While the Apple iPad certainly has kicked off a mobile computing boom since it was announced last April, it is increasingly apparent that it, and competing tablets modeled after it, are not the only mobile answer. The iPad is proving to be an excellent device for entertainment and in particular for visual media consumption. As a superior platform for publishing it is redefining what a magazine or newspaper should be, although its impact on e-books, which by nature are much more adaptable to different screen sizes, has been smaller. It also is an excellent mobile platform for viewing TV, films, movie clips, and slide shows and for Web browsing — Web pages have never worked well on the small screens of PDAs and smartphones.

The iPad specifically has been criticized for its lack of a keyboard, but we will probably see other tablet configurations including combination tablet/laptops. These could be a practical solution for both business and home computing that would provide the capabilities of a business laptop on the desktop combined with the portability of the tablet and ability to display the electronic forms used in database applications such as ERP and CRM in the office and Quicken and Microsoft Money at home.

But that still will not replace that other very popular handheld, the smartphone. This is mainly a communications device, focused on both voice and text (e-mail, chat, and these days Twitter) communications, and doubles as a low-end digital camera. It also can double as an e-book reader and a video viewer, if you don’t mind watching your movies on a very small screen. But it is not practical for many applications that require a larger screen, and heavy use can cause battery life issues.

Then there is the third important application area for handhelds, personal organization. This is where I started with handheld computing, and it remains vital to me not because I am naturally organized but because I am not. I do not remember my appointments, telephone numbers of important contacts, etc. My answer is to keep all that in a device in my pocket that is with me where ever I am, not on a clipboard-sized tablet that can be awkward to carry around outside the home or office.

Of course these can go on a smartphone, but I have found that combining the two can create battery life issues and problems when I want to jot down notes on a phone call, for instance. Originally this space was filled by PDAs like the Palm. Today it is being taken over by small tablets like the Windows-based Sony Viao UX I have carried for the past three years. But these are distinct from the iPad-model tablets, jsut as the iPhone is distinct from the iPad, because of their smaller size.

So the winner is: All of the above. I can easily see myself carrying both a pocket-sized tablet, probably running Windows in my case because of the specific applications I need, and an iPad-sized one, which could be an Android or a Windows 7 system, and which probably will be a tablet/laptop combination. And if my life changed again to make me more mobile, I could easily add a separate smartphone as well to handle my e-mail and phone calls on the road.