
The Future of the Tablet, and It Isn’t the iPad 2 - eaxitect
http://www.fastcompany.com/1736602/the-future-of-the-tablet-and-it-isn-t-the-ipad-2?partner=homepage_newsletter
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brown9-2
_This is why the Xoom is so intriguing. Motorola and Google are two companies
that have proven their ability to see around the corner and they have made it
much easier for developers to get applications to market than Apple has with
the iPad._

Really, Motorola has proven their ability to see around the corner? What have
they been successful with since the Razr? Seems like the Droid is a success
much more due to the Android OS than anything related to Motorola's
manufacturing of it.

Also not sure why anyone would lump Motorola in with Google as having "made it
much easier for developers to get applications to market".

Besides, the innovative features that the author mentions the Kno having, like
split-screen functionality or things for note-taking - who's to say future
versions of iOS couldn't incorporate those? This doesn't need to be a winner
take all, one-shot market.

~~~
bitwize
_Seems like the Droid is a success much more due to the Android OS than
anything related to Motorola's manufacturing of it._

More like Verizon's positioning and the fact that at the time of its release,
the Droid was the most advanced consumer Android phone around and the first
credible iPhone competitor.

Before that there was pretty much just the weaksauce T-Mobile G1, and Android
was really nothing to write home about.

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terhechte
Really? The future of the Table is 'more screens', and an added pen? I thought
most people had finally learned that throwing more hardware at something
doesn't necessarily improve the overall experience. Apple wins because they
try to do more with _less_ hardware.

~~~
tomlin
While I don't entirely agree with the article, I do think that the future of
manufacturing is more automated, and because of that we may see refined
products for specific tasks. Perhaps you could say there is a bit of 37signals
mentality in having a simple, clean tool for each job rather than a multi-
tasking OS. I don't see anything wrong with this, as products like the iPad
would probably represent most consumers.

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martythemaniak
Consider the tablet OSs competing with each other these days: iOS, Android,
BBOS, Windows 7 and webOS. Out of those, only Android is built from the ground
up to be customizable to any meaningful degree and I fully expect that within
a year we'll see a dizzing array of tablet form factors with Android: 7"
screens, 10" screens, dual screens, netbook-like clamshells, slide-out
keyboards, thin glass slabs and who knows what else. A 10-12" Android
clamshell is perfectly cable of replacing the majority of netbooks.

Expecting everybody to use the same identical glass slab is no different from
expecting everybody to use the same phone, same TV or the same car model. It's
not going to happen and Android is the only OS cable of the flexibility
required to meet this demand.

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ddagradi
"The future of the tablet" isn't bolting a second screen on it to mimic a
physical methaphor - aka the book. As PG said, flexibility is key, not
replicating existing technology with digital artifacts. Now, the Kno does some
interesting things in software, but shackling that to two 14" displays sounds
like a recipe for failure. (And it would barely make it through a day of class
on that battery).

~~~
buro9
Also... it seems to me that using 2 screens just to overcome the current modal
nature of tablet applications (that have been upscaled from smaller devices
where modal makes more sense) isn't the way to solve the multi-tasking problem
(reading and writing at the same time).

An iPad is still good for that, the screen real estate is enough to do the
job... once the slate computer gets beyond a certain size the modality is what
needs addressing.

Perhaps move to a, erm... windows approach or more likely... a tiling app
manager so that 2 apps run side-by-side on the existing single tablet.

Seems weird to overcome a current (and probably temporary) software constraint
with a hardware approach.

~~~
ajscherer
Even with a 27" monitor I choose to use second monitor, and when I am cross
referencing two documents I will put one on each monitor. The 27" could easily
hold both documents, but it just feels so much easier to use two screens.

It seems pretty unlikely that two screens on a tablet would be viable in terms
of power and cost, but I can totally see it being a superior experience.

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delinka
The Kno "...emphasizes the ability to take notes and seamlessly integrate your
own thought with the information that you are reading."

That's a software thing, not a hardware thing. The iPad can certainly allow
this kind of functionality in an app. The quoted statement sounds like it's
celebrating purpose-built hardware rather than general purpose touch
computing.

Having these features in every ebook reader would certainly be a benefit.

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ugh
That’s the first thing I found after googling for Kno besides their website:
[http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-
ta...](http://kara.allthingsd.com/20110221/exclusive-kno-student-tablet-start-
up-in-talks-to-sell-off-tablet-part-of-business/)

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brd
PG said it best: <http://www.paulgraham.com/tablets.html>

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nopassrecover
Er dupe: (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2304779>)

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brudgers
As a form factor the future may look more like the Kindle than the iPad, Xoom,
etc. The killer application for tablet size devices remains the reader and
once their economics approaches that of pocket calculators (or MP3 players or
digital cameras or other bulk produced electronics), the hardware cost will be
competitive with paper in three ring binders.

The tablets based on the iPad model are akin to graphing calculators - there
is sophisticated functionality added, but it doesn't really offer improved
performance on the tasks for which most people require.

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greyman
The FC EXPERT BLOGGER fails to distinguish between the hardware and software
part of the tablet and is confused by it.

Moreover, he didn't explain why he thinks copying iPad is a doomed strategy.

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valjavec
Very poor article.

Claiming you can do truly multitasking because it has 2 displays is
ridiculous, but that's not the biggest issue in my opinion. More of a problem
is that whole vision of this tablet is made on old technologies presented in
new form. Ooh, they also added pen!

Sort of like best use of radio, when it appeared as new media, would be
reading newspapers.

~~~
bitwize
To me, a pen is an important addition. A tablet should be more than just point
and grunt; it should be a tool of expression as well as consumption.

I bought a Tablet PC -- a $1500 item at the time -- so I could do digital art
with it. I'd like to do the same with a lightweight and cheap device with a
nice battery. Right now I can't because all tablets (except certain Windows
tablet PCs) are designed around point-and-grunt (and no, those little rubber
styluses aren't good enough).

~~~
fab13n
A pen-tablet is suited for applications which are too complex for an iPad and
too simple for a netbook. That's a ridiculously thin niche.

Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility
advantage compared to a netbook user.

For the narrow niche of applications which require drawing on the screen, you
can simply design a capacitive pen for iPad; you'll never amortize the
development of a dedicated hardware, let alone OS.

~~~
bitwize
_Tablet + pen = 2 hands busy, you've lost most of your comfort and mobility
advantage compared to a netbook user._

There are tablet PCs which accept both pen and finger input.

And you pretty much need a Wacom-style digitizer in order to register pen
strokes with the precision and pressure sensitivity required of art or
handwriting applications.

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adsr
I don't think I agree with that. Usage outside of what was mentioned is
possible with the apps running on the tablet. Pens can already be bought as
accessories.

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msluyter
The dual display is sorta neat, and makes me wonder if there's a way to link
two iPads via Bluetooth to achieve the same effect?

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mrspeaker
tl;dr:

~~~
mrspeaker
he, oops.. that was supposed to be a snarky "that article was a long-winded
way to say pretty much nothing". Starting at "tablets are basically expensive
video game consoles" (really?!) with the conclusion "Rather, the tablet has
the potential to improve our productivity." (wow!)

If your productivity isn't improved with the iPad (or any current gen tablets)
then you're doing it wrong.

