It’s the heyday of the portable device, and we’re asking our smartphones to do more and more. But when do we need more than a smartphone and less than a desktop or laptop? In 2013, some choose tablets because they are cheaper than laptops and bigger than phones, offering portable functionality. It seems that usage is as individual as the user – but we’re seeing more and more applications for customer service, for our clients, and for our creative team.
AN OVERVIEW
Tablets aren’t just convenient ways to keep in touch and organize your hectic life. Apps like Adobe Ideas and Photoshop Touch let you do intermediate graphic work right on the tablet —if you’re designing content for the tablet you can do the work right on the tablet and have an accurate representation of your work throughout the creative process. Use a wireframe app like iMockups for iPad or Mockups.me Wireframes to sketch out a website or app with support for Balsamiq. If you’ve designed and published your content with Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite, upload your content to the Adobe Cloud and share the finished product using the Adobe Content Viewer app. This solution would allow an exported InDesign project to be reviewed on an iPad or Android tablet and could even be used as a method for soft proofing. Review, sign and annotate PDFs using Adobe’s own Acrobat software. Use Air Display (for Mac, Windows, Android and iOS) to mirror content from your computer to your tablet and show off your ideas. Connect your tablet to a television or a projector and show your concepts or presentation on a larger screen.
A QUICK HISTORY
The first tablets — devices like the Intel Web Tablet (1999) and the Microsoft Tablet PC (2002) — ran full versions of Windows with little support for touch or stylus input, but some of the first form factors are still in use by Dell and others today. The iPad redefined the tablet and made it more than just a laptop with a different hinge. Instead of using a full operating system, Apple used a mobile OS and focused on weight, thickness, and battery life. The fruits of their labor are the most successful selling product line to date. And, it made tablets truly portable.
THE OPTIONS
From portable gaming to mobile versions of popular office software, hardware is nothing without software. The tablet form factor gives you the room you need for onscreen controls, formatting palettes, and other toolbars that just don’t fit on a phone but don’t need the processing power of a laptop. With software like Splashtop’s Remote and Streamer you can connect remotely to a desktop if needed from the comfort of the living room or the airport before boarding. This experience is difficult to navigate on a phone but is perfect on a tablet. Devices with 3G/4G/LTE connections through the cell companies ensure you have access to your data from anywhere. Apple offers a quality device at a higher price point than competitors. Microsoft, Samsung, Asus, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Motorola, HTC offer devices that fill the spectrum of price and quality points. Android devices can be found as low as $100, but you do get what you pay for.
AND, WHY NOT?
While I’m firmly in the pro-tablet camp, there are reasons to not rush out and buy your favorite Apple, Google or other product. While manufacturers put out product refreshes for tablets less often than they do for smartphones, there is a greater cost to the hardware. Like smartphones, the technology is constantly evolving for tablets too. Unless you’re buying on a contract from your wireless carrier and getting some kind of discount, keeping at the bleeding edge of technology can be dangerous to your wallet. Also, tablets are dependent on app developers for content — Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store lags behind Apple and Google. But the Pro version of the Microsoft Surface (an additional $400) does run desktop applications along with tablet applications.