Tablets: How Would You Solve the Input Problem?
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 29, 2011 2:22 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- iPad 2
- Ask AnandTech
- Mobile
In our iPad 2 review I mentioned that despite really liking the device, I never really could integrate the original iPad into my daily life in a meaningful way. I always ended up traveling with the iPad and a notebook or while around town I just kept a smartphone on me. That limited my iPad use to pretty much lounging around at the house, and even then I found myself turning to the laptop more often than not.
With the Xoom and iPad 2 I've been giving the tablet usage model another try. I've kept my usage mostly consumption focused. Browsing the web and reading emails. I really do prefer using a tablet for both of these things. I do wish the iPad 2 was faster when selecting lots of emails but the improvement over the original iPad is still considerable.
My holdup is this: while I love reading on the iPad 2, I have troubles contributing using it. Writing lengthy email responses or even posting comments on AT is just slower on the iPad than on a notebook. The solution can't be to just walk over to a laptop when I want to respond and just use the iPad when I'm reading - that seems horrible inefficient.
I could use a Bluetooth keyboard but that's also rather clunky. I feel like there has to be a better solution going forward, particularly as the tablet market grows. Is it voice? Or some sort of an integrated kickstand with more flexibility than what you get with the smart cover?
I feel like smartphones get a pass because it's easy to type on them regardless of where you're sitting. Tablets on the other hand need to be propped up against something and as a result are harder to type on in certain situations. They work fine on a desk but if I'm at a desk I'd rather use a notebook. What about when laying back on a couch?
I'm curious what you all think about this. Am I alone in finding tablet ergonomics a barrier? If not, what do you believe is the best solution for tablets going forward. I want to read and respond on a tablet as quickly as I can on a notebook. What needs to be built? Post your comments here and I'm sure we can get many of the tablet manufacturers to pay attention. I don't think they have stumbled across the best solution for this problem either, so what you say here might go a long way in making tablets better for everyone.
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Capt Caveman - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
As other's have mentioned, though not perfect and still advancing, speech recognition will allow the tablet to expand it's capabilities and increase owner's productivity. Just image touching the comment box here and speaking instead of typing this message.If I make a mistake, I could just highlight the word with the swipe of my finger and say a word to replace it. We see voice commands becoming a more common method of input for vehicles, smart phones, etc.
Add a stylus and handwriting recognition and you will have a great product with mass appeal.
The tablet is not fad, Apple has helped innovate the market with it's ability to make the product more user friendly and useful by the average person(ie. mp3 player and smart phone).
sean.crees - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
This will likely be where tablets end up eventually.Idunno about a stylus though, some may, but i'm pretty sure Apple will just have you use your finger.
Alexvrb - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
OK, so here's my idea. I think it is really revolutionary. To make tablets useful, you need to attach a keyboard. But just attaching a fixed keyboard or a slide-out one won't work for larger tablets. After all, it would become too awkward to hold it and type at the same time. You have to attach it to the tablet using hinges, so you can rest the keyboard section on your lap or a table, while propping the display up (preferably in landscape orientation). Then, so you don't have to lean over all the time to click on things, add a little touchpad to control a pointer or cursor of some variety.Finally, now you you've got all this extra tablet real estate where the keyboard and touchpad are, you could pack in some real horsepower and more storage. Finally, install a full blown operating system. If you absolutely must use "teh appz" in some kind of "App Sandbox" instead of real software, you could always integrate an app store into the browser.
I really think this idea would make tablets actually useful! What do you guys think? Should I take this idea to a big company, like IBM?
Alexvrb - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
Oh another side benefit of using a hinged keyboard/touchpad add-on (with built-in processor-ram-storage upgrade module), is that you could just fold it shut whenever you aren't using it. So it will just just as portable as before! BRILLIANT!Morelian - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
I have an Ipad 1 and use it mostly every day. It is light and I slip it in my book bag when I head off to work. At work I mainly use it for the free moments I get to check emails-the mail client is fine and while I use it to view emails, I use my home pc to do any responding. You can also surf facebook on it and I like the bigger size than on the Iphone. Finally, if work is really slow, I can surf the net or read one of the books I have. I should mention at work all the pc's are shared, so I don't feel comfortable checking emails on them and I don't like surfing on them in case somebody needs to use one for work :) I can and still do use the Iphone for this but the Ipad is a more convenient platform.At home the Ipad is strictly a consumption device. I like to read, so my books are on them and if I eat a meal by myself I prop up the Ipad and read the Times or AT so something. In the car the Ipad is a great book platform plus with the 3g you can check emails and websites etc. The Ipod function is there and you put on the headphones and can read and listen to music while the kids watch cartoons etc.
Anand, you need to think consumption and not input with the device. As much as I like my Ipad and use it, I don't ever type more than a sentence with it. In a couple of years the Ipad 4 or 5 will probably be fine to use with a bluetooth keyboard for "work" but for now think of a portable newspaper, magazine, book library and music collection. For typing this reply I am doing it on my desktop with a nice tactile keyboard and 24 inch monitor-No way I would want to type on the Ipad. There are some things desktops and laptops are just better at.
ricyuyc - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
If space is available, I would bring the HHKB Lite2 /w me. It work when coupling /w CCK at dock connector. You guys may found photos here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricyuyc/tags/hhkblite...
I use them to take notes during meetings/forum, report drafting in cafe and park or, whenever I need massive input at the field. The tactile feel is almost as good as the HHKB Pro2, but draining current of Pro2 is just higher than the dock connect could support. And lite2 equipped w/ ← ↑ ↓ → cursor key that Pro2 didn't.
darwiniandude - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
Every time I've used the Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad, I get a bit done and then want to move somewhere else in the building and it's simply too awkward. I've found that with practice I can type extremely efficiently with the on screen landscape mode keyboard. I know this doesn't propose a fix for the ergonomics problem, but with practice I've found it to be a non issue. I simply love typing on the iPad now, provided the dictionary is properly trained to correct words as I desire. An editable word list for the iPad's dictionary would really help here.I just use the apple cover on the 1st gen, or smart cover on the new one. (what this post is typed on)
Portrait mode keyboard is useless.
It need to sit in my lap and I sit upright and type on it. You can't lounge back in a chair and type, but then I'd imagine that would be awkward with a conventional notebook/netbook anyway.
Each to their own.
I only really wander over to the iMac now for the occasional flash website or to sync/backup the iPad.
softdrinkviking - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
1.Voice input could work if 1. you are at home and relatively alone. 2. you don't mind everybody else at the airport bar to here every last word you type.2. I don't like typing on a qwerty touchscreen either.
3. My choice would be to use a stylus when i had to write. i would like there to be some more sophisticated handwriting programs that have more intuitive ways of using your writing in to fill in web forms and other interactions.
4. Also, you could redesign the traditional touchscreen input to be more friendly to the human hand. The biggest difficulty I have with touchscreens is that I would like to hold it in the bottom corners, but in order to type, I have to shift my hands to the center, or put the thing down.
If you remapped the qwerty to the two bottom corners of the screen, and maybe put them inside of rotating discs that disappeared into the corners so that all you ever saw was a quarter circle in each corner.
and there could be like 3 or 4 levels of letters that rotated on their own disc level, one for letters, one for numbers, one for symbols.
Of course, you'd have to relearn how to type completely, and you wouldn't know how well it worked until you tried it, but i think it sounds better than the current option to me.
ProDigit - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
Finally, people finally start to see that tablets are unhandy, and notebooks are with their extra keyboard!Finally some people in the world start to have a brain!
A tablet to a netbook is like a car without an engine.
joe_dude - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
The Eee Pad Transformer should have much better keyboard integration than the iPad with keyboard dock and 16 hours battery life (!!!). I hope Anandtech will review it and see if it's good for road warriors.http://blog.laptopmag.com/asus-eee-pad-transformer...