example of a DLNA-compliant music system for a hotel room or serviced apartment

A three-piece system with separate speakers has increased flexibility. Here, you can keep the main unit on the sideboard and position the speakers further away, including mounting them on the wall or having them flank a fireplace or feature window.

• Sony CMT-MX750Ni (review)
• Denon CEOL (review)
• Denon CEOL Piccolo (without CD player) (review)
• Marantz CR603 CD receiver or Rotel RCX-1500 CD receiver (review) with small good-quality speakers

Earphones and headphones

Creative Labs MA930 in-ear headset

I would suggest that you look towards a few sets of headphones that suit different activities. For example, a pair of lightweight supra-aural headphones can work well for jogging or walking with good examples being provided by B&O (Form 2 – review), Bose, Denon, Sennheiser and Sony.

Earphones can also work well for public transport and other noisy environments especially where discreet use is required. Similarly a pair of good circum-aural headphones can go a long way for detailed music listening at home or in noisy environments.

It is worth having a look at this buying guide to be sure that the headphones fit yours and Mum’s desires.

Gaining the most out of the Internet experience

Internet setup

If there isn’t a broadband Internet service at Mum’s home, it could be a good gift idea to set up one there and install a good-quality router for the network as in the article that I had done about the “family house”.

To the same extent, optimising the home network with at least 802.11n dual stream coverage everywhere, preferably simultaneous dual-band 802.11n dual-stream Wi-Fi. As well, I would make sure that there is a HomePlug AV powerline segment in that network even if there is Ethernet in the house. This is to cater for ad-hoc wired-network setups.

The reason I would think of this is that you may be dealing with increased use of multimedia from online sources at the TV, laptop or mobile devices and you want reliable operation from these services.

Education

Similarly, you may pool resources together to give Mum access to IT education and support programs/ This is more so if she hasn’t got much in the way of computer skills.

Online content

As well, pooling resources to an online content service such as Spotify, Netflix, Hulu or QuickFlix may be a way to give her access to the music and movies that these services provide. In the case of Spotify, this may be about using it as an online music library or as a “music tryout” service that can be part of her complete music experience.

These services are not about replacing the existing content library but about hunting for new content that may be of interest.

Conclusion

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous Mother’s Day with lots of fun, with you using this as a way to choose the right gift that will be value for money.

Article

Home, health devices controlled by apps on the rise | The Age (Australia)

My Comments

A trend that is becoming very real in this day and age is for more appliances, home systems and personal healthcare devices to be linked to the home network and the Internet.

This is typically manifested in the form of the devices having control apps being made available for smartphones and tablets that run on common mobile-computing platforms, especially iOS and Android. Typically the device would like to the smartphone or tablet either via a direct Bluetooth link or the home network with the mobile computing device linking to that network via Wi-Fi wireless. Some of these devices that promote “cloud-driven” or “remote-access” functionality make use of the Internet connection offered by the home network or the mobile computing device.

Of course, you have to remember that the use of the “cloud” word is primarily about the vendor or service provider providing either simplified remote access to the device or having user data being stored on the vendor’s servers.

A lot of the apps offer various device control or monitoring functions, with some of the apps linking to a remote Web server for storing user data. This is more so with personal healthcare devices where the goal is to keep a record of measurements that the device obtains on behalf of the user.

Of course, the mobile-computing-platform app may not he the only way to benefit from the connected device’s online abilities. Here, the device could work with a Web-based dashboard page that users can view with a Web browser on their regular-platform or mobile-platform computing device. This situation would come in handy if the concept is to provide more information at a glance or provide greater control of the device.

There is a reality that by 2022 a household with 2 teenage / young-adult children will maintain 50 Internet-connected devices compared to 10 such devices in 2013 according to OECD data and this situation is being described as the “Internet Of Things”.

But there are some issues here with the current ecosystem for these devices and apps. For example, if a user has more appliances and other devices from different manufacturers or service providers, the smartphone or tablet will end up being crowded out with many different apps. The same situation may occur as a device comes to the end of its useful life and is replaced with a newer device which may be from a different vendor. It can lead to users finding it difficult to locate the monitoring or control apps that they need to use for a particular device.

Here, the situation could be rectified through the use of application standards like UPnP so that one can develop apps that can manage many devices from different vendors.

This could also encourage innovation such as the design of “car-friendly” apps or voice-agent (Siri / S-Voice) plugins so that one could benefit from a monitoring or control app when they leave or arrive in the car. Similarly, the software would need to exploit the abilities that iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 / 8 / RT offer within their platforms for “at-a-glance” viewing or user notifications.

It is a change that could take place over the years as the home network exists to be the easy-to-manage small network for an increasing number of devices.

As the small computer form factors such as the tablets and ultraportables (Ultrabooks, etc) become popular, there is room to make mistakes with using them in the living room. This environment is where you are most likely to be when you are tired and wanting to relax and, in a lot of cases, you may be having a bit to drink.

These mistakes can end up with your equipment being out of action for a significant amount of time and could, at worst, cause irreparable damage. It is although the manufacturers are understanding the realities associated with the portable equipment and are making it more rugged.

Avoiding the risk of that device being sat on

A similarly-coloured iPad can be at risk of being sat on when on the couch

For example, you could be using that iPad while lounging on the couch and you need to get up to visit the kitchen or bathroom or answer the door. Then you put that iPad on the couch as you get up. This can be a risky move for the device if one hasn’t got their eyes peeled for these devices.

In the living room, this can easily happen with most of us when we are tired or have had a bit too much to drink. It can be exacerbated with devices that have sleeves, wraps or other accessories that could blend in easily with the scatter cushions and other upholstery that exists at your house. Then you could end up easily sitting on that iPad that is on the couch as you find somewhere comfortable to sit and this can cause damage to that device.

A good idea to avoid this situation would be to place the portable computing device on the coffee table or side table when you want to get up from that chair or sofa. Personally, I would make this easier by having side tables that have enough room to rest at least one 10” tablet like an iPad or avoiding the temptation to forego the coffee table or similar tables in the name of minimalist living.

The book-style cover offers extra protection for tablets in the living room

As well, the covers that you can get for the iPad and other tablet computers that open and close like a book also work well in keeping spilt drinks from damaging these computers and are a must when you use them in the lounge room. Here, you simply close these covers when you put the computer on that table.

Similarly, decorating the accessory covers or the backs of the tablet or ultraportable computer devices in an individual manner can allow one to make a device easily identifiable from the others especially when there are many of these in a common area. I would find this more important with popular devices like the iPad which use a consistent style and interface and also find this important where a particular brand or model of this device is favoured by most of your family or friends. I made a reference to this practice when I reviewed the Toshiba Satellite L730 which was available in white.

Reducing the risk of drinks being spilt in to that ultraportable computer

As well, ultraportable notebook computers can be at risk of drinks being spilt in to them when they are left open on the coffee table. This is more so with drinks that are in tall containers like bottles, tumblers or wine glasses.

Here, a good practice would be to close up these computers when they are not in use there. In the case of the detachable-keyboard “hybrid” convertible, these computers could be assembled before you close them up to keep drinks out of them.

Further on, a laptop wrap may also work wonders in protecting these computers from being damaged by drink spillage on the coffee table.

Avoiding the romantic candlelight mistake when using notebook computers

Candles and portable computers – a bad mix

As for laptops, notebooks and similar computers, the area behind the screen can be a death trap for these computers when it comes to using those candles to set up that romantic environment. This is a greater risk with wide candles including tea-lights rather than the tall “taper-style” candles that are typically used with a candlestick and the risk is greatly exacerbated when you swing the laptop lid outwards.

This was highlighted by an incident that happened with some close friends where the husband was downloading pictures from a digital camera on to his laptop and his wife, who just so loves that romantic candlelit look, set up some candles at his work table. There happened to be a small candle just behind the computer in the blind space behind the screen and this scorched the display unit in that computer.

The blind spot that exists behind a laptop and is risky when it comes to candles

In these situations, check that there are no candles behind the computer before you open it up and keep an eye on those candles that are on your work table. Especially pay attention to the blind spot behind your computer and make sure any candles in that area are fully visible.

It may be better to make sure that if you want to set up those candles around the laptop, that any lit candles stay on the side of the computer or towards the centre of the dining table.

Conclusion

By reading this, you can avoid placing your equipment at risk of damage when you use it in that lounge area whether you are working or relaxing.

Articles

Dell announces XPS 18 – an All-in-One desktop that is also a tablet | Microsoft WIndows Experience Blog

Dell unveils massive 18″ Windows 8 tablet – say hello to the hefty XPS 18 | Tweaktown

Dell Reveals Crazy Big 18-inch Windows 8 Tablet/AIO | Tom’s Hardware

From the horse’s mouth

Dell

Product page (coming soon)

Blog post

My Comments

Sony recently released the VAIO Tap 20 (a computer I am hoping to review on this site)  which was effectively a bridge between an all-in-one desktop computer and a tablet computer and had defined this form factor. This was about an alternative to a regular all-in-one computer but was able to lie flat as a tablet computer. Promotional images that existed of this computer had shown family members sharing the large-screen computer by looking at the same screen to browse material.

I even followed this up by commenting on a Microsoft Windows Experience blog post about it being brought around by the post’s author to their parents’ house as part of a family visit. Here, the comments were about the VAIO Tap 20 being used by people of different ages and with different computer-familiarity levels. I cited the Tap 20 as being one of a few computers that would work well in the “family house” – the retired parents’ home that is visited by their children and grandchildren.

Now Dell have answered Sony by releasing a tablet/all-in-one computer that is similar to the VAIO Tap 20. This one uses a smaller screen size – 18 inches but has the same tablet abilities including short-term battery operation. There are plans for it to have a dual-core Intel processor and 320Gb on the hard disk with better configurations having the likes of i7 processors and 512Gb solid-state disks. The battery was rated for 5 hours run time.

What I see of this is that Sony’s and Dell’s effort could see the start of a new form-factor being defined – a desktop tablet computer. Here, this would implement a screen greater than 18” and have a wireless keyboard and mouse, but have full computing credentials like high-capacity hard disks and RAM. There would be a battery but it would be rated for around five hours or less while the computer is equipped with a collapsible kickstand. I am not sure whether these would come with integrated optical drives or not and this may depend on the model.

As I have said before, they would play well with formal and informal computing tasks especially with people who have different computing skill levels.