Re: [NTLK] Anyone seen or compared the Newt to the TabletPC's ?

From: John Skinner (john_at_johnskinner.net)
Date: Wed Nov 19 2003 - 22:34:43 PST


On 11/4/03 3:58 AM, "Raj Patel" <rpatel_at_accelrys.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Serious question and not a troll but has anyone played with one of the
> TabletPC's ?
>
> As a version 1 machine / OS combo how do they rate ?
>
> I wonder how long it'll be before someone creates a Newton-esque
> environment or theme for them....
>

Well I went to the initial launch of the Tablet PC. I have also played with
one while trying to do a back-up for a user at work.

There is very poor hand writing recognition, but they don't seem to be
pushing it. Instead, they want you to just scribble down your notes on what
looks like a yellow, note pad, paper background. This works as expected.

Windows XP is not a good OS to operate with a pen, but it is a familiar
environment (to those who are used to Windows). It is a bit odd to use the
button on the stylus as a right-click.

I love gadgets, but I don't know if I'd use a Tablet PC very much. If you
think about how you usually use a computer, there is quite a lot of text
input in any application. I just don't think it's very intuitive to always
input text via an on-screen keyboard. I like to be able to just write my
input in, like on my Newt!

All in all, it seems like pretty good hardware from most of the different
manufacturers for a version 1 machine. I guess if they have a few years to
refine it, it might get pretty decent. They need to add support for correct
text recognition into any application (not just the scribbles on the "note
pad" application). Then it could be much more usable and excepted.

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