Tablets

The Tablet market is something which I have been watching with keen interest. As you know, I have no interest in the iPad and to date, there really hasn't been a serious alternative. Of course, that has recently changed as a slew of Tablets are about to hit the market - the most prominent of which is probably the Motorola Xoom which is running the new Honeycomb OS.

However, despite my interest in the market, the truth is that I don't really see how I would benefit from having a Tablet. Or rather, I don't see the benefit in having a Tablet outweighing the cost of me having to cart it around with me on a daily basis.

Currently, the only gadgets that I carry around with me are my iPod Nano and my phone. The phone goes on my belt and the iPod Nano is so small that it easily fits in my pocket. This is a great setup as it means that I don't need to carry a bag when I leave the home. If I buy a Tablet, this would mean a significant change as I would have to start carrying a bag even if the Tablet was all I was carrying (and I know I would hate this from my past experience with carting a PDA around).

All of which meant that I was actually pretty excited to hear about the HTC Flyer. The Flyer is a 7" Tablet to be released by HTC and, with all the excitement focused on Xoom, the Flyer really didn't get much press.

What really makes the Flyer stand out for me is the pen. One of the pens functions is to sync up what you write with audio that you are recording. In effect, the Flyer, in addition to being a normal Tablet, also doubles up as a digital pen ala the Livescribe. Of course, the major bonus of the Flyer is that you no longer need the specialised paper that Livescribe requires.

This is a major selling point for me as it immediately pushes the Flyer beyond the normal media consumption device which most Tablets are and into the realm of productivity boosting tech. This is something which I could easily justify carting around on a daily basis. The only problem is that it only has an estimated 4 hours of battery life when watching video which is pathetic when you compare it to the 10 hours which the iPad gets or even the 8+ hours which the Xoom gets.

le sigh. I guess I just need to keep an eye on the market a little bit longer.