Remember when people
used personal computers -
desktops and laptops - to check
email, view video and keep tabs on
Facebook? Back in that far-away
era, I'd have several windows open
for Web browsers, a word
processor, a photo editor and
sometimes a reader for PDF
documents.
I miss that capability on mobile
devices, particularly on full-size
tablets with a decent amount of
display space. With iPads and
Android tablets, I'm typically
limited to one window displayed at
a time; other apps run in the
background, out of sight. With
Windows 8 tablets, I can run two
windows side by side, but I'm
constrained in what I can do with
them. It gets better with the
Windows 8.1 update due out next
week, but it's still not the free-for-
all I had with PCs.
So I marvelled at a pair of
multitasking features that come
with Samsung's new tablet,
formally called Galaxy Note 10.1 -
2014 Edition. Sporting a 10.1-inch
display, measured diagonally, the
Note tablet goes on sale in the US
starting Thursday at a starting
price of $550.
The first of the multitasking
features, called Multi-Window, has
been available in Samsung devices
for about a year, but it works with
many more apps now. You can run
two apps side by side, such as
Facebook on one side and YouTube
video on the other.
Like Windows 8 tablets, you're
limited to just two apps. You can
change how much of the screen
each one takes, a capability coming
with Windows 8.1, but you can't
choose to have a window take up
just the top left corner, the way
you can on PCs. In addition, Multi-
Window isn't a universal feature.
Apps for Netflix and Hulu won't
work, for instance. You currently
have about 18 apps to choose from,
including Facebook and a variety of
Google and Samsung apps.
With that limitation, it's nice that
Samsung Electronics Co. is
supplementing Multi-Window with
a feature called Pen Window.
With it, simply draw a box on the
screen with the included stylus,
and choose one of seven apps to
open in a new window. Do it again
and again until you open all seven
apps, if you wish. That's nine in
all, counting the two with Multi-
Window. Each Pen Window app
appears in a window that floats
over your main app (or two apps if
you use Multi-Window). You can
move that window around on your
screen and resize it, just as you
can on PCs. Need a break from it?
Just minimize it into a small dot
and move it out of the way.
Like Multi-Window, you're
restricted in what apps you can
use with Pen Window, though I
expect more to get added over
time. For now, Pen Window on the
tablet works with YouTube, the
calculator, the alarm clock, your
contacts list, the Web browser and
two chat apps - Samsung's ChatOn
and Google's Hangouts. I like the
fact that you can open all of them
and keep them out of the way in a
minimised state. That way, it's just
one click when you need the
calculator and one click when
you're done.
The iPad doesn't do that. Amazon's
Kindle Fire doesn't do that. Other
Android tablets don't do that.
Windows 8.1 won't do that - at
least not in the tablet-style
viewing mode that Microsoft prefers
you stick with. You'll have to go to
the classic, desktop mode to resize
windows, which defeats the
purpose of having Windows 8 or
8.1. Windows 8.1 will go further
than Multi-Window in letting you
run up to four apps side by side,
but that works only on larger
screens, not portable tablets.
Beyond multitasking, the new Note
tablet offers a My Magazine mode
giving you personalised highlights,
such as news topics of interest,
content from your social media
feeds and suggestions on things to
do and see, based on your current
location. It's a good concept,
though Facebook isn't available
through it yet.
The new tablet also gives you quick
access to the tools you can
accomplish with its stylus. Pen
Window is one. Another feature
lets you add notes to a screenshot
of what you see. Another lets you
clip a section of a Web page and
store it with a Web link.
Unfortunately, not everything
worked. Text recognition was poor.
I'm supposed to be able to jot
down an email address or a phone
number with the stylus and have
that handwriting converted into a
contacts entry. But the device
constantly confuses the letters "o"
and "l" with the numerals "0" and
"1."
Pen Window also is more difficult
than necessary to set up. You need
to take out the stylus for an Air
Command tool to appear on the
screen. You choose Pen Window,
then draw a box on your screen
with your stylus. Then you choose
the app you want to open. Do all
of that again to get additional
apps, after figuring out how to get
Air Command again with your
stylus already out. It would have
been simpler to have a button on
the home screen that you can tap
with your finger or stylus.
In addition, Samsung could have
done more with the apps in
minimized state. Google's chat app
is reduced to a circular icon. It
could have flashed or changed
colors to notify me of a new chat
message, rather than make me
open and close it regularly to
check.
The tablet's back is still made of
plastic, but it feels like leather -
an improvement over previous
Samsung devices. The tablet does
feel heavy, at 1.2 pounds, but
that's still lighter than the 1.4
pounds for the full-size iPad. If
you want light, wait until early
November for the large-size version
of Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX. It
weighs just 0.83 pound.
Samsung's tablet is also pricey -
the $550 starting price tops the
iPad's $499 and the Fire's $379. Of
course, neither the iPad nor the
Fire includes a stylus.
One more complaint: Although the
tablet uses the latest version of
Android, 4.3, it doesn't offer that
system's feature of letting multiple
people share a device with
separate profiles.
With the Note, it's clear some of
the functionality we've long
associated with PCs is coming to
devices we're just getting to know.
There's more to be done, including
support for multiple users, but I'm
glad Samsung is leading us in that
direction.