Anyone watching the MS-BN announcement?

[teh603]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

So people are supposed to live with inferior technologies in order to encourage innovation? I'm going to let you in on a deep and dark secret: touch screens have been around for decades, but have never caught on because they are not suitable for intensive and prolonged use. Unless you are using a stylus, they also lack precision. Precision is fundamental for some work. Before anyone gets on their high horse, I'm not saying that touch screens are useless. They certainly make life easier for quick inputs that can be spatially organized. I'm sure that you can add a few more things to that list. But they will never be a panacea for data entry jobs.

Originally Posted by stonetools

Well, you can, but you don't want to.
Apple has gone a long way towards showing that the mouse isn't needed for the PC user experience, but the physical keyboard remains central. At bottom a PC is really a typewriter with a screen.

A mouse isn't needed, but until everyone goes back to resistive touchscreens instead of capacitive ones, there's not going to be any reason to get rid of traditional input devices. A capacitive touchscreen (like the one on the iPad) is limited in accuracy, making it useless for advanced photo editing and graphic design. Even with a stylus, you can't get closer than about 1/4 inch. That 1/4 inch could mean the difference between accidentally blurring out a face, or not.

Now you can choose a different tablet to avoid that stupidity, and I have. Microsoft has even gone as far as offering another option to that slate. Which kinda leaves me wondering: why are so many people wishing Microsoft ill in their new venture? It is, after all, just another option.

I don't like what they've done to the PC market, and don't want to see the tablet market go the same way- dominated by one OS, with more security holes than a cyclone fence.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by teh603

A mouse isn't needed, but until everyone goes back to resistive touchscreens instead of capacitive ones, there's not going to be any reason to get rid of traditional input devices. A capacitive touchscreen (like the one on the iPad) is limited in accuracy, making it useless for advanced photo editing and graphic design. Even with a stylus, you can't get closer than about 1/4 inch. That 1/4 inch could mean the difference between accidentally blurring out a face, or not.

That's just not the case, as the Galaxy Note demonstrates, a combination of capacitive screen and a Wacom pen works very well.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by wodin

That's just not the case, as the Galaxy Note demonstrates, a combination of capacitive screen and a Wacom pen works very well.

So how come you don't find Wacom- style pens for ipads at the store, only ones that look like someone glued a black marshmallow onto the end of a stick?

[wodin]

Originally Posted by teh603

So how come you don't find Wacom- style pens for ipads at the store, only ones that look like someone glued a black marshmallow onto the end of a stick?

Because iPads don't have Wacom digitizers, Samsung Galaxy Notes do, and they work very well; and with the upcoming Android upgrade they will work even better.

MS has not announced a similar digitizer for the WindSurf, but with the success of the SGN, I think we will see more OEMs adopting them in the future.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by wodin

Because iPads don't have Wacom digitizers, Samsung Galaxy Notes do, and they work very well; and with the upcoming Android upgrade they will work even better.

MS has not announced a similar digitizer for the WindSurf, but with the success of the SGN, I think we will see more OEMs adopting them in the future.

Good to hear. I'll have to keep an eye out for Wacom-friendly tablets in the future considering I've already got a Wacom graphics tablet by my desk.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by teh603

So how come you don't find Wacom- style pens for ipads at the store, only ones that look like someone glued a black marshmallow onto the end of a stick?

because steve jobs didnt want to have a stylus. he made a point of differentiating from previous MS tablets by saying "if you see a stylus, they blew it". so there is no wacom digitizer in the apple product.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/was-steve-...%E2%80%99t-die

[CyGuy]

I am not sure why the debate over SD cards continues but this should finally put an end to that: http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Extrem...rds=128gb+sdhc

Yep, 128GB for $155. Just over $1 per GB. Added to the built-in 64GB this would give you 192GB. Plus you can have two or three of them and swap them as needed. There is nothing left to debate, SDHC is a must have feature.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

SDHC is a must have feature.

Well as the best selling devices don't have it, clearly it isn't must have for those currently buying tablets. (I note that the newly announced Google tablet doesn't have an SD card slot either.)

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Well as the best selling devices don't have it, clearly it isn't must have for those currently buying tablets. (I note that the newly announced Google tablet doesn't have an SD card slot either.)

The only possible exception is micro-SDHC or mini-SDHC, but honestly the full size SDHC is the way to go...

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

The only possible exception is micro-SDHC or mini-SDHC, but honestly the full size SDHC is the way to go...

The problem here is that providing SD card and USB support blows up the tablet business model . Why in the world would I buy a 64GB tablet when I could just buy a 16 GB tablet and a128GB SD card for less? Tablet manufacturers would have to be stupid to build full fledged SD card support into tablets-and they're not stupid.

That means no SD card and USB slot support for tablets. Learn to love cloud services-that's the tablet maker's preferred solution.

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by stonetools

The problem here is that providing SD card and USB support blows up the tablet business model . Why in the world would I buy a 64GB tablet when I could just buy a 16 GB tablet and a128GB SD card for less? Tablet manufacturers would have to be stupid to build full fledged SD card support into tablets-and they're not stupid.

That means no SD card and USB slot support for tablets. Learn to love cloud services-that's the tablet maker's preferred solution.

It is actually the opposite: Why in the world would anyone pay for overpriced built-in memory when SD cards are so cheap? The people who fall for this are ruining it for everyone else. As for the cloud, zero chance of that for me, that is taking a huge step backwards. Content like ebooks and movies and music should be kept local.

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

It is actually the opposite: Why in the world would anyone pay for overpriced built-in memory when SD cards are so cheap? The people who fall for this are ruining it for everyone else. As for the cloud, zero chance of that for me, that is taking a huge step backwards. Content like ebooks and movies and music should be kept local.

I don't see how that's the opposite. He's saying the tablet makers (of certain popular brands) give us no choice to get SD card storage instead of paying $100 for a step up in built-in memory. I also think it sucks for the consumer, but if you wanted a Kindle Fire or an iPad, you didn't have a choice. of course there are tablets with sd card support, but i'd say the ecosystem for the iPad is generally superior enough (and obviously popular enough) that I understand why people go for it anyways, and why it greatly benefits Apple not to have an SD card slot.

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by stonetools

The problem here is that providing SD card and USB support blows up the tablet business model.

The other side of this of course, is that skipping the low-capacity model would be an easy way for a manufacturer to gain some margin - should they be struggling to bring a product in for a specific price-point, say.

Note that there's no 16Gb Surface, not even for the 'consumer' Arm version.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by seajewel

I don't see how that's the opposite. He's saying the tablet makers (of certain popular brands) give us no choice to get SD card storage instead of paying $100 for a step up in built-in memory.

The existence of a single tablet equipped with SD card slot gives us (IMHO sufficient) choice. I am absolutely certain that I will not buy ANY mobile device lacking the external permanent storage option.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by petermillard

The other side of this of course, is that skipping the low-capacity model would be an easy way for a manufacturer to gain some margin - should they be struggling to bring a product in for a specific price-point, say.

Note that there's no 16Gb Surface, not even for the 'consumer' Arm version.

So the Surface ARM tablet is 32 G model with USB and SD card support for around 599 and up?
Well, CyGuy and people who think like that will go for that - because for them, removeable storage is # 1- but a LOT of folks are going to look at that price, compare it to the 499 16G ipad3 or the 399 ipd 2 -and run, not walk, to the ipad.

In favor of the Surface, according to the Verge, Microsoft is really going flat out to get developers to develop for Win 8 .