Tablet vs. eReader

What are the advantages of a Tablet over an eReader?

With the introduction of LCD Screen Color eReaders the waters of distinction between eReaders and Tablets have been muddied some. But there are still significant differences. Here are some of the major ones:

Pros for eReaders over Tablets

Print Legibility for Reading; Comfort Reading

eReaders are at this time primarily made for reading eBooks. Eink is a particularly inert print format for eReaders that is printed on a shaded light gray background. The techology is intended to make avid book readers feel as if they are reading a printed paper page. And there is no backlight required in the eReader. It works. There has been incredible growth in sales of eReaders using the format. Some new eReaders have entered the market using LCD screens. The LCD Screen eReaders sometimes have the ability to show color and will have the requisite drawbacks.

Tablets have bright colorful screens and the print is very legible, however may be slightly blurred on some Tablets.

Advantage eReaders

Eye Fatigue/Eyestrain

LCD screens can cause eyestrain or fatigue when reading for extended periods for two reasons: 1) the screen is backlit usually by very bright LED lighting which is a bit like shining a flashlight at your face, and 2) the refresh rate of an LCD screen which is refreshing 60 times a second means that it is literally flickering so fast you cant see it, but your eyes will know it over long periods of time.

As mentioned some new eReaders also contain LCD screens and they work the same way, so this category will depend on whether the eReader has an LCD screen or an eInk screen. Eink screens do not have backlighting or refresh rates so there is no eyestrain caused by these two factors.

Advantage: eReaders

Size and Weight; Comfort to hold

eReaders sometimes weigh as little as half a pound and are shaped like a thin book to allow for maximum reading comfort over extended periods. The iPad Tablet weighs a pound and a half, and while that's not too heavy, it's a much more unwieldy size device to hold with it's 12" height.

Advantage: eReaders

Battery Life

The iPad has 10 hours of battery life on its best day. The Nook Color eReader is stated at 8. Thus, the eReaders with LCD Screens and Tablets (which all have LCD screens) will be limited in battery life between charges. The eInk screens can deliver between 10 and 14 days of use without a charge if the Wifi function is turned off during the period. A 10 day charge could be cut to 3 if the Wifi function is left on.

Advantage: eReaders

Advantages of Tablets over eReaders

Color Screen​/ Childrens Books and Magazines

An eReader with an LCD Screen or a Tablet have color screens which allow for a wider variety of content display. Ereaders with eink only have monochrome display. In recent testing we found the video quality when scrolling of the iPad superior to other LCD screen Tablets and eReaders. This could be important for an activity like flipping through a magazine.

Advantage: Tablet (except for color LCD Screen eReaders)

Processing Power

Obviously with gaming, video, Apps, software programs, touch screen operation and so on, Tablets need a lot of processing power. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 1 GHz Cortex A6 processor.

Advantage: Tablet

Memory/ Internal Storage

eReaders do not need much memory since eBook files are very small. A 4GB memory eReader will hold 3000 titles. Obviously, Tablets must contain much more memory due to use of color, photo storage, document files, videos, software applications, Apps, music and more. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has two choices for internal storage a 16GB and 32GB option.

Advantage: Tablets

Gaming/Software Apps

Touch screen tablets like the iPad are somewhat made for the flexibility of some touch screen gaming activities. The internal processors run these apps at lightning fast speeds. Ereaders do not have the capacity or processing power for or Apps.

Advantage: Tablets

Interface Operation

Tablets will generally be much more intuitive when it comes to the operation even when performing eBook reading such as quickly turning pages or skipping to another section in the eBook. Ereaders are not made with as smart operational features.

Advantage: Tablets

Browsing

Though the Nook Color eReader does have an effective browsing feature, most eReaders have very rudimentary browsing function. Browsing the Internet is obviously one of the main functions of Tabets.

Advantage: Tablets

Photos and Videos

Displaying photos and videos are obviously one of the key attractions of the new Tablets. There is limited function for photos and videos on eReaders.

Advantage: Tablets

Price

The most popular Wifi ready eReaders cost $139 to $149 compared to the least expensive Wifi ready iPad at $499.

Value

It really depends on your situation or what you want to use the Tablet or eReader for. There are some excellent products in both categories. For the avid reader that wants an excellent reading device and potentially saving money on eBooks, the eReader may be your choice. For those wanting a living room device for the family to play games, access videos, listen to music, and do some magazine reading – the Tablet is probably your choice. For the added amount of flexibility, our editors think a Tablet is probably the better value.

By John Winger 

Tablets vs. Laptops

Which is better? What are the advantages of a Tablet over a Laptop?

Tablets were never really created to compete with Laptops. They are completely different beasts when we look at the total operating functions, storage capacity, processing power and applications. Still, there will be many that will want to decide between the two when making the purchase or deciding to replace and existing computer. Below are some practical categories that you will want to consider when deciding between the two.

Advantages of a Tablet over a Laptop

Lighter weight, more portable/Size

The first big standout advantage of a table is its smaller size and more portable nature. The difference is pronounced. Even the largest current Tablet – the iPad – weighs only 1.5 pounds, compared to Laptops which generally weight between 5 and 7 pounds. While the Blackberry Playbook, Motorola Xoom, and Samsung Galaxy Tab have a 7" screen size and weigh a pound. Part of the reduction in weight has to do with less processing power and memory which we'll discuss later.Put the iPad in a bag and you probably will not even feel the weight, even with a light case on it. People everywhere in the current environment seem attracted to products that are sleeker and lighter. Size is also so much smaller depending upon screen size but consider the depth of the iPad at .5" depth compared to an inch for my laptop. The length, width, depth comparison is a no-brainer in favor of Tablets. For traveling light, you cant beat the Tablet.

Recently on a Smelta (Delta) flight as I was preparing to get some work done, the person in the seat in front of me reclined his seat. I tried placing my laptop on the fold down tray and realized I could not open it enough to see the screen. Thus the entire 4 hour flight was wasted. A Tablet would have resolved the problem.

Screen Functionality

The LCD touch screen in the iPad is just beautiful, the Playbook is impressive as well. However, the screen resolution on Tablets should not be as compelling for more advanced imagery or videos due to higher processing power on Laptops.

Touchscreen scrolling

Touchscreen scrolling on the iPad, Nook Color and Galaxy Tab is extremely fast. This is one area where the Tablet is just faster than using a laptop – especially with the iPad which is lightning and with exceptional retained picture resolution.

Screen rotation in Tablets

The ultra cool screen rotation feature allowing portrait of landscape view of displayed content is, well just a neat feature that allows some extra flexibility. The screen flexibility will be a major feature of Tablets to come (as in Honeycomb project) for instance allowing fast movement and viewing of Google maps at various angles and with pinch and expand functionality.

Speed

As mentioned, the operating system speed of the iPad is blazing fast with its 1 GHz processor and the HP Slate is even faster with a 1.86 GHz processor and a whopping 2GB of RAM. Of course, laptops can easily rival the processing speed – but not with touch screen functionality. That's where the speed really impresses the onlooker. As fast as your finger can swipe, the Tablet can display.

Group Activity/Viewing/Meetings/Sales

Tablets are extremely easy to pass around whether it be in your living room with the family or in a sales meeting with 4 other people. They are also easy to show information to several other people at the same time, say of projected sales gains or other business meeting material showing your products benefits. They are easy to share information on. In a business setting they will succeed among sales people for the light weight, ease of passing, and acceptable presentation stigma which laptops do not enjoy. Laptops are too cumbersome, if not too heavy, to pass around and are not considered a proper presentation device in meetings. Plus the battery might dwindle.

Battery Life

The iPad can run for up to 10 hours without a charge and the Playbook is projected to have a battery life of 5 hours. I'm lucky if I can get 45 minutes out of my HP laptop. This is a big advantage for travel, for meetings, and for other locations that require long viewing times without recharging.

Gaming and Apps via Touch Screen

There are some fun gaming that can be played by touch screen (thinking touch screen air hockey here). If the touch screen is fast and finger sensitive enough, then this is a fun feature. I would say the iPad is definitely a good screen for this, but the Galaxy Tab by Samsung is not.

 

Advantages of Laptops over Tablets

Fingerprints

The iPad and Playbook have a special screen coating that is supposed to reduce fingerprints and it actually seems to work a little better than my iPhone screen. However, generally this will annoy some people – especially at angles when the fingerprints are most visible. Users will likely want to carry a soft cloth for frequent wipe downs.

Keyboard size/Typing Speed

In portrait mode on the 9.7" diagonal iPad screen the keyboard is a one or two finger proposition. In landscape mode the size is much better but I type about a third of my normal speed on a full size keyboard. The 7" Tablets will of course be even slower and more speed limited even though the internal processors will have no problem keeping up with your speed. The iPad and Galaxy Tab do give you a nice click sound for feedback recognition. Also worth mentioning here is that you cannot rest your fingers on the touch screen keyboard. It may seem trivial but as I'm typing this article, my fingers rest on the keyboard in between thoughts. The iPad has an optional ($69) keyboard.

More storage

64GB, the largest drive available on tablets, isn't even half of the storage available on a cheap laptop and a high end laptop can have as much as 10 times or more the amount of storage space of the largest tablets.

More power

For raw computing power Tablets play in the same ballpark as old Pentium 3 and AMD Thunderbird processors. You may even be too young to remember when a 1 gigahertz processor was a big deal in a computer but right now most tablets are right around the 1Ghz mark. These days laptops come with dual and quad core processors and even low end laptops will have more than twice as much computing power in one of the 2 or 4 cores. Any type of processor intensive activity, video rendering, gaming, large calculations are going to benefit from the increased power of a laptop.

Memory

RAM is important when working with large files like video or picture editing, large amounts of fast memory make any task using a large file faster. More advanced games also require more RAM. Tablets typically have 256 to 512 megabytes of memory, this was what you'd find in a laptop 5 or more years ago. Today most laptops come with a minimum of 2 gigabytes of RAM though 3 and 4 gigs are common.

Screen Resolution and Color Depth

In the average laptop you are going to have a larger screen than even the largest tablet with more powerful video processing hardware and a higher resolution and more color depth. With high quality video or photographs this will be quite noticeable when compared against any lower quality hardware on a tablet.

Flexibility

From having more and different types of input and output options to the ability to use card and disc based media to the ability to upgrade internal hardware there is added flexibility to a laptop that tablets lack. When purchasing a laptop you will also have more options for customization, buy however much RAM, processing power and hard disc space you will need, you are not limited to only a few options. This is an area that Tablets will likely improve upon in the future.

More Software

No proprietary app store, no manufacturer approval process. Any software you want to run, you can run. If you are so inclined you can even write your own software. Don't like your current operating system? Change it to a different one, run windows in bootcamp, wipe the hard disc and install Ubuntu, go devilish with FreeBSD. There is more software flexibility on a laptop than can be put into a short article.

By John Winger 

What is a Tablet

Through television commercials or everyday conversation you are probably hearing more and more about tablets. Seeing an iPad in action for the first time can be an exciting experience and even if it didn't leave you wanting one immediately it probably got you wondering what you might use one for.

A tablet is a portable computer that's smaller and more portable than a laptop, based off the touchscreen and user interface they are more larger cousin to the smartphone than they are smaller cousin to the desktop or laptop computer. While they are not as powerful or flexible as a traditional computer they are smaller, thinner, lighter and more focused. When used in their specific niche they are faster and more accessible than a computer.

Features

The standout feature of all tablets is the touch screen, most tablets look like a glass screen that you carry around with you. There may be a few touch sensitive buttons around the screen on the front of the device and a few jacks or buttons around the edge most of the interaction is done via direct selection with the touch screen. These high resolution screens excel at displaying video, photographs, web sites or casual games and being able to just touch what you want eschews the need for menus nested in menus.

Wireless networking is another feature you will find in any tablet computer, all of them come equippied with WiFi for getting online and many are available with 3G capability for connecting over mobile phone networks. 3G access will often require a contract with a wireless provider and may even add a second bill to your wireless contract.

The portability offered by a tablet is one of it's most appealing features. With no keyboard or mouse required and all the hardware behind the screen, most tablets are barely larger than the viewable area of the screen.

 

by JM Butler

 

Apple iPad Versus Android Honeycomb Tablet Review

Compare iOS and Android Honeycomb

When it comes to a footrace, the design and development teams over at Apple have done a fantastic job getting a major head start with Apple's release of the iPad. With close to 20 million iPad tablets sold so far, the demand and appeal of the iPad is staggering. However, in a race reminiscent of the one between the tortoise and the hare, Google's new Android operating system, called Android Honeycomb, could end up coming from behind in the tablet race.

Here, our Tablet Buying Guide review team takes an in-depth look at a host of features, form and functionality to compare the Android Honeycomb versus Apple iPad.

User Interface

Apple radically altered the way that consumers and business think about a tablet device. Thousands upon thousands of applications are created by third-party developers specifically for the iPad user. Users customize their tablet with applications that they need for their personal use, whether it be for information, computation, business or entertainment purposes. Apple's search browser, Safari, comes pre-installed on the iPad and there are apps to add other browsers to a users liking.

Google's Android Honeycomb user interface uses a holographic theme where applications appear on the tablet in almost 3D quality. Applications or, a user's book listing for example, appear in a 3D revolving fashion, like the jukebox, only digital. Because Honeycomb is specifically created for “devices with larger screens”, aka tablets, developers made a full on-screen keyboard, where the earlier Android versions developed for smart phones could not provide this feature. Through a floating apps bar at the bottom of the screen that Google terms the Honeycomb interaction model, the OS comes standard with items like email, widgets, web search and notifications.

With the Apple iPad (and the latest version of the iPhone), users can finally operate multiple applications at once, and say, go back and forth between a contact list and a restaurant finder application without losing your place marker. Android Honeycomb takes the multiple applications scenario and ups the game by allowing for true multitasking. This means that, for example, Honeycomb users can simultaneously play several movies at once with live switching between the running videos.

Advantage: Android Honeycomb for its next generation multitasking ability.

Applications, aka, Apps

Before launching the iPad, Apple worked with some of the largest content producers, giving them access to the development platform. When launched, the iPad immediately had hundreds of solid apps written expressly for the iPad tablet. Users immediately have a much more expansive experience on the iPad versus a smartphone and developers are using the iPad tablet in interesting ways.

Similar to the approach from Apple, Google gave developers access to the Android Honeycomb OS, which is made specifically for larger screen tablet devices. The result is that thousands of applications for use on Android. Several tablet manufacturers are using earlier Android OS versions, Android 1.3 and Android 2.2, for instance, to create tablet devices. Tablet users with earlier Android OS versions have an experience closer to what users expect from a smartphone, albeit with a larger screen. This may limit tablet functionality until Android Honeycomb rolls out on new devices.

Advantage: Apple iPad iOS 4.2, because their closed development and device manufacturing created an immediate tablet user experience. This however will change when more tablet devices come preloaded and created for Android Honeycomb.

Broad Selection of Tablet Device Manufacturers

Apple's development is centered around its own proprietary devices and software. The iPad is unique to Apple and its iOS 4.2 operating system software is only available on Apple iPads. So far, this has been an incredibly successful model because consumers have taken to the entire lineup of Apple's music players, smartphones and related systems like the Apple iTunes software. iPads can operate with WIFI or WiFi plus 3G, and this data plan is currently only available through AT&T.

Contrast this approach with Google's Android Honeycomb, which will be available through multiple tablet manufacturers, including Samsung, Motorola, Acer and others. Quickly, there are multiple tablets that operate with the Honeycomb OS and have multiple data plans on available through multiple service providers. If a consumer wants a smaller display size or larger display size, it's up to them. Consumers choosing Android Honeycomb will be able to add a 3G data plan, and for their tablets with their current phone service provider, for instance.

Advantage: Android Honeycomb tablets, for the more varied device selection and data plan providers.

Data Portability Over Multiple Devices

The appeal of apple may be less in the devices than it is in Apple software. Apple iTunes quickly overtook the digital market because of its sleek user interface. The team at Apple have also created true synching functions with multiple devices, which means that users can play music on their iPad, iPhone or iPod, whichever they choose. Apples MobileMe synchs the devices together.

Android Honeycomb will benefit from Google's infrastructure as well. Apps will follow users around from one device to another as long as users have their Google login. The difference for Google users is that the tunes will be held out on the cloud, rather than downloaded to one device which is the Apple model.

Advantage: Both, with Apple iPad and Android Honeycomb users more likely to stick with one “family” of devices to create ultimate portability.

Tablet Camera

The Apple iPad table, in its current form, lacks a camera, although several apps do allow an iPhone to operate as the iPad's camera through a wireless synch. We anticipate that Apple will heavily consider a camera in its next iPad version.

Android Honeycomb tablets will have an on-board camera, which includes flash, zoom, focus and exposure options. It's like a large manually optimized camera that fits within the Honeycomb tablet.

Advantage: Android Honeycomb, because a camera is included and users have several picture control features.

Enterprise security Advantage

One are that has until recently been an Achilles heel for Apple is the lack of business system IT support. This is because Apple iPhone smartphones were deficient in providing enough email security to satisfy IT teams. The iPad is making great strides in the enterprise with added features in Apple iOS 4.2 of greater security and now wireless printing.

In general, Android operating systems have been developed with IT administrators in mind. We anticipate that Android Honeycomb tablets will quickly emerge as a top popular device for users and will quickly assimilate into the IT enterprise architecture because Honeycomb supports enterprise-level encryption and password management.

Advantage: BOTH, however Android Honeycomb slightly outpaces Apple iPad, as more business IT teams are already comfortable with Android smartphones. Eitherway, businesses in general are finding greater uses for tablet devices and we see acceptance into IT support structure growing.

Tablet Connectivity

Apple iPad really revolutioned the way that consumers access the internet. The WiFi or 3G plus WiFi iPad tablets changed and improved the comfort level of users to access the internet in a real way in more places than ever before. The introduction of a true keyboard on the iPad also set manufacturers on their heels having to come up with something as functional. The wireless printing feature also became a game changer.

Startling late off of the blocks, Android Honeycomb will include features like built-in Media/Photo Transfer Protocol support, which means immediate synchronization with a camera, desktop or other device over USB and no need for an external storage device. Honeycomb, like the iPad, will access the web through WiFi or 3G and Honeycomb has a feature that improves scan times to find WiFi access.

Advantage: Both Apple iPad and Android Honeycomb, although Honeycomb may outedge Apple with its external device synchronization feature.

 

by Sophia Schmidt 

 

What is Green Hosting

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HostPapa has taken the initiative of going green by purchasing 100% green renewable energy to power our data centres, web servers, office computers, laptops and office space. These energy sources supply HostPapa's entire equivalent energy consumption into the power-grid with certified 100% renewable green energy sources, such as wind and solar-powered energy.

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PHP hosting: a brief overview

PHP Hosting review

PHP web hosting will be explained in this article. But first, let's describe PHP itself:

PHP (PHP: Hypertext Processor) is an open source scripting language that borrows from the likes of C, Java, and Perl, and can be HTML-embedded. The goal in the creation of PHP (and consequently, PHP hosting) was to streamline the process of creating dynamic web pages and expediting their publication online.

PHP is a server-side language meaning it can be run on any platform (Unix, Linux, Windows) because your PHP hosting server, and NOT the client's computer, is the one reading and interpreting the code. The PHP hosting server merely inserts the results of the PHP code into the HTML file sent to the client.

PHP pages are treated by your PHP web hosting server just as any other HTML encoded pages are treated. It is highly recommended that, if you plan to use PHP in your web design, you use a PHP hosting provider that has activated support for all files with the extension ".php" at the end. A PHP hosting provider's server can recognize PHP code embedded in HTML by its start tag "<?" and end tag "?>"

Using a PHP web hosting provider rather than any old generic host can save you loads of trouble, including not having to parse and compile your files or install and learn any additional web publishing tools.

If your web host is not PHP web hosting enabled, your site's visitors will not be able view the results of any PHP code embedded in your HTML, and therefore, your pages will not load properly and will have serious, gaping holes in its functionality.

PHP and PHP web hosting is simple enough for a newbie to learn yet expansive enough to handle a staggering array of professionals' needs. Among the more advanced tasks one can perform is webcrawling, GIS mapping, and database crawling.

PHP can be used to connect with over 19 different types of databases, including Microsoft Access and Oracle. The most popular database used with PHP, however, is MySQL (see our article on MySQL hosting). PHP has support for MySQL built in, and any PHP hosting provider will most likely also be MySQL hosting enabled.

If you have PHP hosting, you can use PHP to set up cookies which is a fantastic way to personalize your relationship with each of your site visitors. Using cookies on your site saves your visitors from having to re-enter the same information into your various forms and fields over and over again. With PHP Sessions, you can store data generated during one period of access for retrieval during future accesses. This allows you to offer users an even more customized, personal experience at your site.

To use PHP, you will need to install a PHP "parser" (CGI or server module), a PHP-enabled web server (such as a PHP hosting provider), and a web browser (who doesn't have one of these?) Then you can peruse the web's wealth of free information on how to use this prolific tool.