Hard to Swallow?

Good questionand one for which there is no easy answer. There are but a handful of manufacturers delivering these things right now (see links at the end of this article). Thus, there is not yet a model by which we may judge others. In essence, a tablet PC is a portable computer that includes a digitizer so that pen strokes on the screen are recorded and interpreted. Application-specific designed tablets are already in widespread use: For example, those nifty little computers the FedEx guy carries and uses to log every receipt, signature, and delivery. Talk about being connectedthat data is immediately uploaded and made available. I have called my wife at home and asked her to grab the package off the front porch before someone else does. You will find dedicated tablet machines in many different industry verticals. What Bill Gates is excited about is a generic tablet PC that can be used both as a regular computer and as tablet PC that is only limited by software.

Hybrids and…

Tablet PCs come in two flavors: a hybrid and the pure tablet that is sometimes referred to as a slate. The hybrid, or combination, models appear to be standard sub-notebook computers. The screen, however, is also a touch screen and a digitizer. The current designs are such that the screen is opened 90 degrees, just like a regular notebook; it then rotates 180 degrees around the axis of the hinge; it then folds back down on the base of the computer presenting the user with a flat screen that is accessed with a special pen or stylus. (Doesnt that scare you just a little bit? Looks like a weak point to me.) A series of special buttons around the screen are used to access other needed computer functions (your keyboard is underneath this screen right now).

Slates

The pure tablet PC is generally a lightweight, slim device whose only user interface is a digitized screen and those buttons surrounding that screen. It requires special docking stations for use in normal computing situations. Some have optional wireless keyboards.

Since these machines are obviously designed for maximum portability and field use, they all have wireless communications built in. Right now at National Underwriter, we are looking at 802.11A or B and Bluetooth. These are short-range wireless protocols, so their usefulness is questionable. If I am truly using one of these things in the field, it would be nice to have long-range data transmission capabilities (like the FedEx guy). If I need to carry it within the range of a local wireless network, I might as well plug it into the local Ethernet.

Cost?

Bleeding-edge technology generally doesnt come cheap, but the price tag on tablets isnt all that bad. I have read that adding the digitizing screen to a standard notebook will cost about $200. There are apparently only two manufacturers of the screen technology at this time. All the models I have seen retail for around $2,000seemingly a not unreasonable price for a notebook. Heres the rubthe specifications for the base computers are not exactly killer600 to 1000 MHz machines with 256 MB RAM. Machines like that without the tablet features can be had for $1,000, so you really are paying for that first adopter privilege.

Microsoft at the Core

The operating system for these machines is a superset of Windows XP (there are tablet PCs that dont use the Microsoft OS; Linux machines are in developmentbut here I am talking only about the new Microsoft Tablet PCs). Take Windows XP Professional and add in voice recognition software, digitizing capture software, and OCR software. Add a new application called Journal, and youve got the heart of an OS for a Tablet PC. Microsoft has spent a lot of time and money to make this work, but translating pen strokes to meaningful digital data is not easy.

OCRNot!

I have used my PDA to take notes at various conferences and meetings. There are basically four different methods one can use to input text data using a digitizing screen:

Block Recognizerlet the OCR software attempt to recognize your pen input as entire words.

Letter Recognizerenter letters one at a time in a special screen area. If you follow the suggested rules, this works really well.

Keyboarduse the pen device to pick individual letters from a virtual keyboard.

Transcribercapture pen strokes as an image.

I have successfully used the virtual keyboard and the transcriber methods. Letter recognition is too slow, and block recognition is too inaccurate. I will concede these new laptops using Windows XP Tablet PC Edition have a lot more computing power and probably much better algorithms, but accurate handwriting recognition is not going to happen. I cant even read my own handwriting from yesterdayand I know the context. Handwriting recognition is something a true artificial intelligence (AI) machine can strive forlets be realistic in our expectations for business computing. I suspect if you carefully print on a Tablet PC using the correct series of strokes you can expect reasonable recognition accuracy. (Microsoft has done substantial research on developing algorithms for recognition of ideographic languages like Chinese and Japanese. Now that makes more sense than attempting to recognize American English cursive.)

So, we have summarily dismissed handwriting recognition as a raison d tre for tablet computing. Whats next? Recording pen strokes as an image has some useful applications. Lets assume you support a field force of claims investigators. Properly designed software could send an agent into the field with the most relevant information already downloaded onto the tablet PC. Information specific to that claim such as sketches, drawings, and digital pictures could be easily captured using a pen device and an attached digital camera. The software would allow the input of most data by making selections from prepopulated lists or drop-down boxes. Small amounts of text data can be input using a virtual keyboard or recognition software. Microsoft has designed this system so transcribed data can be stored as an image and run through a recognition process later. The company has also developed a more efficient means of storing and accessing image data. It claims a 60 percent better compression ratio than a typical JPEG file. Microsoft even provides the ability to search handwriting stored as an image. If I record Bob Smiths phone number, I can theoretically search for Smith and find my handwritten note. Thats pretty cool.

The above scenario could easily be translated to a system for a sales force. Relevant information could all be captured in a remote setting (like a clients home); a policy application could be generated and a legally binding signature captured electronically (better use one of the hybrid models for this). If we look at targeted-use cases and applications, there seem to be appropriate utilizations of these machines. My pick for best use of these machines would be in a hospital environment. A nurse or physician would carry a tablet PC into the patients room and update his or her chart in real time. In a limited environment 802.11, wireless technologies will work and updated records will be available instantaneously. The guy in the pharmacy can check to ensure the doctor really prescribed 1000 mg of Prozac.

A $2,000 Legal Pad?

If you are not supporting some sort of field force, the reasons for using these machines are less compelling. I finally quit using my PDA to take notes at meetings. It really is quicker and easier to scrawl things all over a legal pad than use any of the pen computing methods I am familiar with. It has also cut down on a lot of verbal abuse from my colleagues with cool-device envy. The Microsoft Journal program even opens up looking like a lined, yellow legal pad. I know this software is not going to recognize my handwritingI will stick with a $1.29 legal pad.

Thats not to say there wont be valid uses for these systems. I can imagine a presentation where budgets are being reviewed. Using a digitizer screen and pen, I can easily change numbers (existing recognition software does a great job on numbers) for what if scenarios; I can add handwritten annotations that will be stored with the document like electronic sticky notes; I can add a handwritten list of assignments to that document that every attendee will have when he or she returns to the office. We have all seen and used digital whiteboards. Tablet computing brings the white board closer to the user. It might be useful to have a tablet PC in every conference room hooked up to a projector. The presenter can easily add notes and highlights through the presentation and save that particular presentation with all those notes.

Microsoft has promised Tablet PC features will be incorporated into its Office suite of productivity tools. It has released ink controls and APIs so that other software vendors can incorporate all the cool stuff tablet computing brings us. This is some very interesting technology. The big question is, are we once again attempting to use technology to accomplish something that is better done some other way? I dont know. I suspect tablet PCs are here to stay, but I also suspect the killer app for them is yet to be discovered. I know we wont be purchasing any until we can justify ROI. Meanwhile if anyone wants to loan me a review machine for about six months, Ill get back to you.

Here are a few links to existing tablet PCsthis list is not complete or exhaustive.

ViewSonic:

Compaq: http://www.compaq.com/newsroom/presspaq/TabletPC/

Acer: http://www.acer.com/us

Fujitsu: http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/rl/products/pentablets/pentablets.html

Toshiba: http://www.csd.toshiba.com