Thoughts from the road- HP 2710p traveling update

I am still in Las Vegas and having a wonderful time and have decided to provide another update about traveling with the HP 2710p along with thoughts about mobile tech in general since I have a few free minutes.  I am able to take advantage of these rare free moments because for most of the time I have the 2710p with me in my Booq bag.  I realized on the trip to Vegas, going through airports and in taxis, that the 2710p in the bag is light enough and comfortable enough that I don’t even notice it while walking around.  I have the slice battery in one compartment of the bag and only put it on the 2710p when the internal battery starts running dry to keep the working weight as light as possible.  The long battery life of the HP hasn’t made that necessary very often (like not even once) which is what I expected.  I can get five hours easily with the main battery and I haven’t been using it more than that since I’m on vacation.

Having the Tablet with me when I do get some free time, like right now, is great and more than worth having to carry the bag around with me.  I haven’t once felt like I was wasting the effort to carry the bag.  I have noticed something interesting about pulling a Tablet PC out of my bag in Vegas.  It generates a lot more attention from those around than it does back home in Houston.  Several people have stopped and asked about it when they see it come out of the bag and used as a slate.  It seems to me that by and large they immediately "get it" when they see me use it, and the comments have all been very positive.  It demonstrates how lacking the marketing still is in the Tablet PC space as most of these people who immediately see the benefits of using a Tablet like I am admit they have never seen one.  Same old marketing problems we’ve always had in the Tablet world and it doesn’t surprise me although it sickens me a bit.

The HP is very quick to pull out of the bag and get to work quickly to capitalize on the free time.  The average time from out of the bag to fully up is about 3 seconds which means I am more likely to do it when I have the time than to go through a thought process to determine if it’s worth the effort like it is with other devices.  HP has gotten the Vista experience done nicely on the 2710p and it shows in mobile settings.  I have no problems with Sleep and Resume like I have on every other mobile PC running Vista, a testament to how tightly HP has integrated Vista into the 2710p.  I can literally pull the HP out, do email and whatever else I need to do and put the 2710p back in the bag in a minute.  That’s the way this sort of thing is supposed to work and I am very happy with how well it works.

Talking about how well this works would not be fair without mentioning the other piece of technology that is working flawlessly for me.  That is the super speedy EV-DO I am using with the HP that is providing an experience that feels like working at home with my broadband connection.  Say what you will about Verizon, and I am the first to bash the stupid things they do, their BroadbandAccess network is the best I have used.  I have used it while traveling all over the US and the network works so well it makes such traveling much better than it could be.  Even areas that aren’t covered by the Rev. A network Verizon still provides the older Rev. 0 which is not as fast but is reliable which on a trip can be more important than speed.  This reliability I experience with Verizon was driven home to me when I read about Warner Crocker’s trouble getting connections with Sprint.  Warner is on a trip as well and it is agonizing when you just have a few minutes and you can’t even get a connection.  Say what you will about Verizon this just doesn’t happen to me and I am happy to be on their network.

Verizon_evdo_in_vegas

I have had trouble in the past when I am depending on a mobile phone for tethering, especially over Bluetooth.  Tethering problems can end up being very frustrating while traveling and I strongly recommend going with a dedicated modem if possible.  I prefer the ExpressCard modem that I can use with any device along with the PC Card adapter from Novatel but there are several good USB modems too.  These modems are almost always faster than tethered phone modems and good bandwidth can make the difference between an excellent "thought-free" session and a problematic one.  My philosophy about mobile tech is that it should be thought-free.  You should be able to get what you need done without the mobile tech getting in the way.  HP offers the 2710p with integrated EV-DO which may be the best option for those who only have and use one mobile PC.  That would make my setup even easier if I didn’t have to use the extra modem but I’m happy with it the way it is and the option to pop the modem into other devices when needed.

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