hp-pro-slate-12-800x420News has emerged of several tablet manufacturers targeting the mega-device space, with HP announcing an Android Pro Slate design with a 12.3-inch screen. According to the original HP announcement, the HP Pro Slate 12 and its little brother the HP Pro Slate 8 are:

high-definition (HD) commercial-grade Android tablets. Available in 8-inch or 12-inch diagonal displays respectively, the tablets are powered by a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 series processor, and support a 4:3 aspect ratio to easily view business documents and access business applications. Less than 8 mm thin, these lightweight tablets offer powerful computing and business-day battery life with enterprise-grade security and manageability.

Then there’s the HP Elite x2 1011 G1 mentioned in the same announcement, “a lightweight, stylish, 11.6-inch diagonal 2-in-1 Windows device running Windows 8 Pro,” which “easily transforms from a tablet to a laptop with Ultrabook configurations available.”

The latter device points up how tablet sizes are becoming more diverse with the advent of convertible designs, and the prospect of any size laptop having a detachable screen, made even more feasible by Microsoft’s innovations for Windows 10, including an option to default to the tile interface when the screen is detached for tablet mode.

Plus, we have Japanese magazine Mac Fan leaking details, including schematics, of the rumored 12-inch iPad, which reportedly will be the “12.2 inch LCD tablet iPad Air Plus … 305.31 x 220.8 x 7mm in size, and powered with A9 processor.”

And of course, as we all know, if Apple does it, and comes up with a new form factor for the iPad, it must be right. And twoo. And pwopah. And I hope there’s not too many herniated Apple employees as a result of the gut-busting intellectual effort required to innovate that bigger form factor. HP is so the also-ran … in the Apple reality distortion field where time runs backwards and Apple always gets to innovate first.

But can you read a book on any of them? Better start building those biceps, people.

1 COMMENT

  1. Those hoping for a sales boom will be disappointed. There’s only a limited number of areas where 12″ tablet screens make sense:

    1. Professionals in graphics and design who need the added real estate for their projects. They’ll love them.

    2. Those doing one-on-one sales demonstrations using a tablet. No need to sit close.

    3. Scientists reading some of the vast amount of scientific papers done as PDFs. They’re typically formatted for 8.5×11 or A4 paper in small type with two or more columns. Reading them can be a bit of a problem on smaller tablets.

    4. Proofing books in fine detail, i.e. where a comma can be confused with a period. Also, the larger screen means more space for markup. Hopefully, someone will finally create a decent proofreading app., one that uses the clever, traditional markup codes.

    5.. Someone who wants to snuggle up with their sweetheart and watch a movie on a screen that’s a bit better for two people.

    In only a few of those categories will a larger screen be a must have, particularly in comparison with retina-screen iPads. The tablet market has flatten out because most people find the tablet they have is fine for all they need it to do.

    –Mike Perry

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