Is a 7 Inch Tablet Too Small
 

Many of the tablets coming to the market to compete with the iPad are going to be seven inch screens (I presume that is 7x7, but I don't know). The Android units popping up most places are seven inches. The forthcoming Blackberry Blackpad is seven inches. I was wondering if people though this was too small for the various jobs these machines will be handling?

I think it may actually be the perfect size, as long as the resolution is high enough. As much as I love the apps, I found the iPad to be too big. I've played with a couple of 7" Android tablets, and as long as they can get them with a decent processor and recent version of Android, they may be onto something good.

That said - the Blackpad sounds like a tough sell...

Usually if they give only one measurement it is the diagonal.

I suspect that this will be a long-standing debate - and each person's point-of-departure will be based on what their particular usage is.

I borrowed an iPad and found it simply too cumbersome to carry easily. I would like something smaller and 7" sounds just right.

Of course, this depends on the form factor overall as well.

I own an iPad and love it, but I have to carry a man bag. I carry the smallest Packsafe bag when I am not carrying a briefcase.

Indeed - all the 7" tablets I've tried are 7" diagonal.

That said - I'm disappointed in many of the low cost tablets out there right now. A tablet it fairly useless if it still uses a resistive display, lacks multitouch and runs Android 1.6.

Exactly.Any "tablet" beyond 3ish inches/won't fit in my jeans pocket is out of the question for me and totally defeats the purpose of a "laptop companion" and becomes a "laptop replacement" in my mind as I have to either carry it around in my hands or in a bag.
YMMV; tablets are handy, I just don't like having to give up a "real" OS on something that is bulkier than my smartphone.
Like the Dell Streak yeah? Apple caught everyone with their pants down with the iPad and they've had to cut corners just to get a "me too" product out. Dell is promising Froyo on them though!

I think the Streak hardware is pretty decent, but it is being marketed poorly, will only be out on AT&T and the promise of an upgrade is pretty lame - they had plenty of time to get it beyond 1.6.

Agreed on all points, they could have at least done 2.0 and its entirely possible Dell pulls a fast one and never upgrades the Streak. I was surprised when I heard that the Streak was going to go on AT&T 3G as AT&T seems to hate Android with a passion by releasing aberrations such as the Backflip...

While I agree with you, they did just release the Captivate which appears to be a solid Android device. And from what I've read the Streak will be running 2.1 pretty soon. I was considering getting one, but the early reviews haven't been great. Perhaps V2 will be the right time to jump in.

IMHO any tablet large enough to be useful won't fit in your jacket or pants pocket, if you want that you need a smartphone.

Personally I like the iPad as I can toss it in a bag and not notice the weight. It's replacingmy MBP while traveling (which weighs in at ~5 pounds). For myself since I would have it in a backpack or briefcase anyway, I'm happy with the size of it and would prefer it over a 7" tablet.

Sure, they have the captivate, but in true AT&T style, they blocked the ability to load apps from outside the market.

AT&T is the new Verizon - always managing to cripple their phones.

And the Captivate is just a HTC device that has a T-Mobile clone(can't remember the name)...AT&T is late to the Android game AND cripples their Android phones too...VZ at least saw the error of their ways and doesn't cripple things like Bluetooth on their smartphones!
but back on topic, I hear the BB tablet is 9.7 inches and is going to be on VZ...too big and i'm not sure how touch friendly BB OS 6.0 will be...at least VZ's network doesn't fail like AT&T's!

No it isn't - the Captivate and Vibrant are Samsung Galaxy S devices.

Blackberry devices always have a following, and if they can get the same security and enterprise apps/features on their tablet, they may have something that'll appeal to a limited audience.

Ahh...I stand corrected; I forget HTC isn't the only game in town when it comes to Android.
And true...but I'm not too sure if a tablet will appeal to enterprise...we shall see though.