New Pictures, Videos of Microsoft's Courier Emerge
New Pictures, Videos of Microsoft's Courier Emerge
Posted 03/05/2010 at 12:31pm
| by Bart Salisbury
13
Comments
Print
Tablet PCs might just be a signal of a shift in the direction of computing. Simple, portable, functionally specific devices intended to meet particular computing needs efficiently--not dumbed down PCs, but something unique in its own right. Take for example the just released info on Microsoft’s Courier tablet/eBook. Like other recent tablet announcements, the Courier defines a new ethos for personal computing.
Engadget’s offering some new pictures of the Courier, along with two high-def videos that show off its look and functionality. The Courier, Engadget tells us, will have a clamshell form, which will measure slightly bigger than 5 x 7 when closed. The device is built around the Tegra 2 and is expected to run on the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 series devices, rather than a constricted version of Windows 7. The device will be pen-based, but also allow for touch operation. It appears to have tightly integrated applications that mimic a journal. And there just might be some web/cloud computing tie-ins as well.
Microsoft’s approach with Courier seems similar to that of Apple with the iPad--a multi-functional, but limited device that stresses mobility over power. This suggests that the uni-functional eBooks of today might have a relatively short shelf live. (Amazon’s rumored color Kindle upgrade seems consistent with this possibility.)
The Courier is expected to make a formal appearance in “Q3/Q4”. Pricing is unknown as this time.
Image Credit: Engadget
More like this
Keith E. Whisman
March 06, 2010 at 8:15am
You can tell that is a girls computer because the drawings are all clean. A guy would have scrawled out images of breasts and maybe a penie and perhaps some sort of sudo gang tags.
Shadai
March 05, 2010 at 11:48pm
I saw the videos on engadget. If mircosoft actually pulls that off and it looks that smooth as a finished product... i'll have to buy one. I dunno what I'll use it for, but damn does it look good.
JohnP
March 05, 2010 at 3:00pm
Gimme a break. Using this for work would be a creative way to make your life hell. WRITING? When was the last time anyone wrote anything besides notes in a class? I sure can type a lot faster than I can write, it's legible, and I am left handed (notice this is right handed gadget?).
MS, like smart phones, like netbooks, like tablets, like cell phones, its all about wasting time, not productivity.
Biceps
March 05, 2010 at 3:33pm
How is something that is completely symmetrical with two touch screens a right-handed gadget?
Keith E. Whisman
March 05, 2010 at 3:37pm
I'm a lefty as well and we write downward from above the lines instead of from below the lines with the pen pointed up towards the top of the page. I usually have to rest my hand on the paper while writing and that smudges things up and with a touch screen can actually activate program icons.
Biceps
March 05, 2010 at 4:21pm
Yeah, I know, I am a lefty, too. Because I am looking mainly at drawing with this tablet, the whole bent wrist writing thing wouldn't matter... I actually draw with a straight wrist most of the time.
Also, couldn't you tilt the tablet, just like some of us lefties tilt our paper? Just a thought. I did use one of the old palm pilots literally for YEARS with no problems, and it was touch-screen, so I am not too terribly concerned on this count.
I would like to see multi-tasking and a windows environment, though.
habuza
March 05, 2010 at 1:35pm
I won't be buying a tablet PC. Ever. I don't care who makes it. Tablets can't do anything I want a computer to do, so they are useless paper weights to me.
Keith E. Whisman
March 05, 2010 at 1:43pm
Well the thing is to have a small computer that is as easy and accessible as a touch screen cell phone only much bigger but not so big as to not fit in a purse. I wan't a tablet to take everywhere I take my android phone but I don't want it to be hobbled down. I want it to be powerful and accessible and capable of multitasking. I want it expandable and up to me what I do with it.
Keith E. Whisman
March 05, 2010 at 3:33pm
Since I remarried my exwife in January I've noticed how much I'm stuck carrying her purse when we go out so I've taken to choosing which purse she takes when we do go out so I won't look gay not that I hate gays anymore as I've gotten over that. (Now have gay friends)
But I can imagine my wife puting something like this in her purse or having a holster next to my cellphone holder on my belt for something like this.
Or I could just get a satchel ala Indiana Jones bad ass satchel that he always wore. I guess it wasn't a satchel at all it was an accessory.
Walnut
March 05, 2010 at 1:27pm
Damn. I was dead set on getting an Adam from Notion Ink, but if the Courier isn't vapor-ware, this is going to be tough decision.
Keith E. Whisman
March 05, 2010 at 1:00pm
My advice to Microsoft is that they rethink this. Make it a multitalking environment. Make it a cut down version of Windows 7. Keep that bad ass clam shell form factor as it's what I've been dreaming about and talking about here on MPC.com for a long time now. The first time I saw the Nintendo clam shell DS I've fantasized about a computer in there only bigger and far more powerful.
Microsoft please hammer it out and make it much more powerful. Don't try to compete with the Ipad it's a piece of shit. I can't believe you guys don't see it.
Biceps
March 05, 2010 at 12:56pm
Now THIS is cool machine. Able to do all sorts of cool art (which means a high-end touchscreen), a replacement for a journal, sketchpad, notebook (not a notebook computer, just a notebook), closes so the screen doesn't get scratched, isn't sold on a closed platform (I hope) and can display ebooks, magazines.
THIS is what the iTampax should have been. Instead Microsoft is the company that has decided... "Hey, since we don't have a bunch of brainless twits who will buy anything we make, let's make something that is really awesome, and that everyone will want."
Me want. Me want now.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
We introduce Intel's latest class of tablet killers and review 4 of the first Ultra...
Where have all the memorable videogame enemies gone?
This month's issue
Feature
11 Hardware Hacks
Feature
Overclock Your CPU
How-To
Supercharge Your Smartphone
Build It
A Powerful $830 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Here's what the @horse_ebooks bookmarklet (http://t.co/brE6898A) does to Maximum PC: http://t.co/Y6OhO6zk9 hours 43 min ago
- maximumpc: Microsoft on Patents: Can't We All Just Get Along? http://t.co/g0vginvG12 hours 4 min ago
- maximumpc: Google Drive Cloud Storage: Is Google Preparing To Muscle In On Dropbox? http://t.co/lCWzeYmS12 hours 28 min ago
