Unnamed tipsters have fed some juicy details to Bloomberg about Microsoft's Windows 8 release plans. Now, the site claims to know not just when Windows 8 will come out, but also how many ARM-based Windows 8 tablets we can expect at launch.
According to the tipsters—"people with knowledge of the schedule" who "declined to be named because the plans are confidential," Bloomberg says—the plan is for Windows 8 to go gold this summer and hit stores in October.
There will reportedly be 40 Intel systems and "fewer than five" ARM-based devices available at launch. Bloomberg claims the ARM devices will all be tablets, but I'm guessing the Intel launch lineup will include a boatload of conventional PCs.
Even a small handful of ARM-based Windows 8 tablets could be enough, though, provided they're affordable and well built. Of course, to really draw in users, Windows 8 is going to need a robust app ecosystem. A horde of cheap ARM-based tablets won't really help with that on launch day.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
HP Slate8 is coming with Windows 8
We couldn’t have asked for a better-timed tablet comparison. A cunning YouTube user managed to record a quick overview of a prototype HP Slate tablet running Windows 7, and not surprisingly, the results are thoroughly disappointing.
Meanwhile, Samsung unveiled the latest video demonstration of its Galaxy Tab Android tablet, and it doesn’t fail to impress.
The veracity of the HP Slate video is still in question — but the hardware resembles an earlier preview of the HP Slate, and it honestly seems too polished to be a hoax. Throughout the video, it’s clear that the biggest problem with HP’s tablet is that it’s running Windows 7, which isn’t the most tablet-friendly operating system.
Windows 7 is so ill-suited to the device that you have to hit a physical button to pull up its virtual keyboard — it’s not even smart enough to determine when a user needs to enter text. The Slate appears to boot up quickly and overall touch response seems zippy, but it’s clear that using Windows 7 with your fingers will be a usability nightmare. And let’s not even get into its physical Control-Alt-Delete button.
Samsung’s video, on the other hand, shows off just how elegantly Google’s Android mobile operating system translates to tablets. While it’s certainly far from a “real world” overview like the HP video, the Galaxy Tab still appears to handle web surfing, productivity tasks, and even video chats with ease. It also appears to have a slick e-mail client that can fully integrate with Gmail’s starred e-mails (though that still needs to be confirmed).
Meanwhile, Samsung unveiled the latest video demonstration of its Galaxy Tab Android tablet, and it doesn’t fail to impress.
The veracity of the HP Slate video is still in question — but the hardware resembles an earlier preview of the HP Slate, and it honestly seems too polished to be a hoax. Throughout the video, it’s clear that the biggest problem with HP’s tablet is that it’s running Windows 7, which isn’t the most tablet-friendly operating system.
Windows 7 is so ill-suited to the device that you have to hit a physical button to pull up its virtual keyboard — it’s not even smart enough to determine when a user needs to enter text. The Slate appears to boot up quickly and overall touch response seems zippy, but it’s clear that using Windows 7 with your fingers will be a usability nightmare. And let’s not even get into its physical Control-Alt-Delete button.
Samsung’s video, on the other hand, shows off just how elegantly Google’s Android mobile operating system translates to tablets. While it’s certainly far from a “real world” overview like the HP video, the Galaxy Tab still appears to handle web surfing, productivity tasks, and even video chats with ease. It also appears to have a slick e-mail client that can fully integrate with Gmail’s starred e-mails (though that still needs to be confirmed).
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