Delving into the usefulness of tablet PCs

Last week, we gave you some basic information about tablet PCs. Tablet PCs have been in development for four years, and pen-based computer technology has been around for more than 10 years. Still, we have questions: Are tablet PCs ready yet - and are we ready for them?

Paper is intuitive and easy to use but difficult to integrate, share and search. Notebook PCs are easy to integrate, share and search, but not as intuitive. It looks to me like the tablet PC does a good job of merging the benefits of both. Read on for more specific information about the unique capabilities of the tablet PC platform, plus the available hardware and software.

Tablet PCs won't make the mouse and keyboard obsolete, but it could replace a laptop and a PDA. You'll still need a mouse and keyboard as input devices on your desktop computer. The stylus on tablet PCs will just be an additional way of inputting information.

Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC edition has all the features of the basic XP operating system, plus support for input via a stylus ( " ink " ), handwriting recognition, speech recognition, sticky notes, and developer tools. The screen recognizes only input via a stylus to prevent accidental input if you lean your hand on the screen. Developers can add commands to gestures - for example, a right and left movement above the task bar could bring up the journal utility.

The " ink capability " refers to the input of handwriting or hand-drawn objects with a stylus, and in many cases conversion to word-processing or another document type is not necessary to use immediately the information in the file. The Office XP add-on pack adds ink awareness and other tablet PC features to the Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.,). For example, the download adds a writing pad to Excel so you can define a cell by writing on the tablet.

New hardware meeting the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC specifications come in several varieties, including slates without keyboards, slates with keyboards, and docking stations in various configurations.

Tablet PCs now available include:

*Acer TravelMate C100 (www.shopacer.com/).

*Compaq/HP Tablet PC TC1000 (www.compaq.com/products/tabletpc/).

*Electrovanya Scribbler Tablet PC (www.electrovaya.com/).

*Fujitsu Stylistic ST4000 Series (www.fujitsupc.com/www/albionsweep_b2b.shtml).

*Motion M1200 Tablet PC (www.motioncomputing.com/).

*Toshiba Portégé 3500 Series (www.toshiba.com/).

*Xplore Technologies iX104 Rugged Tablet PC (www.xploretech.com/).

There are lots of new applications available that takes advantage of the tablet PC's unique capabilities. For example, some applications allow you to read digitized magazines and make notes in the margins of the articles (example: www.zinio.com/).

The journal feature of the tablet PC OS is sort of like Windows Notepad on steroids. Using the journal replaces taking notes on paper by allowing you to write directly on the screen. As you write, the application transcribes your notes to text in the background. This saves you the hassle of having to type up your notes. It also means that you can search your notes without having to manually convert them to text. In addition, you can add digital paper to insert new information in a hand-written document, add color, and do intuitive things like highlighting text and pressing harder to get bold letters.

Other third-party software now available include:

*Snippet (Leszynski Group, www.leszynski.com/tabletpc/).

Instead of cutting and pasting an URL to send to a friend, you can just circle the part of the Web page of interest, annotate and e-mail it. Outlook includes the link, the part of the page you circled, and your annotation.

*TabletPlanner for Tablet PC (Franklin Covey, www.franklincovey.com/tabletplanner/).

TabletPlanner enables you to make handwritten notes in your electronic appointment book. The software is similar to Franklin Covey's paper notebook with the advantages of stylus input, interface with the MS outlook calendar.

*Insurance Claims Software (Infocater www.infocater.com/insurance.shtml).

This software allows claims adjusters to synchronize appointments, get customer claims information from a central database, and fill out forms on-screen which are automatically converting to text in the background. Users can also connect to a database for values and get the customer's signature on the tablet.

*Hospital Portal (Quilogy www.quilogy.com/healthcare.aspx).

Applications using the SharePoint Team Services portal framework (www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/) can be tablet PC enabled, making them work with paper-based and Web-based forms. Forms allow stylus input as you write, and input (including marks in text boxes and radio buttons) is instantly converted to text.

*Desktop collaboration software (Groove Workspace, www.groove.net/)

This is another example of Tablet PC enabled software.

*Vertical Industry Solutions (Immedient, www.immedient.com)

Tablet PC enabled software developed for medical, construction, and other specific industry groups.

As you can see from these examples, a lot has been learned from the past. There is full industry support for the new tablet PC. Is pen technology finally mature? The test is whether it still takes a lot of work to make the tablet PCs productive? Is there plenty of software available? There are killer apps for niche markets, but there are no killer apps for the masses. Still, if you attend a lot of meetings, take notes and transcribe them later, the tablet PC could be a real time saver. Currid & Company plans some real-life testing of some of these products during the next few weeks. We'll let you know how that comes out.

Wayland Hancock is business technology editor at Currid & Company, a Houston IT assessment company. You can reach him by e-mail at hancock@currid.com

Linda Musthaler is vice president of Currid & Company, a Houston-based information technology assessment company. You can reach her by e-mail at linda@currid.com.

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