IPads, Notetabs, tablet PC things, etc...

Thanks peeps,

So, Phil, your ASUS has a keyboard, right? It is thus a laptop or a tablet?

To me, the thingy from Google comes across as a tablet with a built in keyboard. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong.

Ankesh, I understand they are devices used for Viewing rather than Creating, but the availability of a keyboard would turn that around, would it not in terms of written work?

I'm beginning to see a lot of them on construction sites. Where all the various documentation involved in a project is stored as PDF files and an Engineer or Supervisor/Foreman is able to bring them up At Will while away from the desk.

I've seen them used by service departments. Person pulls up, service guy goes out to vehicle and enters relevant details As They See Them. I assume a wifi or bluetooth link back to the main computer.

At the moment I see them, from a normal person POV, as a kindle reader with the ability to do some email, facebook, etc. BUT, that's how *I* see them. What I am wondering is more to do with what Margaret was hitting at - using Office Apps to turn it into a kind of laptop When Needed.

I agree using it to read Sowpub on the train is quite doable, while writing, even a message like this one, using the touchscreen keypad would be cumbersome and Not user friendly at all.

Are they more than a smartphone with a larger screen?

Michael