Getting your hands on a evaluation Tablet PC is pretty hard these days. I've put the feelers out to a lot of vendors. I either get ignored, or just told “your name is on the list”.

So I was pretty surprised when Electrovaya agreed to send me their Scribbler SC2100 and I got it a week later! Kudos to Electrovaya for bucking the trend.

The SC2100 I received was spec'd out as follows:

1.3 Ghz
768 MB ram
60 GB harddrive
12.1” screen
1024 x 768 resolution * outdoor screen available separately
Integrated Biometric fingerprint sensor
Light sensor to adjust display brightness
802.11 b/g
2 usb slots
Firewire
Dual Array Microphone
Battery : 6 - 9 hours

Configured Price: $2599

The SC2100

The SC2100 is a 12.1” slate. The first thing that struck me about the Scribbler when I picked it up was how light it was. It was much lighter than I anticipated, even with the keyboard attached. With it having a long battery life and being 12.1”, I was anticipating a much heavier tablet.

The SC2100 is the fastest slate on the market at 1.3 ghz. I installed some of my development tools (SQL Server, ColdFusion, Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, PhotoShop), and it performed wonderfully. I'm not a gamer, so I didn't test it to see how it performed some of the latest games like Half Life.

While holding the unit, I was also impressed by its' solid construction. However, there were too many protruding rubber knobs sticking out of the back that always seemed to rub against my arm. I've used enough slates in the past 2 years to really appreciate a smooth back. When you are holding a slate in your arms for long periods at a time, you want it as smooth as possible back there.

I've got 802.11g in my house. The wireless performed just as well as my other tablets. I did have more success using the Intel ProSet configuration rather than Windows Zero Configuration.

I was very pleased to see the pen come standard with an eraser. That's not an option with many of the Electrovaya's competitors. All tablets should come standard with eraser pens. Unfortunately, I had problems getting the pen to calibrate properly in portrait mode. No matter what I did, the pen was always off on the right hand side of the screen. I couldn't close windows. I talked to Electrovaya about this and they attributed it to the digitizer and said it was a common issue among many tablets. I've got three other tablet pc's (M200, TC1100, and the M1400VA) and they don't have this problem.

There are plenty of hardware buttons: Wireless, scroll stick, TIP, Journal, Function key, security, Windows Start, and Exit. Having lots of button options is a big plus for tablet users. I frequently reprogram my buttons for tasks that save me some pen strokes: stand-by, hibernate, turning the screen off, etc.

I had heard some great things about the battery, so I decided to power it up and see how long the battery lasted. I charged the battery for about 12 hours. I could never get it to a 100% charge. The closest I got it to was 93%. I understand from Electrovaya that the battery is fully charging, but the operating system is not displaying the right charge percentage. I set the power settings to never go to standby or hibernate. Brightness was set to 60% and wireless was on. I got about 6 1/2 hours out of the battery. I've never gotten 6 1/2 hours out of any other tablet. That was great!

My initial disappointment with the tablet was the screen. However, I found that the brightness settings were set to 50% when connected to AC. I set it to Full Bright, and the screen was plenty bright and readable. Electrovaya does offer an Outdoor Viewable screen for an additional $289. I'd like to see the screen rotation button rotate to a full 360 degree rotation. I did have some intermittent problems after redocking and rotating the screen back to landscape.

Although there is no built-in sd card or cf card, there is a pcmcia slot that will support either an sd card or cf card adapter.

I'm glad that tablet manufacturers are starting to integrate a biometric reader in tablets. The fingerprint reader on my TC1100 is a pc card. I really like the integrated approach much better that Electrovaya has taken much better. The enrollment wizard is a piece of cake. After enrolling my fingers, it had no problems with recognition, or logging me in to password protected sites. If you havn't used a tablet with a biometric reader, you don't know what you are missing.

Biometric reader

The casing is an attractive pearl white. While it certainly offers a nice alternative to the standard black and grey tablets out there, it feels like it would get dirty pretty quickly. Not very practical from a hands-on, mobility perspective.

The Scribbler came with trial versions of Alias sketchbook and Tablet Planner. That's Tablet Planner 2.0! I think 2.0 was released in January of 2003. They are currently at 4.0. I'd suggest getting some more updated trial software. The accessories

Other pictures

Comparing the SC2100 to the TC1100

Comparing the SC2100 to an iPod

Side by side comparison between SC2100 and M1400

Screen comparsion between SC2100 and TC1100

Included Accessories

Keyboard and touchpad

I think my biggest complaint is not with the SC2100 itself, but with the keyboard and touchpad. The plus: they are extremely lightweight. However, they felt like they could break if not handled carefully.

When not using the tablet, you can attach the keyboard as a cover. The prop holding the tablet in place felt very flimsy. Part of what makes it feel flimsy is that the keyboard is designed to be as light as possible. I was able to connect the keyboard rather quickly. Unfortunately, the keyboard does not attach to the back of the tablet. You either have to carry the keyboard separately or attach it to the front of the tablet, which is not very practical for mobile users.

To use the touchpad, you slide it out of the keyboard and attach it to either the left or right side of the keyboard. There is not a lot of touchpad real estate and it doesn't respond well to mouse clicks. The touchpad must be sitting on a flat surface to work well. Electrovaya, however, was thinking ahead when they made the touchpad accessible to both left and right hand users.

Wire stand

I'm a pretty strong guy, yet I found the wire stand very difficult to use and get set up. Its' also not the best looking accessory. However, it is definitely more sturdy than other plastic stands I've used. I think they could come up with a better looking stand, though.

Portfolio

For the money this tablet costs, I'd expect a much nicer portfolio. It felt very cheap. I'd also like to see them offer some type of mechanism to hold the tablet in place so it doesn't slide out of the portfolio, similar to Hp's Portfolio and Motion's Executive Portfolio. I will give Electrovaya this much in regards to the portfolio: Motion does not include one standard, where Electrovaya does. They also sell an Executive Leatherette Portfolio as well as other items that help ruggedize the Scribbler.

Summary

The SC2100 is a very good choice for those looking for something light, and with a long battery life. Its' the fastest slate on the market with the longest battery life. I've used tablets with much better screens, but considering the highly mobile market this tablet is tailored to, it will be just fine.

The SC2100 feels solidly made, is light, and is a first rate tablet. However, the accessories feel cheaply made and that they will break if you are not careful with them. Considering the price tag, I expected better constructed accessories. Communications I have had with Electrovaya have indicated that they are revamping their accessories to be much tougher and less likely to break.

Bottomline: Great tablet pc, fast, lightweight, and long battery. Be careful with the keyboard and touchpad.

Buzz Meter: 4.0 out of 5

The SC2100 can be configured and purchased from -
http://www.electrovaya.com