Tablets

If you don't know, I've been ill for a while now, and hence taking loads and loads of pills and tablets and capsules and other medicine delivery devices. And I must say, there is room for improvement with them. I think that reducing the sizes would be a good start, or perhaps making something that combines them into one handy pill thereby reducing the number of swallows required.

Anyway, that isn't the type of tablet that is all over the blogosphere at the moment. That honour goes to the iPad, which you aren't going to swallow without a really suppressed gag reflex, and, presumably, an Apple approved throat.

I've looked at the specs, and read the initial reports of people who've had a chance to play with them, and I'm not convinced. It just seems restricted, and not what I personally want from a tablet PC.

What I want is basically a solid lump of plastic that happens to have a screen on one side and some electronics embedded in it. It should have a microphone and speakers, and a pair of cameras. It doesn't need any visible connectors, but it does need a dock. I want it to be tough, waterproof and fairly lightweight. It needs WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth and wireless charging from the dock or other compatible (standardised) charging units. It needs an accelerometer and GPS onboard, and expandable storage (SD cards would do fine).

Software-wise, it needs to run something that can run anything I want to run on it. OS X would be fine, as would Linux, or even Windows. I'd even take Android - the important thing is that anyone can write software for it, and I get to choose what I run, not the company that makes the device. It needs to support Flash as a minimum level of plugin support. Java would be nice too.

It should have a 10 inch or so screen, possibly with an option for an A4 version. It should be no thicker than 2cm, thinner is better, as long as it feels sturdy. You need to be able to hold this thing at one corner and not feel like it will snap if you shake it.

I want to be able to read books on it, listen to audiobooks (Bluetooth headset profile built in), use it as a map, hold it up and take photos with it, point it at things and get information about them overlaid on the screen, type on the onscreen keyboard and do work on it, wave it around and play games, browse the internet on it, point it at barcodes and read them, watch videos on it, and, should it be required, I want to be able to swat flies with it.

I want people to be able to mess around with the device and find new ways to use it. If someone works out a cool idea, I want people to be able to improve it and make it better without having to jump through hoops of getting it passed to a shop for testing. It should feel like a natural part of life so you can't imagine not using one after a week with it.

When that happens, I'll get one. Til then, no thanks Apple.