GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Can the new interest in tablet computers revive the tired old keyboard-flipping tablets of old? Dell seems to think so, and once you check out the promo video for the soon-to-be-launched Inspiron Duo, you might think so too.

It might not seem like it amongst all the iPad fever, but tablet PCs have been around for years. A niche market, mostly serving the medical profession and dorky middle-managers who preferred to scrawl notes into Microsoft OneNote instead of learning to type, tablets languished due to running a desktop OS which was hopeless on a touch screen.

The Inspiron Duo is almost as far from these dinosaurs as is the iPad itself. The sleek-looking body looks like a fat tablet, and comes with a proper UI customized for fingers, although it’s running on top of Windows 7. Open it up, and flip the touch-screen around in its frame, and you have a proper notebook. It even has a JBL speaker-dock to slip it into for charging.

Success will rest on whether it can do both tasks properly, or whether it sports a too-small keyboard and un-intuitive touch-interface. If Dell gets it right, then the Duo could be a huge hit. Slip up and people will stick with an iPad and a proper notebook, instead of paying for a novelty Atom-powered netbook that doesn’t do anything properly. Available by year-end.

Dell Inspiron duo coming soon [Dell/YouTube via Mashable]

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Source:wired.com

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Dell Streak and Accessories, from Dell.com

The Dell Streak was always an odd fit for the consumer market — smaller than other tablets, bigger than other smartphones. But Dell sees a bright future for it in enterprise in general, and medicine in particular.

Dell’s Jamie Coffin and Scott Jenkins recently mapped their healthcare strategy for ZDNet. Because Dell healthcare services already provides IT infrastructure for over 350 hospitals, they can integrate their portable devices and software with the systems already in place — an advantage Apple, Samsung, and other tablet makers can’t match.

Devices that store and handle medical information have to fulfill a very strict set of requirements. Besides hooking into a hospital or healthcare network’s systems, there’s HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, a 1996 law that protects patient privacy.

There are also security nightmares whenever a device storing confidential information is lost or networked communications are transferred without encryption or or other security protections. Finally, medical devices have to be rugged, germ-resistant, and capable of working in disaster scenarios without ready access to electricity or a data network. This is one significant reason why hospitals’ information systems frequently seem so low-tech; it’s not recalcitrance, but redundancy by design.

For these reasons, medical devices are usually provided by specialized providers who can meet these requirements. They’re typically expensive, with patents or scarcity preventing competition, and UI is (ahem) not particularly a priority. Consumer devices, on the other hand, can beat specialized devices on price and usability. Dell thinks that they can leverage their consumer and enterprise positions to offer the best of both worlds.

Also, it really is just the right size for a lab coat pocket.

Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences [Dell]
Dell’s enterprise Streak plan: Target verticals like healthcare [ZDNet]
Dell Streak may soon be streaking into lab coat pockets [TeleRead]

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Dell’s latest innovation is this clever, transforming tablet/netbook: the Inspiron Duo. Instead of a complicated hinge, the screen flips on an axis inside its own bezel, swapping from regular clamshell laptop to keyboard-hiding touch-screen.

At heart, it’s a netbook, with a ten-inch screen and an Atom N550 CPU running Windows 7 Premium. And there, in that last point, is the problem. Windows 7 makes a great netbook OS, but it also makes a terrible tablet OS. Yes, it technically has built-in support for touch-screens but unless you have a finger the size and shape of a mouse pointer you’ll get frustrated, fast.

On the other hand, if you’re just watching movies or reading the internet then even Windows can’t ruin the tablet form-factor for you. There’s no word from Dell on price or availability, but the fact that it’s called the Inspiron Duo and that it already has a nice product shot makes me think it should be ready to buy pretty soon.

Dell’s Atom-powered Inspiron Duo: 10-inch netbook [Engadget]

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Source:wired.com

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After months of teasing, Dell’s 5-inch tablet-phone hybrid called the Streak finally has a price tag. The Streak will cost $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T. An unlocked version of the device will cost $550.

Dell is yet to announce exactly when the Streak will hit retail stores in the U.S. but it is accepting pre-sale orders from customers on its site. The device will initially be available in black with a red color variant introduced later this year, says Dell.

Dell launched the Streak in U.K. last month. The Streak is targeted at smartphone users who crave a larger display but still need a device that’s portable and could potentially replace their phone. The Streak has a 5-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera, phone, browser and access to Android apps. But it doesn’t exactly succeed in trying to be bigger than the phone but smaller than the iPad. (Read Wired.com’s review of the Dell Streak.)

A major drawback of the Streak is that it uses version 1.6 of the Android operating system, while most smartphones today run Android 2.1. Google has already released Android 2.2 Froyo and some devices such as the Nexus One have gotten the Froyo update.

The Streak seems woefully behind the times but Dell says a Froyo update is coming “later this year.”

In the U.S., AT&T haters won’t have a choice when it comes to choosing a wireless carrier for the device. Dell doesn’t plan to support T-Mobile’s 3G network or certify the Streak for operation on the T-Mobile network.

Photo: Dell Streak (Jon Snyder/Wired.com)

Source:wired.com

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Now that HP has sealed its acquisition of Palm, the PC maker is working hard to get Palm’s webOS mobile operating system onto HP products.

Palm’s webOS will power HP upcoming tablet, says HP CTO Phil McKinney. The tablet known as HP Slate had earlier been designed using Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system. HP also plans to put webOS on printers, says McKinney.

“There’s a gap for devices that are larger than a smartphone but smaller than a netbook,” he told attendees at the ongoing Mobile Beat conference in San Francisco. “Slates could fit in that category.”

Unlike rival Dell, which chose the Google-designed open source Android OS to create its cellphone and tablet, HP spent $1.2 billion to buy Palm. The transaction closed earlier this month.

HP wants to control all pieces of the mobile ecosystem, says McKinney.

“If you look at success in the market, they are those companies who can control the end user experience and the entire experience stack,” he says.

That sounds more like Apple and less like Google. But it is clearly the direction that HP wants to go. In March, HP seemed poised to launch its Slate tablet offering sneak peeks of the device through carefully edited videos. Leaks of the company’s plans for the Slate pegged the price of the device at $550.

But in a surprise move in April, HP announced its buying Palm and with that it sent the Slate back to the drawing board. McKinney says HP is not yet ready to announce a launch date for the Slate.

“I am not going to pre-announce products but I will say that we are investing money into research & development and marketing at Palm.”

Photo:HP

Source:wired.com

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