Comments on: GBM InkShow: Motion Computing J3400 Rugged Slate Tablet PC, Part 2

By: Rob Bushway

Rob Bushway — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:37:42 +0000

@sara – I have no clue on N-Trig vs Wacom, or even if touch is a sure thing. I speculated in part 1 that if touch is coming ( and the interface of QuickNav points that way as I pointed out in part 2) that I’d bet on a Wacom implementation before N-Trig – pure speculation on my part, though.

By: Sara Fauzia

Sara Fauzia — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

I really like the design of the mobile keyboard, but it could learn a few things from your IBM one. Mostly what you touched up on–the small period, comma, and question mark keys–but also the lack of a trackpoint. I don’t think, after becoming so comfortable with my ThinkPad, that I could live with an only-touchpad option. I signed up to attend the soonest Motion webinar on the J3400, and if they give the opportunity to ask questions (I have no idea how they work as I’ve never attended one), I’ll definitely bring this up.

I really hope the flush bezel option will be available with the touch-enabled–unlike Lenovo’s touch-enabled X200t. Also, is there any idea if it’ll employ the N-Trig digitzer? I don’t think I’ll be interested in a unit without touch; the navigation was definitely made for fingers!

All in all, I’m truly pleased with Motion’s latest and greatest offering. I’m glad they decided to go for the rubberized black design; I had too many scratches on my LE1700′s extended battery, and the paint was all but faded on the tablet buttons. If Motion improves the keyboard (trackpoint is a must) and offers touch, it’ll be hard to quiet my interest.

By: Rob Bushway

Rob Bushway — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:27:09 +0000

@sharon – I never notice the rails on the side, so they don’t interfere at all with typing (at least with my usesage). the dock is not mobile – it is intended to be sitting on a desk and only having to connect things once to set it up. check out this photogallery which shows the dock connected to various peripherals: http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_J3400_gallery.asp

By: sbtablet

sbtablet — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:23:05 +0000

Rob,

This thing is very cool! I can see how excited you are about it. A couple of questions: on the mobile keyboard, I see the rails on the sides when it is open, and I wonder if they are sharp, or get in the way at all when using the keyboard. And on the mobile dock, it seems that it would be somewhat awkward connecting anything without laying the thing down on its face. Is that a problem? Also, I’d love to see a photo of the dock in action, with peripherals connected, etc.

Thanks for the great InkShow!

Sharon

By: Rob Bushway

Rob Bushway — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:15:27 +0000

@thomas – that is correct – the dock doesn’t rotate side to side, but it does rotate up and down for angle adjustments.

By: thomas

thomas — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:06:09 +0000

looks u can’t rotate the dock? though i guess u can get a vesa mount that rotates.

By: Rob Bushway

Rob Bushway — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:19:43 +0000

@joe – correct on the keyboard – you can’t adjust the angle. It does have an autofocus, so that is what you see going on with the camera while it takes pictures. I agree on the dual-camera – it would be nice to have a front-facing camera, too.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:17:07 +0000

The QuickNav thing seems like it’d work better for the user-controlled buttons if you could use an icon instead of the U1 or even if you change the name. I agree it looks pretty decent though.

I assume because of the way that the keyboard is designed that you can’t adjust the angle that the screen is at?

Does that camera have some sort of autofocus too? It looks like it’s zooming or something, though it might just be that you’re rocking it forward slightly, I couldn’t tell. And I know this thing is mostly designed for work type uses, but a lower resolution front-facing webcam might be useful for some for video conferencing.