A tablet to cure PC headaches
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Want to write a love letter to your sweetheart, but don't want to use a steel-cold type font e-mail? Well, now you can use your own handwriting and even draw some red heart patterns then send them through e-mail by using a tablet PC.
Nowadays, almost all tablet PCs look the same: They are all black, have a touchscreen, and run Google's Android system. You cannot tell one from another because the functions and applications they provide are the same, as well.
Recently, I got a different one - the ErenEben tablet PC, manufactured by Beijing ErenEben Information Technology Co.
Although my non-Chinese co-workers have difficulty pronouncing its name, it does have characteristics that greatly distinguish it from Apple Inc's iPad and the iPad copycats.
Before I started writing this story, I went to a garden and began using ErenEben's tablet to draw my office building as a test.
Compared with iPad's finger touchscreen, the ErenEben is a much better experience for those using professional sketching software and writing calligraphy, as the touchscreen uses a pen rather than your finger.
When I use the same Autodesk sketch application on my iPad, the experience feels awkward and unnatural.
ErenEben means "Everyone has one" in Chinese. It runs on Google's Android operating system and has a 20.3-centimeter pen touchscreen, produced by the Japanese touch-input technology company Wacom Co Ltd, which also produces 2D animation drawing hardware.
The biggest difference between the iPad and ErenEben is that the Chinese company does not want to change its customers' habits, as is often necessary for successful use of the iPad.
Fang Liyong, the chief operating officer of ErenEben, told China Daily that its products are tailor-made for Chinese customers and does not require them to learn new skills, such as digital-keyboard typing and the use of inconvenient device-PC synchronizing software.
Localizing its product has allowed the Chinese company to occupy a 5 percent portion of the Chinese tablet PC market share that does not belong to the iPad.
That share is bigger than those enjoyed by international peers such as Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Corp. While Apple has only four retail stores in China, ErenEben provides more than 600 outlets for customers to try their products.
Customers can use ErenEben to compose e-mails, notes and Word files in their own handwriting. The surface of the screen has a more natural feeling compared with writing on the iPad.
A recent survey indicated that Chinese businesspeople and government officials - most of them over 35 and more comfortable with writing by hand than a virtual keyboard - prefer ErenEben's handwriting recognition software.
If you need to make corrections, the other end of the pen functions as an eraser.
To further cater to Chinese customers, the company even provides an application to practice calligraphy.
However, ErenEben still has a few things to improve in order to catch up with the multinational company Apple. The most important one is that the handwriting recognition software does not support English.
When I wrote "let me try it", the tablet displayed "1metrr=v". Then I tried "let's go", and the Word application crashed.
When I phoned the company's customer services department, I was told that they do not have any representatives who speak English.
However, I have to say that their service is still much better than Apple's in China. ErenEben's customer service department picked up my phone call within five seconds and answered my questions politely.
Apple asked me to make an online reservation first and wait for at least a week to see a service representative, even though I was already in their store.
If you request a demo from ErenEben, the company will send a trained employee to hand-deliver their product to your door and show you how to use it.
If you do not want to purchase the tablet PC, the representatives will express their appreciation for showing interest in their product. In terms of providing better sales service, many companies are now far ahead of Apple.
However, Chinese tablet PC companies do not have a price advantage compared with the iPad.
The ErenEben tablet typically costs around 5,000 yuan ($732) for the latest 16-gigabyte 3G version, while an iPad 2 with similar specifications costs $629.
Regardless, ErenEben's tablet PC is another alternative among a wide variety of similar devices hoping to make it in a competitive market.
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