Today I picked up a HANVON BC10C. I was listening to a “Frankly Speaking” podcast and the guys were discussing a HANVON that one of their guests Shane Morris had.Purchased from Officeworks. For those that know me, I’m not to be outdone, so I went out to get one.
There was no way that I was going to head to #auteched this year with an iPad, and I needed a new toy. I’ve had an iPhone 3GS now for almost 12 months, and I’m on my eighth replacement, and with the experiences I had dealing with Apple support and the "Genius Bar", I’m so over it. Deep down though, I’m finding it hard to get rid of it because of some actually functional apps I’ve purchased and use religiously. It’s a bit like that relationship you form with that flea-bitten rampant dog you once had (your yard ends up like a mortar practice range with all the holes, rips-ups and destroys everything within reach, biting everyone that enters your yard, humps their legs continuously if they actually make it in the house, but you just can’t get rid of it or put it down). Bit like my ex-wife too, really. But I digress.
I’ve been kicking the tyres in most of the retail stores looking for a suitable slate or tablet, trolling all the reviews, listening to people’s opinions and generally feeling rather disappointed by what I was seeing or reading. I was almost at a point where I was going to try an iPad when, all of a sudden, on the train I was listening to a few of the “Frankly Speaking” PodCasts with Michael Kordahi and Andrew Coats who had Shane Morris talking about his recent Hanvon purchase from Officeworks. I was five minutes into the podcast, and I had a plan. Jumped onto the web and did some more research on it and I was sold.
Now just a note on the specs
· Intel Celeron ULV743 (1.3GHz)
· Multi-Touch Display
· Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
· 2GB DDR2 Ram
· Intel Mobile 4 Express GPU
· Display 10.1” 1024x600 LED display
· HD Audio with Built-in Speaker and Microphone
· 300GB HDD
· WIFI 802.11 b/g
· Bluetooth
· 2x USB Jacks
· Microphone and Headphone Jacks
· VGA Jack
· HDMI Jack
I looked at this online and thought Frog, :D this is worth a go. $898 later, I was skipping back to work and unpack.
I dropped the device on charge out in the main office space (no free power points in my office, I geek well) and came back to it later to find the device at the login screen (I suspect that someone in the office played with it before I had a chance), so I lost that whole install and configuration experience.
One thing that was clear was that everyone wanted to have a go because it wasn’t an iPad! We are a WinTel shop, use Microsoft throughout at work and are honestly struggling with the whole iPad wank going on by some of the execs and others that are filtering them in. It’s at the point where even the CEO has given us back his iPad because he just doesn’t get it. He has to still carry his iPhone and now his iPad as well as his notebook when he goes anywhere or travels to be functional. He is very interested in the HANVON though it has what the iPad does not: It’s Windows functional.
I checked the charge and WHAT!! it was fully charged and ready to play with. At this stage, the CTO noticed the device and chirped up with a giggle, "You finally succumbed and got an iPad, hey?" At this stage, a big grin came across my face, "NO it’s not an iPad". There was a quick double take and it was snatched out of my hands. “Wow it’s nice”, “feels good in the hand”, "how much?" Told him the price and he said, "Oh can’t be as good as the iPad." There was silence. He fired up Paint and started doodling. Wow he was good, then he started to run a few other apps and gesture moves.
“This on our Wi-Fi yet?”
"No, not yet boss, I’ve not had a chance to play with it yet."
No problem, he said, "I’ll fix it up, be back shortly", and walked off. I knew where he was heading - off to the CEO and some of the GMs. An hour or so later he was back, well, skipping back to the office. I knew the deal was already done. I was visualising a whole swag of iPads sitting around the service desk area when I get back from #AuTechEd Monday week.
One thing that I’ve obviously not done yet is change the operating system to Windows 7 Professional, but really this is no big deal unless I want to add the machine to the domain at work, which there has been consideration on already by others in the team. We have a Citrix farm and are about to test VDI, so the interface is going to be a cinch to make it functional (as it would be with the iPad in reality).
A couple of things right off the bat that it is obviously lacking is WWAN. This would truly make this product the kingpin and be a total app killer of the iPad for us.
So far I’m installing Office 2010, Skype (It has a built in webcam) and TweetDeck. I’m starting to use OneNote more and more and looking forward to that experience on the Hanvon. I’ve got a couple of BT MSFT mice, and all I need now is a compact BT Keyboard. There are also some apps it has for gestures and facial recognition apparently, but I haven't looked at them just yet.
My only disappointment so far is the battery, but I was expecting that. Early days on that. I’ll tweak the power settings and get that down.
I think we will have a great relationship as long as I don’t come to expect too much of it by way of performance or start considering it as a workhorse.
Stay tune for my next blog after #AuTechEd on the usability experience in the real world.
Edited by Elly Hart, 12.27pm, August 29, 2010.