Wiley tablet PCs for dummies mar 2003 ISBN 0764526472

by Nancy Stevenson ISBN:0764526472 Hungry Minds © 2003 308 pages Geared toward the general user of the Tablet PC, this text includes case studies of how the Tablet PC can be used in vert

by Nancy Stevenson

ISBN:0764526472

Hungry Minds © 2003 (308 pages)

Geared toward the general user of the Tablet PC, this text includes case studies of how the Tablet PC can be used in vertical applications such as healthcare and for enhanced productivity

and Beyond

Part II - Tablet PC Basics

Chapter 4 - Discovering Pen Basics

Chapter 5 - When Your Keyboard Isn’t Chapter 6 - Talking to Your Tablet PC

Part III - Exploring Tablet PC’s Unique Apps

Chapter 7 - Thinking Ink with Journal

Chapter 13 - Ten Neat Things You Can Do

with Your Tablet PC Chapter 14 - Top Ten Applications for Your

Tablet PC Chapter 15 - Ten (Or So) Real-World Uses for

Your Tablet PC Index

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Sidebars

Tablet PCs for Dummies

by Nancy Stevenson

ISBN:0764526472

Hungry Minds © 2003 (308 pages)

Geared toward the general user of the Tablet PC, this text includes case studies of how the Tablet PC can be used in vertical applications such as healthcare and for enhanced productivity

throughout an organization.

Table of Contents Back Cover

Back Cover

Is that Tablet PC you just bought, or are planning to buy, a great tool or just a cool toy? This book tells all! Get the scoop on different types and models, discover Table PC’s unique built-in software, and find out all the terrific things Tablet PC can do—plus how to make it do them.

About the Author

Nancy Stevenson owns a writing and consulting

company specializing in business and technology

topics She’s a former training manager for Symantec Corporation, and has written more than 30 books.

permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley

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in the United States and other countries, and may not be used withoutwritten permission All other trademarks are the property of their

respective owners Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any

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PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR

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Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Somecontent that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.Library of Congress Control Number: 2003101834

me into the Tablet PC manufacturing community And special thanks toDebbie Crosek of Motion Computing, Jay Buckner of Acer America,

Trevor Bratton and Dan Coffman at Viewsonic, Mike Beirne and MeganO'Neil of Fujitsu PC Corporation, and Angela Griffo of The BenjaminGroup/Toshiba for providing me with evaluation models and productphotos for use in this book Finally, thanks to Courtney Brigham at

Pen&Internet for providing information about its very neat software,

RiteMail

Publisher's Acknowledgments

We're proud of this book; please send us your comments through ouronline registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include thefollowing:

Tablet PC is a revolution in computing that represents the way peopleand computers will come together in the future - or a big yawn,

depending on who you talk to The promise of pen computing has beenaround for a long while, and many computer pundits (you know, thosefolks who write those self-important columns for geek magazines) are notimpressed by yet another effort

But blasé pundits aside, Tablet PC is a leap forward for the way people

compute It combines several ways to interact with data - through

handwriting, voice, or keyboard Its portable design makes it ideal forworkers on the job - from census takers to nurses, insurance inspectors

to shipping agents

And (let's not forget the important stuff) it's cool

Obviously, I'm in the camp of people who think Tablet PC has a role toplay in the future of computing - and I think you're going to love yourTablet PC But I didn't write this book to gloss over its shortcomings It's abrand new computing device, and like any brand new machine, it has itsglitches So my first goal in writing this book was to give you an honestpicture of the strengths and weaknesses of your Tablet PC and providetips on how to be the most productive with all its features

My second goal was to not make this a PCs for Dummies book Youknow how to use a PC - I assume that you want to read about what'sunique to using a Tablet PC So I focused on what's different and special,while pointing out where you can just fall back on the standard Windowsknowledge you already have

Frankly, not just any computer novice is likely to run out and spend

something like $2,200 on a brand new type of computer, so I've madesome assumptions about you I assume you are computer literate - that

is, you have made the acquaintance of one or two mice (mouses?) inyour life, and know that Windows isn't something you use a squeegee on.You know your way around a keyboard and have probably worked with ahandful of computer software programs in your time You may not be anexpert, but you're no novice, either

I figure you have worked with a version of Windows at least as recent asWindows 2000, but possibly you've already worked with Windows XP.Because Windows XP for Tablet PC is a close cousin of Windows XP,you should be fairly at home in the Tablet PC environment I'm also

guessing you use the Internet and understand the basics of browsing ande-mail, so I don't have to waste your time with a table of emoticons

Was I right?

I want to get a few more ground rules out of the way so you can get goingwith your Tablet PC

First off, Tablet PC technology is still new, and I suspect that its lingo

hasn't quite gelled yet You may see the terms click and right-click for

performing actions with a pen that emulate mouse operations - even

though what you're really doing is tapping or double-tapping with the pen.Web site addresses, also known as URLs, are highlighted by setting

them in a special computer font, which looks like this:

www.microsoft.com

Menu commands are shown with arrows that lead from one to the next inthe order that you choose them, for example, 'Choose

Oh, one more thing Some Tablet PCs come with keyboards, and somedon't But all Tablet PCs have an Input Panel that simulates a keyboard.When I use the word Keyboard, I'm talking about the electronic

Technical Stuff This icon gives you a peek behind the glamorousexterior of your Tablet PC, to see why it does what it does (Those of youwho prefer to think of computers as the equivalent of Aladdin's lamp - 'Igive it input, I get output, who cares what happens in-between?' - canskip ahead.)

Tip This icon calls your attention to handy shortcuts, practical advice,and nuggets of wisdom to enhance your Tablet PC experience

Understanding something new often depends on how logically it's

presented to you so your brain can grab it and run with it For that reason(and because my editor told me to) I've organized this book into Parts

Part I: Getting Up to Speed with Tablet PC

In this section, you meet the hero of this book - Tablet PC - find out aboutthe various models available, turn the computer on, put pen to screen forthe first time, and learn how to take advantage of built-in help and

tutorials You check out the features of your device, rotating the Tablet

PC screen and figuring out what the buttons are likely to control

(depending on the model you own) Finally, this section helps you getyour Tablet PC connected to handy things like a printer, wireless network,

or docking station - while imparting sage advice about power

management so your portable wonder won't run out of juice far from anoutlet

Part II: Tablet PC Basics

Part II is where you discover the intricacies of getting content into

software documents with Tablet PC's various input modes: the onscreenkeyboard, the pen, and speech These ways of communicating with yourcomputer are perhaps the most revolutionary thing about Tablet PC and,

as you'll find out in this part, practice with them makes (almost) perfect

Part III: Exploring Tablet PC's Unique Apps

Tablet PCs get their functionality from Windows XP for Tablet PC

Besides the pen and speech functionality you read about in Part II, theTablet PC operating system has a few unique programs built in that aren't

in plain old Windows XP This Part takes the time to introduce you tothem: Windows Journal, Sticky Notes, and InkBall I also throw in someinformation about Microsoft Reader for reading eBooks (which has beenaround for a while, but is just so perfect an application for a Tablet PCuser, I couldn't resist)

Part IV: Office XP, Tablet PC Style

Right out of the gate, Tablet PC has been set up to work with MicrosoftOffice XP (through a Tablet PC Office Pack you can download for free).The interaction is pretty much limited to the use of ink and speech

through the Tablet PC Input Panel (more about that later) - but that's animpressive start This part shows how you can take advantage of TabletPC's features in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

Part V: The Part of Tens

Quick list ten things you can write on with a pen

Because everybody from talk show hosts to your Aunt Maisie makes lists,and those lists often contain ten items, why shouldn't I? This part of thebook introduces several lists-by-ten - ten neat things you can do withTablet PC just for the fun of it, ten software products that take advantage

of the Tablet PC computing environment, and ten interesting ways thatvarious industries are making use of tablet computing

Part I: Getting Up to Speed with Tablet PC

Chapter 1: The World of Tablet PC

Chapter 2: Redefining the PC Experience

Chapter 3: Connecting to Your Office and Beyond

If you're old enough, you remember when the world switched from rotaryphones to touch tone, from records to CDs, or from board games to videogames Changes like this can prove to be revolutionary or just small

steps on the technological highway But whatever effect they have, theymean a shift in the way people do things

Tablet PC is a shift in the way people use computers In this part of thebook, you'll be introduced to Tablet PC's hardware and input methods,including writing on your screen with a pen and speaking your commands

or content into a built-in microphone You'll take a look at Tablet PC'sbuttons and screen, learn about rotating the display to look at things fromdifferent angles, and connect your Tablet PC to peripheral devices, such

as printers You'll also explore some power management settings that willhelp you when you take Tablet PC out on the road

Chapter 1: The World of Tablet PC

than-impressive family tree In fact, Tablet PC comes from a long line ofless-than-successful ancestors, including Apple’s Newton, Go

Now, we can’t all come from royalty — and frankly, Tablet PC has a less-Corporation’s Eo (I haven’t a clue what that stands for), and Sony Vaio’s

Pen Tablet These were all early entries in the world of pen computing,

technology that enables you to write your input with a pen-like deviceinstead of typing (as you would on most other computers)

Tablet PC adds voice-recognition capability to the pen technology

Twenty-odd manufacturers have brought out their versions in variousportable, easy-to-hold designs that weigh around three pounds But whatreally sets Tablet PC apart from its ancestors — and gives it a crack atfinally making pen technology work — is its operating system Tablet PC

is driven by Microsoft Windows XP for Tablet PC — a full version of

Windows on which you can run any program written for Windows.

Will this difference be enough to make Tablet PC the big success story its

Tablet-style PCs have been used by various businesses for several yearsnow You've probably seen them in action - perhaps being carried around

a store by a clerk to update the inventory of canned peas in grocery

stores - or you may have actually used one yourself when signing yoursignature electronically after you received a package from an overnightshipping company

Remember The main features of a tablet-style PC are that you canwrite your input, and it's portable (as the Motion M1200 Tablet PC

demonstrates in Figure 1-1), so it works well for those who run from

meeting to meeting, make the rounds in the plant, or spend most of theworkday 'in the field' in various industries

Figure 1-1: The Motion

M1200 Tablet PC comes with a detachable

keyboard

Tablet PC in its current form (to which this book is devoted) came aboutwhen Microsoft partnered with manufacturers such as Toshiba, Fujitsu,

Compaq, and Acer to produce actual computer hardware while Microsoft

developed the operating system - Windows XP for Tablet PC This

program is actually a superset of Windows XP that can run any standardWindows program and adds pen and voice technology on top of that - afar cry from Windows CE (a version that ran cramped little no-frills

programs on 'palmtop' computers in the '90s) Make no mistake: Tablet

PC is no handheld computer and it doesn't run on a pale imitation of anoperating system It's a very robust computer in a very convenient

speak input and commands to your computer and it does what you say.

Being able to write handwritten notes into your computer, save them, andsearch them later is a seriously handy feature Of course, it's a less thanideal way to input data for longer documents, so the Tablet PC hardwaredoesn't limit you to handwritten input In fact, it offers you several options.And what does the package that all these handwriting and speech

features come in look like? All models sport an on-screen Keyboard thatyou can tap away at with your pen Some models are designed like alaptop with a built-in keyboard that swivels and folds flat to convert theunit into a tablet-like format Others offer a detachable keyboard

Not sure whether you have a use for a Tablet PC - or how to get the mostfrom it if you buy one? Well, take a moment to see how this style of

is much less of a juggling act.)

Warning! If you write a lot of lengthy documents, don't travel or leaveyour office much, or think the idea of writing on a computer screen is

Knowing that a Tablet PC is right for you is just the first step Choosingone can be challenging because there are actually about 23 differentmodels of Tablet PC, and each offers slightly different design and

hardware features If you've already bought your Tablet PC, skip thissection But if one of your reasons for buying this book is to figure outwhich Tablet PC to buy, read on

Tip All the models use the same operating system, so most activitiescovered in this book work exactly the same with whatever Tablet PC youbuy

Something to write home about?

The big debate about Tablet PC is whether people even want to enterinformation into a computer with a pen Well, handwriting is easier thantyping for some - and a convenient method of input in cramped spacescertainly has its appeal Imagine writing happily away at 30,000 feetwith your pad-like Tablet PC resting on your meal tray, avoiding thefool who slams his seat back into your knees without warning Justimagine the disaster that would ensue with a clamshell-style laptop

Of course, handwriting is harder to read than typed text - and

handwriting-recognition programs still make mistakes, so convertingyour handwriting to text can be cumbersome Still, consider the

possibilities: Delivery people and salespeople can capture actual

signatures while visiting customers Hospital staff can jot notes abouttreatments in settings where a keyboard would be difficult to come by.Market research can be done by having people in a shopping mall fillout any one of several versions of survey forms stored on a Tablet PC,and through wireless technology, the results can be sent to the homeoffice in minutes, instead of taking weeks to compile paper forms

The debate about the viability of handwritten input will probably

continue until pen technology and handwriting-recognition softwarebecome user-friendly enough to end the uproar once and for all

model offers a good-size screen and rubber edging to help you gripthe unit

Here are a few things to consider when choosing between convertibleand slate models

Slate models:

Pro - Detachable keyboard: You can attach a keyboard to any

slate model, so none of them is totally keyboardless Some comewith detachable keyboards; others offer this as an option

Con - No protective cover: Most slate units (the Motion M1200

Tablet PC is an exception) have no protective cover over their

manufacturers (for example, Taiwanese Tantung's Tangy is pretty muchavailable only in Asia) or manufacturers such as PaceBlade Technology(which sells its PaceBook Tablet PC mainly through value-added

resellers)

Tip If you want to buy several units for your business or want any kind

of consulting about how to roll out your Tablet PCs into your workforce, aless-well-known manufacturer may offer you better value and support.Also, some distributors, such as InfoCater (www.infocater.com), provideconsulting services to help you fit Tablet PC into your business needs

In essence, about six models are available to you as an everyday

consumer Being a fan of handy tables, I've created Table 1-1 to help youmake the Tablet PC choice from among these models Try ranking yourown computing priorities to make a choice from among these models Forexample, is a lightweight model more important than speed? Or is pricethe most important thing to you?

Table 1-1: Tablet PC Models