The Mobile Web Tablet

Aah, what a beauty! Of course, coming from Apple, that’s what we expect. However, I can’t help but think when I see the keynote that not even Apple really knows how people are going to use this new device.

Here’s one use case I think I personally will find very attractive: note taking.

Currently there’s a killer tool for taking notes: pen & paper. This is an amazing invention. It’s cheap, requires no battery and is highly portable. Can the iPad beat it?

No. But it can complement it!

Just think about it: you have a setup like below with a case that contains a paper pad.

Add a camera (or an iPhone or any mobile phone with a camera and Bluetooth) to this and you can take pictures of your notes and almost instantaneously load them in to the iPad. Now you can email it, edit it and I’m pretty sure there will be some cool apps that pick out things like lines and boxes from your drawings so you can move them around.

Why is this better than a Netbook? Because of the touch UI. It will feel much more natural to use your hand to move your notes around than a mouse or a touchpad. Plus it’s smaller.

So, the iPad won’t replace your laptop, nor will it replace pen and paper. But it will improve both of them. It’s the perfect bridge between paper and digital.

Popularity: 27% [?]

This has to be one of the most hyped anticipated product releases ever. In about 24 hours from now we will see what Apple has been building in there.
As the owner of a blog titled “The Mobile Web Tablet” I of course look forward to the release and believe it will be a success, but the facts are still that it’s an unproven market with no major hits thus far – the Kindle one possible exception.
The question is if there’s room for a device larger than a phone but smaller than a netbook and with no physical keyboard. Well, if anyone can do it, Apple can. In about 24 hours we’ll see.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Nokia N900 mobile web tablet-that’s-also-a-phone has been hitting the stores after months of delay. Reviews are good and it seems like the speed of the device is what impresses the most. The downside is a somewhat clunky interface but an average linux geek should feel right at home. And honestly: can it get worse than S60?

Digital Versus writes:

Franck loved the fact that you can use the N900 as a terminal for getting inside the entrails of the phone (or how to make your life more complicated!) and the visual part of the interface. He regrets the lack of applications on Maemo.org, the fact that navigation isn’t always the most logical and that the keyboard is restricted to three lines (5 would have been preferable) “especially as you need to look up characters in the symbol bank that you often require for those famous “commands”".

PC advisor:

The Linux-based Maemo 5 OS is the star of the show. This really is an advanced smartphone – it’s a genuine handheld computer. Maemo can run multiple tasks simultaneously, the web browser is outstanding and the interface looks smooth and polished, unlike the Symbian operating system usually employed by Nokia. Menu icons and fonts will be familiar to any Nokia users, but Maemo ups the ante with some nice screen transitions; when opening new windows and browsing though running applications, for example.

While the N900 seems to be a great device, the big question is of course if Nokia can keep up against Android and Apple with the Maemo OS. Not just UI- or feature-wise but also when it comes to the developer community and availability of applications.

Then we have the Google Chrome OS and the rumored Apple Web Tablet so Nokia is being attacked from many directions. Never the less, 2010 looks to be an interesting year for web tablets.

Popularity: 17% [?]