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Tablet computers and smartphones contain ample computing power, yet they’re designed for use on the go. Which raises an interesting question: if these pint-sized devices already have more computing power than many full-sized desktop computers from just a few years ago, why not put them to work as a PC replacement? After all, the monitor and computer innards are already on board.
All that’s missing is the keyboard.
Apple has thought of this, of course, and its range of accessories for its iPhone and iPad tablets can make your pocketable device a computer in its own right. The most obvious starting point is a dock and integrated keyboard (69 dollars). The rear side of the dock features the standard Apple connection for charging and connecting other devices as well as an audio port for speakers or a stereo set.
There are other alternatives as well. A small iPad dock (29 dollars) can be used to establish a Bluetooth radio connection to a wireless keyboard, either from Apple (69 dollars) or from another manufacturer. This offers a few benefits over the first, “rigid” solution: For one, it allows you to use an existing Bluetooth keyboard if you already have one, and second, it means that if you buy a new keyboard now, you can use it at a later point with other devices.
What remains to be seen is whether the thinner new iPad 2 and whatever devices will follow will still fit onto the first generation dock.
Bluetooth is the key technology for convenient typing on smartphones or table screens. Bluetooth keyboards are available in a broad range of variants. The 40-to-60-dollar price range features units from names like Kensington, Sharon, Snugg, and others, and they are typically some form of iPad sleeve with an integrated keyboard.
With these add-ons, users have to accept, however, that their slender tablet is then turned into a bit of a bulky mini-laptop.
Other manufacturers offer their own versions of an iPad dock, including ZAGG with its ZAGGmate Bluetooth keyboard, which also functions as a “cover” for the touchscreen (roughly 85 dollars).
Universally deployable Bluetooth keyboards are available in different price classes. On the one hand there are the classic, relatively large keyboards costing between 30 to 100 dollars, depending on the manufacturer and features offered. Special versions for on-the-go use, such as roll-up keyboard pads made of silicon, can be purchased from Ricco (17 dollars) or CHIN FAI (30 dollars).
Keyboards from i-Connex, by contrast, are made of hard plastic but can be folded in the middle like a book (75 dollars). One insider’s tip is the folding SU-8W Bluetooth keyboard from Nokia, although the model has been discontinued by the Finnish manufacturer and can only be purchased these days on eBay. Yet another option is one of the minute mini-keyboards from manufacturers like Hebron that can be held in one hand while typing with the other (35 dollars).
Apple smartphones and tablets are not the only ones capable of working with these solutions. Interesting ideas are also available for units from several other manufacturers. Asus, for example, came up with one clever inspiration for its Eee Pad Transformer. The dock itself is also a backup battery to extend the working time.
Chinese manufacturer Lenovo has announced a summer release for its LePad, which is in essence two computers in one. As a stand-alone tablet, the device works with Google’s Android operating system. When docked with the keyboard, however, it becomes a computer running Microsoft Windows 7. The benefit to this solution is that the LePad can be used as a full PC, including mouse, while neither the Android OS nor even Apple’s iOS provide this option.
The LePad may end up being an expensive pleasure, though: Current reports estimate that the combination of table and IdeaPad U1 base station will cost around 1,000 dollars, even in China.
Viewsonic, a company known primarily for its monitors, is trying a more affordable alternative. Its ViewPad 10 works both with Windows and Android, and will be available soon for around 500 dollars — although without keyboard and dock. Another unusual trait: While the majority of its competitors work with multi-core chips based on the chip architecture promoted by British chipmaker ARM, the ViewPad is built around an Atom processor from Intel.
In the US, Motorola has turned heads of late with its Atrix concept, a “laptop” on which all work is handled by the Atrix smartphone that is plugged into a port on the rear. The dock alone costs about 360 dollars in the US. With dozens of tablets primarily running on the Android system already announced for this year, the options seem only likely to grow in the months to come.
