Of tablets

I think I've figured out why the tablet computers available both intrigue me and make me go, "Meh," at the same time.

Firstly, I'm a Windows fangirl. Not terribly so; it's a byproduct of wanting my various electronic gadgets to seamlessly talk to each other. I'm also an anti-fan of Apple. I know, I know... People love their stuff. But their willingness to censor, to arbitrarily exercise their corporate right to quash third-party apps for their app stores, to impose broadly restrictive DRM just irks the librarian in me.

I'm not some rabid "information wants to be free" activist. I mean, dude, I don't even rip artwork to make Facebook profile pictures; I had issues with the "change your profile picture to your favorite cartoon character for X cause" not just because doing so is more or less meaningless to actually supporting the cause (go out and actually help people, or donate to appropriate charaties), but mostly because it was flagrantly promoting copyright violation. But seeing the hassle people I know have gone through with songs they've bought on iTunes when their iPod dies, or if they want to play it on some other music device... that's just excessive. Amazon's mp3 license is awesome (even if I have similar problems with Amazon's Kindle).

So that's strike number one against most of the tablets on the market - I want something running a Windows OS. (I may also still be secretly pining for a Windows-based UMPC. *sigh*)

Secondly, I don't want a tablet for apps. I want a tablet that will do basically two things: browse the Internet, generally to access CNN, the New York Times, the local paper's web site, Wikipedia, and the bevy of web comics I read; and use Microsoft Word. Admittedly, MS Word isn't my primary choice of word processor (I love Corel's WordPerfect), but moving between devices, it's gotten easier to use the same program across them all rather than continually save multiple formats.

Yes, I basically want a netbook. But I want a netbook with maybe a 5-7" screen, that will fit in my purse. I think, really, I basically want my husband's phone, without the phone component, enlarged to the point where the screen hits that size. I don't need sound - hell, I don't even need video capability, because I rarely look at YouTube, and I don't like watching video news.

I think Fujitsu actually made what I was looking for about 10 years ago. (They still do!) I'm sure it's gotten sleeker since then. Having it be a tablet, rather than a standard clamshell type laptop/netbook would probably make its profile such that it really would fit in my purse.

Sony makes a little ebook reader that's about the size I want - it just doesn't do what I want. Give it browser capability and the ability to create/edit Word documents, and it would have pretty much what I want - the ability to write in a restaurant while my husband is in the bathroom, or while standing in line somewhere. I'm pretty good at zoning out the world and writing in public, but a laptop is too cumbersome for doing so, and I'm trying to get away from writing on paper (as much as I love it).

Ok, yes, I can actually do all of this on my phone. The screen is just small, and its inability to take a USB stick (ok, that's an additional consideration) requires synching prior to leaving the house. If I could plug a thumb drive into my phone, I wouldn't even been writing all this. Maybe that's what I really need - my next Windows phone to be able to take a USB stick.

Technology is great; it's just never quite what I want it to be.

Whee, phone!

Ok, the phone got here yesterday. O.O I had my (somewhat usual) upgrade meltdown, and the husband had to activate the phone for me (in part because the online activation didn't work, and the security questions on the account are set up for his father, argh).

But it works now, and I just have to try not to scratch it up before all the protective coating things get here. It does internet, and Microsoft Office, and all of that nifty stuff. (Oh, God, did I just call MS Office nifty? I feel dirty now...)

New phone!

I have a Sprint Treo 650. I like it - I didn't choose to upgrade to it, actually; I had a nice little flip phone at the time, when my husband got his Sprint Mogul, and was like, hey, you should take the Treo. So I did, and it's nice, that it syncs with my Outlook calendar and address book, and will open and edit Word .docs. Some wonkiness with the picture conduits (I can't sync pictures now that I've updated the software?!), but it's been okay.

The past few months, though, it's been randomly locking up. Not when it's doing anything - usually when it's just sitting in my purse. Sometimes when it's just sitting on the seat in my car. I'll find out because I'll go to check it, and pushing buttons does nothing. Or I'll see that I had a missed call, but I never heard it ring. This means I have to take out the battery to restart it. Very inconvenient.

So! This morning he ordered me this! (I let the husband do the phone stuff since he set up the account and knows what to do so that settings on the plan don't get inadvertantly changed and cost us lots of money.) The screen said I would need to call and validate the order, so I was planning to call at lunch, but Sprint apparently called my father-in-law this morning (the family plan my phone is on is in his name) to do the validation, and he subsequently called me to let me know. So I'm apparently all set. O.O

It's about the same size as the 650, but without the antenna bump. The keyboard size was important - the Centros have nice colors, but I really didn't want a smaller keyboard. I briefly considered a Blackberry, but I don't know how well they do internet, or if they work with Word .docs, or if they would sync with Outlook. And the salesmen didn't seem to want to talk to me. I went into Best Buy to look at phones, and despite standing around the phone area for at least five to ten minutes, and even pulling out my current phone to compare it with the sizes of the ones on display, not one of the half-dozen phone sales guys hanging around said anything to me. Way to blow a sale. :P

But the new 800w should be in the mail soon! Whee!