Tablet for reading

NYSERVANT said:

  I will be looking to replace my laptop soon and I have been considering getting a tablet laptop that can give me the feeling of reading a book with the power of logos behind it.

  Any ideas?  Anyone have any experience with this one?  I'd love to have logos feel like a book in my hand (sort of like the ipad idea) but with the full strength of logos on a windows laptop.

I use my two active tablets to read Kindle books - I have not tried to use them to read any books in my LOGOS library.  Note there are lots of free Kindle books available - including some Christian fiction and non-fiction.  I have not purchased a Kindle and have purchased only a two or thee of the 200 books I own.

My two tablets include a Gigabyte netbook (http://amzn.to/GByte) and a HP Touchsmart Tablet PC (http://bit.ly/HP-tm2).  Both serve me well with LOGOS.  The netbook tablet works well for reading and studying,   Its response is too slow to accurately process handwriting.  The HP, though a bit heavier with its heftier specification, does handle handwriting well.  I expect that either would work well with LOGOS in reading mode.  

My practice is to print LOGOS books to PDF files a chapter at a time using one of the free PDF print drivers (I use CUTE PDF) available - and then to use PDF Annotator to highlight, write comments in the margins, etc.  

There has been talk of the HP Slate being a good tool for this.  I have not yet ordered one - but am waiting till I hear reviews from users and till my bank account is ready for another hefty hit.  [:)]  But you might want to explorer this as a possibility as well.  As I understand it, the Slate will be running Tablet PC software.

Let me know if this is of any help or if you have other questions.  Others may have other ideas for your consideration.  I hope they do - to bring some balance to the discussion,

I have the tm2 - a special pre-built model from Sams Club.  Here are the specs:

As I said earlier, I am pleased with its response time with LOGOS - others may disagree, but I have nothing more powerful to compare it to.  

NYSERVANT said:

... does the touchscreen work with just your finger? 

Does on the HP tm2 - though remember the resolution is not the same as with the pen.

I use the newest HP TM2t (i5 processor) with the extra graphics GPU--I bought it specifically to be able to carry the full power of Logos with me.  I love it, and read extensively.  When I read I highlight _a LOT_, so the full Logos was essential (at least in the current generation of software).  I nearly always highlight either using the pen or (in laptop mode) the trackpad and the keyboard. 

  I take a few notes, but find that notes and clippings are slow--seems to be areas for further code refinement; it is not a processor "busyiness" issue.

  Logos isn't as tablet-enabled as I'd like it to be (you can help fix that by voting in UserVoice for the tablet functionality).  For example, Logos doesn't understand when you are using a pen versus using a finger--like OneNote 2010 does.  In OneNote, moving a finger scrolls the content whereas moving a pen selects the content.  In Logos, everything pretty much selects the content.  Based on other's suggestions, I redefined my Tablet "PenFlicks" so that a rapid sideways swipe up or down became a PgUp/PgDwn command--after getting used to how to swipe without selecting text and after a little experimentation to decide which direction made more sense to me (i.e., should swipe down move you earlier in the text, or should it move you later in the text--a very personal choice). 

  The HP is a little hefty to hold, and the display is a little prone to glare.  It pretty much cannot be used in an outdoor environment or near lots of sunlight (like next to windows in an airport or in a car/bus/train) without risking eyestrain.  I work around this fairly successfully, but it is an issue--I run screen brightness at 75% to compensate, but that uses battery faster.

  I thought I needed the extra GPU for Logos, and it has an effect on hardware stats--but it doesn't seem important for Logos performance.  I was going to put an SSD in it, but based on others' feedback, decided to live with the mechanical drive until prices are cheaper--my intention is to instead buy a picoprojector with that kind of cash (at least once their resolution and intensity improve to tablet resolution specs; 1200x800 if I recall).

 The heat vent can really crank out some heat when the 4 processors + GPU get busy.  Logos indexing can tax them a bit, but when I watch the Greek/Hebrew videos with OneNote open the tablet becomes a little spaceheater.  According to the news, I'm not likely to have kids anytime soon...

  The tablet physical keyboard doesn't have PgUp/PgDn/End/etc buttons (at least marked), and I find that to be really frustrating.  However, I don't typically use the tablet in laptop mode anyway--I've got a desktop computer for complex editing.

  HP chose to not make the extended battery flat/flush with the case.  Lots of folks didn't like that--I've grown to like it though; it forms a sort of handle and makes the tablet easier for me to carry.  That said, it also has a bad side effect of enabling the tablet to flip over when the screen is open--the weight balance is off.  The Lenovo tablet extended battery just protrudes beyond the end of their tablet, giving it a firmer base--Lenovo also makes their case out of a material that is easier to hold onto. 

  HP insists on putting some crazy kind of etching onto the TM2t case--I'm not fond of that at all, but I spend my time looking at the screen anyway.

  The HP is a geat tradeoff between price and performance for a Windows 7 tablet--a tradeoff that is the sweet spot for Logos performance.  If Logos is given better touch/pen awareness in the future, it will really rock on a tablet.  But if you are willing to cope through the issues above, I'd recommend moving to this device today.  And cast your UserVoice vote [;)]

EDIT: Just remembered--a problem with LCDs is that they aren't consistent in color rendering across all inclinations of viewer to image.  This is an issue for tablets where users can easily change the perspective/orientation with which they interact with their screen.  The result is that you may find colors like yellow highlighter to be washed out in certain angles--easily addressed by changing orientation or inclination (or coping with it).  P.S.: The webcam isn't smart enough to know that you've changed orientation--an odd omission--and the tablet orientation is a manual selection; HP doesn't natively support an accelerometer to detect how you are holding the tablet and change the view to match.

I use an ancient Gateway C-120x tablet PC: 1.06 GHz Pentium Core Duo. In runs Logos acceptably for the most part.

I have an HP Slate 500 on order and am excited about this as a Logos4 platform. I will be doing a detailed review of it when I get it. However, I'm not expecting it until January at the earliest. HP is having some sort of production problem and shipments have been delayed indefinatly.

Dan Francis said:

Some people have reported just loving it, others see it as under powered and over priced. I would love to know if anyone is using it with Logos and finds it working acceptably. 

There are a couple of users that have ordered the HP Slate, but, as far as I know, they have not received it yet.  They are planning to report on how well it handles the LOGOS tools.  Even as a Web browser, it might be suitable for reading off of Biblia.com.

My netbook, though it has a tablet footprint, does not work well as a tablet.  I cannot make handwritten notes or drawings.  I can, however, highlight text - in both L4 and on the PC Kindle App.  If I want notes, I will type them in using, either, the keyboard, or the stylus driven keyboard.  I am not sure how you add a touchscreen to an existing netbook.

Note, this is not the HP TouchSmart tm2 that I mentioned in an earlier post, but a Gigabyte T1028 with 2 GB of ram.  I use it for reading and studying (LOGOS and Kindle), notes are made with the keyboard into either David Michael's TheJournal or Microsoft's OneNote.   I also copy and paste text from LOGOS into these two programs for future reference and notetaking.

Dan Francis said:

The HP Slate may not be a good fit for Logos. It is running windows 7 but I have read disturbing things about it. 

I've been following the press quite closely and have observed a disturbing trend. There's been almost a coordinated effort by Apple fans to pan the device. And I don't mean just in the comments sections of boards. I mean in the so-called tech press too. All these articles are written without ever having used not only the Slate, but any touch & pen Windows device. In fact, many appear to not have used Windows since 95/98 days as they think that the CTRL-ALT-DEL button is for rebooting a hung machine. Those that actually have the Slate seem to be loving it.

Anything that runs well on a netbook, including Office, will run fine on the Slate. People even run Photoshop on netbooks. I can remember running Photoshop on 200 MHz Pentium Pro. Some people seem to think that if the Slate isn't powerful enough to be a desktop replacement I it's useless. I just with HP would get of its seat and ship the thing!

Ward Walker said:

The tablet physical keyboard doesn't have PgUp/PgDn/End/etc buttons (at least marked), and I find that to be really frustrating.  However, I don't typically use the tablet in laptop mode anyway--I've got a desktop computer for complex editing.

A bit late to respond to this - but it should be noted that this functionality is implemented using the "Fn" key along with the appropriate cursor key.  I use these combinations regularly for these keys.

Also, glad to hear about your use of the Slate - will look forward to a complete review.

I use an iPad for reading - I just relax on my couch and read as if I have a normal book. I just finished a book on preaching actually. It was light in my hands and very comfortable. It feels natural.

Since I only use the iPad for reading, quick internet searching, and e-mail, I could care less about having "full" functionality of L4. I leave that type of study for my iMac. 

So far the only problem I see, and one that I also see getting fixed soon, is highlighting and note taking. Until then I read with a notepad beside me.

There is no way you'd see me move back to a laptop. Too heavy, clunky, and unnatural.

Is there any way to know which books are / will be available to use on the Ipad or the new Droid app?  I would like to know in advance of any purchase for this same reason.

Michael Thebert said:

Is there any way to know which books are / will be available to use on the Ipad or the new Droid app?  I would like to know in advance of any purchase for this same reason.

The information is also on the product pages. the little iPhone icon indicates that it's available on the mobile app (and Biblia.com for that matter)