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Microsoft's Prototype Multi-Touch Tablet/Booklet

SLCentral said:
Come on guys, grow up. The Zune HD looks like an awesome MP3 player,
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...Agreed

Windows 7 is a damn good OS.
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... Agreed

the 360 won this console war generation (rightfully so)
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Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I must have missed that memo! ;) 360 had a 1 year head start, it's still waaaay behind the Wii and only 6-7m units ahead of the PS3 (With a whole 12-18month headstart!)...(Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/) It's a great console but it hasn't won the "console war" by a long shot yet...

Time to get off the pedestal, and move on from this lame Microsoft hating.
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Well, based on this tablet mock-up and the awesome video, I'd have to agree... infact, I'm pretty sure if you slapped an Apple logo on this mock-up and called it the iTablet, everyone would be pleased with how it's turned out...

Anyway, it''s great to see a real MS innovation for once... let's hope the real thing works as smoothly as it does in that video.

On a side note, it would be really interesting if Apple and MS released their respective Tablet products within the same timeframe...
 
Bonte said:
Is this idea currently possible? Make a leather wallet to put 2 ipod Touches in side by side and have them act like it is one device. ?
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The device itself looks more like a laptop, only smaller and with another screen where there's a keyboard. The leather is actually not a part of it at all, just a coaster thing :)

I'd imagine the camera would be on one of the screen fronts, which you twist backward so one screen is facing you that you take a photo with. That way it's comfortable for both uses (just an idea)
 
This looks really amazing. If it makes it into production I would probably buy it. It feels weird to say this about a Microsoft product, but I am genuinely impressed.
 
JS77 said:
...Agreed



... Agreed



Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I must have missed that memo! ;) 360 had a 1 year head start, it's still waaaay behind the Wii and only 6-7m units ahead of the PS3 (With a whole 12-18month headstart!)...(Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/) It's a great console but it hasn't won the "console war" by a long shot yet...



Well, based on this tablet mock-up and the awesome video, I'd have to agree... infact, I'm pretty sure if you slapped an Apple logo on this mock-up and called it the iTablet, everyone would be pleased with how it's turned out...

Anyway, it''s great to see a real MS innovation for once... let's hope the real thing works as smoothly as it does in that video.

On a side note, it would be really interesting if Apple and MS released their respective Tablet products within the same timeframe...
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So something that melts after a few months is winning the console war.

Yea...

I like what Microsoft is doing with Windows and the Zune but they still cut corners in the gaming market. Direct X still fails where OpenGL/AL SHINES. After how many years? ID managed to make a tech engine using openGL 2.1 that has features DirectX 10 doesnt have. (Primitive Shadows etc)
 
ditzy said:
This looks really amazing. If it makes it into production I would probably buy it. It feels weird to say this about a Microsoft product, but I am genuinely impressed.
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I'm not sure I would buy it. But, I'm with you, it's more innovative that I would have thought for a Microsoft product.
 
womble2k2 said:
Whoever made the prototype, obviously likes Apple products, as many ideas are developments of exisiting Apple products, technologies or methods.

For example;

- When she flicks the address to the Google Map, the pin it creates looks a lot like the one on iPhone / iPod Touch, with a right arrow to get more info, etc. It is more like the Apple version that the Google one provided on the maps.google.com website.

- When she scrolls her address book, it looks very similar to the address book on iPhone / iPod Touch. Main difference is that the index is on the left, not right as on Apple products.

- When actions are taking place, such as when she flicks an address to the maps, there is a rotating icon to say the machine is busy, not an hour glass.

- Pinch, swipe and other gestures are on other products now, but the demo does make me think Apple, not MS.

- The way objects 'animate' when moved, flicked, turned over, etc, is very like the Apple Genie effect.

So I wonder if the person who did this, once worked at Apple?
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Ha! Likely, the video was prepared on a Mac using Pro tools like Final Cut Studio.
 
simsandwhich said:
I'd imagine the camera would be on one of the screen fronts, which you twist backward so one screen is facing you that you take a photo with. That way it's comfortable for both uses (just an idea)
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Exactly how i see it but the video shows a camera on the back, so the booklet needs to be open to take pictures.
 
kiss my a** every which till Sunday!!!
You ain't going to see non of this MS RDF crap ever!!!!!! Never never never.
 
I think it's rather cool. There seems to be a lot of Apple influence in the UI design and the device itself. If the real thing works anything like the concept-video, it would probably the first useful (as in "everyday use") tablet computer.

I really dig the two-screen, "book-like" design. In fact, this could be the first really innovative Microsoft product... well... ever!

However, it's still just a concept and Microsoft isn't really known as a company that's taking radical steps, so lets wait and see if the final product will look and work like the concept or if it's going to be just another Windows Mobile UMPC.
 
RebootD said:
Cause it's the joke that never ends! It just goes on and on my friends!

Seriously.. let it die.
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I spent the day reinstalling Windows on a workstation that BSODed because a bad uninstaller corrupted the registry. I'll let it die when MS fixes their software architecture so this kind of thing can't happen.

The device looks nice; so did Origami. I hav me doots.
 
dicklacara said:
Ha! Likely, the video was prepared on a Mac using Pro tools like Final Cut Studio.
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Yes and a mouse pointer looks the same on the mac and the PC.... Any more crap arguments about who stole whose interface.... This is far beyond what I could have expected. Better... and nothing like the Mac or the iPhone.

Apple is the Success here... Microsoft is the Scrappy newcomer... I think they have finally shown some promise.
 
MS can baely get WinMo to work right, and after two years it's still practically stillborn. And we exepct them to pull off something like this?

This is just smoke. It's a video. Let's see them actually release this, before Apple, and do it on time. It's just not the MS way.
 
Looks awesome! But whether it will ever be made. . . .

Thing about this form factor is that it could potentially double up to have more standard laptop functionality. With a touch keyboard and trackpad on one screen.
 
What about watching a movie? I wish there would be a way to not have a space down the middle so you can watch a movie across the whole two screens. Or bend it in half a little, rotate it 30 degrees and watch a movie on it like you would a laptop, with the one half holding up the other half to watch your something-something on.

I kinda like it. Like a nintendo DS on steroids.
 
A rumor only slightly more relevant than those photoshopped ideas for future products scattered on the internet. MS is becoming its own biggest fan.

The idea is interesting, but when would this be plausibly released? 2015? 2017?
 
looks like they were using multi-touch gestures
doesnt apple have copyright on that lol:apple:

Other than that man this think looks great!
 
notjustjay said:
Oh, stop with the hate.

That looks AMAZING. Instant sale, if they can hurry up and get one to market, and if it isn't hindered too badly by the usual suspects -- battery life, software, sunlight readability (let's not use OLEDs this time, OK?) etc.

It's the Hitchhiker's Guide -- for real! :D
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I agree it looks great. If they can deliver it then I'm sure it would sell. Windows 7 will give the OSX fanboys a little shock I'm sure. Both are great system, so there's no real need to hate this just because it is an MS product. Competition is good and it seems MS have stepped up their game in this area. Apple just need to get on with it and release their tablet so that we can compare both offerings.
 
womble2k2 said:
Whoever made the prototype, obviously likes Apple products, as many ideas are developments of exisiting Apple products, technologies or methods.
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One reason there are similarities is because a lot of this stuff has been around for decades. They're familiar to touch engineers like me. They're just totally new to the public.

Other hints like the Google pins are on every mobile device nowadays, and the spinner has been used on websites since before the iPhone.

Microsoft came to our mobile R&D lab back around 1999 or 2000 and showed us some of their future handheld ideas under NDA. Their innovations would look very familiar today. The trouble was, some of their ideas were beyond the hardware that was cheaply available at the time. (Apple waited until the price was right before jumping into the market.)

Ideas do not come from companies. They come from people, many of whom have worked for Apple, Microsoft, HP and others. The main difference is that Apple actually markets their best ones, while Microsoft (not being a hardware maker, usually) often just sits on theirs.
 
Matthew Yohe said:
Boring.

Concept videos are easy to make, but pulling off a real device with a real interface...

Microsoft loves making these things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9JBSEBu2q8
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I believe this is more than concept.

According to Gizmodo, who I trust, "Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the "late prototype" stage of development. "

I, for one, hope this is very very close to Apple's touchpad. Because it will really piss off SJ to know that some of his "reveal" has been deflated by this video.

Furthermore, my hunch is the reason the Apple device is not out yet is that Apple is so keen on partnering with a wireless company. I for one DO NOT want a device that I have to pay AT&T or Verizon a monthly fee for. Apple loves this business model, but just shoving a 3G card in there so I have to be forced to pay a subscription is going to anger a lot of people. MARK MY WORDS, Apple will only release a subscription-based device.
 
My first impression on seeing this is that it would probably work well in clinical environments and maybe journalism. I wouldn't use a device of this shape myself but I can see some jobs where it can come in handy. If/when Apple releases a tablet it will be interesting to see what their take is on it and how they envision its use.
 
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