Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1046
The Tablet PC: An in depth look with the FIC SlateVision
by Matthew Witheiler on December 12, 2002 7:43 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Every few years a new electronic product comes along that promises to revolutionize the computing world. The past few years have seen everything from digital cameras to LCDs arrive in an attempt to change the way we use our computers. Obviously, some of these products are met with more success than others. For the most part, the success of these products is largely dependent on the backing of the product being announced. A truly revolutionary product may enjoy no market success without the funding and force necessary to ensure that the item both finds itself on the retail market and into the hands of consumers. At the same time, an inferior product may succeed wonderfully given enough funding. Getting the backing necessary to ensure a successful product launch is not the only roadblock in the way of success. In fact, even the backing of a major corporation does not always secure success. Take the Microsoft sponsored eBook "revolution" for example.
You may recall the launch of Microsoft Reader a few years back. Touted as a new technology that could change the way we receive information, the launch of Reader was paired with the launch of dedicated reading devices. Called dedicated eBook readers, a number of companies entered this market including large brand names such as RCA. With Microsoft pushing the effort there was nothing to lose, right? Wrong.
Sales of dedicated eBook readers were dismal right out the gate. It seems that the software giant had overestimated users' willingness to discard paper and ink for an LCD monitor and text. The poor sales trend continued, exemplified today by the lack of dedicated eBook readers on the market. Not only Microsoft was left to bear the consequences of the unsuccessful launch but so were the hardware venders who made products supporting the new software. Companies like RCA were left with a large inventory of unsold eBook readers which their were forced to let go at a fraction of their original price. This all goes to show that although money is important in a new product's success it is not the only factor.
It has been four years since Microsoft first debuted Microsoft Reader software. Hoping to have learned from their past mistakes Microsoft is at it again, providing new software developed for new hardware. This time around Microsoft is suggesting you do something almost as drastic as throwing away your favorite book: it is now telling users to throw away their pen and paper and replace it with a Tablet PC. Launched less than a month ago, the Tablet PC "revolution" has drawn quite a bit of attention recently. The problem is that most of the information out there about Tablet PCs is very basic or just plain marketing hype. Today we solve that problem by taking an AnandTech look at Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the various software solutions out there for the operating system, and the hardware that drives the software. Follow us as we discover if the Tablet PC is truly revolutionary or just another dedicated eBook reader.
Windows XP Tablet Edition
The foundation behind every new Tablet PC on the market is Microsoft's newest operating system: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. What are the differences between Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and the well known Windows XP Professional operating system? There actually are not that many.
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is based on Windows XP Professional, much like Windows XP Media Center Edition is. This means that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition maintains the full functionality of Windows XP Professional, including the advanced networking functions of the operating system. In fact, the majority of differences come with the software that the operating system includes, namely Microsoft Windows Journal, Microsoft Input Panel, and Microsoft Sticky Notes. We will get into detail about these applications in a moment but for now let's examine the operating system level differences between Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Professional, of which there is only one.
Besides the bundled Tablet PC specific applications and tutorials, there is really one noticeable difference between Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Professional (besides the boot screen logo that is). That difference is the inclusion of a "Tablet and Pen Settings" icon in the control panel. Via this control panel. function, one can set the the tablet properties. A wizard actually runs after installation of the operating system to guide the user through setting the various tablet options, but the control panel option allows for easy control of the settings. A glimpse of this panel reveals the complex underlyings of the Tablet PC operating system.
The first page of the settings dialogue box provides three tablet options. The first of the three allows the user to indicate whether he or she is left or right handed. How the tablet alters its recognition by knowing the user's hand preference is not something that Microsoft is willing to go into detail about, but the option does indicate that there has been a lot of fine tuning in the handwriting recognition software (which we will get to try out in just a bit). The second option on this page allows the user to set where pop-up menus are located. In a standard Windows XP Professional install, right clicking the mouse creates a menu that spawns to the lower left of the mouse cursor. In a tablet, this menu location would be fine for left handed users but right hand users would face the problem of having their hand cover up the newly spawned menu. This problem is solved by implementing a user selectable location of right click menus: either on the left of the cursor (for right handers) or left of the cursor (for left handers). The final option available on this page allows for calibration of the pen. Just like the PDA calibration screens you have probably seen, the Tablet PC is calibrated by clicking on a set of points indicated on the screen by X's.
The second tab in the Tablet and Pen Settings control panel allows the user to control the display of his or her tablet. On this tab the user can select the screen orientation (landscape or portrait) and the sequence which a hardware button changes the display orientation. In general we actually ended up using our tablet in portrait mode as opposed to landscape. We found this to be more conducive to taking notes and writing in the Tablet PC's interface as it more closely resembled a pen and paper in this mode. Portrait mode in most systems runs at 768x1024 while landscape runs at the customary 1024x768 resolution.
Also in the display setting tab is a slider for screen brightness. Typically only available via function key combinations in notebook computers, this slider allows the user to set the screen brightness when plugged in and when on battery.
The final tab under the Tablet and Pen Settings dialogue box provides settings for pen options. Here a list of pen actions are listed along with their corresponding mouse functions, for example press and hold for right-click. In our test tablet we were not able to change any of these actions using the "Settings" option. Whether this is due to our specific build of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (our unit came with an evaluation install of the operating system, not the full retail install) or a limitation in all Tablet PCs we do not know but should be able to report back about which is the case soon. Other pen options on this page include using the pen button for a right click and using the top of the pen to erase (both only work on supported pens).
Now would be a good time to briefly discuss how the pen input method on Tablet PCs operates. Unlike the PDAs that we are all used to, one need not touch the screen to move the mouse cursor in a Tablet PC. Hovering the pen input device above the screen about a quarter of an inch above the screen is all that is needed to move the pointer from one location to another. The pen need make contact with the screen only when doing functions other than moving the mouse, for example the pen is touched to the screen to left click, pressed and held on the screen for a right click, and pressed on continuously for writing.
The pen on Tablet PCs operate in this fashion because it is more than just a piece of plastic like most styluses. The pen does not use a battery or require recharging but works by receiving an electrostatic signal from the tablet. This power signal is used to charge a small capacitor inside the pen device. Once the capacitor is charged, it activates a transmitter that broadcasts out a signal that indicates pen pressure level and/or button use from inside the pen. Very shortly after sending the power signal to the pen, the tablet base switches to receiving mode. Now the tablet acts as a receiver for the output supplied by the pen. It uses the data the pen sends it to determine pressure and/or button status and determines location by locating what part of the tablet (now acting as an antenna) is receiving the strongest signal.
An electrostatic tablet configuration is a requirement of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, meaning that all systems sold with this operating system use a similar tablet-type input. No Windows XP Tablet PC Editions systems will be sold that use touch screen type tablets (PDA-style).
As we mentioned before, the real strength of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system is the software solutions that it is bundled with. Microsoft put effort into the bundled applications in order to make their vision of a Tablet PC a reality.
Software: Windows Journal
Perhaps the strongest application that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition has to offer is the Windows Journal application. This application serves to be a mainstay of the Tablet PC experience by providing users with an easy to use, pen and paper-like environment. Let's see just how Windows Journal works.
Launching Windows Journal places the user on a blank page with lines on it, just as if he or she was sitting in front of a piece of notebook paper. The application can either be run in landscape mode (providing a wide, short page) or portrait mode (proving a narrow, long page). We found the application lent itself to the portrait configuration, as it was in this mode that the application felt most like pen and paper. The top of the page is dedicated to the title of the note, which becomes with filename that the journal entry is saved under (converted to text). The date is also imprinted on the top right.
Properties of the lined page you write on are configurable. You can select the line spacing and type from a number of options, including college ruled, wide ruled, and gridded. You can also customize the line type to fit your preferences by setting the line spacing and color.
As we mentioned before, the top line of the Journal is for the note title. The remaining space is for text input which is drawn on the screen using the pen and the pen tool. You can customize the pen used for writing from a number of different pens and there are options for pen color and pen type. For our testing we left the pen in its default state but turned on the pressure sensitivity function which changes the darkness of the pen stroke depending on the amount of pressure used to write just like writing on real paper would.
Like other Windows applications there are a set of buttons atop the Windows Journal page that allow for easy access to commonly used tools such as pen, highlighter, eraser, select, and insert space. Of course, there is also a top menu bar which provides access to even more features of Windows Journal.
To test the handwriting capabilities of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, we chose to write down the first paragraph from George Orwell's 1949 masterpiece, 1984. We decided to choose a set paragraph from a known work because it should accurately reflect a reasonable usage scenario for the Tablet PC. As you can see in the above screen shots, we transcribed the first paragraph of the text in our natural handwriting in both landscape and portrait configurations. The text looked strikingly similar to the same text copied on a regular piece of paper.
The handwritten text can be manipulated in a number of ways. Text can be underlined, highlighted, and erased just like on normal paper. The eraser function actually works particularly well, erasing a whole stroke at one time as opposed to just the part of the text that the pen goes over. It is also possible to insert lines of space into existing ink text, allowing one to insert handwritten notes anywhere in the text even after they are taken, something hard to do with regular paper without the help of scissors and tape.
The handwriting capability of Windows Journal is only one feature of the software. With the paragraph copied over into Journal we could print out the page to resemble notes on a normal piece of paper, attach the page to an Outlook e-mail, or save the file to the Windows *.jnt file format for further editing or to a webpage or *.tif format for printing or viewing only. But capturing handwriting is certainly not the only thing that Windows Journal can do.
Windows Journal also has the ability to convert written handwriting, such as that pictured above, into text. To convert written words into text, first one has to select the text to be translated using the lasso tool. The product of selection is shown below:
From this pont one can go to the Actions menu and perform a convert selection to text function. Doing so brings up the Text Correction box. After a moment delay while the system converts the handwriting to text, the Text Correction box shows a text preview of what Windows Journal thought you were writing. In every case, Windows Journal chooses what it feels is the best match for that word based on both the letters written and a dictionary of words (which helps to guess words when some letters are unclear). Items that the Journal had questions about are highlighted in green. Clicking on a green word shows an image of the ink word translated and gives a list of alternatives to select from. Below you can see how Journal recognized our handwriting selection.
In this particular instance, the handwriting function of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition recognized 100% of the words correctly. It had questions about a few of the words (the ones in green) but in every case chose the correct word by default. On the whole, the text conversion worked properly a very high percentage of the time in our normal script, averaging at minimum a 98% accuracy or so.
We also decided to throw some horrible handwriting at the Tablet PC. We wrote another test page, this time in poor cursive that disregarded the lines of the paper (Microsoft suggests you write on the lines for maximum recognition accuracy). In this instance (shown below), the accuracy of the Journal translation went down to 91% (missed two words out of the twenty three). Staying on the lines would have likely increased accuracy a noticeable amount, although the poor handwriting is most likely to blame.
A problem did arise when attempting to change a words that Journal did not recognize properly. When Windows Journal completely misinterprets a word you are limited to choosing a correction from the alternate list. You can not rewrite the word in order to get a new list of alternatives.
Once past the correction phase of the text recognition, the next dialogue box prompts the user to select what he or she would like to do with the converted text. One can either copy the text to the clipboard for use in another application (Word, for example) or insert the text in a text box in the current Journal note. We chose the latter. Obviously, once in text in the Journal entry it is possible to copy and paste the text into any application by selecting it.
Overall we were very pleased with Windows Journal; it worked just as advertised, able to convert our handwriting to text with ease. The recognition is many times better than that present on Pocket PCs and the like, most likely due to the more complex operations that the Tablet PC can perform thanks to its faster processor.
The main limitation of Windows Journal is the way it formats converted text. The program completely disregards most formatting, for example new lines, bullets, and numbered lists. The recognized text is inserted into the clipboard or Journal in paragraph form. Any attempt to convert lists or specially formatted notes results in just a block of text, occasionally with odd characters in it (it turns bullets into periods, for example). This is something that Microsoft's OneNote software should take care of some time next year, but until it is released specially formatted text will have to stay in digital ink form to maintain formatting.
Software: Input Panel
Sure, handwriting recognition works wonderfully in applications designed for it, such as Windows Journal, but what about applications that do not have built in handwriting support like Internet Explorer and Word? How does one insert typed text into these applications? Using the Input Panel, of course. The other piece of software driving Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is the Tablet PC Input Panel, a bar that docks on the bottom of the screen and allows for input via the tablet's pen (it can also be set to float for those who do not like losing the desktop space taken by docking the bar).
The Input Panel provides the user with a number of input methods to chose from. Perhaps the most useful is the writing pad feature of the Panel. In this mode, the Input Panel displays one or two blank lines on which text can be written and translated into text. The text is written using the pen on the Input Panel lines and then sent into the active application after a user defined delay period. We found ourselves using this method of input the majority of the time, using it to type in web addresses, share locations, and quick Word notes. To the right of the writing pad lies a set of quick buttons that give access to commonly used functions such as shift, control, and backspace. Speaking of backspace, if you make a mistake or decide not to insert the text you were writing, words written in Input Panel can be scratched out to be flagged to not be translated. Again, Microsoft implemented this feature in an attempt to make the Tablet PC feel as much like pen and paper as possible.
The text recognition engine used in Input Panel is the same as that used in Windows Journal, so the recognition accuracy turned out to be very good. We had very few problems using the panel to input text into applications that do not natively support handwriting.
If handwriting is not for you or if you need to perform a unique combinations of key strokes, the Input Panel software also offers an onscreen keyboard. The keyboard lies in the area reserved for the Input Panel and includes fairly large and easily accessible buttons that can be tapped using the pen. Through testing we actually found the handwriting method of input to be faster and fairly error free. In fact, we only really ended up using the keyboard when entering passwords, as the handwriting recognition tends to have problems converting a random string of letters and numbers into correct text (since it tries to pick a known word out of its dictionary first).
The final input method offered by the Tablet PC Input Panel is the voice recognition method. Previously only available to Office XP users, the speech function of Input Panel allows users to perform basic functions and input text using their voice. Like other speech engines, you have to train the speech feature of Input Panel to recognize your voice via a 5 to 10 minute reading session. After that, speech can be used to enter text in any application. The speech engine appears to be the same one used by Office XP, so if you have experience using that program you should find the results provided by the speech feature of Input Panel familiar.
Software: Sticky Notes
Another extra that Microsoft chose to include in order to make the Tablet PC more appealing is the Sticky Notes application. Sticky Notes functions like an advanced set of Post-it notes. The notepad appears as a rectangular yellow pad and the pen can be used to write in the yellow area. This application is helpful for jotting down quick notes (such as the to do list below). A recorded message can also be attached to each note using the record function at the bottom of Sticky Notes. New pages can be added and old ones viewed by using the navigation arrows at the top of the note pad. The application has no convert to text function but does offer the ability to copy and paste the note information.
Software: InkBall
For the sake of entertainment, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition also comes with a new game. Called InkBall, the game is controlled by the pen. The object of the game is to direct each ball (orange or blue) into the proper hole. The balls' path is determined by drawing lines off which the balls are deflected from. Once hit, the line disappears. The game did prove to be entertaining and an interesting time waster but not much more than that.
Software: Office Tablet Add-on
Using the Tablet Add-on for Microsoft Office XP allows you to take notes using the pen directly into Office applications. Below we used the add-on to make some notes in an existing Word document. The drawings are then embedded in the Word document and can be seen by anyone reading the file with a copy of Word XP.
Software: 3rd Party
Most likely thanks to Microsoft backing, there are a number of free 3rd party applications out there that are designed to be used with Tablet PCs. Three of the most interesting applications are developed by major software vendors.
The first of these is a sketching program designed by Alias called SketchBook, of which there is a free "light" version of the program available for download. SketchBook is a surprisingly full featured drawing program designed specifically for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The program functions like a sketch book using nothing more than the tablet PC and the pen input. There are quite a number of tools to choose from, including air brushes, markers, pens, and markers. Choosing from the built in pens, color, tools, or options is amazingly easy. To choose a color, for example, simply point on the color wheel present on the lower left selection tool. Doing this pops up up a color wheel directly above the wheel. Now, drag the pen in the general direction of the color you wish to select (there is a line indicating the selected color) and you are set. It is clear from using this program that it was designed with the pen input method in mind and it pays off.
We are no artists, but we can assure you that SketchBook is a great program. If you don't believe us, a quote from Gabe one of the amazing Penny Arcade artists may help:
I think Alias Sketchbook is absolutely incredible. Feel free to take a look at the sketch below and decide for yourself.
Believe it or not that was drawn on my tablet PC using Alias Sketchbook. It looks just like a... Pencil drawing if you ask me. Sketching into it feels so natural that occasionally I forget that I'm using a stylus instead of a pencil and that my lines are being rendered by an 800 MHz Pentium 3.
As you can see, Alias SketchBook is capable of doing some pretty powerful stuff. The Pro version, which is not yet available, is said to offer more advanced features and integration but it is unclear what these features will be as of yet.
The second major vendor producing software specifically designed for the Tablet PC is Corel. The software is called Grafigo and it takes Windows Journal to a higher level. The program offers the same handwriting capabilities and convert to text features as Windows Journal but adds in shape recognition, and some neat features like "onionskins" which let you add a form of tracing paper to a document or picture and symbols for pre made symbol insertion.
Overall Grafigo actually turned out to be a more useful program than Windows Journal and at a price of free it is hard to beat. We will have to wait and see how it compares to Microsoft OneNote, but we suspect that OneNote will one up Grafigo.
The final program that is delivering exciting new features to the Tablet PC is FranklinCovey TabletPlanner. We only got a chance to play with TabletPlanner for a few moments while in Comdex this year but it looks to be a powerful calendar package able to search handwritten text. We should be able to report back soon on our experiences with this software package.
The Options
Now that we know more about the software side of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition than the basic "it can translate handwriting into text" it is time to take a look at the two types of hardware solutions out there. Tablet PCs come in either slate or convertible form, each with their own pros and cons.
Slate form factor Tablet PCs are display driven Tablets. Rather than attempt to emulate a notebook computer, Tablet PCs combine a screen and a system in one unit. These units typically include an external keyboard that the slate docks into or can be used with an external USB keyboard and mouse. Of the two configurations, the slate configuration is the more radical of the two. On the go it requires one to use the pen input options only. The benefit of this: slate system are typically smaller and lighter than convertible ones.
The other type of Tablet PC is the convertible Tablet PC. Convertible tablet systems resemble classic notebooks at first glance. They open like standard notebooks with the screen lifting to reveal a keyboard and touch pad in most cases. The system can be used in notebook mode just like any other notebook computer but what makes convertible Tablet PCs unique is their ability to turn into a tablet resembling a slate. The screens on convertible Tablet PCs fold back on themselves and over the keyboard to close like a dedicated tablet machine. Although the units bring notebook-like functionality to the Tablet PC, they are typically larger and heavier than slate-only systems.
We covered a number of different tablet solutions in our Comdex coverage a few weeks back. Check out that review to see what venders were showing off on the Tablet PC front.
The first tablet we have gotten the chance to look at is a slate form factor tablet created by FIC. Called the SlateVision, we were excited to see the tablet in Comdex and even more excited to get our hands on an engineering sample just last week. Although the sample we received is a prerelease version of the tablet (we should get the retail version in a week or so), we were more than happy to take a look at the system and evaluate it based on our experiences with it. We choose to hold off on benchmarks for this review simply because this version of the SlateVision uses an 800MHz Crusoe TM5800 processor while the retail version will ship with a 1GHz version of the chip. Instead we will have a quick look around the system and check out some of its internals to tide you over until the final SlateVision arrives in the lab for full testing.
Construction: Build Appearance and Size
FIC is a brand that many in North America may associate with nothing more than motherboards but the company has been working on the IA side of computers for some time now. The most recent product out of the IA labs is the SlateVision Tablet PC. FIC was lucky enough to secure a Windows XP Tablet PC Edition license for the product, as Microsoft has to authorize all hardware running the operating system. This is a huge advantage for FIC, allowing it to enter the Tablet PC market early.
As mentioned before, the FIC SlateVision is a slate form factor Tablet PC. As of yet there is no keyboard or docking station available for our engineering sample, making the unit a slate and not much more unless external USB devices are used. There are plans to release these items soon and hopefully we will be able to evaluate them as they come to market.
About the size of a piece of paper and one inch thick, the SlateVision weighs in at only 3.25 pounds (although the shipping unit is supposed to cut the weight down to 2.97 pounds by using a new battery design). The size of the unit is very impressive and actually does really resemble a notebook of sorts. The unit is all back with rubber on the top and bottom and one side of the unit to make holding it easier. The case is made out of magnesium alloy, keeping the weight of the unit down and the strength of the case up. The buttons are silver in color and give the SlateVision an attractive appearance.
The unit uses a 10.4" electrostatic XGA screen that can run at a maximum resolution of 1024x768x16. The 10.4" screen is typical for the current generation Tablet PCs which keep size down by using these smaller screens. 1024x768 seemed like a good resolution for the screen to run at, although we were somewhat limited in desktop space while the Input Panel was open. Even though the maximum color depth of the screen was limited to 16-bit, we were pleased with the image that the screen was able to draw with the exception of some slight dithering in Windows dialogue boxes and high resolution pictures. The screen is advertised as having a protection sheet over it, but we would have to wait until we took the unit apart before we could find the truth in that claim.
The screen is surrounded by buttons and LEDs of various sorts. In order to simplify things we will use the tablet in its landscape orientation to describe the unit and the button locations. The bottom of the unit is home to a set of three buttons which actually greatly add to the usability of the system. The first of these buttons is labeled "1st Menu" and is used to launch FIC's proprietary tablet configuration software which we detail in the software section of this review. The second button is a 4 way directional pad with a center click. The arrow buttons maintain their proper function no matter the screen orientation. This could be a problem because hitting the up button in landscape mode turns out to be the same as hitting the left button in portrait mode. Luckily the FIC software takes care of this problem and maps the buttons appropriately. Hitting the center of the button maps to the enter key. The button location proved to be excellent, falling into easily accessible positions regardless of screen orientation.
The bottom of the unit is also home to three LEDs. The first of these is the battery charge LED. The LED glows orange while the battery is charging and turns green when fully charged. One limitation of this LED in our engineering sample is that the LED would not light up unless the unit was powered on. This made determining battery charge while the unit was off rather hard. Hopefully the retail version of the unit has this bug ironed out. The second LED serves as a hard drive activity light. The LED blinks orange during hard drive activity and remains off when there is none. The final LED is the power status LED. This LED glows green while the system is powered on and turns orange when the unit is in sleep mode.
Moving to the right side of the screen we find the unit's single speaker. The speaker ont the unit provided to be slightly worse compared to what we have come to expect from notebook systems, but then again the SlateVision has much less space to work with compared to a full sized notebook system.
On the top right side of the unit is the internal pen holder. The small gray pen that sits in this holder includes a single right-click button (which did not work properly on our engineering sample) but is not pressure sensitive. The unit also comes with a slightly larger pen that includes pressure sensitivity but it is too big to find a home in the system: it must be carried separately. The majority of the time we found ourselves using the larger, pressure sensitive pen if for nothing more than the fact it felt more like a real pen than the smaller pen housed in the system.
The final item around the SlateVision's screen is the unit's internal microphone. The location of the microphone seemed to be reasonable as our hands did not get in the way often. The only problem we see with placing the microphone where it is is that left handed users may find themselves covering the microphone with their hand while the unit is in landscape mode.
Although the SlateVision is a small machine, it does feature a pretty impressive port list. The ports are found, for the most part, along the unit's edges.
The front of the system is home to five separate ports. The first of these is the DC-in port. This port accepts power from the small included power brick that outputs 19V at 3.16A. To the right of the power port is the docking port. This port is set to accept either the optional keyboard or the optional docking station. In either instance, this port works in conjunction with two small grooves in the back of the system to allow the unit to stand on its own while docked.
To the right of the docking port are two headphone jacks; one for microphone in and one for headphones out. The final component on the front side of the unit is the VGA-out port. The port works via a dongle and can plug into any standard VGA monitor to drive two displays at once (the tablet and the monitor).
The right side of the unit is home to the SlateVision's communication ports. The first is an IrDA 1.1 port used for IR communication with printers, computer, or other devices. The next two ports are hidden under a small rubber piece which folds down and out of place while the ports are in use. The first of these ports is a modem jack. The second is an ethernet jack. The final item on the right side of the unit is the PCMCIA slot. The slot is able to accept one type II PCMCIA card for expansion options.
The remainder of the ports are located on the back side of the SlateVision. Here we find two USB 1.1 ports, a single unpowered 4-pin IEEE1394 port (firewire) and a lock port for securing the unit. Between the communications ports and the lock port lie the unit's power button (which slides to turn on) and reset button (which is pushed with the pen to reset the system).
The bottom of the SlateVision is home to a few other items. First off there are a few cooling holes present on the system. Because of the low power processor the SlateVision uses, the system is only passively cooled meaning that there are no internal fans. There is also a row of cooling holes on the top of the system. The location of the cooling holes correspond with the location of the system's CPU. it is around this area that we were able to measure the system's highest external temperature of 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit (37.0 degrees Celsius). This low temperature makes the SlateVision the coolest running portable system we have seen to date; pretty impressive considering it is 100% passively cooled.
On the back of the system you can also find two clip-out feet. The feet flip up at almost 90 degree angles and seem to be used to keep the unit from resting flat on a surface while in use on a table, thus allowing hot air to escape via the cooling holes. The feet are rubberized in order to minimize slipping.
The battery release buttons are also on the bottom of the system. The battery lies on the right side of the system and is easily slide out by moving both battery releases towards the center of the system.
The unit measures 11.25" x 8.5" x 1.0" and weighs in at 3.25 pounds (again, the shipping unit is said to be just under 3.0 pounds). The system is anything but big. Compared to the desktop replacements we have gotten used to, carrying around the SlateVision was a pleasure.
Construction: Under the Hood
In a Tablet PC such as the SlateVision the hardware chosen for the system was selected not to be the most powerful out there but to provide the best balance between performance and battery life. As a result, FIC turned to some fairly slow but low power usage components. Our engineering sample SlateVision came with an 800MHz Crusoe TM5800 processor, 256MB of PC133 memory, a Lynx 3DM8+ graphics chip, and a 20GB hard drive. Keep in mind that the specifications on the unit are said to be changing for the final shipping unit. The retail model is supposed to come with the 1GHz version of the TM5800 Crusoe processor and offer DDR memory; two items which should help speed noticeably.
The brains of the SlateVision is the Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 processor. Transmeta earned a name for themselves a few years back with the announcement of the Transmeta CPU which promised to provide high performance computing with low power consumption. The x86 compatible processor was to combine hardware and "code morphing" software to allow the VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) Crusoe to understand x86 commands. The benefits: a smaller CPU package that consumed up to 70 percent less power than competing chips.
Transmeta CPUs have been used in portable computers for some time now and are the processor of choice for ultra-portable systems because of their low power consumption.
The flip-chip Crusoe TM5800 is mounted directly on the SlateVision's motherboard and is not available in a socketed configuration. As you may recall, the Crusoe TM5800 includes 128K of L1 cache and 512K of 4-way set associative write back L2 cache. The chip also includes an integrated northbridge, providing DDR or SDR SDRAM support as well as a PCI controller and a southbridge interface. The TM5800 appears to improve upon the older TM5600 chip (used in the PaceBook Paceblade) by running at faster clock speeds (thanks to a smaller manufacturing process) and implementing a new version of Transmeta's code morphing software (now up to 4.2).
The CPU is cooled via a passive heatsink much like the ones found over the northbridge of a good number of motherboards. The heatsink, although small, seems to get the job done as indicated by the low operating temperature we measured on the system.
The video chip is also mounted on the back of the SlateVision's motherboard. For a video solution FIC turned to the low power Silicion Motion Lynx3DM8+ chip; also the same chip we initially saw in the PaceBook Paceblade. The chip, which came out almost two years ago, offers 2D and 3D support, although it is not meant to be a gaming chip and is akin to mobile integrated graphics controllers. The chip in our system included 8MB of integrated video memory and also includes hardware rotation, allowing the system to change from landscape to portrait mode, as well as fairly good power management technology. Again, although the Lynx3DM8 supports 3D, it is certainly not happy running it as even the animated Windows XP screens ran a bit slow and jumpy.
The SlateVision's motherboard actually includes 128MB of integrated memory on it; half mounted on the back of the motherboard and the other half on the front. The SODIMM expansion slot is located on the back of the motherboard and in our engineering sample was outfitted with 128MB of Mushkin PC133 memory to bring the total memory of the system up to 256MB.
The other expansion connector, the miniPCI slot, is also located on the back of the motherboard. In our unit the slot was occupied with an Actiontec 802MIP (W) 802.11b wireless card. The card is capable of accepting two separate wireless antenna inputs and the SlateVision is the first system we have seen take use of both inputs, with two antenna in the system: one on the unit's top and one on its left side.
The internal modem is also found on the back of the motherboard:
The final chip of importance on the SlateVision's back is a Realtek RTL8100L fast ethernet controller with power management.
The front of the SlateVision's motherboard is much more bare than the back of the unit, most likely because it is this side which has to rest against the screen.
Besides the system's internal battery and the remaining 64MB of RAM, the southbridge is also mounted on the front of the motherboard. For a southbridge FIC decided to go with an ALI M1535+. On top of a 2 channel ATA-100 controller, Super I/O controller, and Fast IR controller, the M1535+ also offers integrated audio with SoundBlaster Pro/16 compatibility.
There was also a silkscreen for an additional chip on the front of the SlateVision's motherboard. If this space will be used and what will go there is still a mystery to us.
While we were taking apart the SlateVision, we thought we would take a look at the electrostatic screen. Removing the 10.4" screen reveals that behind the screen lies a Wacom digitizer unit. It is not clear what the specific model number of the digitizer is, but you can be fairly certain that it is an OEM only solution.
It turns out that FIC's claim of a protective sheet over the LCD panel is true As the picture shows, there was a fairly thick layer of glass/plastic resting over the LCD panel. This did more than protect the screen from damage: it also provided us with a hard surface to write upon. The texture of the screen was very pleasing, not smooth like glass and not bumpy. In fact, the surface feels a good deal like an actual paper surface which proves to be a nice touch. Also, the protective layer was not very susceptible to finger prints, meaning that we were not forced to clean the screen surface after every time we wrote something on the screen.
Our unit came with a 20.0GB IBM Travelstar 40GN hard drive. The drive is one we have seen used before in mobile systems and features a reasonable average seek time of 12ms with a 2MB data buffer and a 4200RPM rotation speed.
As we mentioned before, the speaker on the SlateVision was not the most impressive speaker we have come across. Then again, FIC was more considered with size than fidelity, and the internal speaker is certainly small. To give the speaker credit, it did a fine job at playing back Windows and system sounds.
The battery on the SlateVision is a 6 cell 3600mAH lithium-ion battery pack. We did not have the change to run formal battery tests on the system, but from what we did get to observe we suspect that the SlateVision lasts from 3 to 4 hours on a full battery charge. Be sure to check back in our final SlateVision review to see just how long the battery does last.
Features: Software
While many mobile systems no longer come with proprietary software that enhances productivity, the SlateVision does. The system ships with FIC's 1st Menu program that provides easy access to many of the tablet's functions. Hitting the 1st Menu button launches the program which is navigated using the direction pad. Screen brightness, system volume, screen orientation, pen calibration, and system shutdown functions can all be navigated to using 1st Menu.
The volume and brightness settings brings up an onscreen menu that is controlled by the direction arrows to set the items to the desired levels.
We found that the most useful part of 1st Menu is the rotation function. In this menu, it is possible to select from a number of rotation settings with the application showing a preview of each setting relative to the position you are currently in.
The SlateVision also ships with a 30 day trail of FranklinCovey TabletPlanner. Again, from what we have seen of this program, it looks to be fairly impressive.
Now that we have had some hands-on time with a Tablet PC, what are our impressions of the operating system and hardware solutions? We are very pleased. A Tablet PC will never replace our desktop, like some of the new high-end notebooks are beginning to do, but that is OK because the Tablet is not trying to replace a desktop; it is trying to complement it.
By far the most useful application of the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition involves those who take notes on a regular basis. This could be anyone from a student to a manager to a doctor. These individuals will benefit from moving to a paperless note taking solution as notes can be translated into text, manipulated later, and even exported to other programs. Right now you are somewhat limited due to the lack of formatting in the existing recognition software solutions but with upcoming note taking solutions such as Microsoft OneNote things are only going to get better. Artists also stand to benefit from using a Tablet PC. As Gabe from Penny Arcade demonstrated, it is possible to draw some realistic pictures using free 3rd party solutions.
Microsoft has done a good job making Windows XP Tablet PC Edition fairly full featured right out of the box. With the bundled software applications, it is possible to use Tablet PCs without even owning a keyboard. The handwriting recognition had no problem deciphering our less than stellar handwriting the vast majority of time time, although typing is still faster for us. All in all it does not look like the Tablet PC will go the way of the eBook reader; it is far too full featured and productive to completely fail.
As for our impressions on Tablet PC hardware, if the FIC SlateVision is a sign of things to come we could not be more happy. We were extremely pleased with the size and functionality of the SlateVision slate Tablet PC. We found ourselves opting to take the SlateVision to meetings and using the system to outline notes for reviews. FIC has done a very good job making the SlateVision a worthy competitor. Plus at a price of less than $1500 the FIC SlateVision looks to be an extremely attractive system (other Tablet PC units out there now go for $2000+). We will have to wait a few more days before we get our hands on the final version of the SlateVision and come to a decision on the system's value but if the engineering sample we got our hands on is any indication, the SlateVision could be the budget Tablet PC to own.
The only problem we see for the SlateVision comes from the marketing end of things. FIC is very excited at the prospect of bringing the SlateVision to US shelves but unless the unit is picked up by large retail chains such as Best Buy, CompUSA, and Frys the unit will only experience limited success in the US market. We suspect that given the system's price and features, many users will opt for the SlateVision if the get the chance to use and try the unit in store running side by side comparable tablets from HP, Acer, and Toshiba. FIC promises they have big retail plans for the SlateVision and let's hope that everything goes as planned on their end.
Be sure to check back in the next two weeks or so for our final SlateVision review. In the mean time think about what a Tablet PC can do for you and which form factor is more fitting for your needs.
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