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četvrtak, 02.02.2012.

Straddling the tablet/ laptop divide; Time for Android and iOS laptops

Straddling the tablet/ laptop divide; Time for Android and iOS laptops

By James Kendrick | VIA:zdnet.com.

Summary: Some folks (myself included) are successfully using tablets with keyboards for work tasks. Is there a market for Android/ iOS laptops and if so, what do they need?

Some folks (myself included) have been able to shift a good portion of work tasks from conventional laptops to tablets. This usually involves pairing the tablet, Android or iPad, with a small external keyboard for handling lots of text entry. There are plenty of keyboard options for both Android tablets and the iPad, and even slick two-piece tablets like the ASUS Transformer Prime. Whatever the solution that folks are using, it is interesting how many folks are straddling the tablet/ laptop divide.

My coverage of using both the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab with keyboards is extensive, and I am constantly amazed how much of my work can be accomplished with these combos. While not everyone’s work is appropriate to be performed without a Windows or Mac laptop, the more I talk to folks the more of them I hear from who are able to leave the laptop behind and go the tablet/ keyboard route.

Even though I am using the tablet/ keyboard combo for more and more of my work, I still use the tablet without the keyboard at least half the time. That’s not the case with quite a few folks with whom I have discussed this; I am hearing from many that they are mostly leaving the tablet docked in the keyboard almost all of the time. This has me wondering if there is a viable market for a Android and iOS laptops?

If there is a significant enough interest for Android and iOS laptops, a few criteria would have to be met to be successful. Size is important, as a dedicated laptop shouldn’t be larger than existing two-piece combos being used today. It would make no sense to trade existing solutions for a dedicated laptop if the size and weight increased. I personally wouldn’t be interested in a laptop solution if the screen was bigger than 10 inches. The beauty of these two-piece systems are how small they are. Let’s keep the same for the laptop solution.

A laptop with iOS or Android would also have to be cheaper than the two-piece varieties. That should be feasible given there’s nothing new about the laptop form. Make these mobile laptops very thin and light, and cheaper than tablets plus external keyboards.

I used to think laptops with touch screens were a waste of money, but on an Android or iOS laptop I think they are required. Both of these OSes are optimized for touch operation, and it makes sense to take advantage of that on these little laptops.

One of the coolest features of the Transformer Prime is the second battery in the laptop dock. Together, the keyboard and tablet get about 20 hours of battery life. This could play into the dedicated laptop form, with a light second battery fitted inside that can generate over 12 hours of battery life combined with the main battery. Long battery life is a major reason these tablet/keyboard combos work so well, so do the same with the dedicated laptop form.

I am not sure that an Apple iOS laptop or an Android laptop would be widely accepted. It depends on the factors I have mentioned, plus how large the market is for those who would benefit from having a keyboard on the tablet form. Microsoft is betting a lot on Windows 8 on the ARM platform, both tablets and laptops, so perhaps the market exists. We’ll soon find out.

ARM Chief Touts Windows 8 Tablets, Questions Android's Appeal

By Damon Poeter, Via:pcmag.com.

In the process of reporting strong earnings for the fourth quarter on Tuesday, ARM CEO Warren East had some interesting things to say about Microsoft's coming Windows 8 release-namely, that it could propel more tablet sales than Google's Android mobile operating system has accomplished so far.

"Consumers are familiar with Microsoft and very familiar with Windows and they're less familiar with an Android environment," East said during an exchange with an analyst noticed by CNET. "Microsoft has an awareness advantage with consumers that the Android folks didn't have.

"It's up to Microsoft [and we'll see] how well they're going to exploit that advantage. But I think that's a fundamental difference."

East's comments add to the anticipation for Windows 8, expected to be released by Microsoft this fall and "accompanied by a tidal wave of tablets, hybrids, and convertibles," as PCMag.com lead laptop analyst Eric Grevstad put it recently.

Indeed, there's a lot for tablet fans to like about Windows 8, starting with Microsoft's recommended specs for a Windows 8 tablet. Grevstad breaks those down as "a 1,366-by-768-pixel screen with a minimum of five touch inputs; at least one USB 2.0 port; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; a three-axis accelerometer; power, rotation lock, and volume buttons; 10GB or more of free storage space when taken out of the box; and a Windows key button measuring at least 10.5mm in diameter in the center of the bottom bezel."

And it's no secret that Microsoft has been courting tablet and smartphone makers who in the last several product cycles have overwhelmingly selected ARM-based chips to run their devices over the x86-based parts made by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

In fact, Windows 8's release is likely to mark a pivotal moment in personal computing history as the long-running "Wintel" partnership of Microsoft and Intel takes a decidedly new turn. Not only is Microsoft tuning its next-generation operating system for non-x86 processor architectures, but Intel is concurrently optimizing its own Atom chips for Android, as it takes another shot at penetrating the mobile device market.

East did have some nice things to say about Android, of course. ARM's stellar growth, including a 45 percent increase in net income in its fourth quarter, owes a lot to the popularity of Android smartphones (Apple also uses ARM-based chips designed in-house in the iPhone and iPad).

If history is any lesson, he said, Android tablets just need "a little more time" to mature.

"Actually when Android phones were introduced, there was a lot of hype," East was quoted as saying by CNET. "And then, actually, they didn't take off in the sort of way that reflected that hype. Then a few years later-two years later-half a million units a day, 700,000 units a day. [Android phones now are] really ... a very successful product."

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