The Search For The Right Tablet For KnowProSE LLC

When I decided to look into a tablet for KnowProSE LLC, the premise was quite simple: I needed to get something that fit into the business. Given the nature of the services KnowProSE LLC provides, this requires a lot of a tablet PC - almost enough to make it not worth looking and only working with the laptop with which I am presently writing this.

But there's an issue. Tablets are the future of viewing content; there is a trend toward ubiquity that rivals the smartphone itself. Regardless of the plugins for Firefox/Seamonkey, the experience of the content on a tablet can only be known on a tablet pc. With the market as it stands, Apple's iPad is the unquestioned leader for a variety of reasons - particularly ease of use, as I wrote earlier - but is it good to follow the herd or is it instead better to work with an Android related device? In a perfect world and with a larger budget, getting both operating systems would be preferable - but we do not live in a perfect world and my budget, sadly, is not as large as I would like it to be.

So I broke down my requirements, as I saw them.

• Good display that can handle web content and is easy to work with when dealing with a client in conversation.
• Ability to work with my camera, a Canon SX30IS, such that I can take pictures at a client site and immediately let a client decide what they like and don't.
• (Optional) Support of OpenOffice.org, which is of benefit to many small to medium sized enterprises, as well as other open source applications.
• Ability to deal with email offline (an email client).

These are not very difficult requirements, as I see them. The first is rather generic and, for the most part, the iPad 2 wins hands down.

The second requirement was driving me a bit nuts. Finding a tablet with USB and an even half nice review was... difficult. But then I recalled a memory card with a wireless card built in that can transfer to iPad and Android - the Eye-Fi 8GB Mobile X2 SDHC Class 6 Wireless Memory Card EYE-FI-8MD - so I removed this requirement and added the card to the 'must have' in the budget ($75.70 presently).

The third requirement may seem odd for some people, but I've found introducing OpenOffice.org as a replacement for commercial office software competitors to be something smaller businesses are interested in. Sure, you could run a 'pirated' office software product (beware of Navy SEALs), but you can be legal and less likely to be open to malware and viruses by simply... using what is freely available. Interestingly, the iPad doesn't look like it will support OpenOffice, instead forcing the $80 package on iPad users because of the way Apple has structured things. Android, on the other hand, at least has a free OpenOffice document reader and at least there's an interesting thread of the pros and cons of porting OpenOffice to Android.  An Android win, though not by a landslide. And hey, maybe KnowProSE LLC could assist with a port. I can spell Java, amongst quite a few other languages.

Email offline is something a lot of people on the web seem to take for granted with all these web hosted email accounts - but speaking for myself, I only check my email a few times a day (or I would get nothing done), just as I check Twitter/Facebook a few times a day. I don't need constant connectivity to these services; I like chunks of time where I can do what I need to do as opposed to staring at the screen hoping that something interesting happens. My clients are typically busy people as well. There are free email clients for the iPad, and the Androids have at least one that seems popular. No clear winner.

The 'Applications Available Argument'

With the last two discussed, it's hard not to ignore the many applications that the iPad has versus the relatively fewer that the Android OS has. There's plenty of claims out there, but let me put it to you this way: In 23 years of working with computers, I have found that 5 of the right applications is better than 100,000 of the wrong ones - and as a software developer who might come up with an idea for an application, there's more room to expand in the Android market than the iPad market. It's almost as though Apple forgot that the simplicity of the iPad/iPad 2 made it popular when they did their app store. I, for one, don't have the time to sift through roughly 100,000 applications to do what I want, and I don't hang out with people with that much time to do that while making a living.

Who Won?

Right now, no one won based on my needs of a tablet. It's too much of a risk and when it comes to business, it's important to mitigate that risk. The same likely stands for many of my potential clients; as much as I like the idea of being able to wander around to businesses with a tablet pc to help - there's no clear winner other than the iPad 2. So if I had to buy one right now, the iPad 2 would probably be the winner despite its tendency toward Microsoftishness (new word?) when it comes to their apps and development environment. Why? Popularity.

I have the luxury of time. I can wait. And maybe - just maybe - you may feel the same. There's more coming in the battle for the Tablet PCs, and any choice should be made based on what it does for you - not what it does for someone else. I'm looking for the right tablet, not the right now  tablet.

But what do I know? I've only been working with tech for 23 years...