Pen-Based Computers: Products, Presentations And Plans

The other cool toy that recently showed up on my doorstep (yesterday, in fact) was Nokia's new second-generation N800 Internet Tablet. Reviews of its N770 predecessor (which I didn't personally test) had praised the concept but faulted the device's anemic processor and buggy software (many of the code flaws were fixed by a mid-life firmware upgrade). My initial impressions of the N800, in which Nokia upgraded both the CPU and memory subsystem, are quite positive:

• Its screen, although tiny, is crisp and easy to read
• It smoothly paired to my Smartphone over Bluetooth as part of its initial setup, and auto-configured itself to use the phone as a wireless modem over my T-Mobile account (although made by Nokia, a well-known cellphone supplier, the N800 doesn't have built-in cellular voice or data support)
• Setting it up to talk to my Wi-Fi network also was a breeze, even though I have SSID broadcast disabled on my access points, and
• Its responsiveness seems quite snappy, at least so far.

As my wife and I dabble with the N800 more over the coming weeks, I'll share my impressions via this medium. I'm particularly interested to see the degree to which VoIP providers or open-source enthusiasts support it as a wireless Internet telephony platform. For now, check out Ars Technica's review of the unit; for comparison purposes, a link to the Ars Technica review of the N770 is in the first paragraph of this post.

I've dabbled quite a bit with pen-based Pocket PCs over the years and, generally speaking, closely follow this platform category on an ongoing basis. Tablet PCs and UMPCs are slowly maturing from both cost and capability perspectives, for example, and alternative products such as Axiotron's MacBook-derived ModBook, OQO's O2 and Sony's VAIO VGN-UX180P also have merit. Some of my interest, I suppose, derives from tablets' current embrace by niche vertical applications such as delivery services and healthcare, the latter category being the employment domain of my pharmacist spouse.

But will tablets ever garner broad usage, and if so when? To answer that question, I also encourage you to check out a presentation (7.2 MByte PPT) delivered by (and subsequently and thankfully provided to me by) Microsoft's Bert Keely, Architect for Mobile PCs and Tablet Technology, at the 2005 SID ADEAC show. It's a hefty download but an interesting read; Bert provides perspective on how he sees the paper-versus-tablet tradeoff evolving over time, as well as what'll be necessary both from hardware (he heavily focuses on display technology, in particular) and software standpoints in order for pen-based interfaces to become pervasive.