Samsung whips out 12.2-inch 'Professional' iPad killers

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

Bigger screen - what a non-surprise - I'm waiting for the 65-bit (not a typo) processor so they can claim it's more than the iPad. Apple make their stuff power efficient - seems Samsung use large screens to hide larger and larger batteries to get decent runtime.

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

Tablet weight is very important - that is why the iPad Air is a big improvement. If I remember a Macbook Air is less than 1.1kg and this device is getting up towards that weight.

Bigger doesn't always translate into being better.

Samsung think Apple are doing this so they have got in first, just like the watch.......

It's a ploy to get Samsung to put money into a market that doesn't exist.

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

Okay, I am a big guy used to lug 30kg around the countryside in a former job and still keeping quite fit (1). But even for the average IT "weakling" a unit in the 700-1100g range should be quite useable standing IF it has a stylus and a good handwriting recognition. That way the unit is cradled in the off-hand and written on with the other. And 12''-13'' units can be handled by most humans quite well while having the benefit of being close in size to DIN A4/US Legal, making for a natural reading.

The main questions on the Samsung Note/Pro units are:

How long will they get updates/security fixes?

How stable is the note taking software?

How stable is the software in general?

How good is the HWR by now?

How are they priced compared to a x86 box?

Is the high screen resolution useful or just showmanship?

and most important:

Do you need to interface with a Windows based infrastructure / AD domain etc?

(1) Regularly balancing 1kg weights in one and 4.2kg weights using both hands while standing/kneeling helps as does weight-work and hiking

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

It all depends on what you want your pad for. I have a Note 10.1 and it's great for meetings, jotting notes and then transferring them to a document for minutes. It isn't however better at heavyweight document processing than my Air or PC/Laptops.

Really the only thing missing for me is the ability to easily drive a projector through an inbuilt VGA or USB connection, so I can dump my laptop when to of the office. BTW most projectors in the wild are still VGA driven, and I don't want to carry a projector with me.

I would probably switch to an iPad if it did native handwriting as I refer the iPad interface.

12 inch iPad or Note really would have a place in business, but do we need a 10 inch as well, hmmmmm

Personal use however is different, as web surfing and film viewing aren't big business needs, and you don't need a bid tablet for those.

Yes, it's the way the rounded corners and curves fit into my hand.

Re: They're playing to the dummies in the market...

No need to worry, the market will decide and get it right. If people like it it will sell.

Re: They're playing to the dummies in the market...

That depends. If these tablets can be screen extensions to laptops, then offices might snatch them up quick-like. Expensive extensions, but at least they can act as in-facility walkabout tools to got to meetings -- ad hoc or planned. If Samsung has THAT card up their sleeve, then it might put red rings around the eyes of Retina planner.

My 21.5 inch, lightweight AOC LCD is lighter than my 7.5'lbs 15" laptop, and thinner, and virtually portable. I took it to a meeting to give a presentation away from home, only to be greeted with the option to plug my laptop into a 57" or so wide Samsung (IIRC) monster screen. Of course, I plugged into the monster screen, and even at 1920x1008 or so, it looked GREAT.

But, for those in labs or financial settings where there may be more desire for walkabouts than wall-to-wall, triple-pintle, or lab-desk-banks of screens, screen-extendable tablets might serve some use in some big companies. Samsung just has to accelerate getting the drivers under license or in deployment.

Just my two cents

Re: They're playing to the dummies in the market...

The Macbook Air starting at £849 for 11" models is by no means the "bottom end of the laptop market".

Try walking outside of the the Apple Store into the real world for a moment. You can easily get two very capable laptops for less that price and still have change enough to buy yourself a couple of overpriced £25 proprietary 2m lightning cable or 10 generic 2m MicroUSB cables.

Re: They're playing to the dummies in the market...

@iLurker: I would find little use for a 12" tablet since creation of stuff, including writing code and documents and presentations, is such a big part of what I do. A laptop, even if a bit heavier and not larger, would be essential.

But managers, executives, salespeople, etc., who normally only view or present stuff that others create, and are often on the road, may well find it very useful. Those people do not need a keyboard so much, but they do need the screen real estate (and battery). 750g is better than 1.2kg when on the road. A bit of personal entertainment on top of the hotel's pay-per-view will be welcome, too. And the tablet can still do one line emails quite well.

So if Sammy make the "professional" apps work well enough on those thingies in an almost-read-only mode (even an executive changes a spreadsheet cell once in a blue moon), and if these tablts can be hooked to a large screen or projector for presentations, there may be a market. One able to live with premium prices, too.

Re: They're playing to the dummies in the market...

Personally I'd much rather have a portable laptop (Samsung laptop or similar) than a pure ~10" tablet. But your argument does seem contradictory - you say this Samsung has no point, as it'll get slayed by laptops on every technical score, but ipads are fast enough to do what is asked of them? Which is it? Is something okay as long as it's fast enough, or not if it'll get beaten on specs by a laptop?

The weight difference isn't that huge - some people were evidently happy with 600-700g 10" tablets for years (including ipads), whilst the lightest laptops are around 1Kg (I think the lightest is a Sony just under 1Kg; ASUS's T100 is just over 1Kg). This Samsung tablet at 750g is still much closer to those tablets. Furthermore, 12" laptops are going to be heavier still.

You can argue in favour or against the larger tablets vs laptops, but I don't think this Samsung device makes a difference to that argument - any advantage or weakness or weight or specs is shared by the other tablets.

"OTOH going smaller doesn't achieve much"

I disagree - I intentionally didn't get a permanent case for my Nexus 7 for that reason, and the time when weight is most important is when it's in my hands. So having under 300g for a tablet that's meant to be hand held device is important in my opinion, and much lighter than any ipad heavy or other large tablet. It also means I can hold one handed, and use with my other hand - meaning it's easy to use without a desk, laying it on my lap, and I can easily use it standing.

When it's in my bag, the weight is of little relevance, I don't notice it any more than I notice my Samsung netbook in my bag. But the size is important - I can slip it into a side pocket of a bag, it takes up that much less space, and I can even put it in a small bag or even my pocket (just about!) which would be impossible for larger tablets.

Sheet music. A bit niche, but carrying a library of scores - or even just one complete score - around in 750g would be quite a thing for the professionals.

The screen is still too small for a full conducting score though.

IF SNote is finally stable for documents > 10pages AND you have a supported printer in case you need paper versions the 10 and 12'' NOTE units could be a nice replacement for a legal pad. 12'' more so than 10 from experience, the extra "real estate" is worth the weight.

Depending on what software is available under Android by now it might also be a useful Sketchpad (Assuming something like Artrage etc. exists by now) and useable for minor picture touch ups.

Samsung releases something that is similar to something Apple already makes:

"WAAAAH Samsung is copying Apple!"

Samsung makes something that Apple doesn't make:

"WAAAAH Samsung is copying Apple in the future!"

Re: Size of a piece of paper

That's just only as long as you morning news are delivered with an old newspaper design which doesn't adapt to newer ways to consume them.

But for example IE11 in Windows 8 has a feature that reformats a web page to a "reading layout" which gets rid of extraneus elements, and adapts to the screen size automatically. You don't need to pinch and zoom anymore.

The old fixed HTML layout is today something obsolete - news should be delivered in a format which could allow a device to display them in the best way on its target display.

Re: stuck in the mud.

The big irony is that Apple had a nice stylus based PDA with a, for the time, quite decent HWR (Newton) and likely could bring out an iPen device with better usability/quality and long-term updates than the Note series is.

As for the screen casting - well that is the Miracast standard so basically anyone could support that. Windows tablet pc of the current generation (at least the core-i) do so. I agree it is brilliant (I use the older WIDI standard a lot). Biggest benefit is that there are WIDI/Miracast receivers that act as a HDMI In device for even a non-smart TV or a monitor (or even a beamer). Just plug in the smallish box and go

Re: New name for these giant tablets needed

Biglet?

Users can be called biggles.

Re: I want one

I'd need a bit more from Android to be tempted but I will be definitely tempted by the 8.4 as a replacement to my Galaxy Tab 8.9 - great compromise between size and weight.

Re: I want one

Surface has been doing two apps from the getgo, even if you say it can't run all the x86 apps (people do apparently, presumably without irony and while using iPads), then one can just use it for the fact that it runs two apps on screen at the same time.

TFTFY

Re: About time...

Multiscreens usability depends on what you use the unit for. Most of the time in "electronic legal pad" mode I view/edit a document "full screen" even on the 12 and 13'' Windows units here and use tabs to switch between documents and the taskbar to switch between programs. Multi-Windows come into use mostly if I use electronic post it and notification windows.

Yay Samsung are great = auto up vote

Told you they spend a lot on marketing didn't I...?

Not worth reading comments on Samsung reports; too many Apple trolls around whining because people have the nerve to like Samsung.

Re: Google...

Or Nexus 12?

That's just El reg's little way.

if you can't work apple in to a headline, they don't like reporting on it.