Incremental Blogger

Rob Bushway has finally had it with the digitizer issues in the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC. As I’ve blogged in the past, I’m frustrated by the false triggers, dead spots, erratic behavior of the digitzer too. It’s a pain if you use the Tablet features a lot.

Ideally it would be nice if Dell took the initiative here and recalled the product, offered refunds, or publicly stated that they will offer heavly discounted prices off of any updated Latitude Tablet PCs should there be one.

But all this goes beyond Dell. I’m very concerned about what might happen with the pending launch of Windows 7 betas. Here’s the problem: The Latitude Tablet PC is a rarity these days because it potentially can support multi-touch, which is a new, showcase feature of Windows 7. That’s great for Dell. The Latitude may be one of the main devices that people try Windows 7 out on for the new multi-touch features. However, if the digitizer fares no better under Windows 7 than it does now, this could be a bad beginning for Windows’ multi-touch.

In fact, the potential downside is so significant here, I’d suggest to Microsoft that if Windows 7’s multi-touch experience is poor on the Dell and there’s not any other consumer-available (and compelling) hardware that supports multi-touch, that Microsoft should pull multi-touch for now. There’s absolutely no reason to start out on the wrong foot–particularly in light of how familiar people are with multi-touch on the iPhone. If you can’t get close to this, the time is not right. Just wait a couple months for other hardware to catch up.

Robert Scoble shares some of his thoughts on the Dell Tablet PC. Overall he says the “machine is well built, well designed, and fun to use.” What does he like most about the Tablet? The battery life–up to 5 hours. Sounds good.

Now only if they could address the price problem, I think they could have a winner on their hands.

Long Zheng of istartedsomething takes a hands-on look at the new Dell Tablet PC. Overall it looks like he’s quite positive on the dual digitizer device:

“In conclusion, this is a very slick and feature-packed Tablet PC and a notable first entry into the market from Dell. This is not a “me-too-tablet”. They’ve certainly put a lot of thought into the design and engineering of this device and it’s certainly a joy to use. However it all comes to price, which ultimately decides its value and who can afford it. Sadly when you put the features and price side by side, it’s hard to justify the subtle innovation for the extremely high premiums. A lot of people who would have otherwise been all over this product - students like myself - can barely touch the most standard model. If you have money lying around, this is a top-tier Tablet you won’t regret.”

For me–a developer–I like more horsepower, but I’d sure like to have a go at developing apps with the Dell’s Capacitive touch in mind. If only, Dell would lower the price :-).

Nathan Novak gives his impressions of the Dell Latitude XT. Overall it looks like a mixed bag, but not terrible. Personally, performance would be my biggest concern, but for a general purpose machine it probably wouldn’t be too bad. Still, I keep wondering why Dell went with such a slow processor. It’s 2008 after all. Nathan points out that the Latitude is missing an up-to-date SATA drive too. Hmm. He also points out that the Latitude pen is missing an eraser button–something that I noticed before and have been quite surprised at.

His overall verdict?

Overall I think Dell did pretty good for their first foray into the tablet world.  Sure they need to make some upgrades (SATA hard drive anyone?) but it’s not bad.  I wish Dell would make ALL latitudes compatible with the standard docking stations (Lat D430 and XT have to use a custom media bay).

Pricing is a heafty premium compared to the Latitude D430, it’s closest relative.  With our corporate discounts our fully loaded D630’s run around $1600.  This Latitude XT cost our organization about $2400 (3GB RAM, U7600 dual core processor, pre-N WiFi, Vista Ultimate, 3 year Gold support with CompleteCare).

Am I going to use it as my primary machine?  Not right now.  We forgot to put the media base and the Bluetooth card on the order (we walked through the specs on the phone with our rep before it was on Dell’s website).  I’d also want the slim battery base for travel.

Should you buy one?  Maybe.  That’s a pretty personal decision.  Worst case is you get it, hate it, and return it for a refund (check with Dell on their policies for that).  While a tablet is pretty cool to have, for me personally I’ve found that I’m not so sure how often I’d actually use it in tablet mode.  But that’s just me.

Thanks for the great review Nathan and great feeedback for Dell.

Free advice isn’t worth much, I know. But I can’t help but want to share some thoughts for Dell. Why? This past month Dell announced that they’d soon be shipping a Tablet PC. That’s the good news. However, Dell’s product positioning and marketing for the Tablet seems to be a bit off the mark. Here’s some of what I think Dell can do to get on track.

First, there’s the starting price: $2,499. Ouch. That’s a good $500 over what most of us were expecting and where the competition is at. A loaded system is $3k+. That’ll really put a dent in your pocket. The price makes a bit more sense though if you look at what else Dell sells in this category. For instance, they resell the Samsung UMPC at a hefty $1700. Yeah, that’s right, $1700. No wonder the Latitude XT Tablet PC is a mere $700 more. OK, sarcasm aside, there’s no doubt the price is too high. I don’t think Dell should lower it though–just yet. Here’s what I’d do. Bolt in a well-sized solid state drive (SSD), bundle a year’s worth of T-Mobile’s WiFi connectivity or toss in an EVDO card/service plan, and place Microsoft’s Live Writer in the desktop image. Make an online/blogger special unit that people will love, blog about, chat up, and recommend. A system like this at $2499 would get people thinking…and dreaming…and talking–some of the best advertising you don’t have to pay for.

Another suggestion is on the marketing side. For the last couple years, Dell has purchased–at I imagine a hefty price–the keywords “Tablet PC” on Google’s search. Well, isn’t it about time to actually make the link from this keyword ad go directly to a Tablet PC page? Right now, the link goes to this generic Notebook page where there’s not one mention or link to Tablet PCs. At least go to this generic Tablet PC search page on the Dell site or better yet go to http://www.dell.com/tablet directly. Let people know about your Tablet products when searching for Tablet PCs.

Similarly, I’d be sure to include images and links to the Latitude XT Tablet PC wherever you market to schools and government. It didn’t take me long to run across this site, for instance, that seems to be lacking such links. Yes, some pages have links to the Tablet, which is good, but is it just me or does it seem like I have to fish for this information. Shouldn’t the Tablet PC be the number one selection for higher ed and K-12?

Finally, here’s one more tip: Do whatever you can to get your multi-touch drivers–in whatever state they are in–alpha, beta, or somewhere in between–into the hands of people that want to try it out and share their thoughts. Get it into the hands of developers. Build a following. You have a chance at a huge lead here in an area where there’s lots of excitement. Capitalize on it. What’s that? You say the software/firmware isn’t read yet? Don’t worry. There are many people online that appreciate early efforts. They’ll give you a break and may just very well help to grow your market when the software is ready to ship. Don’t miss this opportunity.

OK. Four freebie ideas. Anyone else have any? Be sure to share either here or over on Gottabemobile’s Dell forum. Maybe, just maybe Dell is listening.