During the summer months I wrote several articles regarding e-book readers in general and more specifically Barnes and Noble’s Nooks (www.bn.com).  They are both great to have if you are a reader; however, something different has come to my attention.

I was very happy to receive a gift of a tablet PC and I have to say, "I think it is great!"  I did not get an iPad, which is the most popular right now.  I received a tablet I had never heard of, the Toshiba Thrive.  Now that I am using it I think I may never use another.  It has just about everything I would look for in a tablet PC and some things I would never have thought available.

I will start with a definition just in case you are not aware of what a tablet PC is.  A "tablet" is a crossbreed type of computer.  It is a cross somewhere between a notebook computer and a smartphone…lacking the phone part. Of course, with the Thrive (bit.ly/w0EQmU) and Skype (skype.com) that isn’t exactly correct, but more on that later.  Also, it does not have a keyboard on the outside but it does have a digital one built-in.

The Thrive has a 10.1" high resolution touch screen.  This means that it is smaller than my 17" work notebook but larger than my 8.9" personal netbook.  This screen is great for reading a Barnes and Noble e-book (or any other brand) and watching movies or TV shows on Netflix.  Yes, you can watch other TV networks’ sites too. 

You may ask what I use my Thrive for.  I surf the net.  OK, I realize that was an obvious use.  I also check email for work and home, read the Daily News-Record, read other news sources from around the world, post my columns to DoubleClicks.info, send my columns to the DNR and others for publishing, watch a TV show I missed last week, log onto my desktop computer if I need a file I don’t have on the tablet, write this column…What? Write on a tablet?

OK, in my opinion there are two disadvantages to a tablet.  First is the keyboard, which is adequate for typing an occasional short email or web address.  However, if you are typing a 500-2500 word article it is way too slow, even if you use Swype like I do.  You cannot type as fast as you can on a regular keyboard.  It is more hunt and peck; of course, if you type that way on a regular computer it will be fine for you.

Included with the Thrive is a full size USB port, so that means you can plug in most USB devices.  This includes most full sized keyboards.  You can also plug in a thumb drive for copying pictures to and from the Thrive.  Did I just say pictures?  I did and the Thrive has two cameras.  There is one camera on the back for taking photos and movies.  The other is on the front which can be used to take the user’s picture.  Why you may ask?  I will talk more about that next week.

Tags: Apple, barnes and noble, book readers, e-book, ebook, high resolution, iPad, keyboard, nooks, notebook computer, smartphone, tablet PC, technology, toshiba, touch screen

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OK, although I never thought I, or my wife would participate in the latest technological “fad,” we have.
 
It’s confession time here.  I bought one; but it is mainly for my wife’s use.  The culprit is an eBook Reader.  Yes, a month or two ago I bought a Nook which is sold by Barnes & Noble stores.  Now one aside here:  If you know me you know that I am tight, a penny-pincher, cheap and any of the other words with the same connotation.  So I bought one of the black and white or e-Ink, refurbished ones for about half the price of buying one new.  It has the same guarantee as new, so I figured, “What the heck, let’s give it a spin.”

Again, being a miser, I first went out and got some old Edgar Rice Burroughs books I had read as a kid.  They are free all over the net.  I downloaded mine at Project Gutenberg.

I am an avid reader, when I have the time, and figured I would miss the tactile sensation of holding a paper book.  I found that after about three minutes I was lost in the book and could care less about the feel. I have to admit I liked the experience.

My wife likes to read (especially in the summer when school is out) so we bought her first e-book.  This is in a continuing series she reads and she likes it too.  And not having to stack the book somewhere to store it is good, too.  Once read you can archive the book, go back another day and re-download it for another reading.  We also now have a book or two from Barnes & Noble Nook site.

The Nook I bought will also surf the net (in black and white, or e-Ink) but it is not really an enjoyable experience.  However, if you get one of the new color Nooks (Nook Color) it is a good thing…not bad at all.  With the Nook Color you can surf the net, check email and do many things that you can do on more expensive tablet PCs.  It also has the Android operating system which is another plus in my opinion.

That being said, it is not a fully developed Android tablet with access to the Market and the full gamut of Android applications and features.  It does have some of the Android Market at this point but not the major part, although I imagine that will change in time.

You can also get full copies of most of your favorite glossy magazines with lots of photographs on the Nook Color.  It is excellent to read them this way and there are no trash byproducts when you are finished.  Magazines for the e-Ink readers display gray-scale images and most images are omitted from these.  Many newspapers are also available for e-readers.

There are a couple of things you should note.  If you read mostly indoors, even in rooms with miserable lighting, the Nook Color is a good choice with a listed battery life of about eight hours. If you read outdoors at a picnic bench or on vacations at the poolside, get the e-Ink reader like I did. E-Ink displays look their best under bright light and require reading lights or ambient room lighting indoors.  The e-Ink is amazing to see in action, but not in poor light.  This one also has an advertised battery life of ten days, yes, days… not hours. Also, the lack of a touch screen on the e-Ink reader makes navigation awkward on anything other than books.

Speaking of books, you can get most of the latest titles Barnes & Noble carries for your reader.  The prices are below the prices of printed books, so that is another good thing.

I now disagree with my first statement.  I do not believe it is a fad as something like it will be around for a long time.

Tags: books, ebook, ebook reader, edgar rice burroughs, edgar rice burroughs books, ereader, iPad, kindle, miser, penny pincher, project gutenberg, read, tactile sensation, target, three minutes, wikipedia

I have spent a couple of weeks testing out Motorola’s entrance into the Tablet PC market with the “Xoom”.  I have to say that I am impressed.  These are slick devices.  If you are looking into the tablets, this could well be the one to get.

First of all it uses the Android (created by Google) operating system.  As an Android phone owner I am already partial to that particular system so that works for me.  It is using the latest Android system named “Honeycomb”.  With Google’s strange sense of humor they name all of the Android systems after desserts.  As an aside, they name them in alphabetical order with Cupcake (their first) followed by Donut, Eclair, FroYo (stands for Frozen Yogurt), Gingerbread and Honeycomb which is the most recent version.  “A” and “B” were prototypes which were never released.  Next comes either, “Ice Cream” or “Ice Cream Sandwich” depending on what you read.   

First off the battery life is excellent.  My own experiment took place like this.  I ran it for about three solid hours.  Then I handed it off to a friend.  He played, “Angry Birds Rio” for over six hours.  That was pretty good in my opinion.  I then took it back and messed with it for another hour or so.  Final battery charge remaining was over 50%.  That is a good battery life as far as today’s standards go.

The 10.1 inch screen is very clear and sharp, which is another good thing.  With its 1280 x 800 pixel resolution you can see most websites at full size.  It weighs about 1.5 pounds which is very easy to handle when surfing and reading books.  Yes, it is very similar to an ebook reader only it has many more capabilities. My biggest complaint is since it has a slick, shiny surface, like all tablets so far, the finger prints need to be cleaned off pretty regularly…and I believe I have fairly clean fingers.

The new Honeycomb OS is good; however, I needed some time to get used to it.  I am already using the latest OS, Gingerbread on my phone so it was familiar to me.

It is set up with two cameras.  “Two cameras?” you may ask.  Yes, one of the front for taking still pictures and videos and one on the other side, or “input” screen, to take videos of my “mug” when chatting with someone on Skype.   There are many programs available for the Xoom with more on the way.  They run the gamut from business to games, so you can get most anything you may be interested in.

Would I like to own a Motorola Xoom?  You betcha!  But for now I will wait.  The reason I will wait is that I spend much of my online time writing.  While online, I do a lot of typing.  The Xoom does have a keyboard that pops up when needed but you basically need to type with two fingers.  Since I type a lot, I type fast and it limits me.  Will I seriously consider buying one when they get a program working on it allowing faster typing…you betcha!

Tags: battery life, desserts, froyo, gingerbread, google, iPad, kindle, nook, operating system, prototypes, sense of humor, strange sense, tablet, tablet PC, xoom

Last week’s column generated more questions so today I will hit a few of those.

First, “Why did you say Dell is the best computer maker? I think (fill-in-the-blank) is much better.”  Well, I understand your comment; however, that is not exactly what I said.  I believe when you reread the column you will see that I said, “At this point in time I always suggest Dell.”  I stand by that statement, but they have not always been at the top of my list.  In the past they have been close to the bottom.  My recommendation takes into account quality, price and service.  Many manufacturers have fallen down on customer service.  In my opinion, while Dell is not the best in customer service, they are not the worst.

Many of you appreciated me bringing the AIO computers to the forefront.  Some of you “googled” about them and found that they are quite an interesting concept.  Also, they are currently more expensive than most of us would like to experiment with.  So, thanks!

Now the one where I guess I drew most of the “attacks”…iPad!  I did not include iPads in my comments about computer types, i.e. netbook, notebook, desktop and even AIOs.  The reason being that although it is technically a computer it does not have all of the abilities and features of a standard computer.

The iPad is a computer whose main calling in life is to allow the user to view prepared things online. It is not used much for creation.  For instance, you can view any website, e-book, picture, movie, etc. you wish.  However, it is hard to contribute to those same things from the iPad.  Yes, I could have written this column on an iPad but from what I hear and have experienced it isn’t the most comfortable keyboard to use for longer typing.  Emails yes, documents no.  I could also purchase a keyboard that would connect to the iPad and make typing easier.  If that’s the case why wouldn’t I have just bought a netbook at half the price or less?

They are neat and I think that over time they will affect the e-book readers like Kindle and Nook more than the notebook/netbook markets.  They are perfect for reading books (once they come out with a version that has an antiglare screen) and magazines with much better quality than the e-readers and the page size is a great deal nicer.  Even an Apple lover told me that they are basically an overgrown iTouch.

I would love to own one but not at such a high price for a feature-poor computer.  One of the major drawbacks is the iPad’s small storage space.  The highest end iPad has 64 GB of storage, which is probably OK if you do not want to add many programs and save files. I personally am not for putting all of my files on the cloud as of yet.

I like the concept of the iPad but it needs some increases in functionality before it can fairly be compared to a computer.

Tags: aio, all in one, comparison, desktop, iPad, netbook, notebook

I say, “Not”!  And this article from TechRepublic writer, Debra Littlejohn Shinder gives my reasoning exactly.  I am especially in agreement with the even numbered items in the list.

I would add an 11th reason to the mix and that is I never want the first version of anything.  That includes tech stuff, cars, phones, etc.

The engineers and developers never consider every option and everything you and I can do with the device.  I have found that the 1st of anything is usually the poorest of the versions with more issues.

I would like to add that even though I have been reading the TechRepublic site for years to great techie benefit, I will have one of my articles appearing there within the next month or so.  It does require a membership to read all of the information and articles there.  However, it is free and I have never gotten spammed from them.

They send me updates on the specific parts of the site that I want to receive them for.

Tags: Apple, computer, desktop, iPad, iPod, Mac, not ready for prime time, storage, zune