My Dad has been looking at getting a tablet for work, but I haven't really looked at tablets, as it'll be a long time until I can afford one so I have no idea :\ He'll be using it mainly for checking email and document work, so I guess storage won't be an issue?. He'll be needing multiple .pdf files open at once, though (wasn't sure if the iPad OS still had issues with this). He'll be on the road a lot, so will need 3G. As such he was hoping to put him own SIM from his work mobile into the tablet, but I discovered that the iPads use a microSIM. The Galaxy Tabs seem to be able to take it though? Anyway.. from your experience, what tablet do you think would suit his needs best?
An iPad will only be able to have 1 pdf open at once (as far as ibooks and adobe reader is concerned anyway). I currently have an iPad 2 and while it's a great toy/gadget it isn't really very business orientated. I would either get a 11" ultrabook or wait for some windows 8 tablets.
Ultrabook or MacBook air is your best option. None of the tablets are suitable for multitasking use. including windows 8 since metro interface and all tablets are designed for consumers who are generally dumb and only want one thing to stare at. If you have to get a tablet, an iPad is probably the best option due to its long battery life.
Just checked on Android (ICS, Galaxy Nexus) and you can only have one PDF file open using Adobes reader - same as the iPad. Tablet version maybe slightly different. As others have said above, a small laptop type device would probably be better suited to your fathers needs. However, if you're set on the devices listed above go for the iPad2 - the "3"/"New" doesn't get you a lot extra over the 2 - especially nothing which would be required for business use - despite the fact the screen on the New iPad is amazing. As good as Android tablets are (and even more so on ICS) they're just not quite as good/polished as the iPad
Get a windows 8 tablet when they come out.. they do everything a laptop does + more friendly to touch. Full multitasking for one
Just spoke to him again and the inability to have multiple .pdf files open at the one time was kind of a deal-breaker. (He had been needing it for the end of this coming week, otherwise I would have been looking at Win8 tablets, too) Ah well.. on to other ideas! Thank you again guys, you have been a great help! Now if only they made a laptop with 2 batteries so you could change one without being near a socket...
Don't understand this multiple PDF thing - tablets generally only display a single document at a time due to the screen sizes. Is he trying for some weird two-up at a time setup, that simply doesn't happen on tablets? If he's trying for a PDF viewer that can quickly toggle between PDFs and essentially has them open in memory, then Evernote will achieve this on the iPad.
Samsung series 5 Chromebook? You can have all the .PDF's open side-by-side you want; it has 3G, it has an 8 second boot time and 8 hour battery life. It is compact and weighs only 3lbs. And since data is kept on the cloud (although it has 16Gb local SSD storage), you don't have to worry about losing important or sensitive business documents if the thing gets stolen. Best of all it has a great keyboard.
While the iPad's are a nice bit of kit, i prefer Android, and given the option between an iPad 2 and the Asus Transformer Prime, i would, and have gone for the Prime. Sure the Asus doesn't have a SIM port, i just tether it to my phone. Since i owned an iPad, and now own the TF201, i can say the Android tablet is the better device, both in Hardware spec, and the OS (And i am aware the iPad is an older device compared to TF201) Sam
For business, you could really use both. For right now, I'd choose the iPad 3 in a heartbeat for the Retina display. It's simply gorgeous. Once Android tablets come out with Retina displays, then it'd come down to personal preference, again. If you need multiple PDF's open at once, I'd suggest a Chromebook instead. I think they take SIM cards, but I'm not certain, I never looked into them much.
Chromebooks come in two versions: those that are WiFi only and those that take a 3G SIM card in addition.
The Transformer Infinity (700T) with it's 1920*1200 display is rumoured for a June release in the US of A, but i don't know how credible that is. Sam
So they can now multitask? I've been searching, but trying to find up-to-date info through Google is really difficult with there being so many Android and iOS releases.. His work requires that he switches between several PDFs (contracts and other legal stuff) at the one time.. they don't have to be side-by-side (though I'm sure that would help), but definitely open at the same time so he can quickly refer to them. I hadn't heard about Evernote.. will this allow the above? Based on this I'd been checking out the Chromebook.. very interesting. I could only find one decent review of it though, with most giving it 3/5. Only downside would perhaps be ease of use. Also, that it only seems to be 3 for the 3G. I;m trying to find out if you can tether a Blackberry to it. I admit I'd prefer and Android myself; I find Apple too limiting. The only thing that put me off the ASUS Transformer Prime was the lack of 3G. You mention tethering your mobile, but he has a Blackberry and everything I've found so far suggested Blackberry won't tether to Android :\ ..not sure what Blackberry he has, though.
I think GoodBytes on here has a Dell that has two batteries. You coukd just buy two batteries and swap them out when they run out.
iOS will multitask. It suspends tasks not in view exactly as you left them, and various background processes are allowed to run. Evernote will easily manage this. It opens with a list of all documents down one side in a panel, and scrollable (readable) previews on the other side. You then tap the preview to open the document to full size, and can easily hop backwards and forwards. It handles more than PDFs as well. Oh, and Evernote is free.
Goodreader for iPad has tabs, so you can't keep PDFs open side by side but you can quickly switch between active documents. Not natively iPad retina compatible yet so ATM iBooks renders PDFs sharper. the iPad 3 has a miles better screen (Worth it IMO) but the 2D performance isn't as good as on an iPad 2 (The reviews have been quiet on this - you'll hear more!). Scrolling of some content isn't quite as smooth as on a 2 but most people won't notice it and it does depend on the app.
Officially, it's Q2 but yes it's going to be nearer the end of Q2 than the start. I've been testing a pre-production TF700 and, side by side, I've not been able to tell the resolution difference between it and an iPad 3 at a comfortable reading distance. I can't really comment on much else at the moment as my sample is quite a way from being production-grade hardware/software.
