What's on the mind of a "Globe Trotting" IT executive as he tries to leverage technology to reach millions of people with a message of truth and hope? That's what this blog is about. I hope you enjoy it.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Tablet PC vs iPad on the road.
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Singapore with my good friend Maurilio Amorim to attend a conference looking at TWR’s global ministry in Asia. I traveled with my trusty Dell XT2, 64 bit Windows 7 tablet Notebook. Maurilio was sporting his new Apple 3G iPad. As a busy executive, I try and remain productive on the road and maintain connectivity with my organization’s Enterprise network which includes of course email and MOSS 2010 document workspace. As the president of a Web and Marketing company, Maurilio also needs access to company email and remain cutting edge and creative with social networking and the blogosphere. The MOSS workspace gives me access to my document store either online or offline.That’s great for when I’m sitting at 35,000 feet above the Arctic icecap on a trajectory from Chicago to Hong Kong and want to edit or save documents. This second leg of the trip however is a 15 hour flight.My XT2 battery is going dead after 2.5 hours of activity and I have to shut down and read a magazine. Okay, I could carry a second battery, but I like to travel without checking luggage, so everything I am bringing for 7 days in Asia is with me in the cabin. I could also purchase a smaller laptop with longer battery life, but I like having a tablet for reasons I have blogged about earlier. Maurilio however lands in Hong Kong and posts the blog he’s been working on during the flight. His battery power indicator shows 85% remaining. He won’t even need to charge the iPad for the 3.5 hour flight down to Singapore. He’s enjoying some food and beverages in the Red Carpet lounge while I scramble to charge my laptop so I can get some work done on that same flight.
The conference in Singapore lasts two full days and we are sitting on chairs in rows – without nearby power outlets.Again, I cannot take notes and handle emails on my notebook while I’m plugged in.Several times during a presentation, I have to slip out of my seat and make my way to a power outlet about 20 feet away and plug in. Maurilio shows me his charge indicator which is again at 85%.
While I have the enterprise tools and multitasking OS on my notebook to get my work done, I am hampered on long trips by limited battery life.The iPad is only single tasking and not as connected to the enterprise as Windows 7. It does however deliver its applications hour after hour without a charge. Which tool would you prefer to travel with?
"iPad is not connected to the enterprise world" Strange, with Exchange 2007/2010 support and Citrix support. And Sisco & Juniper VPN & RSA Tokens. And offcourse MOSS 2010 support. http://blogs.sharepointace.com/post/SharePoint-2010-e28093-Current-iPhone-User-Experience.aspx
I was not saying that the iPad is not connected to Enterprise world. I was refering to the fact that Windows 7 has more native connectivity - especially when you are offline - no wireless or 3G connectivity.
Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-workspace/ allows you to work with your MOSS 2010 document library online or offline. You can edit and create documents and handle email attachements (saving and sending). Once WorkSpace senses an internet connection it automatically syncs with the corporate SharePoint server farm.
To my knowlege SharePoint Workspace does not run on the iPad.
iPad for me, light weight and long battery life are everything when dealing with portable devices. and the ability to use 3G and GPS is very useful. I get around no Flash bu using a VNC program and running Firefox on my home computer.
Great! There is an application out there by SouthLabs which gives you offline SharePoint access on the iPad. It's reasonably priced at $9.99
I was searching for SharePoint WorkSpace and iPad and didn't turn up anything. I should have dropped "WorkSpace" and I would have found the link to this application.
This app is definitely an incentive to get an iPad!
one thing that's nice about being on a long flight is that nobody can get to you. So it is a good time to daydream, plan and take a step back. When you have 15 hours to work with, it is nice to have a gadget handy, even if it's for entertainment.
Writing reports, and working through the message stack in my inbox doesn't do much to stoke my Ego. It's hard work.
Let's see... I took my iPad to Costa Rica recently. Lasts all day. Doesn't count as a laptop, so you don't have to pull it out of your bags at security checkpoints. Comfortable to use in an airline seat -- as opposed to my 17" laptop. With Papers, I have a thousand research articles on it in PDF. With iAnnotate PDF, I can markup PDFs, with iThoughsHD I can mindmap and outline, etc, etc, etc.
Of course, entertainment, like watching a movie or playing games, is also possible.
In country, I had 3G (SIM borrowed from relatives), GPS, was able to easily do web research, email, calendar, to do list, diagrams, etc.
With a VNC tool like iTeleport, I could reach back over an SSH-encrypted link, through my firewall, to my laptop at home, if I'd wanted. And I have the free Citrix client and could VPN back to work if I'd wanted.
The only use I'd personally have that the iPad could not handle is something like running R to do statistical analysis, or typing a long paper. I could of course use VNC or something to run R on another machine, if I had connectivity, and I could easily bring a bluetooth keyboard if I knew I'd spend some time doing a lot of typing. (Of course, when not doing a lot of typing, the keyboard would remain in my room or in my bags, leaving me with the full iPad experience.)
When traveling, I take BOTH. Then I have the best of both worlds.
I take my MacBook Pro with 13" screen. It lasts 10 hours on a battery charge - not the 2.5 hour you get with your tablet.
And of course, I take my iPad. The iPad lasts 12 hours on a battery charge.
On times I choose to take only my iPad - such as to a nearby conference where I can drive - I take along a Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard. It is very lightweight, has a natural ergonomic curve, and lasts months on a battery. It is a lightweight alternative to a netbook. And I have way more apps on it than a netbook.
Using the built-in keyboard can be a little frustrating and tiring, but overall a step up from the iPhone as you can actually type more normally. The main issue that I have with the built-in keyboard is that you A. Can't rest your hands on the keys as you can with a normal keyboard. You must keep your hands hovering over it which can fatigue your arms over time. B. There is no tactile feedback to let you know what keys have been pressed or to orient you on the keyboard as with a standard keyboard, so touch typing is out (I like not having to look at the keys while I'm typing.
I'd take the Tablet PC and as many extra batteries as I need, though it helps that my lifestyle does not involve lengthy 15-hour flights and being starved of AC jacks for significant amounts of time, thus allowing me to get by with about 3.5 hours of battery life.
The iPad has an excellent screen, is portable, and obviously has tons of battery life, but I simply refuse to do without a Wacom pen. Only that can give me the precision and palm rejection I demand in a tablet computer, which for me is a replacement for pen and paper. (N-Trig could've been a competitor, but I've heard horrible things about their drivers...does your XT2 have any digitizer problems?)
On the iPad, I'm seeing apps like Penultimate and SketchBook Pro that also try to make the iPad a pen and paper replacement, but there's only capacitive multi-touch. The iPad can't differentiate between the tip of a capacitive stylus and my palm, and there's also an issue with capacitive styluses needing to have thick tips by design.
The main issue with Tablet PCs, though, is that it's still keyboard-and-mouse Windows, albeit with a nice Tablet Input Panel and an Ink library that handles handwriting recognition. What we really needed was a built-from-the-ground-up OS designed to leverage touch AND pen everywhere. That was what the Courier promised...only they refused to follow up on it. The result is that for every OneNote, InkSeine, or SketchBook Pro, there are a million other apps that force me to use it in laptop mode if I'm to use them with any semblance of efficiency.
For those times when I need to type, not write, my preference for convertible Tablet PCs like the Latitude XT2 (not that model specifically, but that's the basic form factor) gives me ready access to a nice, physical, tactile keyboard I can touch-type on, as I am doing right now composing this comment. I just don't like virtual keyboards at all for reasons the above commenter has stated, though the iPad's keyboard is at least significantly more usable than the iPhone/iPod touch's simply due to the greater surface area.
The iPad has taught me that the technology already exists, however. Someone just needs to put a Wacom EMR pen digitizer in there and give it a suitable interface and apps to leverage the pen. It's literally the only thing keeping me away from it.
I like the tablet form factor for taking handwritten notes in meetings and when I am sitting across the table from someone. It's nice not to have a laptop screen between me and the person I'm meeting with. I use it as a laptop at my desk and then I just flip the screen around and remove the pen when I need to head off to a meeting.
It's also good for when I'm in "cattle class" on a plane and the person in front of me puts their seat back. I can still work in tablet mode.
The XT2 running Windows 7 has excellent handwriting recognition (at least I'm satisfied with it) and I've had not digitizer issues with it. I use it in conjunction with OneNote which helps me keep meeting notes organized.
I'm sure an improved digitizer will come along soon for the iPad.
I use a Fujitsu ST5020 slate tablet running XP. I haven't taken the time to try to install Win 7, but I love my 7+ hour battery. If I had regular long flights I'd get a spare.
I'm not really fond of religion, but I consider my relationship to Jesus Christ vital. I work for Trans World Radio - http://twr.org as CIO. I leverage the tools of IT so that TWR can speak a message of hope to the world.
I am a mac guy, However I really see no advantage to the iPad.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm the second proud owner of an IPad within TWR.
ReplyDeleteSo far I'm enjoying the same freedoms that Maurilio enjoys, to work and/or play without being tethered to an outlet perpetually .
"iPad is not connected to the enterprise world"
ReplyDeleteStrange, with Exchange 2007/2010 support and Citrix support.
And Sisco & Juniper VPN & RSA Tokens.
And offcourse MOSS 2010 support.
http://blogs.sharepointace.com/post/SharePoint-2010-e28093-Current-iPhone-User-Experience.aspx
I was not saying that the iPad is not connected to Enterprise world. I was refering to the fact that Windows 7 has more native connectivity - especially when you are offline - no wireless or 3G connectivity.
ReplyDeleteMicrosoft SharePoint Workspace 2010 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-workspace/ allows you to work with your MOSS 2010 document library online or offline. You can edit and create documents and handle email attachements (saving and sending). Once WorkSpace senses an internet connection it automatically syncs with the corporate SharePoint server farm.
To my knowlege SharePoint Workspace does not run on the iPad.
Steve Shantz
iPad for me, light weight and long battery life are everything when dealing with portable devices. and the ability to use 3G and GPS is very useful. I get around no Flash bu using a VNC program and running Firefox on my home computer.
ReplyDeleteThat's frightening that you are a CIO-
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/2axxo5v
Anonymous - Ouch!
ReplyDeleteGreat! There is an application out there by SouthLabs which gives you offline SharePoint access on the iPad. It's reasonably priced at $9.99
I was searching for SharePoint WorkSpace and iPad and didn't turn up anything. I should have dropped "WorkSpace" and I would have found the link to this application.
This app is definitely an incentive to get an iPad!
one thing that's nice about being on a long flight is that nobody can get to you. So it is a good time to daydream, plan and take a step back. When you have 15 hours to work with, it is nice to have a gadget handy, even if it's for entertainment.
ReplyDeleteWriting reports, and working through the message stack in my inbox doesn't do much to stoke my Ego. It's hard work.
Let's see... I took my iPad to Costa Rica recently. Lasts all day. Doesn't count as a laptop, so you don't have to pull it out of your bags at security checkpoints. Comfortable to use in an airline seat -- as opposed to my 17" laptop. With Papers, I have a thousand research articles on it in PDF. With iAnnotate PDF, I can markup PDFs, with iThoughsHD I can mindmap and outline, etc, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteOf course, entertainment, like watching a movie or playing games, is also possible.
In country, I had 3G (SIM borrowed from relatives), GPS, was able to easily do web research, email, calendar, to do list, diagrams, etc.
With a VNC tool like iTeleport, I could reach back over an SSH-encrypted link, through my firewall, to my laptop at home, if I'd wanted. And I have the free Citrix client and could VPN back to work if I'd wanted.
The only use I'd personally have that the iPad could not handle is something like running R to do statistical analysis, or typing a long paper. I could of course use VNC or something to run R on another machine, if I had connectivity, and I could easily bring a bluetooth keyboard if I knew I'd spend some time doing a lot of typing. (Of course, when not doing a lot of typing, the keyboard would remain in my room or in my bags, leaving me with the full iPad experience.)
I don't know why you can't type a long paper on the iPad. Pages is an excellent word processor.
ReplyDeleteJohn Davis
What are people's experiences with using the built in screen keyboard for typing longer documents?
ReplyDeleteWhen traveling, I take BOTH. Then I have the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteI take my MacBook Pro with 13" screen. It lasts 10 hours on a battery charge - not the 2.5 hour you get with your tablet.
And of course, I take my iPad. The iPad lasts 12 hours on a battery charge.
On times I choose to take only my iPad - such as to a nearby conference where I can drive - I take along a Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard. It is very lightweight, has a natural ergonomic curve, and lasts months on a battery. It is a lightweight alternative to a netbook. And I have way more apps on it than a netbook.
Using the built-in keyboard can be a little frustrating and tiring, but overall a step up from the iPhone as you can actually type more normally. The main issue that I have with the built-in keyboard is that you A. Can't rest your hands on the keys as you can with a normal keyboard. You must keep your hands hovering over it which can fatigue your arms over time. B. There is no tactile feedback to let you know what keys have been pressed or to orient you on the keyboard as with a standard keyboard, so touch typing is out (I like not having to look at the keys while I'm typing.
ReplyDeleteI'd take the Tablet PC and as many extra batteries as I need, though it helps that my lifestyle does not involve lengthy 15-hour flights and being starved of AC jacks for significant amounts of time, thus allowing me to get by with about 3.5 hours of battery life.
ReplyDeleteThe iPad has an excellent screen, is portable, and obviously has tons of battery life, but I simply refuse to do without a Wacom pen. Only that can give me the precision and palm rejection I demand in a tablet computer, which for me is a replacement for pen and paper. (N-Trig could've been a competitor, but I've heard horrible things about their drivers...does your XT2 have any digitizer problems?)
On the iPad, I'm seeing apps like Penultimate and SketchBook Pro that also try to make the iPad a pen and paper replacement, but there's only capacitive multi-touch. The iPad can't differentiate between the tip of a capacitive stylus and my palm, and there's also an issue with capacitive styluses needing to have thick tips by design.
The main issue with Tablet PCs, though, is that it's still keyboard-and-mouse Windows, albeit with a nice Tablet Input Panel and an Ink library that handles handwriting recognition. What we really needed was a built-from-the-ground-up OS designed to leverage touch AND pen everywhere. That was what the Courier promised...only they refused to follow up on it. The result is that for every OneNote, InkSeine, or SketchBook Pro, there are a million other apps that force me to use it in laptop mode if I'm to use them with any semblance of efficiency.
For those times when I need to type, not write, my preference for convertible Tablet PCs like the Latitude XT2 (not that model specifically, but that's the basic form factor) gives me ready access to a nice, physical, tactile keyboard I can touch-type on, as I am doing right now composing this comment. I just don't like virtual keyboards at all for reasons the above commenter has stated, though the iPad's keyboard is at least significantly more usable than the iPhone/iPod touch's simply due to the greater surface area.
The iPad has taught me that the technology already exists, however. Someone just needs to put a Wacom EMR pen digitizer in there and give it a suitable interface and apps to leverage the pen. It's literally the only thing keeping me away from it.
I like the tablet form factor for taking handwritten notes in meetings and when I am sitting across the table from someone. It's nice not to have a laptop screen between me and the person I'm meeting with. I use it as a laptop at my desk and then I just flip the screen around and remove the pen when I need to head off to a meeting.
ReplyDeleteIt's also good for when I'm in "cattle class" on a plane and the person in front of me puts their seat back. I can still work in tablet mode.
The XT2 running Windows 7 has excellent handwriting recognition (at least I'm satisfied with it) and I've had not digitizer issues with it. I use it in conjunction with OneNote which helps me keep meeting notes organized.
I'm sure an improved digitizer will come along soon for the iPad.
I use a Fujitsu ST5020 slate tablet running XP. I haven't taken the time to try to install Win 7, but I love my 7+ hour battery. If I had regular long flights I'd get a spare.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete