Tablet

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Lenovo continues to break ThinkPad mold wide open

Since Lenovo took over the ThinkPad brand in 2005 from IBM, for the most part the line has kept its iconic, no-nonsense form intact. Love it or hate it (and many do love it), that branding has originally a far more recognizable part of Lenovo than the name Lenovo itself.

Years later, Lenovo has gotten some wind in its sails with a number of IdeaPad laptops and innovative computing products, and perhaps this has fueled some of the inevitable changes away from the ThinkPad as we generally know it.

Most recently, Core i7 updates to the dual-screen workstation W701DS and … Read more

Reading the tea leaves of iPad competitors

It turns out Apple isn't the only company readying a touch-screen tablet computer.

We say that half-jokingly, of course. In the last few months, quite a few companies have signaled their intentions to go head-to-head (or at least offer an alternative) to Apple's much-ballyhooed iPad, which should hit stores in March. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Sony have or are in the process of readying gadgets they say will compete with the iPad. We've seen some demonstrations at the Consumer Electronics Show and other trade shows, but several gadget makers admitted to waiting to see what Apple was going to do before setting the specifications and price of their competing touch-screen tablets.

Now that they know, what are they going to do about it? That might sound a bit silly considering companies like HP, Dell, and Acer have larger market share than Apple--when it comes to computers. But in other, faster-growing areas--smartphones and music players--Apple's popularity far outstrips theirs. And in a new device category (it's reasonable to consider this a new category) they're all essentially starting from scratch.

So how will every company not named Apple try to compete for your touch-screen tablet computing dollar, assuming such a dollar exists? They will try to emphasize something about theirs being better, of course, be it in terms of price, style, speeds and feeds, or the movies, books, games, or TV shows available via their gadget. Dell, for example, providing evidence that an old dog can at least attempt new tricks, tends to emphasize style these days. HP's commercials try to sell you on how easily their product fit into your lifestyle.

More than anything, they should try to avoid selling it as a computer, in the classic laptop computer sense. If Dell and HP and Acer and their compatriots do that, they'll end up trying to convince people to spend money on basically yet another Netbook; something that's sort of like a PC, but not quite. It's just smaller, cheaper, and with less functionality than a traditional PC. And after sophisticated smartphones and cheaper Netbooks, do consumers really need yet another device that's not quite a laptop?… Read more

OpenTablet 7 is Flash-friendly iPad alternative

As Apple's launch date for its iPad multimedia tablet draws near, competitors are scurrying out of the woodwork. Whether its Archos, FusionGarage, or the e-reader flavor of the week, iPad rivals are quick to position themselves as the permissive, open-armed alternative to Apple's "walled garden" tech philosophy.

One of the latest contenders to step up to the iPad is the OpenTablet 7, a 7-inch touch-screen tablet that supports Flash-based applications and includes HDMI output and dual cameras.

At 9 inches by 5 inches, with a 0.59-inch thick body, the OpenTablet stays pretty close to the … Read more

These tablets do what the 'iPad don't'

With apologies to Sega's classic "Genesis does what Nintendon't" ad campaign, there are many tablet and touch-screen PCs that do things the upcoming Apple iPad simply can't. While Apple's tablet runs a version of the company's iPhone operating system, most of these tablets run different flavors of Windows, and (at least in theory) are capable of performing any task a standard laptop can.

The benefits of having a full computer operating system are many, from running your choice of Web browsers, such as Firefox or Chrome, to streaming Flash video from Hulu and … Read more

Get a Lenovo Netbook tablet for $449.99

At the risk of enraging Apple zealots, I'm just going to come right out and say it: Why buy an iPad when you can get a convertible tablet PC for less money?

I'm speaking in particular of the new Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3T-0651, which Best Buy has on sale for $449.99 (plus $11.99 for shipping and sales tax in most states).

Even with those added charges, you get out the door for less than $499--the price of Apple's entry-level iPad model. The IdeaPad may not be as thin or sexy, but it can do so much … Read more

Panasonic Toughbook H1 Field is the anti-iPad

Whether or not tablets take over as a new mobile computing form factor of choice for much of the world depends on whether they can be easily used for key functions in ways that smartphones and laptops can't. Clearly, different users will be seeking different "key functions," and thus Panasonic has announced the Toughbook H1 Field. In many ways--nearly every way, in fact--the Toughbook H1 Field is a polar opposite to Apple's iPad.

A variation on an existing H1 used in professional healthcare environments, the Field combines Windows 7 OS with an 1.86 GHz Atom … Read more

Ex-Microsoft VP says Redmond a 'clumsy' innovator

As I noted on the day the iPad was released, the fact that another company may be the one to make the tablet computer a mass-market consumer device has to leave plenty of folks in Redmond smarting.

But while most of that frustration has stayed private, one former Tablet PC team member has lashed out publicly. Dick Brass, a former Microsoft VP who left the company in 2004, lashed out at Redmond in an op-ed piece that ran Thursday in The New York Times.

As some have questioned what the release of the iPad means for Amazon, Brass said he … Read more

Remember when Sony was the innovator?

Despite finally breaking a year's streak of quarterly losses, Sony's press conference Thursday will likely be remembered mostly for a quote that's already being mocked by tech blogs.

During a press conference to announce its earnings, Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda expressed his company's interest in competing in the touch-screen tablet market with Apple. According to ComputerWorld, he said:

"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product...Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."

Seems reasonable enough, right? Lots of companies would--and will--follow Apple's lead. It's just the nature of business, and we expect it. But it's important to point out why Sony is being mildly ridiculed for this quote: because in most observers' eyes, this is exactly what's wrong with the company. The gadget maker that used to be at the forefront of innovation is rarely first at anything anymore--with the exception, it should be noted, of the Sony Reader, the first modern e-book reader. But over the past decade they've gotten beat at their own game in several major categories: music players (Apple), televisions (Samsung), and video games consoles (Microsoft and Nintendo). … Read more