HP slate is out

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/10...-hp-slate-500/

These things are straight out of Star Trek Next Generation Too bad no one has managed to (license and) implement the Star Trek UI on one, then we'd be living the dream

I wonder what is the screen like. Is it grainy because of the touch and digitizer layer? The battery life is suppose to be 5 h. In reality is probably less than that. I wonder how bad it really is. Also too bad the screen is 8.9in. Why not 10 in instead!

I was surprised to read it was both capacitive and Wacom-enabled, and no doubt the latter is causing the graininess (or possibly the unit pictured was using a lower-than-native resolution).

I'm pretty sure it'll be a year or more before we, as consumers, have decided what size works best, and manufacturers are clearly throwing out a selection for us to try. A small tablet (7") is easy to hold with one hand (or with two hands, using thumbs to interact with the screen) and store and won't weigh much, but screen real estate is limited (without tiny fonts). A large table (10") can be heavier to hold (one hand to hold, leaving only the other hand to interact with the screen) and requires a larger case, but you have more screen real estate that's easier to read. Not sure what the battery life trend is with respect to screen size (smaller device, shorter battery life, or more battery life?).

actually I think one of the reviewers did a mistake and it is actually a Ntrig. But anyways, I think the graininess is cause by touchscreen isn't it? In the Edge the eink with the Wacom digitizer looks fine, while the LCD is a bit grainy

Originally Posted by borisb

I was surprised to read it was both capacitive and Wacom-enabled, and no doubt the latter is causing the graininess (or possibly the unit pictured was using a lower-than-native resolution).

I'm pretty sure it'll be a year or more before we, as consumers, have decided what size works best, and manufacturers are clearly throwing out a selection for us to try. A small tablet (7") is easy to hold with one hand (or with two hands, using thumbs to interact with the screen) and store and won't weigh much, but screen real estate is limited (without tiny fonts). A large table (10") can be heavier to hold (one hand to hold, leaving only the other hand to interact with the screen) and requires a larger case, but you have more screen real estate that's easier to read. Not sure what the battery life trend is with respect to screen size (smaller device, shorter battery life, or more battery life?).

EInk and LCD are two very different technologies where eInk is an emulsion of millions of tiny particles, multiples of which make up a pixel, whereas an LCD screen is made up of discrete triads of red, green and blue elements, each set making up one pixel. The grid nature of the latter I believe causes the graininess you're seeing.

I'm curious about how easy the pen is to use on the capacative screen. I would think you can't rest your hand on the screen while writing, as the EE, when using the pen in a drawing app on the lcd side. (I couldn't tell in the demo whether he was resting his hand on the edge of the unit, on the screen, or not at all.) It's awkward, and if having to do some major note taking, could cause hand cramping. Being able to write naturally is one of the things I really like about the EE journal app and reader.

It is suppose to have a dual digitizer, that is, when the screen detects the stylus it desactives the capacity touchscreen and activates the Ntrig digitizer. So you should be able to rest your hand on the screen.

Originally Posted by aidren

I'm curious about how easy the pen is to use on the capacative screen. I would think you can't rest your hand on the screen while writing, as the EE, when using the pen in a drawing app on the lcd side. (I couldn't tell in the demo whether he was resting his hand on the edge of the unit, on the screen, or not at all.) It's awkward, and if having to do some major note taking, could cause hand cramping. Being able to write naturally is one of the things I really like about the EE journal app and reader.

Originally Posted by borisb

EInk and LCD are two very different technologies where eInk is an emulsion of millions of tiny particles, multiples of which make up a pixel, whereas an LCD screen is made up of discrete triads of red, green and blue elements, each set making up one pixel. The grid nature of the latter I believe causes the graininess you're seeing.

Nicely stated borisb. I learn everytime I read your comments.

Originally Posted by fgruber

It is suppose to have a dual digitizer, that is, when the screen detects the stylus it desactives the capacity touchscreen and activates the Ntrig digitizer. So you should be able to rest your hand on the screen.

Wouldn't that be a problem if you're not writing in cursive? ie, when you lift the pen it's going to switch back to touchscreen mode. Maybe they have a delay before switching back to touchscreen, but that would be annoying in its own right if you want to immediately use the touch screen after writing something.

The Dell Lattitude XT convertible tablet has both a touch screen and stylus support, and somehow switches between the two modes. It could be the proximity of the pen (within say an inch) is what turns off the capacitive touch. That would allow you to lift the pen (at least a little bit) without triggering capacitive touch responses.

IN the HP tx2 the screen detects the stylus from a distance of at least 1 cm. You can see a pointer an all on the screen that follows the pen. So as long as you don't move the stylus to far away from the screen it won't active the capacitive touchscreen. Also notes that you can manually activate and deactivate the capacitive touchscreen.

Originally Posted by fgruber

IN the HP tx2 the screen detects the stylus from a distance of at least 1 cm. You can see a pointer an all on the screen that follows the pen. So as long as you don't move the stylus to far away from the screen it won't active the capacitive touchscreen. Also notes that you can manually activate and deactivate the capacitive touchscreen.

(Not addressing the capacitive touch discussion, just the Wacom behavior.) The "distance" factor is a standard behavior for the Wacom Penabled displays. I have a Motion Computing LE1700 tablet and the pen only needs to get near the screen without actually touching it to be "visible" to the sensor. The edge doesn't show a visible cursor for the pen on the eInk display, so it's not obvious that it works this way. Hold the stylus with your pinkie finger between the stylus and the display to engage the button in the stylus tip and play with it drawing on the screen without the pen actually touching the screen.

Actually, I like this Slate (with stylus at last <3) better than eDGe. eDGe reacts too slow and I am very easily distracted during that period =(

Personally I don't mind the small delay. However, the journal has a very limited functionality at this point. It has a long way to go to even try to match the most basic functionality of Onenote.

Having Onenote and maybe pdf revu available in a portable device would just be amazing. I just hope the viewing angles, screen graininess, and battery life are acceptable...

Originally Posted by henry_moh

Actually, I like this Slate (with stylus at last <3) better than eDGe. eDGe reacts too slow and I am very easily distracted during that period =(