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Recommend a tablet for this work-related task?

E

EdNerd

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking we have a task here at work that would be handled perfectly by a tablet. I'm just not up on the different tablets and their capabilities. So I'm hoping someont here might be able to make some recommendations before I approach management with the idea.

We will go out in the field to check on people and operations. Here's the list of needs:
-- Manuals and procedures loaded as PDF files.
-- Forms that can be filled in. These are usually created on a Windows PC in Word or Excel (2007); the tablet would have to recognize and work with these formats or we would need to convert them to a tablet-friendly format.
-- Sync by cable. Could simply show up as a USB storage device rather than actual file sync.
-- Internal or app-driven "permanent" airplane mode; able to be restored to connectivity, but only by admin and not by the user. (Yah, it would solve so much if we could just leave networking on and have all out stuff reside on a server here at the office - but leaving the network open also allows certain uses and abuses that are most unwelcome.)

This seems like a pretty standard use for a tablet. But as I say, I'm familiar with that part of the world. I'm just one of the guys who's going to have to lug a suitcase full of manuals and forms if we can't somehow streamline this!

Any suggestions are very welcome!
Ed
 
Those things can be done with pretty much any of the better tablets by major manufacturers. In order to narrow down the choice what is:

1.) your budget per tablet.
2.) your need for support from the manufacturer.
3.) ruggedness requirements.
4.) platform preference
5.) amount of storage necessary to hold your doc's.

With that we can really zero in on some decent solutions.
 
1.) Budget is unknown - depends on how well they buy into the concept and the available package. Probably looking at a 10"+ tablet. Be nice if there was a keyboard that could hook up somehow; not necessarily as a docking station, but if there was a docking station that would allow a regular keyboard and possibly a printer and external CD writer would be wonderful - as long as it didn't blow the budget.

2.) Support from the manufacturer would probably be minimal, limited to replacing a defective unit. Any manuals ought to be sufficient to allow a resonable tech-savvy user to figure everything out.

3.) Ruggedness will be a definite factor in SW Arizona: blowing dust and ambient heat to 115F outside, 160F inside a parked vehicle; tablet (hopefully placed lovingly in a protective sleeve) bounced in passenger seat over rough terrain; used outdoors in full summer sun, possible rain (generally not much, but it is possible!), and indoors in the presence of petroleum-based chemicals. Not to mention the danger of being sat upon by personnel and large binders.

4.) Platform is any that will do the job. Windows would be great, if only to seamlessly (hah!!) use Word and Excel docs. But in the interests of saving $1000 per tablet, Android or other is great, as long as we can easily move the forms and information in and out of the tablet. If we have to convert Word and Excel to some compatible doc type, or even create HTML forms that export data as CSV or such, we can do that - just as long as we can easily complete the job in the field and get the data out in a useable format.

5.) I'm thinking 8G would probably be enough storage for basic use. With 16G, we could probably load just about everything we've got!

Hope that's enough to go on. I appreciate the help.
Ed
 
Well Microsoft announced Office will be available for android starting in 1Q 2013. But there are decent apps currently available that allow for reading and minor editing of office documents. So one thing to keep in mind.
 
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