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Microsoft's Prototype Multi-Touch Tablet/Booklet

Whaaaaa .....??!!?!?

blahblah100 said:
I would call it an epic fail when Microsoft starts telling me what applications I can install on it.
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Are you kidding me?
Do you know ANYTHING about Apple and their sneaky ways?
Ever hear of " Jailbreaking" ....... why do you think people feel forced to do that?

That's right, now .....tell me : what application can you NOT install on a Windows machine ?
 
I love the movie, but that maybe just a movie.

I love the stylus (pencil). Its something I grew up with and feel more comfortable using than a mouse, especially for sketching. Maybe that says something about the people designing it, or critiquing it because I think younger people may not feel that way about pencils/ styluses.

What I do see as a problem are the edges of the table where your wrist and fore arm will scrape. It needs a bevel there to relieve the edge and be more comfortable to use when its on a desktop.

I'm sure a USB keyboard can plug right in when you are doing serious typing, but of course it will probably have a touchscreen keyboard too, like when you turn it side ways. Or, maybe Voice Recognition, finally.

On the other hand, if MS gets enough traction with this vaporpad, it might be a marketing coup so that when the Apple version comes out, it will be compared to this sexy neat idea by MS. The vaporpad "might" do all kind of things that the real one won't, or not as well as the one in the video. But, MS gets to the high design ground first and says: "Apple copied us!"
 
MasterDev said:
Not only that, but I wonder how loud + how badly it will overheat like the Xbox 360...
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When I'm playing games, Unibody Macbook Pro is the loudest and hottest notebook I've ever had, and the black screen of death is a known problem and overheating is causing it... so better be quiet about Microsoft having overheating products, when Apple is known to have them too. At least Microsoft is willing to fix their problems, while Apple hasn't done anything to fix overheating Macbook Pro.
 
I vote stylus too, it looks like a nifty concept. If MS started producing these, and Apple started producing soully capacitance based ones I'd have to seriously consider the MS one, particularly if it has pressure sensitivity.

Pens are still necessary for art stuff.

And I'm loving the Xbox360 comments. :D
 
I never though I would say it, but I am warming to the idea of getting a tablet device.

if only for broswing my e-mail and the weekend paper on-line in bed etc :). (Yes I can do it on my iPhone but the screen is too damn small to read a lot.)
 
MattBaker said:
...But:

  • I can't watch video on it with that gap between screens.
  • I can't take meeting notes because a stylus sucks for extended data input. Not only is it slow, but my hand gets tired, my handwriting gets bad, and that skyrockets the OCR error rate.
  • If I read an ebook I (probably) only use one of the two screens.
  • If I browse the web it's probably on one of the two screens. Effectively I'm using the top 2/3 of 1/2 the available area -- that's tiny!
  • I can't work with a spreadsheet that's bigger than probably three columns wide, because that gap in the middle makes it difficult to track across the row.
  • I can't work with a text document unless, maybe, I turn the whole device 90 degrees. Then I put the text in the top box and have an ultra-cramped virtual keyboard below? (Except the top box will only show a fragment of a page of text when rotated, so that's not practical.)

...
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Multitasking?
 
so cool I wonder

If this is an apple prototype being leaked as a MS one to cover up the real Apple one.

A few notes: the icons look very Mac like. (camera icon, tabs). The use of the term "App" is an Apple thing. Microsoft likes to call them programs.

Someone mentioned being left handed. How easy would it be to have some sort of setting that flips the layout?

I am waiting to see this. I wont buy an XBox b/c it's MS. I won't buy a mouse b/c it says MS, but if MS were miraculously to deliver this very much like this and Apple comes out with something that doesnt top this, I will be looking at an Apple product over a MS product for the first time ever.
 
mikeppc225 said:
If this is an apple prototype being leaked as a MS one to cover up the real Apple one.

A few notes: the icons look very Mac like. (camera icon, tabs). The use of the term "App" is an Apple thing. Microsoft likes to call them programs.

Someone mentioned being left handed. How easy would it be to have some sort of setting that flips the layout?

I am waiting to see this. I wont buy an XBox b/c it's MS. I won't buy a mouse b/c it says MS, but if MS were miraculously to deliver this very much like this and Apple comes out with something that doesnt top this, I will be looking at an Apple product over a MS product for the first time ever.
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Microsoft mice and keyboards are very good though >:
 
age234 said:
Impressive video. Knowledge Navigator, anyone? Does it have a little talking Bill Nye lookalike?
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I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought of that. For those who are interested:

Apple Knowledge Navigator

I do think that this looks interesting. I would, however, regard a product like this to be a niche product. It fills a gap between something like the iPhone and a laptop. Relatively few people will really see the need for a product like this, but for those who did need it, it would be indispensable.

As a side note, has anyone else thought that it could be set up with one "page" tilted up and the bottom "page" displaying a soft keyboard, resulting in a netbook like functionality?
 
I never thought I'd see the day in my lifetime but Microsoft have come up with a really nice concept.

My only query/sadness is that we're still attempting to replicate old-world habits in an electronic form. By this I mean as a Digital Immigrant the use of a stylus, the 'feel' of paper folding/turning and the hardback book form is indeed comforting, but really at some point it would be nice if someone embraced the growing army of digital natives and came up with a completely new interface paradigm. Apple?

Vanilla
 
mikeppc225 said:
I am waiting to see this. I wont buy an XBox b/c it's MS. I won't buy a mouse b/c it says MS, but if MS were miraculously to deliver this very much like this and Apple comes out with something that doesnt top this, I will be looking at an Apple product over a MS product for the first time ever.
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Prejudice much?
 
Vanilla said:
My only query/sadness is that we're still attempting to replicate old-world habits in an electronic form. By this I mean as a Digital Immigrant the use of a stylus
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The stylus is for things that a finger can't do, such as writing and finer input with drawing. Fingers are for everything else :)
 
Origami

I still want to know what happened to MS's previous promise...
epic fail! :rolleyes:
 

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Overheat - Apple is better in that...

MasterDev said:
Not only that, but I wonder how loud + how badly it will overheat like the Xbox 360...
Click to expand...

I haven't got an Xbox, but I've had several MacBooks, MacBook Airs and a MacBook Pro with overheating issues. There is not much excessive thermal paste that can be applied, so I think MS will be fine.

I don't mind, whoever will bring one out, I have been wanting a tablet for a very long time ago. However, I must say that there is an Apple tablet around, made from plastic MacBooks by a small company and it still remains a niche product. For its price, I would never buy one. Something dramatically different is needed. Something smaller, lighter, more user friendly, recognising pinching and gestures; something fun.

I suppose, Apple can succeed in bringing out a small, 6-9 inch tablet for the masses, whilst MS has more potential with the corporate, engineering and health market. I can never imagine my doctor using anything Mac. Frankly, sometimes a Mac just doesn't cut it. Or those specialist companies ignore Apple.

Just one final thought... I don't have a netbook, because it's just a smaller, cheaper and underpowered version of a laptop. What would MS do differently with a tablet? After all, usability will play a large role in this game. Anything larger than a small book and I'm out.
 
Great, as long as:

- Runs Mac.
- Light and small (500 g or less and pocketable)
- Has video-out and USB 2 ports for videopresentations from NATIVE Keynote and PowerPoint files.
 
Looks very nice, and promising if they actually deliver it. Hopefully when the real device comes out it at least has one usb 3.0. What would really be cool is an AMOLED screen, and then hit a switch to make it an e-ink screen to make it more readable in direct sunlight.

What is odd is HP, Toshiba, and Fujistu back in the days of Windows 2000 had keyboard less(or at least it detached) tablets.They came in like size from 8in to 12in, but they were mostly sold to the industrial and business sector. Even still most of the tablets out on the market now(even thoughts with multi-touch support), are mainly being target to that sector still. This, and the Mac tablet could help shift trends to more consumer oriented tablets.

BTW I am seeing more and more AIO touch screen desktops coming out to the market and I hope Apple ads that option the iMac.
 
Interesting concept.

Reminds me of the Knowledge Navigator in a HP-19BII business calculator format.

Looking forward to see how the real deal actually works.
 
That thing (lets not focus which OS inside and who will manufacture it) will definitely be not good for "children" as they will have to learn again how to write.:D
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

You have to give them the benefit of the doubt, good effort.
 
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