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Bill is off
to the Tablet PC Summit in Boston tomorrow, so we've got a fill in article
for you. Dennis, who is also headed to the summit, recently went on a
Caribbean cruise and took his Tablet PC along. In this article he tells
a bit about his experiences on board with "TC". Thanks for inviting
us to your inbox! ~Spencer
"Cruising"
with my TC1000"
By Dennis Rice
Spring Break
for my family this year brought about a long awaited event -- a family
cruise in the Caribbean to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Montego Bay, Jamaica.
We had long anticipated this event, and when the day came, of course our
newest family member, my TC1000, jumped in his case (yes my TC1k is a
guy), and came along for the ride! Just thought I would share just how
handy it was to have my tablet along.
Of course
the first thing to note is that in any long journey, lighter is better.
I used to carry my Dell 8200 notebook along on trips like this (when my
wife would let me), but now, it stays at home and the tablet goes with
me, and believe me, when you travel with a family of four, you really
appreciate every less pound. I had no problems at all with security; it
went right through with no questions (although I suspect they just missed
it -- not a good thought). My first actual use onboard and got a quiet
moment, was of course to open up Journal and start ... well -- a Journal!
I was struck once again (for about the thousandth time), at how nice it
was to pick up the tablet, and just start writing. If you use Standby
and Hibernate on your tablet, you know what I mean -- this is one of the
best benefits of these computers. I did my journal (in Journal, I like
saying that) in many different places. I did it in my cabin, the dining
room, in several different lounges, as well as out on the "Promenade"
deck sitting in a deck chair watching the blue waters go by. One negative
note here, is that using the tablet outside was great on the Promenade
deck (which is covered and shady), but anywhere else outside was just
not practical without a transreflective screen. I even tried under an
umbrella, and although it was doable, was definitely not desirable.
The main
purpose for bringing the Tablet (besides not wanting it to get lonely),
was to download digital pictures. I was using a borrowed Olympus E10 digital
camera which uses Compact Flash cards. I cannot tell you how wonderful
it was each evening when I returned to my cabin to simply insert the CF
card into my TC1k, give it a folder name, and offload all pics. The XP
Photo wizard works great. I could then take the tablet to dinner with
me and share our images of the day with my family and the folks at our
dinner table. I even emailed a few shots to family and friends back home.
Our dinner companions were shocked that I was going to email them a picture
of our dinner group, and that it would be in their email before they even
got home. I could of course also have done this with a notebook computer,
but it was a ton easier with the Tablet.
How about
Internet connectivity? Our cruise was with Holland America, and I must
say I was impressed with their Internet Cafe capability. For $3.95, you
set up an account on the ship for Internet access for the whole cruise,
and can either pay a bit more and rent a computer of theirs, or bring
your own laptop (or Tablet of course) and use their system -- they even
offer wireless 802.11b! For a fairly decent charge of about 10 cents a
minute, you can attach wirelessly to their WAP onboard at the Internet
Cafe, and do your email, web surfing, etc. I had no problem accessing
their wireless system. Just turned on my wireless, entered login info,
and I was online. They also offered temporary shipboard email accounts
if you could not access you account from their system. There was an "Internet
Manager" in the cafe at certain times to help, but for the most part you
just went to the Cafe, sat down and did your thing. The night before we
would dock at a port, I would go online, do a little research, and find
sites, etc. for our days visit there. Very nicely done Holland America!
Other uses
were for my 14 year old daughter to play a few games, I of course did
do a little work (but only just a little) on sea days when I had gotten
enough sun for the day, and a little e-book reading (but I had forgotten
to download some new books). I did of course have to do the obligatory
demos just about every time I displayed it in public, but I tried to sit
in quiet places when I could. While in quiet areas, I would at times be
sitting near someone who was reading (or catching a quick nap), and it
was nice to know I would not disturb them with the tap-tap-tapping of
a keyboard. One additional very special note was that my TC1k even fit
inside the cabin's mini safe! Try that with your notebook computer! I
did not have to worry about just leaving it sitting in my cabin, which
was a nice thing!
Well, that
is about it. I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise, but also was thankful to
have my tablet along. My wife was much happier than when I had my notebook
as well (although I did get fussed at a couple of times). The versatility
of this unit continues to amaze me. You can take a tablet lots of places
that you would never go with a notebook computer. I really enjoyed having
"TC" along!
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