The good folks at SlateGlove.com were kind enough to send me one of their SlateGlove to review. I have a Motion Computing M1400 so I requested the M1400 model SlateGlove.
This post will record my initial impressions and the installation process. I will also post a review once I have been using it for a few days.
Initial impressions
Opening the packaging and examining the contents I was immediately struck by simplicity of the product. Don't get me wrong - it also looks quite clever but it is by no means complex. I also quickly decided that much thought had gone into the contents of the package and the design of the SlateGlove. They had thought of every detail. The instructions are very thorough. In addition I like the way the instructions are not just a list of steps - they also explain why they have done things they way they have and provide lots of helpful hints.
What's in the package?
A - The Glove, with the hinges and screws to attach it to the tablet held in place with a rubber band. There are also some bits of Velcro tape attached to the Glove.
B - Two stick on square rubber lumps called "Launch Pads" - I'll explain these later.
C - Degreasing Towlette
D - #1 Screwdriver - just the right size so you don't damage the heads of the screws. Very thoughtful that they include this.
E - Stick on rubber feet
F - Little bits of Velcro tape
G - Instructions
Installation
First up turn the tablet off an place it face down on a towel or other soft surface.
Using the included screwdriver remove two of the factory screws from the back of the tablet. Put these aside for proper storage later.
Remove the rubber band from the SlateGlove screw the glove to the back of your tablet.
Each hinge has a threaded hole machined into it - these are for storing the original factory screws that were removed to attach the Glove to the back of the tablet - nice touch. I screw the original screws in here for storage - as instructed.
Use the degreasing Towelette to clean the area on the back of the tablet where the velcro will be attached. The placement of the velcro is critical and the instructions go into quite a bit of detail. Get it wrong and you may have trouble docking your tablet.
The next step is to attach the “LaunchPads” to the back of your docking station (if you have one). The purpose of these it to allow you to undock your tablet with much less force than you previously needed. Without the LauncPads you can push up on the hinge to undock your tablet, however the upward force will lift the docking station off the desk. After attaching the LaunchPads in the correct location on the docking station, you can apply downward force on these with your little fingers while at the same time applying upward force with your index fingers on the hinge. The result is an almost effortless undocking procedure. Very nice. The image below shows a LaunchPad on the docking station. The inset shows how you can insert your hand. Simply insert one hand on each side and spread your fingers and the tablet slides out of the dock.
Now you need to attach the two high friction dots to the bottom edge of the tablet so that if you prop it up in landscape mode on a hard surface it will not slip.
It turns out the two little strips are velcro are included to fix a common problem where the pen will slide out of its holder a little too easily. I don’t have this problem so I have not used them, but this is another example of the attention to detail that I have to commend SlateGlove for.
I'll post more once I have used the glove for a while.