Innovative stuff I'd like to see in a tablet

[StormyParis]

I've been playing round with an el-cheapo Ainol Novo8 (lots of shortcomings, but what a screen !) and avidly reading and trying out about more mainstream tablets. After a handful of weeks' experience, I find I'd like my tablet to do a lot of stuff that's not even mentioned, let alone requested, in reviews:

- Use my tablet as a screen for my PC. My PC has 2 screens, with junk on the second one (IM, videos, media player...). I'd live to get rid of it and replace it with my tablet.

- remote control my tablet from my PC. This is a 10s free download away on my WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2, and seems impossible with Android 2.2.

- synch my tablet and my PC's open documents. HP is moving that way... I don't understand why Opera aren't doing it yet, as well as ebook readers and office suites.

- access my network shares over wifi. My media tablet exists mainly to play the media that's on my NAS. There's an Android hack to access that media via wifi, which doesn't work on my tablet.. this should be standard and easy on all tablets.

- I'd like to run my tablet's software on my PC. Apparently HP will allow that soon, hopefully Android and iOS will follow suit.

- USB charging. Gigabyte and others are starting to sell motherboards with turbo-charged USB ports just for that. Let's use them.

 

[aceO07]

I want real tablet with Wacom and stylus.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

- Use my tablet as a screen for my PC. My PC has 2 screens, with junk on the second one (IM, videos, media player...). I'd live to get rid of it and replace it with my tablet.

App on iOS for that. Not sure what it's called though.

- remote control my tablet from my PC. This is a 10s free download away on my WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2, and seems impossible with Android 2.2.

If you jailbreak your iOS device you can install a VNC server so you can remote control your tablet from your PC.

- synch my tablet and my PC's open documents. HP is moving that way... I don't understand why Opera aren't doing it yet, as well as ebook readers and office suites.

Dropbox integration? Or are you looking more for it to sync stuff that you have actively open?

- access my network shares over wifi. My media tablet exists mainly to play the media that's on my NAS. There's an Android hack to access that media via wifi, which doesn't work on my tablet.. this should be standard and easy on all tablets.

You do have a really random Android tablet, I would consider getting a Nook Color and rooting it. Just my 2 cents.

- I'd like to run my tablet's software on my PC. Apparently HP will allow that soon, hopefully Android and iOS will follow suit.

Totally different user interface. I know there are emulators for developers so they can use their PC's to test their apps.

- USB charging. Gigabyte and others are starting to sell motherboards with turbo-charged USB ports just for that. Let's use them.

Some tablets do this but sip power at a really slow pace which makes it not realistic to use consistently. The problem is that they are power hungry tablets that need

I know this looks like an Apple-centric reply, which it is, but you were talking about things you wanted in a tablet. And an iPad is a tablet which has those features that you want.

 

[Oyeve]

I want real tablet with Wacom and stylus.

This, would be great for my 16yr old artist son.

 

[StormyParis]

I'm not really looking into an iPad right now though, because I'm trying to avoid getting sucked into iTunes, and I like 7"/8" tablets much better as I tend to carry mine around a lot, it fits into my man purse.

The Ainol Novo8 was perfect in that regard: beautiful 8" 1280x768 capacitive screen. Pitiful battery life (3-4h) and kinda heavy though (520g), but it'll tide me over until prices for name-brand products become normal: the Ainol cost me 160 euros, the HTC or RIM ones which are closest are 500+, and, alas, the Nook Color is not available in Europe, I'd have gotten that if I could.

 

[StormyParis]

I think the upcoming Dell Windows tablet has a wacom digitizer

 

[shortylickens]

We already had touchscreen laptops a long time ago and people didnt like them. Had they taken off we would never see these mobile OS tablets we got nowadays.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I'm not really looking into an iPad right now though, because I'm trying to avoid getting sucked into iTunes, and I like 7"/8" tablets much better as I tend to carry mine around a lot, it fits into my man purse.

The Ainol Novo8 was perfect in that regard: beautiful 8" 1280x768 capacitive screen. Pitiful battery life (3-4h) and kinda heavy though (520g), but it'll tide me over until prices for name-brand products become normal: the Ainol cost me 160 euros, the HTC or RIM ones which are closest are 500+, and, alas, the Nook Color is not available in Europe, I'd have gotten that if I could.

Yeah it's difficult for people who want a smaller screen (7") and want an iOS device.

 

[alent1234]

99% of people don't care about these features

why would i want to control my tablet from a PC? the whole point of tablets is the opposite. a lite device that can also control more powerful devices

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

why would i want to control my tablet from a PC? the whole point of tablets is the opposite. a lite device that can also control more powerful devices

I use my tablet to control my PC all the time. Especially with Remote Desktop and Logmein the ability to remote desktop any computer from my couch is an amazing feature.

 

[StormyParis]

I want to control the tablet from the PC because quite often I start stuff on my tablet but then move on to the PC, or, on the contrary, I start stuff sitting don at my PC that I know I'll have to finish n the tablet. Makes sense to just keep both on the tablet all the time.

 

[poofyhairguy]

- Use my tablet as a screen for my PC. My PC has 2 screens, with junk on the second one (IM, videos, media player...). I'd live to get rid of it and replace it with my tablet.

Splashtop. I do it all the time on my Nook Color.

- remote control my tablet from my PC. This is a 10s free download away on my WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2, and seems impossible with Android 2.2.

VNC app, or if that isn't enough control wireless ADB.

- synch my tablet and my PC's open documents. HP is moving that way... I don't understand why Opera aren't doing it yet, as well as ebook readers and office suites.

Um, switch to Google Docs. I don't know what Opera has to do with anything.

- access my network shares over wifi. My media tablet exists mainly to play the media that's on my NAS. There's an Android hack to access that media via wifi, which doesn't work on my tablet.. this should be standard and easy on all tablets.

Astro (free in the market) plus its SMB module. I do it all the time.

The main issue is that every mobile device not named the SGS2 can't play raw 1080p mkv files.

- I'd like to run my tablet's software on my PC. Apparently HP will allow that soon, hopefully Android and iOS will follow suit.

You can run the Android SDK, but unless you are a developer I don't know why you would want Android on a PC considering that its is MAGNITUDES less flexible and versatile than nay desktop OS.

- USB charging. Gigabyte and others are starting to sell motherboards with turbo-charged USB ports just for that. Let's use them.

Again, works great on my Nook Color. Charges WAY faster than my wife's iPad 2.

I want to control the tablet from the PC because quite often I start stuff on my tablet but then move on to the PC, or, on the contrary, I start stuff sitting don at my PC that I know I'll have to finish n the tablet. Makes sense to just keep both on the tablet all the time.

Maybe one day tablets can be primary devices when they have 10 times the power they do today.

 

[StormyParis]

@poofhairguy: thanks for your feedback.
- splashtop is actually a remote control Tablet-to-PC app, not a simple screen extender that lets my tablet be my PC's second screen, like a true second screen is.
- Google Docs is nice, but not as nice as QuickOffice, which is a regular Office suite (well, almost). Opera is mentioned, because by "documents", I mean anything that is open in an app, including web pages (hence Opera), ebooks, ...
- My $160 Ainol Novo8 plays 12kbps HD very well, thank you ^^
- the idea behind running tablet software on a PC is that using the same apps on the PC and tablet get rid of any import/export issues, and makes the "synching" I want easier. The Android SDK is a dog for actually running apps (and for testing them too ^^)
- Stop telling me the Nook is great ! Just mail me one !!!
- Honestly, for the stupid Office and Web stuff I do, tablets are already good enough. The 386 I was using in college would probably still be enough.

I'll try to get VNC running, last time was terrible, with big laggy blocks of screen refreshing seconds late, as opposed to the totally smooth experience I am getting under WinMob6.5 via RDP.

 

[Munky]

What I'd really like to see is a tablet running a modern x86 version of Windows, but having the form factor and battery life of something like a nook color.

 

[poofyhairguy]

@poofhairguy: thanks for your feedback.
- splashtop is actually a remote control Tablet-to-PC app, not a simple screen extender that lets my tablet be my PC's second screen, like a true second screen is.

Oh, I have not seen that.

Opera is mentioned, because by "documents", I mean anything that is open in an app, including web pages (hence Opera), ebooks, ...

Actually mobile Firefox has desktop browser syncing. It just doesn't have the performance of Opera.

- the idea behind running tablet software on a PC is that using the same apps on the PC and tablet get rid of any import/export issues, and makes the "synching" I want easier. The Android SDK is a dog for actually running apps (and for testing them too ^^)

The Atrix's webtop OS has this cool thing where when its docked in Desktop Linux mode, it allows you to still see your phone screen in this window. Pretty cool if that technology can come to regular computers.

- Stop telling me the Nook is great ! Just mail me one !!!

Lol sorry. I am a huge Barnes and Nobles fanboy, I admit it.

My point wasn't really how awesome my Nook is (which is hard to not say because it is awesome) but the fact that Android tablets already had some of those capabilities.

 

[Bateluer]

- remote control my tablet from my PC. This is a 10s free download away on my WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2, and seems impossible with Android 2.2.

I believe there is actually an app for that, recall reading a Droid Life or Android Police write up on it, though it may have been for Android phones.