PDA vs Tablet: Is the War Over or Just Starting?

2010 will be a decisive year for the tablet computer.

Let’s face it, tablet computers have had a tough time gaining traction in past years. For manufacturer’s, it’s been a relatively small niche business. I recall back in the late 90’s I was looking at what was available and there wasn’t much. There were a few smaller companies like Xplore Technologies, Walkabout Computers and some others. The big daddy of that day was Fujitsu. While several large high tech companies (eg. HP) have ventured into the tablet business, most, if not all, have exited the tablet business at some point. Fujitsu is about the only one that has hung around and still in it today. However, just earlier this week. Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer presented at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and held up the yet-to-be-introduced HP tablet.

Although tablet computers have been around for many, many years, there is a new breed of manufacturers with some very interesting tablet computers in their pipeline that will cause users to think about tablet computers again.

By tablet computer, I’m referring to the “slate” style tablet computer that uses a pen for data entry because it has no keyboard. Something like these…
            

Think about the limitations of tablet computers in the past:

1.    Size

2.    Poor screen readability in various lighting conditions

3.    Expensive

4.    Poor hand-writing recognition

5.    Poor battery life

SIZE

In my personal experience, size and weight was a major deciding factor as to whether I grabbed my tablet (yes, I own one) or a PDA to take into the field for GIS data collection. In my mind, the driving factor would be if I needed the screen size for the particular project. If I could make do with the smaller screen size of the PDA, I’d use the PDA because it was easier to carry, especially if I was using a four-wheeler or driving some other utility vehicle while mapping.

However, this may change. Tablets with smaller screen sizes (eg. 7″) are being introduced. More sophisticated software and more extensive datasets are being carried in the field. If these factors overcome the ergonomic disadvantage, tablet computer use in the field will increase.

POOR SCREEN READABILITY IN VARIOUS LIGHTING CONDITIONS

The readability of tablet screens outdoors is a major issue. In fact, at one point some manufacturer’s forced you decide, when purchasing, whether to select a screen used for “indoor”, “indoor/outdoor” or “outdoor” use. The “outdoor” screen was absolutely useless indoors or even in the outdoors in poorly lit areas.

Some years ago, I purchased a model with the indoor/outdoor screen. It worked fine indoors and I’ve used it outdoors on a number of occasions, but found that it was tough to read in direct sunlight so I found myself trying to shade it so I could read it better. I gave up trying to use an orthophoto in the background because there just wasn’t enough contrast to be able to see the moving cursor and features I was recording.

But thanks to the explosive growth in the notebook computer industry, a lot of research and development money has been spent on improving screen technology. Nevertheless, some tablet manufacturers don’t even attempt to create products with screens that are readable outdoors. It takes a special effort to create such a product.

If you ever consider purchasing a tablet computer for field work, the first test you should conduct is screen readability in the environment we you’ll be collecting data.

EXPENSIVE

Historically and even today, tablet computers are a niche business. The volume of units sold on an annual basis is less than 1% of notebook computer annual volume. But, the development and production costs are higher than a traditional notebook computer. Therefore, the pricing of units is going to be higher. For ruggedized tablet computers, pricing can reach US$5,000. The going rate for my indoor/outdoor (not ruggedized but doable with a sturdy carrying case) tablet was nearly US$3,000 when I purchased it a few years ago.

Ruggedized tablets are still going to command a high price. For example, Trimble Navigation recently introduced the Yuma tablet. It’s got a 7” screen, has a 32GB solid state hard disk and is ruggedized for outdoor use. It’s priced at US$4,000.

However, in 2010 we are going to see many low-priced tablet computers entering the market. Freescale is reportedly going to introduce a sub-US$200 tablet netbook. Mio is working on their own 7” screen tablet. And, of course, Apple has announced their tablet that is rumored to be introduced in March 2010. Just think what the iPhone has done and you can imagine what will happen if Apple hits a homerun with their tablet product.

Even if they aren’t ruggedized, it won’t matter. If the unit prices are cheap enough, companies will designed ruggedized enclosures or special cases just like they did for the consumer PDAs (eg. Ipaq).

POOR HAND-WRITING RECOGNITION

I’m not sure this will ever be perfected. Even an accuracy rate of 98% means it will misinterpret 1 out of 50 words you write. Is that good enough? Personally, I set mine up to maximize “pick-lists” and sketching while minimizing hand-writing. At the end of the day, it’s not a deal-breaker. Users will adapt to the limitation.

POOR BATTERY LIFE

Like the advancement in screen readability, battery technology has also advanced so this is less of an issue than it used to be. Ideally, the battery would last an entire day on one charge. For GIS users, however, five hours on a charge is the minimum as long as the battery can be easily swapped during lunch-time. I don’t think this is a deal-breaker.

2010 – The Year of the Tablet?

Whereas tablet computers were seen as a higher-end niche business in years past, that will change in 2010. Several high-volume manufacturers like MiTAC, GETAC, ASUS, HP and Toshiba are introducing new tablet computers. In addition to leveraging off of the explosive growth of notebook sales, tablet computer product development is also leveraging off of netbooks, convertible, and UMPC product development efforts. They all have the same basic technology requirements (readable screen in various lighting conditions, battery life, hand-writing recognition, size, low pric
e). This will translate into lower cost of development, which will mean lower prices to the consumer….possibly much lower.

Thanks and see you next week.