SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT …

When you are considering a tablet purchase, consider your true needs.

For instance, do you want your tablet to work in a way that matches your phone? Samsung’s Galaxy series, the iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Surface Tablet provide a similar experience between phone and tablet. Apps purchased for one can be downloaded to the other, and have a similar look and feel. This product synergy makes tablets more than just big phones, it makes them an extension of the devices we already know and love.

Maybe you want something simply for reading?

No manufacturer does what Amazon does with its Paperwhite and original Kindle devices. While not a full-fledged tablets, these Ereaders provide an excellent glare-free reading experience that a full color screen has difficulty replicating. Apple and Google may have the software to read books but Amazon still produces the most noteworthy hardware for reading.

Do looks matter? (They often do in our industry!)

Apple’s Retina Display has pushed tablet graphics beyond their laptop brothers with better-than-HD quality. Other manufactures will catch up in 2013 and we expect we’ll see a slew of full HD devices come to market.

How do you want to touch the screen?

Lieutenant Uhura used a tablet on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, complete with a stylus, back in the 1960s (okay it was a nonfunctioning prop but it WAS cool). Steve Jobs didn’t see a need for a stylus, and figured that you were born with ten of your own. Through a partnership with Wacom, whose own line of Bamboo devices can be used as input devices for your desktop computer, Samsung has developed a line of products that have reinvented the stylus. The S Pen in the Galaxy Note series is a pressure-sensitive, fine-pointed capacitive device capable of additional features such as gestures and clipping (taking a screenshot of a freehand drawn area).

FULL DISCLOSURE

I love Android and am also a fan of the stylus – the outline of this post was created on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 using the SPen digital stylus with the SNote app. In the end though the final article was written on a desktop computer in Microsoft Word.