Good morning Hivemind!

So we produce some pretty large binders of reports on a monthly and quarterly basis at my company. Thest things cost an arm and a leg to have printed & bound, and management is sick of lugging the damn things around. They aren't quite willing to go to PDF'ing them on the laptops yet though, as it tethers them to a desk/table/cooking their crotch with the notebook.

So Im pitching an idea later today about distributing some flavor of Tablet PC to the people who have to cosume these informational products. The files will be in PDF format, and consist of about an equal mix of text and executive freindly color charts (many of which are 11"x17", which is why our printing costs so damn much).

Im looking for a recommendation on a tablet which will be easy to support, Wi-Fi only (we don't want to incur monthly costs for these if we can avoid it) and that has a disply you'd be comfortable reading large charts on. We would REALLY like to avoind the Ipad though, as there is no love for the evil fruit empire around here, and Itunes gets into pissing matches with some of our other software.

Acer has their Iconia line of both Windows and Android tablets. The Android tablet runs about as much as a Motorola Xoom Wifi only
The Iconia Windows version comes with a keyboard dock, but the Androis versin accessories will NOT work with it (cases, docks, etc)
The Xoom is thinner
The Iconia screen is a bit larger.
If looking at Android I'd most likely look at the Xooms, Windows based, Acer Iconia

Yeah, from the homework I've been doing the Xoom looks like a pretty solid unit (plus, I've had a chance to play with one a little bit). The Xoom also appears to have a more robust accessory catalog, and with it being android based we can easily customize or develop for them down the road.

If this is going to be for PDF's and documentation only, why not the larger Kindle 3G version?  It was pretty much custom made as a solution for the issue of looking at technical documents.  They are cheaper, likely more stable, and can be shared among multiple users.  

NVM, checked and it is not lockable so I doubt you would want to put private company documents on it especially sensitive ones.


Edit:  The problem with the Zoom appears to be around a lack of ports

Management will want Angry Birds. Do you think a 7" screen will be big enough for them to read reports and charts comfortably, or does it have to be a 10 inch tablet?

LOL @ Angry Birds, knowing my management we'll have leaderboards established inside of a week.

The charts they'll be veiwing print almost margin to margin on 11x17 paper, so Im not sure if the 7" will be enough, as I don't have much experience with Tablets yet. I think Im going to get the green-light to get one ordered today for testing, but until then I have to cop to my own ignorance on these.

Galaxy tab?

I have a xoom and use it daily for work, viewing Army regulation converted to PDF.  Instant on and access to the data is probably the best thing tablets have going on.  As for viewing, I also get financial xls that are huge but easily zoomed and scrolled via the touch screen.

Its an out of the box solution for me, but it work great.  Tying this on my xoom while leaving a duece.

Fatkid

The 10.1" wi-fi version fits the bill, and is in the same price range as the Motorola Xoom. So yeah, I think thats an option.

It will be tough viewing an 11x17 on even a 10" tablet.

This is why I was asking about the 7" screen, they (Galaxy tab) are pretty cheap in comparison. Sounds like you need the 10" screen though.

If they're up for spending some coin, get a Xoom or 10" Galaxy, if they want a budget proposal, see if you can use a Kindle or Nook, they are a little easier on the eyes for long documents, and cheaper (but also smaller).

Yeah, we're talking maybe a dozen of these distrubuted to our most seinior folks, so I don't think cost is going to be to big an impact. If you saw the printing and shipping bill for these damn binders these things will pay for themselves inside of a quarter, two at most.

It looks like the Motorola Xoom is the better option as retail (via amazon) they have the 10" 32gb option for $479.99, wheras the 10" 16gb Galaxy Tab is $499.99. The specs on the two units are virtually identical otherwise.

Anyone know anything about the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer? It's in the same price range, and the snap-on keyboard is a neat concept.

I happen to hate both MotoBlur and TouchWiz, so the Xoom would win for the memory and price.

Personally, I still hate reading on LCD screens.  In my law office we scan all of our documents and I read them on my laptop or iPad, but I always find myself printing large documents for review. What about purchasing the large screen Kindle DX's and using those to replace the binders?  

Transformer? With that you'd have the option of a dock.

give me a couple of minutes. ill get you the best on the market right now.

Also what is you timeline for implementation of this project?  I ask because the next generation of Android tablets will start rolling in a few months, allegedly with quad core processors.  

get this it rocks. trust me on this.

Asus transformer tf101 they have a new model coming out in 2ish months.  Worth the wait it will be quad core!


it also has a keyboard you can buy for it. very nice and the cost is not much.

my brother and i use this one daily

Short for the pilot, probably full distribution right around Oct-Nov.

Ok, I'll do my homework on this. It sounds like it makes sense to hold for a couple months for the new hardware generation to make it to market.