Tablets–Which do I find most useful?

It is funny that even after my bad experience last week with the Nexus 7 failing for me, I am back to using it more than I am my iPad. Each device has its own characteristics that make it more useful in different ways.

When it comes to videos and podcasts I find my iPad is a better choice most often because I have it in a nice case that holds it up at a great angle  and makes for easy viewing. I tend to use my Nexus 7 for gathering emails, working on my grocery list, calendar entries, and reading my RSS seeds while I am listening to podcasts on my iPad. It makes a great one-two punch.

Because I like the dictation functions on my Nexus 7, I use it quite a bit for doing my entry level work. It is humorous sometimes with the mistakes it makes but I can get you basic ideas down in print quickly and I can come back later to make any changes that need made.

It makes it very easy for me to sit here and discuss my thoughts and discuss my opinions quickly and easily without having to type them with my single finger typing skills that I have adopted with all of these glass keyboards. I have found that being a touch typist does not help me in this kind of situation.

I just can't find myself typing with my thumbs as I see many of my younger colleagues doing. I don't know it's my lack of motion with my thumbs or if it is just my lack of dexterity from years of typing. I do find myself massaging my hands a lot these days.

I keep looking at some of the new tablets now available and I find myself wanting to acquire them. The Microsoft Surface is very appealing but I wonder if I really need to have another tablet with a different interface and I hesitate because I am not sure I can run it through all of the functions that I would need to, to fully  evaluate  its full potential.

I think that if one doesn't make a product your primary device while you are testing it, I don't know how you can fully learn all of it's potential usefulness. I am still waiting for the Pro version of Surface to be released before I decide on which unit I will get. One of our current projects that Ken is working on is to set up a Windows 2012 server and create a VDI host for thin clients to access. The Microsoft Surface RT tablet would be a good example of a thin client for use in this case. Hence, the reason for Ken acquiring one for testing purposes.