subject: Your Life In Tablet Form, Courtesy Of Android [print this page] Tablet PCs in general are a great way of taking all of life's essential things with you wherever you go. While they don't excel in doing the hard tasks of PC, such as crafting Word documents or editing photographs, they do excel in keeping your data accessible at all times. Android is especially adept in syncing calendars, email and contacts through Exchange ActiveSync, and supports hosted Exchange email for seamless access to your office communications no matter where you happen to be.
All of Android's tablets have the ability to connect to both cellular wireless data, just like your mobile phone, as well as any 802.11 b/g/n wireless hotspot. For a small monthly fee to use cellular data, this means your data will never go without syncing and you'll never have to miss an email because you're out on the road.
Tablet devices powered by Android, notably the Samsung Galaxy Tab which is available from all U.S. mobile providers, support Exchange ActiveSync and hosted Exchange email. In addition to Android's embrace of push sync technology in ways that rival or exceed that of the iPad's iOS, Android tablets have powerful processors that make multi-tasking a breeze.
This means that you calendar can be open and syncing simultaneously as you check your email. It means that all of your data can sync at once, in both directions, without limitations. This is simply not a feature on the iPad, which uses a more conservative approach to data syncing and, despite touting multitasking, still only keeps one application open at a time.
Business users and power users will appreciate the seamless integration of hosted Exchange email into a unified Android email inbox, allowing messages to be shown in the same list as a user's other email accounts on services like Hotmail or GMail. And with Exchange ActiveSync integration, all calendars and contacts are brought right into the phone and tightly integrated not only into Android email, but into the calendar app, too. Calendar events can be shared with contacts via email, and any changes to the calendar are instantly synced via Android's push sync integration. This means no waiting for changes to appear on your work desktop or any other devices that interface with your Exchange ActiveSync account.
Android is truly the winner in the tablet PC space when it comes to push sync. Strong and fast performance combined with a truly multitasking operating system mean that changes are always coming and going, and applications are always looking for your latest data. New information and changes to your calendar will not be missed just because you closed the application in order to view your contacts. This makes Android a no-brainer for enterprise users.
