Its time now for Google stand up and be counted tablet wise
Hats off to Apple having proved demand for device that at 3 Million sales and counting is effectively a new generation of device. Its a game changer. No more struggling with awful heavy lap tops.No more key boards. No more artificial separation of work rest and and play (I mean how quaint is that ?) No more very dull discussions about the OS- who cares about the OS? Anyone? Thought not....Its significant that the Apple play ( the intersection of liberal arts and technology ) is just such an important characteristic of these devices. Most people most of the time just want to Get. Stuff. Done. We want to do that easily and in a nice shiny package too. I want to do email,web browsing, watch movies, TV ,store and stream and listen music
I want one obviously but there a number of issues that stop me leaping Apple wise just now upon which Google can capitalise.
Impressive though it is the iPad is still too heavy, too restrictive on browser access content wise ( try using Google Docs just now ),to difficult to work on without shelling out for Mobile Me and content is filtered through iTunes only. No doubt the second generation iPad due in 2011 sometime will move the game on really well (imagine a much lighter glass enclosure a la iPhone 4,a front and rear camera, a face time account, a 10 inch retina display, and Google Chrome ( oops that wont happen will it ;-) All this is coming no doubt but content and access will still be locked down for all the curated reasons Apple espouse.
Why Google though? Frankly who else can do it?
What are Dell doing? The Streak? Too big for a phone and too small for a tablet and no content. HTC? Trying very hard indeed and innovating quickly but no expertise in liberal arts at all. Samsung,LG,Sony, Motorola. Palm? No where thus far.
Google appear to be only people in place to be able move the game on in open and accessible way . Here is what we need-
Android or Chrome OS Lets get the confusing bit over with first. Android is for the phone and smart devices. Chrome OS is for netbook type devices. Which to use? Android is out and pumping well for Google and the App store is growing rapidly although it do could with a light touch of curation though as some apps are still too flaky for normal use.Maybe the Android thing and the Chrome OS could merge at a some point. Right now with Chrome OS not even in release 1 the first generation of Google Tablet should be Android 3 ,AKA Gingerbread. It would be fantastic if the UX and UI could be breathed on though. The metaphor for Android and indeed still for Apple devices is the the old application/computing model- we need a nice Social access model eg swipe access to social media, Music, Video and data. Imagine a nice mash up of HTC wildfire interface combined with the Sony Xperia fluidity combined with Palms Web OS.
Thereafter we need-
Thin and light. Apple have shown the way and there is no reason why we cannot now have a thin and light enclosure
Display can we have a 10 inch bench mark super AMOLED display please ?
Battery life - 10 hours is the benchmark
Camera Facetime is open source- hint ;-) so front and rear please
Wifi obviously but also 3G option too.
Web Apps-
HTML 5 offline and online access
Movies- streamed through You Tube will be fine thanks, plus click to buy and store in cloud
Google cloud print
Google Books Store and reader
Google Picassa
Google Music access store with a partner; try Amazon perhaps?
Google Apps
Google Chrome
Full access to Android store
Google can do this and in such a way that moves the game on fully into the cloud- a cloud where music and TV and movies live and can be streamed and consumed more easily than ever before and purchased if I want too. Where my pictures and home movies can be securely looked after and my social life is accessed easily too. A device where I can work using all the modern productivity web apps now available.
Its Time for a direct store purchase too. The Nexus One store may have been a struggle and is now effectively closed but direct access and purchase here now is a good model for this type of tech.
Any chance guys?
