Just think, in the future we wouldn't even have to carry textbooks around with us because devices like this would store all the pertinent information for us. We could just flip on demand to a page that we need, extract information, switch to the notes application and piece together our research notes. I like the seamless image integration and organization tools available through this thing.
I'm not even in the market for one of these devices and yet, I really want one.
Im ok with the bezel on something like this because you really do have to be able to hold in from every orientation. you need that ugly black rim or youre going to be thumbing screen real estate.
got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it
@Ridgecity Those surface machines do exist. They weren't ever aimed at mass-market adoption. What bloggers say and what product managers say are two different things. The surface was a cool device designed to be a marketing and advertising tool.
The courier, on the other hand, is clearly aimed at the mass market. It's a combination of several MS technologies that are already quite successful. MS has among the best handwriting recognition in then consumer space. They have tablet-driven UIs (like InkSeine), and they've got the financial muscle to pull something like this off. It's just a device built around OneNote with purpose-built hardware. I for one couldn't be more thrilled, as a OneNote user and InkSeine user, it's clear where this gets its design from.
You don't think they could pull it off? Then you've become jaded my friend. Apple and Google don't have a monopoly on creativity.
I am so over being excited for Microsoft products. It seems to me that when you're in love with a Microsoft product, that there is a lot of waiting involved. I've been waiting for Windows Mobile 7 for God knows how long. I'm still waiting for Natal. I waited for Vista for like five years.
I'm sorry, but this time, I'm not waiting anymore. I'm not playing Microsoft's stupid game. I'll be buying an iPad this Saturday. If Microsoft really wants to start impressing people, they need to shelve the concept videos and just drop the product out of the blue or maybe 2 to 3 months before it's actually set to come out.
@skyblaze: With Courier, it appears that Microsoft continues its long and storied tradition of blunting the innovation created elsewhere by introducing vaporware/vaporproduct to create fear, uncertainly and doubt.
What is for certain is that April 3rd, Apple will ship a magical and revolutionary device at an exceptional price, and Microsoft will tumble a few days closer to the day Apple passes them in market cap.
Microsoft don't listen to engadget. Please keep the screen at the same size or bigger but less than 11 inches. Market this as a product for students too to stop carrying a shitload of books and notebooks. Market efficiency and productivity for students to be able to take notes in class and on annotate pdf books and do papers on it with handwriting recognition as well as graphic designers to get more work done on the go. Also market it as a product for play not just work! Show videos and music and multitasking and web browsing and games etc... Also, PLEASE shove a Wacom digitizer on this thing. = WIN Once people get tired of the silliness of typing only with finger input on a screen like the iPad they will be begging for Pen support which will give you guys a huge advantage. Not to mention the folding screen is huge win for people who want a protected display and portability. We have long been waiting for a product like this because nobody wants to carry around a huge $2,000 tablet P.C just to take handwritten notes. Okay maybe we the techies will but the masses won't.
@Eternity I forgot to mention to shove the Pixel Qi display technology in there too for good measure! Would be awesome for direct sunlight readability and extended battery life... gives you a huge advantage over the iPad.
An ARM Cortex A9 with a powervr sgx GPU wouldn't hurt either :)
@skyblaze be ready to wait. Forever. While I do agree that the mockups and videos are great- their vision is so incredibly complicated. Judt to code the backbone of that OS will take a large amount of genius. This release is just to stave off those on the fence of buying an ipad. M$ would like to keep as many people as possible from enjoying the ipad and becomming hooked.
@Eternity You call typing with one finger "silly" (not that it's required to type that way, but ok) and you find handwriting web addresses to be an *improvement*?
@delgadilloaaron Maybe I'm being dense, but isn't what is said on that page basically describing what the Courier is, and why it is good thing that should be expanded upon?
Not just that, Imagine gaming! I know that may sound a little strange for this form factor, but think about the DS. Also, imagine if Microsoft also enabled Xbox LIVE!
@werty1432k Are we seriously comparing a product that exists with one that doesnt? I get my iPad in 3 days flat. When do you get your Courier? Tell me, when is it due out again? How much does it weigh? Whats the battery life like? What material is it build out of? I guess the JooJoo didn't quite work out for you Apple haters so now you will grasp for any "saviour"
It's better than getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and handwriting is more natural as it is the way we have written since the dawn of time. I don't know about you but I don't want to be lugging a keyboard around but I also enjoy tactile feed back when typing. Not to mention that tapping your fingers against a flat hard surface repeatedly has to be bad for your finger joints.
@outlaw85 the ONLY reason i dont see the iPad being very popular is because its screen is enormous. i had an iPod and broke the screen in less than a month...with a screen as massive as the iPad, lots of broken screens...this clamshell design is the way tablets need to be.
@Eternity Better than either typing or writing for things like email addresses: voice recognition. I want the option to just tell it who to send things to.
That's not a great option for a regular computer with a nice, efficient keyboard. But voice commands work great on a Droid. And, I suspect, would be a great input option on a Courier, too.
@Brad Hubbard I am just not convinced that handwriting recognition is ready for primetime. It can be a very frustrating experience for people like me who think in English but write in Mandarin (as my wife describes my handwriting). I am old enough to remember and use the Newton, and it was frustrating.
Regardless of Microsoft's advances in this area, it will still take a monster mobile processor to do that kind of recognition. Color me skeptical. But as a Mac guy and a creative person, I would LOVE to see this kind of device hit the street. Maybe it will force Apple and others to start breaking the computing mold a bit more for future products.
You're right, Apple is so behind the curve. I mean they actually have hardware available and the worlds largest mobile app store. But come on, this cartoon concept clearly demonstrates Microsoft's superiority.
@skyblaze You might score an iPad in the next few week... they're shipping them NOW.
I see this as another "me too" vapor-product. It's mostly going to pop Apple's bubble, not actually deliver. I don't doubt that Microsoft engineers are really, really smart... but management is more like Dilbert now. The problem becomes in order to produce this product, just like Windows 7 and Zune, Microsoft has to toss its entire "backward compatibility" mantra in order to build something like this. The problem is that Microsoft has botched EVERY attempt at mobile computing that's not "Windows + Office" except for Xbox.
Even if Microsoft put this on shelves tomorrow, what's the infrastructure? Windows apps are out, .Net and platform independence flopped. Can I migrate "plays for sure"? Can I migrate Windows mobile apps on my phone right now? Can I migrate my Zune library? What about migrating video and Xbox arcade games? Apple has been relatively stable during all these attempts by Microsoft to be interesting...beating Microsoft at their own "backward compatibility" game for mobile devices.
@Brad Hubbard The courier, on the other hand, is clearly aimed at the mass market.
Are you serious ? Are you kidding me that most people buy a computer mostly for taking a notes. No, most productivity stuff still rely on professions application which need you sit on the desktop. So mouse /keyboard still the most productivity input method.
So, how much people really need input digital notes on the go ? Not much I bet.
So, you are wrong, even m$ actually release it, it will just be a niche product and story will just end.
@skyblaze "With Courier, it appears that Microsoft has integrated hardware and software and is riding a wave of the best user interface designs in its history." I am so totally agreeing with Rubin here, Its like Microsoft is just waiting for the Apple to release their tablet before they (MS) realease their prime-ace. The side-glances and specs of the courier makes you want to have it already. Reactions: http://bit.ly/tablet-by-microsoft-future
The day of its unveiling will surely be another historic day for the tablet history.
There's more to PC games than computer towers and input devices... Enter the CM Storm Sirus, the outfit's first foray into the world of gaming headsets.
The most commented posts on Engadget over the past 24 hours.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
i want this device. now.
@skyblaze skip ipad!!!
@skyblaze
Me too. It's almost as if MS doesn't want our money.
@skyblaze
Just think, in the future we wouldn't even have to carry textbooks around with us because devices like this would store all the pertinent information for us. We could just flip on demand to a page that we need, extract information, switch to the notes application and piece together our research notes. I like the seamless image integration and organization tools available through this thing.
I'm not even in the market for one of these devices and yet, I really want one.
this is a "magical" device .
@skyblaze
Imagine comic books on this thing. My only change would be to make the bezel between screens smaller.
@skyblaze you think Microsoft has the chops to pull this one off?
I don't. They still owe me those surface table machines that were going to revolutionize computing 5 years ago...
@VampireHunterZ
Im ok with the bezel on something like this because you really do have to be able to hold in from every orientation. you need that ugly black rim or youre going to be thumbing screen real estate.
@skyblaze
got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it got to have it
@Ridgecity Those surface machines do exist. They weren't ever aimed at mass-market adoption. What bloggers say and what product managers say are two different things. The surface was a cool device designed to be a marketing and advertising tool.
The courier, on the other hand, is clearly aimed at the mass market. It's a combination of several MS technologies that are already quite successful. MS has among the best handwriting recognition in then consumer space. They have tablet-driven UIs (like InkSeine), and they've got the financial muscle to pull something like this off. It's just a device built around OneNote with purpose-built hardware. I for one couldn't be more thrilled, as a OneNote user and InkSeine user, it's clear where this gets its design from.
You don't think they could pull it off? Then you've become jaded my friend. Apple and Google don't have a monopoly on creativity.
@skyblaze This has the UI we all thought the iPad would have. Well done Microsoft. And Apple... yeah.. you know what you've got to do...
@bolezhinkov
Most people can move their thumbs. The idea that big bezel is needed for thumbs was thought by people with thumbs for brains.
@daytripper oh they want your money all right. Just not yet.
@skyblaze
I don't want this, or the ipad.
@skyblaze
I am so over being excited for Microsoft products. It seems to me that when you're in love with a Microsoft product, that there is a lot of waiting involved. I've been waiting for Windows Mobile 7 for God knows how long. I'm still waiting for Natal. I waited for Vista for like five years.
I'm sorry, but this time, I'm not waiting anymore. I'm not playing Microsoft's stupid game. I'll be buying an iPad this Saturday. If Microsoft really wants to start impressing people, they need to shelve the concept videos and just drop the product out of the blue or maybe 2 to 3 months before it's actually set to come out.
@werty1432k
Lol - Palo Alto, start your copiers ;)
@skyblaze: With Courier, it appears that Microsoft continues its long and storied tradition of blunting the innovation created elsewhere by introducing vaporware/vaporproduct to create fear, uncertainly and doubt.
What is for certain is that April 3rd, Apple will ship a magical and revolutionary device at an exceptional price, and Microsoft will tumble a few days closer to the day Apple passes them in market cap.
@skyblaze
I REALLY WANT THIS!
Microsoft don't listen to engadget. Please keep the screen at the same size or bigger but less than 11 inches. Market this as a product for students too to stop carrying a shitload of books and notebooks. Market efficiency and productivity for students to be able to take notes in class and on annotate pdf books and do papers on it with handwriting recognition as well as graphic designers to get more work done on the go. Also market it as a product for play not just work! Show videos and music and multitasking and web browsing and games etc... Also, PLEASE shove a Wacom digitizer on this thing. = WIN
Once people get tired of the silliness of typing only with finger input on a screen like the iPad they will be begging for Pen support which will give you guys a huge advantage. Not to mention the folding screen is huge win for people who want a protected display and portability. We have long been waiting for a product like this because nobody wants to carry around a huge $2,000 tablet P.C just to take handwritten notes. Okay maybe we the techies will but the masses won't.
@Eternity I forgot to mention to shove the Pixel Qi display technology in there too for good measure! Would be awesome for direct sunlight readability and extended battery life... gives you a huge advantage over the iPad.
An ARM Cortex A9 with a powervr sgx GPU wouldn't hurt either :)
@skyblaze
be ready to wait. Forever. While I do agree that the mockups and videos are great- their vision is so incredibly complicated. Judt to code the backbone of that OS will take a large amount of genius. This release is just to stave off those on the fence of buying an ipad. M$ would like to keep as many people as possible from enjoying the ipad and becomming hooked.
@sweet greggo
what did you mean with
it got to have it.
@Brad Hubbard Check what the key researcher of InkSeine said just recently about pen,touch etc. It doesn't look to bright for the courier.
http://community.research.microsoft.com/blogs/alpineinker/archive/2010/03/17/postcard-from-the-future.aspx
@newone
thumb-thumbs!
@skyblaze
so you can....what? design shoes?
@skyblaze
I bet I want this more than you do.
Microsoft. Do the right thing. RELEASE THIS YEAR!!!!!
@D1Only1 I think he's ordering ice cream at Cold Stone
@Wesscoast
You aren't creative are you?
@DirtyVegas
My question, does the Courier have multitasking?
@Eternity You call typing with one finger "silly" (not that it's required to type that way, but ok) and you find handwriting web addresses to be an *improvement*?
@skyblaze
+9000
@delgadilloaaron Maybe I'm being dense, but isn't what is said on that page basically describing what the Courier is, and why it is good thing that should be expanded upon?
@daytripper
MS needs to bring this out now to hit the fruit company where it hurts. I can see this being implemented in the business realm.
@Eternity
It is reported to use the Tegra 2, so it will have the A9
@VampireHunterZ
Not just that, Imagine gaming! I know that may sound a little strange for this form factor, but think about the DS. Also, imagine if Microsoft also enabled Xbox LIVE!
@Brad Hubbard
they're used on the news like (cnn) ac 360???
@werty1432k Are we seriously comparing a product that exists with one that doesnt? I get my iPad in 3 days flat. When do you get your Courier? Tell me, when is it due out again? How much does it weigh? Whats the battery life like? What material is it build out of? I guess the JooJoo didn't quite work out for you Apple haters so now you will grasp for any "saviour"
@darksharpie
It's better than getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and handwriting is more natural as it is the way we have written since the dawn of time. I don't know about you but I don't want to be lugging a keyboard around but I also enjoy tactile feed back when typing. Not to mention that tapping your fingers against a flat hard surface repeatedly has to be bad for your finger joints.
@outlaw85 the ONLY reason i dont see the iPad being very popular is because its screen is enormous. i had an iPod and broke the screen in less than a month...with a screen as massive as the iPad, lots of broken screens...this clamshell design is the way tablets need to be.
@Eternity Better than either typing or writing for things like email addresses: voice recognition. I want the option to just tell it who to send things to.
That's not a great option for a regular computer with a nice, efficient keyboard. But voice commands work great on a Droid. And, I suspect, would be a great input option on a Courier, too.
@Brad Hubbard
I am just not convinced that handwriting recognition is ready for primetime. It can be a very frustrating experience for people like me who think in English but write in Mandarin (as my wife describes my handwriting). I am old enough to remember and use the Newton, and it was frustrating.
Regardless of Microsoft's advances in this area, it will still take a monster mobile processor to do that kind of recognition. Color me skeptical. But as a Mac guy and a creative person, I would LOVE to see this kind of device hit the street. Maybe it will force Apple and others to start breaking the computing mold a bit more for future products.
@outlaw85
this.magical;
Dear Microsoft,
don't fuck up
Love,
everyone
@werty1432k
You're right, Apple is so behind the curve. I mean they actually have hardware available and the worlds largest mobile app store. But come on, this cartoon concept clearly demonstrates Microsoft's superiority.
@DirtyVegas then shut up.
@skyblaze You might score an iPad in the next few week... they're shipping them NOW.
I see this as another "me too" vapor-product. It's mostly going to pop Apple's bubble, not actually deliver. I don't doubt that Microsoft engineers are really, really smart... but management is more like Dilbert now. The problem becomes in order to produce this product, just like Windows 7 and Zune, Microsoft has to toss its entire "backward compatibility" mantra in order to build something like this. The problem is that Microsoft has botched EVERY attempt at mobile computing that's not "Windows + Office" except for Xbox.
Even if Microsoft put this on shelves tomorrow, what's the infrastructure? Windows apps are out, .Net and platform independence flopped. Can I migrate "plays for sure"? Can I migrate Windows mobile apps on my phone right now? Can I migrate my Zune library? What about migrating video and Xbox arcade games? Apple has been relatively stable during all these attempts by Microsoft to be interesting...beating Microsoft at their own "backward compatibility" game for mobile devices.
@Brad Hubbard The courier, on the other hand, is clearly aimed at the mass market.
Are you serious ? Are you kidding me that most people buy a computer mostly for taking a notes. No, most productivity stuff still rely on professions application which need you sit on the desktop. So mouse /keyboard still the most productivity input method.
So, how much people really need input digital notes on the go ?
Not much I bet.
So, you are wrong, even m$ actually release it, it will just be a niche product and story will just end.
@skyblaze "With Courier, it appears that Microsoft has integrated hardware and software and is riding a wave of the best user interface designs in its history." I am so totally agreeing with Rubin here, Its like Microsoft is just waiting for the Apple to release their tablet before they (MS) realease their prime-ace. The side-glances and specs of the courier makes you want to have it already. Reactions: http://bit.ly/tablet-by-microsoft-future
The day of its unveiling will surely be another historic day for the tablet history.
@Tchaikovsky You're an idiot, go wait in the corner.
@outlaw85 and revolutionary!!!
With a web browser, bluetooth phone tethering, using one screen as the keyboard, this could be THE winmo7 device