Tablet PCs by HP, Toshiba to debut next month

Microsoft and its hardware partners, including HP, Toshiba, and Acer are launching the Tablet PC globally. The India launch is scheduled to follow by the end of November or early December. Initially, the Tablet PC will come in three versions, with models targeted at the low-end, mid-end and high-end consumer, informed Rajiv Kaul, President, Microsoft India. Though Microsoft is tightlipped about the pricing, according to industry analysts, the India version is going to be pegged at around Rs 2.25 lakh. Company sources in HCL Infosystems informed CNS that to begin with, Toshiba will launch only one model of Tablet PC from is global kitty in India. HP is also coming up with its Tablet PC version in India, but officials at HP declined to comment on the price or the model specifications. Incidentally, Windows XP Tablet PC edition is the first version of Windows to be built with the Microsft .NET framework.

The primary difference between conventional laptops and the Tablet PC is the emphasis of the latter on substituting conventional brief pads, coming with a digital pen, software that accepts doodling, and voice enabled features. Unlike laptops, the form factor of a Tablet PC does away with the conventional folded and covered screen, and is sleeker and less bulkier. But otherwise, a Tablet PC is a fully-featured laptop running on the Windows XP Tablet PC OS. All Tablet PC hardware packages include docking stations that enable the use of standard peripherals, without rebooting or requiring additional undocking actions.

The writing surface of the Tablet PC is roughly the size of a standard paper notebook, and users can rest their hand on the screen while writing or running software applications. The Tablet PCs have been designed to operate with an electromagnetic digitizer instead of a resistive touch screen, such as those typically found in PDAs and other digital devices with small screens.

The Tablet PC also includes support from gestures, by making a gesture on the screen with the digital pen, the user can execute several commands.

Tablet PC users will be able to operate their computers using a digital pen in addition to traditional input devices like a keyboard or mouse. The pen can also be used for the same functions as a mouse, including navigating user interfaces, selecting tools from menu bars, moving and resizing objects, and activating programs. As with physical pens, users can select the color and thickness of digital ink and use emphasis tools like bolding and highlighting. The ink used in Tablet PCs is stored as a series of complex equations called Bezier curves. This allows the digital ink to have a very small file size and facilitates efficient storage of ink files.

Microsoft will offer users the Office XP pack for Tablet PC, available on the Office XP site. The free download extends pen and ink functionality to the core Office XP applications--Outlook, Power Point, Word and Excel.

The Tablet PC also comes loaded with the Windows Journal, to be available only in Tablet PCs. Windows Journal lets users write notes in their own handwriting on the surface. Users can then convert the handwriting into text, and can enter text into notes. Users can also draw and include graphical files in notes. There is also a search option that lets users search through the handwritten ink files stored in the disk of the Tablet PC. Users can take notes on multiple pages with the MS Journal just as they would in MS Word, and save these pages as a note file. The notes can be printed, copied and deleted just like any file in Windows. Other features of Windows Journal include erasing, highlighting, formatting text, inserting space, dragging and dropping ink, recognizing and converting shapes, and formatting lists.

The Tablet PC editions also include the Sticky Notes Utility. This allows users to jot down short notes and place them on the desktop. Sticky Notes can be dragged to applications that use OLE technology, such as MS Word, Powerpoint and Excel.

Speech recognition is another interesting aspect of Tablet PCs, allowing users to dictate content or control applications with their voice. An external microphone is required in most cases.

Tablet PCs come equipped with all the protection features of the Windows XP Professional, including the Encrypting File System security feature, and access control feature. These PCs also support secure log on using a single Ctrl+Alt+Del hardware button.

Sudarshana Banerjee 

(CNS)