HTC Puccini 10.1" Honeycomb Tablet Coming Soon

[Craig Horlacher]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110525PD220.html' target='_blank'>http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110525PD220.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"HTC has entered the final stages of testing for its 10.1-inch Puccini tablet PCs, with volume production slated for June 2011."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/adt/auto/1306777334.usr309.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Mass production of the HTC Puccini tablet is scheduled to start in June.&nbsp; This will be an interesting device for a few reasons.&nbsp; First, the hardware.&nbsp; It is the first tablet I'm aware of with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor (I'm pretty sure that's dual-core).&nbsp; It also has a resistive/capacitive screen so it can use touch people are now used to on these devices as well as an old-school stylus.&nbsp; This makes a lot of sense for data entry, note taking, or editing on a tablet device.&nbsp; It will be interesting to see how practical or needed a stylus really is these days.&nbsp; Second, the software.&nbsp; It apparently will ship with Android 3.0.1 which I'm hoping is a typo and it will have 3.1 instead.&nbsp; Either way, as you can tell from the screen shot above HTC has built a new UI for Honeycomb devices.&nbsp; A lot of people seem to like Sense on their phone.&nbsp; I really wish OEM's would stop changing the stock interface and just let you download a different launcher if you want instead.&nbsp; Have you been waiting for the Puccini?&nbsp; What do you most like, or not like, about it?</p>

[frankenbike]

While a stylus wouldn't be useful with a modern tablet OS to most people, it would allow a different class of application to be utilized.

Business: form data with checkboxes and more information on a page, plus acceptance of signatures. Also good for acquiring "back of the envelope" sketches of business plans, designs, etc.

Art: Cintique style applications could be used. My wife is a storyboard artist, and I can see it being deployed inexpensively in her field.

You could also use it while wearing gloves.

But the concept of the Asus Transformer has made me look at tablets differently. Now I think every tablet should have an optional keyboard that lets you fold it up like a netbook and extend the device's battery life and connectivity.

[AlanC877]

I'm actually really, really looking forward to this tablet because of the stylus (alongside standard finger input of course). At the end of the summer I'll be entering the second year of an engineering degree at university and I think the Puccini could totally revolutionise the way I take notes.
I've used the flyer and it was very easy to write with. I thought that there may be a long delay, it wouldn't be very precise and/or it may bloat up my writing, meaning that I couldn't get much on the screen. But, it was actually as easy as writing on normal paper, and it's fantastic that you can quickly change colours and line styles, which will make my notes much easier to organise as I write them. The only difference is that you have to make sure that the pen hits the screen before your palm comes to rest on it, so that the tabs activates the use of the pen. Takes a little getting use to but it's only a minor adjustment to normal writing IMO.
The note taking is also enhanced greatly by the additional feature of recording the audio around you as you take the notes. Weeks after lectures I have often read a scribbled, semi-legible paragraph and thought "what the hell does that mean?". With the flyer (and the Puccini I guess!) I just have to tap on that paragraph and it will play what I heard when I wrote it, genius!
Plus, if I find some really useful information or a great diagram/image on a website then I can instantly slot it into my notes.
And, as the notes are linked to evernote I also wont have to worry about loosing them. Plus, I will be able to carry all my lectures notes with me all of the time, which wouldn't be possible with normal paper.
All my courses also make PDF copies of the lecture slides available online after they have taken place. I often use these as my main revision aid, printing them off and annotating them with any additional notes needed. The Puccini will let me make all of these modifications straight onto the PDF which I can then resave and carry with me along with all the original lecture notes.

Plus it can do everything a normal tab can do! It is likely going to be very expensive, but I'm planning on using a good chunk of my summer job wages to get one.
I think HTC may be about to start a revolution in terms of how students could be taking their notes in the future, although it will have to be a lot cheaper!