I think I finally achieved a happy compromise. Portability with bigger screen compared to iPad mini 6 that I had been initially planning to get. I checked my sister-in-law’s iPad mini 6 that was newly purchased by my bro—it was losing charge quickly and it heats up. They had to bring it to the Apple store/reseller for possible repair. Aside from that, the screen was so small, even for watching Netflix. I want something that I could chuck in my handbag, but it should not be that small.

It was hard to satisfy my requirements. 🫥

It has an 11″ screen, but it’s narrower and easier to handle than my old 10.2″ iPad 9. It’s also lighter.

It can easily be shoved into my medium-sized handbag. This is great for when I leave the house, like for a coverage or a meeting, but I’m not expecting heavy editing work in between. Or when I go out of town for leisure but I need to bring a machine for “work emergencies” without lugging my Lenovo laptop.

I have installed this with all the apps that I usually use for work like MS Outlook, Office, Teams, Zoom, etc. It can do multi-tasking without freezing (unlike my old hybrid tablet Lenovo Miix 3) or slowing down. It also has DeX, which is a special feature of Samsung tablets that can change the tab’s UI into desktop mode.

I can use my Logitech mouse for this but it’s more cumbersone to shift machines with one mouse. Just use the damn pen! What’s the use of a touchscreen if you don’t use it?

I can draft an article here on the fly if needed. Well, I used to work a lot on the first netbook, Asus Eee PC 701 (with a 7″ screen), and used it as my main word processing machine in the field, therefore, I can live with this Samsung Tab S8 tablet/keyboard combo.

I guess some gadget reviewers were right; this is how Chromebooks should have been. Google could have just stuck with Android and optimize it for tablet/hybrid laptop instead of going for the Chromebook OS where everything is done via browser. I mean, where’s the versatility in that?

I’ve always been chasing the holy grail for journalists everywhere: a word processing machine powerful enough for our daily tasks in the field but can fit into our handbags so we can be free to literally chase people for interviews.

I remember way back in 2006, one journo pulled out her Palm (or a Handspring?) with a stand and a folding keyboard and started typing away during a press conference. I turned green with envy then because I was lugging everywhere with me my 15.4″ Toshiba laptop that weighed a ton. Anything that would help me reduce the size of my bag was welcome. Since then, I had been looking for a word processing machine that can send emails that I can bring everywhere with me.

This brought me to investigate HP’s iPaQ and Handspring Visor. I had wanted those things so badly because that meant I could leave my humongous laptop behind and just carry with me that handheld device and just connect it via infrared to a small keyboard. Of course, I couldn’t afford those things at that time (early 2000s).

So when the Eee PC came to Manila, I grabbed one (PHP 18,000 retail price in 2007) and left my Toshiba at home and turned it into a “desktop”. I finally was able to carry one bag with me in the field for the first time. 😉 The other business journos followed suit.

But the tiny keyboard caused my carpal tunnel syndrome. I had to go to an orthopedic surgeon because my hands and wrist were in so much pain. When the doctor asked how I worked, I pulled out my netbook and showed him how I typed. Bingo, he said. He told me to change my machine and prescribed to me a nerve pain medicine (Pregabalin) and a combo of Vit B complex. And oh, wrist supports when I slept. I think I did that for several months until it no longer hurt.

So my remedy for my tiny keyboard? I upgraded to a bigger netbook. I can’t go back to huge-ass laptops! Then netbooks went out of favor (they were so underpowered), so I had to search again for a middle ground: thin laptops/ultrabooks then hybrid tablet-laptops. The last one was the super underpowered Lenovo Miix 3 that eventually Twin I destroyed. I had to go back to the traditional heavy laptops.

Let’s see how this Tab S8 would fare in the field.