Android Tablet

Right now, when talking about tablet computers and their functionality, we usually discuss apps and how they expand the platform. Apple and Android devices alike access massive app stores that offer third party developers chances to offer dozens more tools that don’t come with the device naturally. In fact, for some manufacturers, the allure of the Android App store has made (or broken) their devices.

But, for those interested in more powerful applications or for specific enterprise functionality, Apps don’t always get the job done, at least not right out of the box. The iPad for example has been available for the better part of 8 months and is still gaining functions that its original users have long wanted, and almost all of them rely one or more third party apps.

Android tablets are now in the same place as Apple when its device was first launched. There are more than a hundred thousand apps available on the Android Marketplace, but they are almost all exclusively developed for smart phones. The resolution is lower and interfaces are designed for smaller screens, but with time that will change as the Android Marketplace share for tablet PCs continues to grow.

I’m largely restating the obvious though. What exactly should apps provide that the OS does not and does every passing week make it that much harder for anyone not named Apple or Google to provide a viable operating system for a tablet?

To start with, it depends on your perspective on touch screen computing. For many users, tablet PCs should come with native touch applications. And because those apps can be single access tools with low development costs, it’s not surprising that App stores are thriving. But, that doesn’t mean the Windows model won’t continue to work.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more robust advancements to the Windows operating system for touch computing, especially as Windows 8 grows in development between now and 2012. But, even with the current iteration of Windows 7 on a tablet (which I think works great), combined with third party tools like Thinix, you still need applications.

Office is good, as are a number of standard third party tools for Windows, but for a device to be truly effective as a tablet, it needs to be optimized for touch – not the on-the-fly OS tools used to interpret touch input as standard input. Devices like the TegaV2 are attractive for this very reason – the opportunity for dual OS operation (Android and Windows 7) gives owners both options.

If Apple didn’t have such an exclusionary policy about how apps are developed and approved in the App store, I think this conversion would be a lot more interesting. As it is, however, developers are essentially forced to develop iPad versions of their software first, then explore Android alternatives before looking into third party app stores. How will other devices like RIM’s PlayBook or rumoured Nokia devices compete? It remains to be seen, but the App model isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

It’s not every week that I have two tablets I can point at and say “that’s how not to do it” but after Monday’s post about the Toshiba Folio 100, I have another device I want to point out that just plain gets it wrong.

And while Toshiba at least had good intentions with their Folio design, NEC has completely missed the boat when it comes to their newest tablet entry – the LifeTouch. The device, which on paper doesn’t sound bad with Android, 3G, USB, SD Card reader, and 3 megapixel camera, all running on an ARM Cortex, is just a bit clunky if you ask me.

Here’s the problem. As you can see from the image above, not only does the LifeTouch eschew the increasingly standard silvers and blacks of modern tablets for a bright, glossy white, it is loaded with clunky buttons, a whole lot of extra material and a 7 inch touch screen that looks smaller than it ought to.

Just after receiving news that in the US alone, Samsung has sold 600,000 Galaxy Tabs, we now know that there is a huge market for Android tablets, but devices like this aren’t designed to capture that audience.

To be fair, it’s not like no other devices look like the LifeTouch. Only three years ago, many devices still sported buttons and had thick, heavy bodies for carrying. The difference is that back then touch screens simply lacked the responsiveness and flexibility they have today. And Windows on tablets was still being done with modified XP installations – it wasn’t nearly optimized for touch screen yet, so you needed buttons.

But, today’s devices are sleeker and more efficient than ever. Touch screen has moved forward at rapid speed and Windows is now a hot commodity for enterprise tablets (which is the market the LifeTouch is aiming for). And, this isn’t even a Windows device. It’s Android which means it was built for touch screens – definitely no reason for buttons.

In the end it all comes back to one question – what exactly was NEC thinking? Not only will this device launch at the tail end of the biggest year for tablet computers ever to date, but it will be immediately hobbled by questionable design, an older version of Android (2.1), and no clear market.

The last two years has been an amazing time for anyone who follows tablet computing. The speed with which the market has moved forward still astounds me and the new technology and sleekness of some devices being announced is downright impressive, but every now and then someone gets it wrong. It’s not to say a future device from NEC won’t adopt a sleeker design and a more intuitive layout, but for now we’re getting one more lesson in how not to build a tablet in 2010.

Right now it seems like every manufacturer on the planet is churning out a tablet PC to compete with the iPad. All those new tablets are sleek, stylish and generally considered quite popular with most consumers – especially when they are in the realm of affordability.

Yet, there is one company that is already finding itself in the dog house with customers over an inferior piece of tech. Now, there are a lot of problem tablets out there, many of them derided for being cheap and cashing in on the tablet craze. But, for the most part, those poorly made tablets are inexpensive – they are bad because they are cheaply made.

However, Toshiba’s Folio 100 has no such excuses. The device, which retails for €399 for most models (and as much as €529 for 3G models) and was released in Europe just two weeks ago, has already been pulled from at least one major retailer’s shelves (PC World). 

At first, there was some speculation that price might be an issue. After all, screenshots had surfaced of the Folio 100 with a £999.99 price tag. That was an internal blunder by the retailer, but the device itself had enough problems to push a removal anyways.

So, what went wrong with the Toshiba tablet and how could a company always at the forefront of mobile technology and tablets in particular make such a pronounced blunder? To start with, they rushed a product to market.

In their hurry to compete with Apple and other upstarts like Samsung, Toshiba created a product with inferior integration of Android, a mushy LCD with poor viewing angles and low pixel density, and a plastic case. The device simply doesn’t feel or look like the highly touted, sleekly designed tablets that have been making other companies so successful.

Since the Folio doesn’t have access to the Android Marketplace yet (a big sticking point for many rushed Android tablets) and because the built-in Toshiba Market Place app is so buggy, expansion of basic usability on the tablet is very limited – making it even harder to recommend the device.

This is a problem I think we’re going to see a lot more of. There are hundreds of companies out there frantically rushing to get a device on the market – not wanting to fall behind a burgeoning industry that will revolutionize computing like nothing since the laptop was developed. And because there are other devices already providing optimal user experience, companies that rush something out of the factory will not be rewarded, especially if the price is so high that it doesn’t allow them to forgive technical flaws.

Toshiba probably learned a valuable lesson here, one that cost them dearly. One hopes their next attempt at a tablet does more to highlight their long history of quality and durability in their devices, and that other companies currently rushing their own offerings out the door will learn as well – not all tablets will be successful.