Usage As a Regular Computer
Software
Blue Dolphin:
Something this Classmate PC has is another shell for general use called Blue Dolphin. Blue Dolphin might be easier for kids to use than the full Windows experience because there are fewer choices to make. It includes some quick launch programs that you might use frequently, games, commonly used folders and the desktop. While I tried to use it for a little while, it quickly drove me nuts and probably isn’t for the power user, either. I can see using it for small kids new to computers, but I was quick to disable it.
Windows 7:
Using the Classmate PC was my first experience with Windows 7. We managed to avoid Vista and have used nothing but XP for many years. Windows 7 includes the usual complement of pre-installed programs, plus many others that take advantage of the touch screen and portability of the machine. There is even an accessory that helps you connect to a projector. For the most part, if you know how to use XP you will be able to easily transition to using Windows 7. From what I have learned from other sources, Windows 7 does has a lot of new features, too, but I didn’t find them all.
One of the first differences that I noticed was that XP’s way of naming folders My Documents, My Pictures, etc., has changed to a single Libraries folder that includes all of the “My ___” folders inside. They are now one level deeper in the file structure which makes things tidier, but adds a step when navigating the file structure.
Handwriting Recognition and OCR:
One special feature of this convertible PC is converting handwriting to text. I touched on this functionality earlier, but here is more of my experience. Certain of the Classmate PC’s programs allow handwriting for taking notes or jotting down information. This is most easily done in the tablet configuration. The idea here seems to be that this would be a good way to take notes in class or in a meeting, later converting your handwriting into text and then having that text be searchable later. The problem is that when it converts the text, it makes a lot of conversion mistakes. Perhaps it gets better with recognition training, but writing as fast as I do when I’m taking notes can leave the door open for a lot of errors. Spacing, capitalization and character recognition were frequently wrong. It also gets many of the zeroes and Os confused. I tried writing more slowly and carefully, but the OCR still made almost as many mistakes.
In general, the machine’s handwriting features aren’t quite good enough yet for the ideal usage. Even while I’m writing, the machine drops some of my writing strokes. This seems to be a common thing that it does, losing pressure contact with the screen, which makes me want to press harder, which probably wouldn’t be good for the screen in the long run. Despite this lack of perfection, this kind of tablet usage and handwriting recognition is a huge step in the right direction.
The best included program for making use of handwriting and OCR is My Script Studio Notes Edition. It appears to be designed specifically for taking notes in classes. It has many features for organizing notes and drawings, but using it is still much slower than typing. For those students who don’t yet type, however, it’s more functional. The program also has a highlighter, which would be useful when studying or writing papers.
I imagine that I would have had better notes when I was in school if I’d had a computer on which to type. But one problem I have with taking notes on the computer instead of on paper is this: When you take notes on the computer, you save and file them away, and then they’re out of sight and out of mind. With paper notes, you can spread them out in front of you and see them all at once. On the computer you can only see one page at a time. Digital isn’t necessarily better. Sometimes traditional methods work well, too. But each method obviously has its advantages and disadvantages.
To improve the OCR, you can train the machine to recognize your handwriting better using My Script Trainer. This program will save a different handwriting profile for each Windows profile. It uses a previously saved sample of your handwriting, rather than have you write something especially for the purpose of training the program.
Art Rage:
One very strong program on the Classmate PC is the “drawing” program Art Rage. I put this in quotes because it does much more than your typical included drawing program. It is the neatest art program that I’ve ever seen. You can use colors, stencils, pencils, paintbrushes, a palette knife, airbrush, marker, roller, crayon, glitter and paint tube. You can trace other images that you load. While you’re creating, you can also specify pressure, softness, tilt angle and tool size. You can even zoom in on your picture to easily create intricate images. You can open new files with basic presets and size, and specify what material on which you will be drawing. One of my favorite options was drawing with crayon on rough paper.
Art Rage seems to be designed for this type of computer and stylus. You couldn’t do this kind of thing with your finger on an iPad. Art Rage has the same problem as the handwriting aspects of the computer, though. It’ll lose contact somehow, and your long graceful stroke will be interrupted with gaps. Going slowly helps somewhat, and I think that with practice you can work around this issue. I’m no artist, but I could play with this program for hours. I think Art Rage could be even more fun to use and be very useful for those that draw and create regularly.
Games:
In the Games folder, there are new games that aren’t included in XP. There are several familiar ones, and some new ones, including games geared toward children. One new one is called Purple Place. This is especially fun for very small kids since it includes a memory game, a color matching game and other games of that difficulty.
Utilities:
Quick Controller is a program you can use to easily change the screen orientation, turn off auto-rotate, change the volume, calibrate the screen and perform other actions. I can see using it frequently when the computer is in heavy use.
Hardware
Screen:
In addition to adding the ability to use new kinds of programs, the touch screen adds functionality to older programs, too. Even Wordpad has options for OCR. Also, unlike most laptops and netbooks, the screen can open to be completely flat. So not only does it swivel around to a tablet orientation, but it can be open to 180 degrees. Most netbooks stop at a certain angle, but this one just keeps going until flat on the table. I have yet to find a use for which this would be the desired layout, but I’m sure there is one. Perhaps for hanging on the wall?
When clicking and when dragging with the stylus, the screen doesn’t respond as quickly as I’d like. You do get used to this after a while, but it is still too easy to tap the wrong item. Windows 7 has some important options that are very close together on the screen, which has caused me to tap the wrong selection more than once. Even in Art Fire where it is definitely assumed that you are using the stylus, many of the tools are too closely spaced.
The screen is palm and hand resistive, so as not to mark up your writing page. It is also cool in temperature, so if you spend a lot of time writing or drawing with a stylus, your hand won’t get too warm.
Next to the screen there are several buttons: the power button, a camera button and a home button. You can reprogram the home button on the side of the screen, if you know what you are doing in the Windows directory.
Camera:
The built-in camera at the top of the screen can flip around to point away from you or toward you. This will allow you to take photos, use video on Skype, create movies or anything else for which you use a computer camera.
Stylus:
I am a big fan of the included stylus. It is comfortable to use. Since trackpads annoy me, I found myself using the stylus more and more, even with the computer in the clamshell configuration.
Keyboard:
The Classmate PC is larger than my Dell Mini 9, which isn’t as nice for portability, but it was a vast improvement for typing. Typing was very easy for me on this netbook, and all the keys are in the right places. My hands are of average size, but even with medium length fingernails, I didn’t have any typing issues. I can type as fast on it as I can on a regular keyboard. The only adjustment that I had to make is that where I’d normally go to hit the backspace key, I run into the equals sign/plus key. I’m not sure why this is, because every key in that area is in the usual place. It’s probably a scale issue, because my fingers are kept a bit closer together in the home row, so maybe they don’t think they have to stretch as far as usual to hit the backspace key. But the keyboard is designed for children, and compared with a couple of other small keyboards on which I’ve typed, this one is the best.
Other:
It is amazing what an extra diagonal inch will do, both in terms of increased usability and slightly decreased portability. The Classmate PC screen is 10 inches diagonally, while my Dell Mini 9 is 9 inches. With the Classmate PC, the screen was large enough to feel like a real screen and not computing through a small window. But the computer doesn’t fit as easily into a small bag. Also, while the Classmate is much heavier than an iPad or a Kindle, you can still easily use it to read ebooks. Your arm will just get tired sooner and it is harder to prop it up. The machine’s size is a good compromise between functionality and portability.
The computer is sensitive to motion, and will protect the hard drive whenever you move it around too much. This is reminiscent of the days when you had to manually park your hard drive before turning off your PC.
Issues:
After the computer sits on but unused for long enough, it goes to sleep. You are supposed to be able to just press the start button again to resume. This doesn’t always work, though. Sometimes pressing the start button doesn’t do anything. It must shut down on its own after a certain period of time. That seems an unusual thing to happen, especially when it is plugged in. Also, once I had to turn the computer off because of a crash dump and weird error messages. This particular kind of crash happened twice. On all crashing occasions, on reboot, it asked me if I wanted to start up in safe mode. I’m not sure if I was doing something wrong, or if there are just some bugs, but there seemed to be more crashes than should happen on a new machine without anything additional installed. I wonder if this kind of behavior is common in Windows 7, since even the kids’ start menu includes an option for terminating specific programs. I had to use this feature when one of the kids’ games had error message after error message and wouldn’t let us quit.
