This is a blog post I meant to get out long ago. In fact, the day before I found out the HP Slate was being cancelled. I thought I’d post it anyway because it explains some of my reasons for wanting the iPad.
I’ve been trying to decide on which tablet I want to get in a couple months. I think I’m leaning towards the iPad even though I was pretty sure I wanted the better flexibility of the HP Slate.
The first things that come to mind are all the things that the iPad is missing. The most commonly complained about items are Flash, USB, SD card slot, and camera(s). Let’s discuss these items one by one.
Flash support
This is the most loudly complained about item in the press. It’s almost a religous war between Apple fans and Android pushers. Arguments between Apple and Adobe are getting rather fun to listen to. I’m waiting for them to just start throwing punches.
But in reality, the only time I ever use Flash is when I get sent a link to a YouTube video. And they’ll be converting over to x.264 codec’s sometime anyway so Flash isn’t very important for that. I don’t play any of those stupid little Flash games on the web so losing that wouldn’t bother me. The only other place Flash shows its head in all that stupid advertising and I wouldn’t miss that.
HP has a big web commercial showing all the Flash stuff that will be working on the Slate. I can’t imagine a single one that I’d actually use.
USB and SD support
USB is great for attaching all those extra devices that aren’t already built in. But, as soon as you start carrying around all that crap, you’re not exactly being portable anymore. You need to start packing around the backpack just to carry everything.
About the two main things I’d probably use are USB drives and thumb drives. The problem is, these wouldn’t be convenient to have to plug in just to use the tablet every time. It would just make more sense to copy the data you need onto the device in the first place before leaving the house.
Apparently there is a camera kit that provides an SD card reader for the iPad. I don’t know if it allows anything more than copying photos into the photo application.
Cameras
The one killer application would be to have Skype on the tablet and having face to face conversations with people. The problem with this though is I never do that now, and no-one I talk to would be setup to do it either. In order to use it, you’d have to sit and hold the tablet in front of you and keep it aimed at your face.
Taking photos would just be stupid with a tablet. It’s not exactly a convenient device to hold up in the air to take a picture. And, any type of zoom or focus controls would be seriously lacking. You’re much better off to just use your real camera or mobile phone.
The HP Slate
So, what does the Slate provide over the iPad that I am interested in? It’s main feature is that it is running windows 7 which means that all my Windows applications will run on it natively. This includes Office 2007/2010, Visual Studio, IE, Firefox, .NET apps, etc. The problem with all these apps is that they were never built for touch support so you would have to use the stylus for interacting with them.
Keyboard support is crap for both tablets. Any device like an iPad, Slate, or Tablet, if it doesn’t have a keyboard, it is a consumption device. Not an input or full time working device. These things are good for viewing your emails, web, notes, books, etc. It’s just not good for creating new content.
One killer application for me has been OneNote. I’ve been keeping all my data and notes in OneNote for the last year and this would never run on the iPad. However, I did just discover EverNote after listening to MacBreak Weekly. EverNote is a note taking application based on the web that lets you share all your notes between different devices. I’ve copied 90% of my notes into it and can already use it on the web, Windows, my iPod Touch, and my HTC Magic Android phone. The organization is nowhere as near as good as OneNote, but I think it could work. They already have an iPad application ready as well.
So, what’s the one big thing that’s turning me away from the Slate? I think it’s the fact that everything that it would provide me with, I already have better with my existing NetBook! The Slate has the same processor, memory, less disk space, and lack of a keyboard.
I think the keyboard is the major part for me. In order to use all those basic Windows applications I listed above, you really need a keyboard. Using an onscreen keyboard that hides most of your display, or carrying around a separate keyboard is just not an option.
The iPad however is a consumption device and they don’t try and convince you that you should be doing all your work on it. They do include office like applications, but I think they just exist for the PR purpose of selling iPads.
What advantages does the iPhone/iPad have?
One of the items talked about a few weeks ago on the Security Now podcast is that we need a restart in the computer industry. This includes everything from the hardware to the software, network, protocols, etc. The one issue talked about in the podcast is how there are so many problems with computers today because everything is built as layers upon layers of already faulty software. Bugs and security holes are being found everywhere because of all these layers of code.
What Apple is doing is trying to provide that with the mobile devices, at least in their own limited way. It’s not a complete rewrite, but they are doing the one important piece and that is keeping a very tight lock down on the platform. This is of course what everyone considers to be evil. I think it’s just a paradigm shift for many of us to get over.
In the open world, we have the freedom to install our favorite operating systems and applications. The price is that we have to live with mediocre or horrible interfaces, bugs, lack of features, a variety of required runtimes, differing web standards, thousands of drivers and their issues, etc.
In the controlled world, we lose the freedom but what we get is an environment that is very consistent and usable by almost anyone. We get a common, consistent and professional looking interface for all applications. This is of huge importance since it allows anyone to use the device with minimal or no training needed. All applications (other than games) use a common set of controls and layouts so users don’t have to think much to get their tasks done. Open platforms have tried to provide this, but there is no control over these applications so many come up with interfaces which are totally different from each other.
Features may still be lacking as that is common with almost all applications.
Lack of language runtimes is a good thing in a controlled platform. I’m not agreeing with Apple’s new stance on conversion libraries, but not needing an actual runtime on the device is a very good thing. In the open world, runtimes are constantly upgraded on a regular basis and this almost always causes applications to break. Java is so famous for this problem that most vendors now include their tested version of the Java runtime with their application. The problem with these is that they never get updated or patched because it could break their applications.
I don’t mind the conversion programs like Adobe’s Flash CS5 or the Mono Moonlight projects. These take their runtime versions of applications and produce a real executable that isn’t dependent on extra libraries that might change over time.
The controlled environment also removes the need for thousands of drivers. The hardware does not change so you don’t need drivers for every combination of devices. Any new add-on hardware is developed to work with the existing driver set instead of needing new drivers. Drivers in the open world have been a nightmare historically because of the number of devices, the number of operating systems, and their versions supported. Windows requires Microsoft or third party drivers for each device. Linux requires devices to be supported directly within the kernel itself. Vendors are in charge of deciding which operating systems to support their devices on. The controlled environment doesn’t have this issue because there is no choice.
Battery Life is twice as long as the Slate according to published specifications. A ten hour device can be used all day and charged overnight. This is very important if you are not going to be at home for long periods of time.
And finally, there is the application library. Admittedly, there are tens of thousands of stupid applications in the Apple store, but the rest can be quite useful. I already have quite a few applications for my iPod Touch and it wouldn’t make sense to throw all those away and switch to another platform. There are thousands of applications out there for Windows that would run on the HP Slate. 99% of these however are not going to be designed for a touch interface. They also come from all different places on the internet whereas the iPad apps all come from the same place. I’m not saying that Apple shouldn’t really make their store more user-friendly. Browsing it is a real pain in the ass.
Games are a huge portion of the applications in the app store. These are all games that are designed to run on the iPhone/iPad hardware. I don’t believe you will have many games for the HP Slate platform unless they are written in Flash. The Atom processor and graphics is not up to give the same graphics performance as the Apple devices.
Android Tablets?
There are rumors of Android based tables coming out this year. I have one issue with these: my experience with my Android phone has shown their applications to be a lot of crap! The Android user interface is very primitive looking compared to Windows or the iPhone. And in a tablet, I can’t ever see there being an application environment comparable to the iPhone/iPad one. The only good applications on the Android platform have been the ones that Google wrote themselves.
Conclusions
I think I’ll end up with the iPad. Of course, I’ll have to see them both in the store before I actually make a purchase. Sometimes, just playing with it for 5 minutes can point out quite a few things that will annoy you about a device. Everything I’ve written about here is based on rumors I’ve heard.
I think the main thing going against the HP Slate in my mind is that I already have an Acer NetBook which has a real keyboard/mouse that will allow me to run all my Windows applications and actually use them to their fullest. So, why would I want a second Windows device that does the same things as the NetBook but with less usability?
Android is out for the reasons I listed before. Plus, I can already use those apps on my phone now so again duplication.
My iPod Touch is a 1st generation device which is no longer supported by the iPhone OS going forward. It will never die completely, but I can use all my purchased applications for it directly on the iPad immediately. So, I would consider the iPad an upgrade of the old iPod Touch.
Between the three devices then, I can cover all the possible tasks I can think of. Writing, development on the NetBook, browsing the web and email on the iPad, and mobile access to maps, email, and twitter while on the road with my Android phone. The other two can come along as well.
My next questions are going to be: 1) 3G or Wi-Fi? 2) Will Rogers allow me to share my 5GB data plan between my phone and the iPad?
Update: Apparently not. Bastards!