We have written repeatedly that Windows itself is one of the main reasons why touchscreen computers have never caught the general public’s attention. The interface just wasn’t designed for finger input. Like it or not, that’s the truth. Windows was designed to be used with a mouse, and to a lesser extent, a pen or stylus.
That’s fine. Windows 7 works great. I’m writing this on a Win7 machine. But I hate Windows on my tablet computers for the aforementioned reason. It’s also the reason I’m very apprehensive of the upcoming onslaught of slate computers. I’m afraid that wonderful hardware will be passed up in favor of the disappointing iPad because of the interface. But Adobe gave me hope today in its demo of Flash and Air on the HP slate device.
The first minute or so of the demo is Adobe’s Flash Product Marketing manager talking about this and that. The real fun comes at the 1:30 mark. That’s when we get a glimpse of what appears to be an HP app manager that has clearly been designed for a touch interface. The buttons are large, uses stars to mark favorites programs or Internet shortcuts, and seems responsive enough. It’s probably safe to say that it’s an Adobe product seeing as it makes an appearance in this demo.
Even the browser seems to have been made over for the touch interface, which seems to be a custom build of Firefox. Of course it has all the multi-touch goodies like pinch zooming and two-finger scrolling, but it also feels different, too. That’s just as important as using standard Firefox or Chrome on a touchscreen is a drag without a bunch of plug-ins. And of course, Flash is fully functional, which is a clear shot across Apple’s bow.
You notice a few times throughout the demo that there are a couple of different user notifications to compensate for web’s smaller buttons and higher-resolution interface. There appears to be a small water ripple effect at 1:42 when the user hits the play button for the online video and then a dramatically larger one at the end of the Photoshop.com demo at 3:45 when he presses and holds. These effects are not shown during the HP Home demo or NYT Air app lending to the thought that they’re a browser-only effect, designed to assist browsing.
Now Adobe wouldn’t show off Windows in its demo. This was strictly an Adobe demo, but that’s fine. It answered a lot of questions about HP’s upcoming slate device. First, a full version of Windows is very much present, which is awesome. None of us wants a watered-down OS — except for iPad buyers, of course. But the demo also shows that there will be a versatile, touch-friendly interface for most tasks and multi-touch capabilities to exploit all the potential uses.
Hopefully HP, Dell and all the other mainstream tablet makers are on the same page with Adobe. They have the ability to stand up to the monstrosity that is the Apple App Store if they agree to slate standards, which will allow app developers to code one version of the their program and not worry about various screen resolutions and hardware variations.
Devin adds: This is an improvement on the smaller tablet we saw at CES. It’s about iPad-sized, which is to say a little smaller than a sheet of paper. I’m guessing an 8″ screen is what they’re working with there, though who knows what the final hardware will be. I still think that shrinking Windows is a bad start for a tablet device, as much so as puffing up the iPhone in the case of the iPad. The only device that may actually hit with a truly tablet-only OS seems to be the Courier, and that’s why I’m genuinely excited about it. The slate race does appear to be hotting up, though, and that’s a good thing.
I agree, like WM6 and below, Windows isn’t finger friendly. I think the video was great and if it keeps the “Windows” look and feel out of the slate it should do well.
I think later down the line we’ll see slates/tablets using Windows Phone 7 OS. From what I see of it, it looks very finger friendly and would be very nice on a slate/tablet.
Windows 7 is very touch friendly. It was redesigned from older versions to be “finger sized.” check out the new taskbar with square icons. These were made for touch. Windows has finally lost the need for a mouse. previous “hover over” functions are now replaced with single tap commands.
Windows 7′s task bar is very touch friendly, but not the OS as a whole.
Why the emphasis on the OS? You don’t spend your computing time on the OS, you spend it on the applications, and websites. As long as you can launch applications (and its very easy to add finger-friendly application and shortcut icons to the Windows desktop), it’s a trivial issue.
More relevant is how touch-friendly the browser, websites and desktop applications are. These are what should be re-written, because they’re what we interact with.
Etrigan: the OS defines the model of interaction. For Windows, thsi means icons, menus, pointers, folders, etc. The applications then follow that design philosophy. As reference you can take the Mac OS style guide, which defines UI standards across the whole system, including the OS and applications.
Well said. A touch friendly OS to me wouldn’t have a start menu like Windows has, or even Mac OS or Linux.
I haven’t tried the HP Touch Smart with Windows 7, but I remember with Vista you had the mouse pointer following you around and certain things were difficult to press….like close buttons. If the Touch Smart with Windows 7 is the same, Windows isn’t really touch friendly in my opinion.
I love Windows 7, but I wouldn’t want it in its pure version on a tablet.
Windows 7 is more finger friendly than Vista and XP but it is still finger hostile compared to iPhone OS and Android.
Using a full desktop (read mouse optimized) OS is a crazy idea that has been attempted for 7 years with full failure. The HP Slate will be little different. Word on the Slate will be horrid as will power-point and Excel. Don’t even think about Visio.
Now, if all you do is browse the internet and click on the Windows 7 Super Task bar??? Than why not an iPad?
It seems hard to believe that Apple’s iPad will be viable in the marketplace once the HP Slate and, to a larger extent, MS Courier enter the competition. The iPad seems like a toy compared to the capabilities and power of the other tablet devices. That isn’t really a new trend, Apple has always been known for introducing under-powered or lesser products but has been able to leverage its product’s design and experience (primarily ui). However, the competition is quickly catching up and even surpassing Apple on this front. A good example…compare the Zune desktop software to iTunes. Microsoft trumps Apple big time in that match. And its probably about time Apple was dealt some humility…its ego and influence have become far too big and stifle the marketplace.
Posted from my Macbook Pro.
FUK U
That sure adds a lot to the topic, yes.
Yup, all of the pieces are in place for an “iPad killer” — the only question is whether or not someone will actually make such a device:
1. Real Intel x86-like processor, not an ARM-based one. If an iPad killer can leverage regular PC programs (even if they’re not touch/pen-enabled), that’s a huge advantage.
2. Regular PC Windows 7, just like a real PC. NOT NOT NOT Windows 7 phone. Having a real PC OS is a huge advantage over the iPad. Seriously, an “iPad killer” has to be better than an iPad, not equal it.
3. Full touch/pen-enabled display. Optional pen input is very important (see next item). Yes, win7 is probably lacking in touch scroll features and the like, but microsoft can address this.
4. Ship MS OneNote as a STANDARD program, and give it more automatic cloud synchronization and sharing capabilities (charging nominal subscription fees would be OK, but free basic services would be a big plus). This would be a killer feature in the college marketplace as well as others. It would also be a killer feature that the iPad wouldn’t have. (Note to Microsoft: windows journal sucks mightily, and OneNote should really be a standard feature on any tablet PC — seriously, would you rather win the war or still attempt to squeeze blood out of people?).
5. Battery life of at least 6 hours.
6. Come in within $100 of the iPad pricing. The price can go higher, but the battery life had better really be good, or the “iPad killer” won’t be one.
7. Do not restrict programs that can be installed. Restricting apps is one of Apple’s Achilles’ Heels, and you need to take advantage of that. Note that this does not prevent an app store from existing.
The above is, IMHO, the absolute minimum feature set needed for success. Note that I haven’t mentioned some things, like touch/pen-enabled apps, but those will be written if a device like the above appears.
All of the above pieces exists. It just remains for some company to combine them all into one “iPad killer”.
I should mention that I currently have a laotop with a rotating touch/pen display. It’s pretty sucky because (1) it runs really, REALLY HOT, (2) the fan is really loud and noisy, and (3) even at ~5lbs, it’s big and unwieldy. Holding a noisy, heavy, and very uncomfortably hot touch/pen-enabled screen is not terribly enjoyable.
I’d rather have a low-powered ARM device running GNU/Linux or similar than an x86 running Windows. One could still have a full library of desktop applications that haven’t been converted for proper touch usage, while still taking advantage of the low processor power and lack of a fan that ARM chipsets provide.
The iPad’s focus on battery life is great. It’s a horrible device, preventing you from doing pretty much anything useful without syncing it with a PC’s copy of iTunes, but the hardware platform is in the right vein. Now maybe a slightly larger device with 8hrs instead of 10hrs, USB device and host modes, SDHC, and a multi-tasking OS and you have a winner.
I really just see anything with a desktop Windows OS coming back with horrible battery life, and that ruins it for me.
LOL, it is so funny that everyone rushes to copy Apple and try dress up windows OS to act different. The other thing is that Apple is very happy innovating and creating. The Ipad is really a test bed for Apple, they fully understand the market and they do change the way people interact with technology and weave it into our daily life, Microsoft has really never been able to affect people like Apple has. Microsoft will re-use and Milk their OS base. Don’t you think that Apple is working on the Next Gen OSX that will be just as powerful as it is today, and yet give the user the same experience of simplicity as the iPhone has given the world? Was it not once said that Technology is supposed to simplify the way we do things? Apple really does take the complex and present it as simple and it just works. Microsoft just takes the complex and allows you to make it more complex, which is not bad in itself, just that the vast majority of people on the planet are not geeks.
Trolling? Jesus Christ.
Stupidity rather than trolling I think.
The great innovation, stalled a few years due to the processing power mismatch and windows jumbled and spaghetti-like user interface, continues.
One big problem that still lurks, however, is that the soft QWERTY does not function well on screen. It’s time to match this innovation with its own text entry. (of course one good one is MessagEsae!)
im not sure if you noticed but the slate is running windows 7 look at the task bar at :53 seconds in . Obviously that interface is running on top of Windows 7.
Obviously you didn’t read the article.
exactly. at least, he read the title.
@Leodan Rodriguez,
6th paragraph, 3rd sentence…
“First, a full version of Windows is very much present, which is awesome.”
well that’s a good news .. the IPAD will be Zoned soon ..
Not bad. As with most product comparisons. Apple makes a nice limited toy, while others put out a capable and productive alternative. I gotta agree though, this seems nice, but I’m eagerly awaiting the Courier. I have a lot of doubt that it will be as great as the demos show.
On a sidenote… I hate sounding like a broken record but I love TechCrunch and it would make it so much easier to share articles if a Buzz button (not the Yahoo one, the useful one) was implemented. Thanks.
“None of us wants a watered-down OS — except for iPad buyers, of course.”
Yup– tell that to the iPhone developers.
The OS is so watered down you can’t do anything useful on it– like 3D games (NOVA), productivity apps (iWork), photo editing (Photoshop Mobile), video editing (ReelDirector), etc.
So watered down and useless.
Yeah, TC is so obsessed with hating Apple, they’ve resorted to writing articles about it all the time in order to generate revenue and clicks.
I especially enjoyed in the article reading about what a POS the iPad is going to be, and at the same time having them compare the Slate to the iPad for reference to size.
It’s as if TC might expect a few of us to buy an iPad……
I’ve enjoyed these types of articles from pinhead “journalists” for years, even before the iPhone. Apple haters have been so occupied with bashing Apple that they play up flashes in the pan like this HP Slate. Seriously – do you think this obvious me-too device will be around in a couple of years? Nah. We’ll all be too busy enjoying our “watered down devices”. Heh. Enjoy your Slate.
It makes me wonder why HP, Google, Microsoft, etc, can’t innovate, but simply copy. Android? Yeah, that’s a real barn buster. Windows 7? Of course it’s doing well. It’s preinstalled on the 4 zillion crap Windows PC’s made every year.
I guess there’s that Microsoft Surface. Oh wait. That flopped too.
Now I’m annoyed I just spent this much time typing up this gibberish in order to call out TC as the punks they are.
“It makes me wonder why HP, Google, Microsoft, etc, can’t innovate, but simply copy. ”
You missed out Apple from that list.
Oh come on. As if apple was the first company EVER to make a tablet PC. This is just ridicolous.
He he iPad will flop fanboy…enjoy your watered down internet and get used to the lego blocks because you’ll see them on the ipad web every time just like the iPod and iPhone…it’s about time the iGadgets and the ridiculous “i” go away…
Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha! Nice one.
But don’t forget Apple user’s moms! And the mythical “average user”! And kids! And senior citizens! And
stupid peoplenon-tech geeks!Actually that looks like a version of HP’s existing touch UI developed for its TouchSmart all-in-ones. The folk in HP’s PSG have been spending a lot of time thinking about touch and about how it should be used, and this is part of the results of their work.
Good of HP to focus on why the Slate is better than the iPad. But why the excessive focus on Flash? Flash is not the only shortcoming of the iPad.
Wonder why HP is silent about:
-A camera. Without a webcam, the iPad (and Slate) are pretty useless for web conferencing. And I don’t see a webcam on these demo Slate units.
-Pen input (it’s a tablet, for God’s sake. Why is nobody talking about the most obvious and logical use of a tablet, which is pen input for freehand writing and drawing?). A tablet without an active digitizer pen is like a car without a steering wheel.
-A kickstand so you dont have to hold the thing 100% of the time. Its very ergonomically uncomfortable to hold these things. They should be able to stand upright for media viewing, and at 45 degrees for two-hand typing and pen input. Like the Wacom Cintiq.
If the Slate also lacks these, then it’s only a little better than the iPad. And the search for the perfect tablet will have to continue.
Note the camera app in the first pic.
Note the fact that this is an Adobe made video, hence the focusing on flash…
I’m a mac user — I’d get this tablet over the iPad in a heartbeat. The killer app on a mobile device is simply… the internet. And it has to be able to display all the video, car sites, retail, movie microsites, etc etc. How Apple can release a crippled web browser on a non pocket sized device baffles me. Jobs is pretty arrogant and full of hubris if he thinks he can change the whole internet to match his demands.
It’s not baffling at all.
Just follow the money, if flash worked on apple devices, you wouldn’t need to purchase media from the iTunes store, you could simply have it streamed off the internet for free.
in all the discussions i see about windows 7 tablets they always talk about how it features flash. but they never talk about what the battery life is like on these devices running flash.
i wonder why that is.
With Flash 10.1 battery life is excellent. Don’t go by the old versions of flash as a benchmark.
citation please.
Well to begin with HP needs to fix it’s printer drivers. They do such a pathetic job of it.
Secondly they need to stop layering the OS with their crapware.
Thirdly stop manufacturing pieces of plastic junk.
Fourthly provide better quality screens.
After they have achieved all this they can talk about taking on the Apple iPad.
I agree. Hp, take a lesson, we are not interested in crapware or bloatware
just make it functional and smooth
I say it up front, I am an Apple Fan and love their products. I will say that this is a very slick video, and looks great. The Adobe Air is really attractive since I would hope that this would front end the way you interact with the device. The problem is that it is still running a Windows OS, regardless if Windows 7 is better… it is “Still” Windows. I agree with some of the comments above, and that is, port the Windows 7 Phone OS experience over to this Tablet and now you have something, Why would I want a PC with out a keyboard. Tablet PC’s running on Windows have never…. and will never really change the User experience will never have had a great touch interface. The Windows 7 Phone OS would be a much better choice since it would be instant on and a much more natural OS that would give you the “New” User experience that people are really looking for.
I do find it really interesting that a buzz is coming back for slates! The tablets totally died on the vine – but you are correct it was because MS operating system was not ready or built for touch. But Apple has redefined the space – on how touch should operate.
Anyway – I am ready to buy one – once the price point comes down. I want to be able to carry a slate to my meetings, have all my files at my finger tips, and ability to capture handwritten notes, and access my Outlook information – Sweetness!
I always assumed hp would skin the OS and this looks okay but I’m really not a fan of the grid of icons approach. It seems awfully old fashioned to me. I’d love to see something reinvented along the lines of the courier demo. Until then I just want to be able to run onenote.
I’ve been using a 3M 10-point touch monitor with Windows 7 (RC initially) since August. The “OS” part of it works great. Folder views can me made very touch friendly. The taskbar size is great. As a whole, the entire “OS” is very touch friendly.
The problem has been that existing applications were build for the mouse. For example, trying to select a bookmark among the many in Firefox is pretty frustrating. Getting out of full-screen mode on certain applications is impossible without the escape key.
But that will change as more software takes advantage of touch. The advantage iPad will have is that ALL of its software will be touch friendly. Where as with Windows, a year from now you’ll launch something on HP’s slate and bang your fist on the desk screaming for a keyboard. But that’s hardly Microsoft’s fault. In fact, I applaud them for allowing me to run an application that I want to run, not only the ones they want me to run.
What’s interesting is that most of the comments for this article have been about Windows 7. Aren’t we suppose to be thinking about Flash here?
I don’t understand why anyone would want to build a AIR application targeting windows 7 when you can use WPF and SIlverlight. When Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 come out, why bother with flash on the desktop. And knowing that your silverlight application will (more than likely) run great on Windows Phone 7 (any other non-apple device) … why use flash for the web. Furthermore, with Microsoft’s “3 screens and the cloud” strategy … why use anything but .NET for any application that isn’t going into the App Store?
I actually feel bad for Adobe. For years they’ve made developer’s lives easier. And now (or soon), it’ll be completely useless.
Arrg! This device shows how clueless the competition to apple is. Apple is not going after the power users and they never will. The largest share of the market is regular people who hate computers but need them in their daily lives. They don’t care about multitasking or flash or a powerful multifunction OS. They want a device that is easy to email, surf the web, play some light entertainment. They flocked to the iPhone and iPod because competition made theirs too complicated. Seen many Zunes or Droids in the wild? Not me. The iPad will sell like hot cakes to these users. And the slate will be a power user’s tool of choice. Guess which one will be everywhere. Not the slate.
You are the first person commenting in here that makes sense… I HAD a HP tablet and it sucked. Windows is terrible. Apple will sell more iPads than all other ‘slates’ combined. Apple just does it better. The MARKET says so!!
Well people will wonder why they can’t see videos and other URL’s that people send them. “Regular” people aren’t into the tech and politics and will just wonder why they can’t see shit. They’ll just blame the device maker — apple.
“They don’t care about multitasking or flash or a powerful multifunction OS.”
Yeah? Says who?
I think you’ll find that the ‘average user’ cares a great deal about being able to access flash enabled sites.
Fanboys: Logic’s enemy.
oh boy is Jobs pisssssed now – but Jt Chiodi makes a good point, ipad is going after all the regular people who hate computers but need them in daily life. my in laws finally figured out how to use their ipod touch with wifi (they’re not the computer savvy type) and they are addicted now, maybe the same idea will hold true for ipad
Woah.. this piece looks amazing! Much better than an Ipad. I love the performance which Windows 7 is giving on my notebook and hope the mobile series is gonna’ give the support to the hardware!
Btw.., did anyone look at the OMAP 4 Platform from Texas Instruments? That is kickass amazing! The chip now supports A lot of stuffs around Location, Platform and Motion sensors.
Ho hum.
If Flash is what you want, do not buy an iPad, Ipod, or Iphone. True Flash will be here for a long time to come. But the reason why innovation moves ahead is by taking chances, and the bet on HTML5 is a good one since the likes of Google and others are already getting ready to roll out HTML5. You will have a new breed of developers and designers that will use HTML5 more then Flash. then years from now the 12 year olds that are writing in HTML5 will be running the next big thing.
Stop repeating what other morons keep posting in blogs. HTML5 will make websites better, for sure. But it won’t replace all Flash content or “kill” anything. Flash, Silverlight and other plugins are here to stay. Get used to it and accept it.
Ha-ha-ha! What a clever ruse! Whenever the device is shown in handheld isolation, it doesn’t do a single a thing. The only time the display does anything is when you can’t see that it’s actually hooked up to a separate system unit. Even given that the microprocessor and the rest of the guts are in a separate enclosure, the user interface is clunky and responsiveness is jerky.
By the way, 75% of the videos on the Internet are available in Flash? That leaves a whopping 25% which aren’t available in Flash! And it doesn’t consider that a huge fraction of the 75% is also available in another format (like H.264).
Who needs Flash then? Babies need Flash for their widdo games.
I’m not impressed by that video at all… it’s just another portable computer with touch sensitive screen. Everyone is missing the point, if you don’t design an OS to fit the device and circumstance, it’s a fail and this is a total fail. It looks like they should be using a stylus instead of their finger meaning it is not designed for finger use by nature. Again, i’m not impressed by anything shown here. It’s like watching a Windows demo and that aweful soft-keyboard.
Yes, I think the iPad is more innovative than this slate. Is the iPad perfect? nope, but it’s more innovative because it’s built for simplicity and user-friendly-ness and not to mention finger friendly too.
You’re the kind of simpleton who is impressed by things like a 3d rotating bookcase and other visual gimmicks. Apple should have spent more time on useful things in the device. The iPad is not a total failure but could have been so much better. But it’s “Magical” according to Apple…LOL.
No desktop/laptop OS is simple and easy. none, not Windows, not OS X, not Linux. not “the cloud” either. they all require setup, tweaking, and maintenance that over 50% of consumers just can’t figure out (they rely on friends/family who can).
the race is really to come up with the true mass market dumbed-down OS that “just works” for almost anyone. no more complicated than a TV almost. you will see this on portable devices first, but not last.
the Apple iPhone OS is a big step toward this, but it still requires desktop iTunes to easily setup various things. Android needs the Google cloud. Windows tablets … you gotta be kidding. WinMo 7, who knows.
a big question all the so-called pundits, including TechCrunch, miss is whether the iPad will be truly desktop computer-independent. it might. Apple has said nothing about this. we will have to see if all the handy iTunes admin functions can be done on the iPad alone. and MobileMe too.
of course, pointing out that a dumbed-down, easy, but terrific OS is the true holy grail of consumer computing (aka, an “appliance”) is blasphemy to all the geeks here. get over it.
Archos 9 pctablet is on the market now with Windows 7 starter (upgradable to premium for $80) on 8.9″ touch screen, 60GB hard drive storage at $499.
Its really looks good? may i know the price?
This looks pretty cool along with some of the other tablet PCs that are coming out. I find it so funny that people actually think that Apple was the first to make a tablet? Really? but then again, I find it funny that people are trying to say how much better the Ipad is that this or anything else. The Iphone and the Ipad are both awesome, if your a 10yr old or 50+ … but then again, who wants to customize anything or run apps in the background? That’s just crazy…
The people begging for a full desktop OS haven’t tried running modern desktop apps on the sort of gimpy hardware necessitated by the small form factor of a tablet. Try running Photoshop CS4 on a $300 netbook and you’ll soon see the sense of running something like iPhone OS + Sketchbook Pro Mobile instead.
Any one who thinks Flash can compete as a platform to a unix OS such as the iPhone OS is smoking crack
HA HA.. SO I WILL SAY IT…
IPAD IS DEAD.
I just wanna say something about other people’s comments
“iPAD is innovative” => come on… iphone and APP store was innovative to me(they changed game) not iPAD. you know that.
“HTML5 is future” => Flash won’t be standing with candy bar like dumb. They will take action…result? who knows…. but I’m for sure that they will remain together for long time.
“iPAD is dead” => I see the one of my in-law wants iPAD so bad…why? because it is Apple product(that’s it). Apple gonna sell a lot of them, even it is ‘watered-down’, ‘half of web exp’ OS. “Winner writes history…..” If most of people buy this… ‘watered-down’, ‘half of web exp’ will be standard.(so don’t let it happen plz)
Who is it watered-down to? yes allot of tech people are like WTF, no USB, No flash, No this, No that. and its all true!
But wait, i would say that tech people make up about maybe 20% of the population.
80% could give a sh*t about that stuff and just want some thing that works and is easy.
Now will they spend $$ on an iPad if they already have a computer? Thats the real question.
I’ve never read so much anti-Apple vitreol. If you think the iPad sucks, exercise your consumer sovereignty – don’t buy one! It’s that simple. What do you care if others feel differently?
I have windows 7 on my home/work computer I love it. its way better than vista, and its pretty much up to XP standards with lot’s more bells and whistles.
But i’m not stupid enough to want windows 7 on a Touch screen Tablet. Do you guys get it? if you put lipstick on a pig, its still a PIG.
MS needs to do a whole new interface for tablets. forget trying to skin windows 7, windows phone 7 is a step in the right direction and courier looks like the real iPad competitor. Until then ill stick with the iPad.
I don’t want another device, I am sick of carrying things around. I want 1 and only 1 to carry around. I want 1 and only 1 at a desk. If they can be the same thing then great. Do it already.
I can’t stand the thought of using/learning/figuring out another OS. I like Windows stuff because that’s what I learned on so using WM5.1/6/6.1 was easy for me but it did suck balls because the smaller the screen size the more unusable it got. you want me to use my fingers? Then make things that can be used with fingers.
I don’t care about OS. I care about the web and I want to do stuff on my carry around device the same way I do stuff at my sit down device. I want my apps at my desk to look and work the same as when I am on the subway or a bus or at the grocery store. Email, anti-virus, firewall, office apps, media and content creation apps. Let 3rd party guys make them and make them once, then let them be used everywhere.
Don’t cripple me or get in my way and I’ll spend the money that you want me to. I don’t care what the hardware limitations are. I know the whole battery thing sucks, figure it out please.
You want my money…go do that…
I’m not impressed by that video at all… it’s just another portable computer with touch sensitive screen. Everyone is missing the point, if you don’t design an OS to fit the device and circumstance, it’s a fail and this is a total fail. It looks like they should be using a stylus instead of their finger meaning it is not designed for finger use by nature. Again, i’m not impressed by anything shown here. It’s like watching a Windows demo and that aweful soft-keyboard.
“Even the browser seems to have been made over for the touch interface, which seems to be a custom build of Firefox.”
Are you blind? That’s just IE 7 in full screen mode. (press F11).