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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In this week’s episode of the Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney and I analyze Google’s Chrome OS notebook and the idea of a Windows 7 tablet while giving a sneak peek of an awesome new iPad game.

Dylan shows off Google’s stealthy blackCR-48 notebook. The Chrome OS operating system, which is based on a browser, is fast and pretty capable, but Dylan couldn’t get a full day’s work done thanks to his need for Firefox. On the hardware side, the keyboard’s pretty nice, but the trackpad is clunky. Keep in mind, however, that this is a pilot device, so it’s not like you’re going to buy one.

I talk smack about a rumor that Microsoft is planning to yet again announce a Windows 7 tablet at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show. Why am I so pessimistic? Because this has been done over and over again, and Windows tablet PCs have constantly failed. Microsoft would be better off scaling up the new Windows Phone 7 OS to run on a tablet, but it’s unlikely we’ll see that happening next year because the phone platform is just getting started.

On to more fun news, I show off the new iPad version of Pocket God, a game that was a huge hit on the iPhone. You play the role of God, messing around with little creatures called Pygmies by manipulating their environment with your fingers. The iPad version, called A Journey to Uranus, just came out today. It’s even better because you get an entire universe to screw around with the Pygmies on different planets.

Like the show? You can also get theGadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you dont want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out theGadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Labvideo oraudio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #97

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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In what very much appears to be a controlled leak from Microsoft, the New York Times has detailed “rumors” of upcoming Windows “slates” that will be shown off by Steve Ballmer at CES next month. Just like last year. And again like last year, it seems that Microsoft still hasn’t gotten a clue about tablets.

“Microsoft hopes these slates will offer an alternative to the iPad because they move beyond play, people familiar with the tablets said.” And how will Microsoft differentiate its brand-new slate offering from Apple’s hugely successful iPad? By using a tablet version of the highly regarded Windows Phone 7 OS, designed for touch? Nope. By using a desktop OS, and slapping a skin on top. Again.

Microsoft is working with several hardware partners to make machines. One, from Samsung, runs regular Windows 7 in landscape mode and then, when turned upright, draws a finger-friendly skin over the top. It also has a keyboard which slides out in landscape mode, making this otherwise iPad-sized tablet quite a bit thicker. So, instead of offering the intuitive experience of other tablets, you get a jarring two-mode machine that likely doesn’t do either job properly.

And then there’re the apps. Of course there are apps. But there will be no app store. Microsoft is encouraging development of HTML5-based applications for the slates, but these will be scattered all over the web on the various developers’ sites. To find them, you will search, and they will be “highlighted in a search interface on the slate computer.”

The most telling quote from the NYT’s insider is this one:

The company believes there is a huge market for business people who want to enjoy a slate for reading newspapers and magazines and then work on Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint while doing work.

This may explain the company’s inability to make a “computer” which isn’t aimed at business. The iPad’s runaway success shows that the general public wants an easy to use computer which just works, and Microsoft just isn’t willing to – or just plain can’t make one. Microsoft’s future is looking a lot like IBM’s when Microsoft ate its lunch years ago: it’ll still be a big, big business company, but the general public will no longer be buying its wares (Xbox aside).

Microsoft to Announce New Slates Aimed at the iPad [NYT]

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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If you’re searching for a way to wreak havoc on an ex-lover or a rotten business partner, look no further than the video above. The 8-minute tutorial walks you through the steps to hack an iPad to run Windows 95.

That’s just wrong.

We’ve seen people hack iPhones and Windows Mobile phones to run the Android OS, which could prove useful. But if you’re even thinking about installing Windows 95 (not even XP) on an iPad, you’re just twisted. Demented. Messed up. Hellbent on revenge. And a nerd.

At least it’s not Vista, though.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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.

Source:wired.com

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Dell’s latest innovation is this clever, transforming tablet/netbook: the Inspiron Duo. Instead of a complicated hinge, the screen flips on an axis inside its own bezel, swapping from regular clamshell laptop to keyboard-hiding touch-screen.

At heart, it’s a netbook, with a ten-inch screen and an Atom N550 CPU running Windows 7 Premium. And there, in that last point, is the problem. Windows 7 makes a great netbook OS, but it also makes a terrible tablet OS. Yes, it technically has built-in support for touch-screens but unless you have a finger the size and shape of a mouse pointer you’ll get frustrated, fast.

On the other hand, if you’re just watching movies or reading the internet then even Windows can’t ruin the tablet form-factor for you. There’s no word from Dell on price or availability, but the fact that it’s called the Inspiron Duo and that it already has a nice product shot makes me think it should be ready to buy pretty soon.

Dell’s Atom-powered Inspiron Duo: 10-inch netbook [Engadget]

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

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Walk into any toy store and you’ll see a “laptop” “computer”, a plastic clamshell that has all of the design cues of a notebook: keyboard, screen, some ports and switches, but none of the power. It’s cheap enough to buy for (and disappoint) a kid, but it isn’t of course a real computer. It probably has a few built in games and that’s it.

The Ebay $37 laptop is almost that same machine, although it looks even more like the computers it pretends to be. It runs Windows CE on a 300 MHz ARM VIA processor with 128kb RAM and a whopping 2GB storage. The huge bezel around the tiny 7-inch 800 x 480 screen has space for a pair of speakers either side, and you even get an ethernet jack and a couple USB ports (take that, iPad) along with Wi-Fi. You can also slot-in an SD card.

What’s the catch (apart from the extraordinarily underpowered internals)? There appears to be none. These are factory seconds or items which have failed quality control tests. They may or may not come with original packaging, and they ship from Hong Kong. Sound risky? C’mon. They’re $37. What do you expect? It’s almost worth it just for the AC adapter (9 volts, if you care).

If you run into Nicholas Negroponte and he’s still trying to make his $100 OLPC, point him to this, okay?

7″ Mini Laptop Netbook Computer Notebook WIFI WindowsCE [Ebay via Netbook News. Thanks, Sascha!]

Source:wired.com

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