Unlike netbooks, tablets are, by definition, flawed in text input. The standard touch keyboard for the tablet, which developers are constantly trying to somehow improve, is still very inconvenient. Especially when comparing it with traditional input devices. A lot of complaints come from users who are accustomed to computer keyboards ; it’s the most difficult for them to adapt to the way text printing that the tablet offers.
If you do not believe it, then just try typing on a regular keyboard, and then on the keyboard of your tablet. The fall in the usual typing speed, as well as the difficulty in switching from numbers to letters and vice versa, will immediately become obvious to you. These keyboards provide undeniable advantages: the fingers rest firmly on them, there is a good return when pressed, the keys do not slip, a blind typing method is possible.
I must say that tablet manufacturers are aware of this problem and gradually all the major market players have begun to develop devices that can correct the situation. Some decided that the best option is a simple, small keyboard for the tablet, others have created entire docking stations combined with a keyboard, an additional battery, as well as with other options that expand the capabilities of the tablet. There are even versions with a speaker and a microphone, such keyboards can be used as a phone handset for calls from a tablet via 3G or Skype.
A tablet computer with a keyboard immediately gained both supporters and opponents. And while the former have the main argument - a significant increase in convenience and speed, the latter - the increase in weight and dimensions of the device, almost equalizing the device in these parameters with netbooks, from which tablet manufacturers are trying their best to distance themselves for obvious reasons.
As for the devices themselves, there is already a keyboard for the android tablet, designed to finally close the question of typing, it is called AlphaUI. It is fixed on the back of the tablet with a diagonal of 5-7 inches. The device with the connected AlphaUI does not look like a laptop, since the keys are located on the back side so that, clasping the tablet with your hands, the user can conveniently type. Moreover, both the typed text and the keyboard are displayed. It takes a couple of days to get used to this device, but then the print speed grows very significantly. In fairness, it should be noted that this device will not replace a full keyboard.
The first built-in keyboard for the tablet was demonstrated with the Asus Eee Pad Slider. When folded, the tablet looks like any other, except that it is slightly thicker, but if you move its top panel back, the keyboard will appear, while the tablet screen rises at an angle to the base, for more convenient operation.
It should be noted that the docking station for an Android tablet is a more complex device than a netbook keyboard, since integrating it with the OS is much more difficult than with Windows devices.
As an example, Asus Eee Pad Transformer can be cited, in it certain buttons are reserved for the Android OS, so there are Home, Search, Menu, Turn on Bluetooth buttons, brightness buttons, and others. In addition, the docking station usually provides such functionality as connecting to a PC, USB-connectors, and of course, helps to charge the tablet.
It seems to me that the ongoing debate about whether a keyboard is needed for a tablet, or is it a completely waste of money, sooner or later subside by itself and users decide the fate of these devices themselves. If they are bought, they will survive, if they cease, it means they will die off naturally, as hundreds of other useless inventions have already disappeared from the market .