GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Microsoft plans to introduce a special version of Windows for low-powered mobile devices like tablets at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show, according to multiple reports.

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg claim to have both heard that Microsoft will discuss a version of Windows that supports mobile ARM chips and other low-power processors. WSJ adds that the new Windows OS isn’t expected to be available for two years.

My instant reaction to these reports: WTF?

Microsoft already has a new version of Windows designed for mobile devices: Windows Phone 7. The company hired new executives, spent million of dollars on development facilities, rethought its entire mobile strategy and took an entire year to whip up a touch-friendly mobile OS from scratch.

In terms of power and features, Windows Phone 7 hasn’t caught up with Android or iOS yet, but it’s a solid start. It’s certainly more fit for tabletization than the desktop Windows. There are many reasons why Windows 7-based tablets make no sense.

Windows Phone 7 is also light years ahead of Microsoft’s previous mobile OS, Windows Mobile, to say nothing of Windows CE, Microsoft’s first mobile OS, which lives on as an “embedded” OS powering hospital devices, manufacturing equipment, point-of-sale devices, and the like.

So why in the world would Microsoft throw more money and talent at a new mobile version of Windows when it’s already made great progress on a newer, better one?

I like the well-informed Mary Jo Foley’s skeptical interpretation of the news. She thinks that Microsoft will announce a new version of Windows Embedded Compact, a trimmed-down version of Windows CE made especially for enterprise devices. That OS, which is currently in beta, already runs on ARM, and might make a suitable platform for Windows-powered tablets, especially the kind attached to your UPS driver’s barcode scanner.

Among other points,Jo Foley notes that the timing is right, and that Microsoft announced tablet partners earlier this year who are already in the business of making Windows Embedded Compact devices.

That outcome would make a lot more sense to me, and if Jo Foley’s right, Microsoft’s “tablet” news won’t be as exciting for the average gadget geek aching for a Microsoft-powered iPad competitor (unless you have a urinary tract disorder).

Photo of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CES 2010: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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HP has at last revealed its long-awaited Slate, an 8.9-inch tablet with capacitive multi-touch and running Windows 7. The Slate, you will remember, was proudly touted by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer as an iPad killer, back before the iPad even existed. So is this an iPad competitor? No freakin’ way.

The HP Slate 500 Tablet PC is just that, a PC. It runs on a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, has 2GB RAM and a 64GB SSD, along with a Broadcom accelerator for 1080p video, a USB port, HDMI-out, a hardware Ctrl-Alt-Delete switch, a button to activate the on-screen keyboard and a pair of cameras, one on the back for photos and one on the front for Skyping. It also has, somewhat unbelievably, a slide-out Windows license. That’s right. Apparently any machine with Windows pre-installed needs to show the license info and HP, in order to keep the rear design clean, opted to add a slide-out plastic bar to display it. Oh, it is also Wi-Fi only: There’s no 3G radio.

There is one nice touch: the screen includes a Wacom digitizer so you can use a stylus to take notes on screen. There is nowhere to store the stylus, though, so you’ll lose it soon enough.

Clearly, the Slate is to full-featured tablet PCs as a netbook is to a proper notebook: a scaled back, underpowered portable with a too-small screen, running an OS designed for the desktop, not a touch-operated device. HP has tried to justify the ridiculous price with a disclaimer in its press release, which says it is “designed specifically for business.” The problem is, businesses are already buying the iPad, which is designed just to be good.

We’re certainly looking forward to seeing some proper rivals to the iPad, with ten-inch screens running an OS designed for touch. The HP Slate, a netbook with the keyboard missing, ain’t it.

HP Slate placeholder page [HP]

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Cross your fingers and then hope and pray that this isn’t actually HP’s finished design for its Slate. The video purportedly shows the upcoming HP tablet, and it’s running Windows 7.

From what we can see, the hardware seems very capable. It has two cameras, a pair of speakers, a USB port and a capacitive touch-screen. From the front, it has the same wide, grab-able bezel and bright screen of the iPad. The problems start when the video’s maker x313xkillax boots the machine.

Windows 7 may be a great OS, but it is a desktop OS. See how x313xkillax tries to scroll the page but instead opens a new tab (or something – even he’s not sure)? That’s because his finger isn’t a tiny, sharp mouse-pointer (look closely and you’ll see the actual pointer appear on screen after boot). Also notice that there is a hardware key to switch the keyboard on and off. Without this, you’re screwed: the Windows 7 tablet I reviewed back in March had the same problem, only without the switch to rescue you. Switch into full-screen view in the web-browser, for example, and you had to plug in an external keyboard to escape.

Best of all, though, is the hardware Ctrl-Alt-Delete switch. The three-fingered salute is an essential part of corporate life (you need to press the combo to log-in to servers) but it is also the emergency life-raft when things go awry. Putting this on an iPad competitor is a big signal that HP has spent the months since the iPad launch sleeping.

It’s a shame, as the hardware looks great. I have a feeling that this is the actual, real, ready to go Slate, though, which will be a disaster. HP should just wait until it has a proper WebOS slate ready to go, instead of playing catchup with this half-assed solution.

HP Slate review [x313xkillax / YouTube via ]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

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Now that HP has sealed its acquisition of Palm, the PC maker is working hard to get Palm’s webOS mobile operating system onto HP products.

Palm’s webOS will power HP upcoming tablet, says HP CTO Phil McKinney. The tablet known as HP Slate had earlier been designed using Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system. HP also plans to put webOS on printers, says McKinney.

“There’s a gap for devices that are larger than a smartphone but smaller than a netbook,” he told attendees at the ongoing Mobile Beat conference in San Francisco. “Slates could fit in that category.”

Unlike rival Dell, which chose the Google-designed open source Android OS to create its cellphone and tablet, HP spent $1.2 billion to buy Palm. The transaction closed earlier this month.

HP wants to control all pieces of the mobile ecosystem, says McKinney.

“If you look at success in the market, they are those companies who can control the end user experience and the entire experience stack,” he says.

That sounds more like Apple and less like Google. But it is clearly the direction that HP wants to go. In March, HP seemed poised to launch its Slate tablet offering sneak peeks of the device through carefully edited videos. Leaks of the company’s plans for the Slate pegged the price of the device at $550.

But in a surprise move in April, HP announced its buying Palm and with that it sent the Slate back to the drawing board. McKinney says HP is not yet ready to announce a launch date for the Slate.

“I am not going to pre-announce products but I will say that we are investing money into research & development and marketing at Palm.”

Photo:HP

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Dell’s new tablet called the Streak is set to make its debut in the U.S. this summer. But while temperatures have been soaring, there’s still no sign of the device. The Streak, which was launched in the U.K. last month for 450, is expected to be available on AT&T for $500.

Dell now says it has been testing the device and hopes to have it in the hands of U.S. consumers soon. The company still won’t disclose the exact availability. Meanwhile, Gadget Lab got some hands-on time with the U.S. version of the Streak.

Nearly 30 percent thinner than the iPhone 3G S, the Streak bills itself as a tablet but also offers the option of a SIM card in it so you can make phone calls. The device includes 3G connectivity and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Think of it as a turbocharged phone.

“The 3.5-inch to 4-inch screen devices are optimized primarily around the phone experience,” says Kevin Andrew, product manager for Dell.”The Streak is for those who want something bigger than a phone but not something so big they have to carry it separately.”

The Streak fits the bill. It is ultra-thin, lightweight (7.8 ounces) and extremely easy to use. Read on for our hands-on impression of the tablet.

The Streak’s five inch touchscreen display is just a little bigger than the latest crop of Android smartphones (HTC Evo and Droid X sport a 4.3-inch touchscreen) but significantly smaller than the iPad’s 9.7-inch display. That puts the Streak in an awkward netherworld: too big to be a phone, too small to be directly take on the iPad.

But the Streak’s 5-inch display looks much better in real life than it sounds on paper. The screen is smooth, responsive and big enough to comfortably type and access different widgets.

The device itself is ultra-thin, just 9.9 mm thick compared to the iPhone 3G’s 12.3 mm thickness and almost on par with the iPhone 4. It slips easily into your jeans or the jacket pocket and doesn’t feel awkard if you hold it up to your ear to make a phone call.

The Streak has just one 30-pin connector and no USB port.

The Streak runs Android 1.6, which seems ancient considering that Google has released Android 2.2 or Froyo.

But Dell says it has created an enhanced version of Android 1.6 that puts it almost on par with Android 2.2 or ‘Eclair.’

“If you compare Android 1.6 on the Streak to Eclair, the only feature that is missing versus Eclair is the live wallpapers,” says Andrew.

The Android experience on the Streak is very similar to what we have seen on the latest Android cellphones. The Streak supports up to six home screens. The main screen (shown above) has icons for phone, calendar, messaging, browser, maps and market among other things.

A small round dot at the top left corner of the screen acts as a shortcut to applications. Streak users can download apps from the Android market.

The Streak has a 5-megapixel camera on the back and 0.3 megapixel VGA camera in the front. It can also shoot videos upto 720p (1280 x 720 pixels resolution). Sharing photos is easy and should be familiar to most Android phone users–click on the photo, choose the share button from the virtual menu and pick Facebook, Twitter or Flickr to upload it to.

Dells also offers an accessory dock, with an HDMI output that can be connected to a TV.

The Streak will have a user-replaceable battery, internal storage of 2 GB and additional storage using a microSD card for up to 32 GB.

Overall, the Streak is an exciting, well-engineered device that should appeal to consumers who want to super-size their phone. But that’s also means its unlikely to have Apple or iPad fans quaking. The Streak seems like a tablet for a very different audience than the iPad.

Photos: Dell Streak/Priya Ganapati

Source:wired.com

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Palm CEO John Rubinstein will continue to head up his webOS team under new boss HP, and will be working on smartphones, “future slate PCs and netbooks,” according to a statement from HP

The computer giant completed its acquisition of Palm yesterday, and announced that Palm will continue to develop both hardware and software, headed up by former Apple employee Rubinstein.

This will include new phones (the Pre and Pixi lines are now also owned by HP), but most exciting is the confirmation that there will be webOS tablets. After all, apart from iOS, name another operating system that is as suited to a tablet as the webOS (sure, Android is close, but still a little too clunky).

Better still, HP has the deep pockets to go up against Apple, and if Rubinstein and team are left to work on great machines their combined experience (many of them are also Apple alumni) should finally provide an iPad competitor. And even if you are a total, unashamed iPad fanboy, this should still excite you. Competition is good for us buyers. Take a look at the iPhone 4: Do you think it would be this good if Android and Palm weren’t chasing so close behind?

HP Completes Palm Acquisition [Yahoo]

Photo: Lisa Brewster/Flickr

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