Windows 8.1 Tablets and PCs Unveiled @ IFA

For all of us in the device world, the past year has seen incredible growth and innovation with new form factors, thinner and more powerful components, more durable materials and the evolution of computing experiences. I think IFA 2013, happening this week in Berlin, will showcase how far devices have really come and represents a great year of opportunity for our partners. OEMs are building devices in all shapes and sizes, marrying form and function. It’s incredible to see the breadth of choice and differentiation, and today we get our first look at some of the Windows 8.1 tablets and PCs coming to market soon.

Technology companies and consumers from all over the world are making their way to Berlin for IFA 2013 this week to see the hottest trends and product offerings. New technologies to enhance mobility, continued innovation on the PC platform, smaller form factors, tablets and lots of new touch-based capabilities are just some of the trends making a splash at IFA.

One big trend that’s driving a lot of conversation and innovation right now comes in a small package. We started seeing this trend at Computex with the 8-inch Acer Iconia W3 and I was able to show a sneak peek of an 8-inch tablet from Lenovo. This week at IFA there is a new player to the market and I expect more small tablets still to come. Announced during Intel’s press conference today, the Toshiba Encore8-inch tablet is a stylish and durable little device. These 8-inch tablets will all come with Windows 8.1 and full version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013, making them great mobile productivity devices.

If small is not your style, there are plenty of larger Windows tablets to choose from including the new Sony Tap 11-inch tablet being debuted this week. It offer flexibility with an optional digitizer stylus or the ability to use the wireless keyboard and touchpad to work how you want. In addition, there are already some compelling tablets currently in market such as the HP ElitePad 900 featuring enterprise-grade security and an optional expansion jacket that provides additional ports to connect to peripherals, the Dell Latitude 10 that offers up to 10 hours of battery life with the optional extended battery, Acer Iconia W700 comes with a two-way cradle for easy switching between portrait and landscape use, as well as the ASUS VivoTab Smartthat has an optional TranSleeve keyboard which provides a foldable cover, a stand, and a keyboard all in one. Windows tablets are designed for both work and play - they are small enough to travel, but big enough to read your Kindle app clearly and get some work done on the go.

Another area where our OEM partners continue to innovate is with all-in-ones like the HP ENVY Recline 27 that features a revolutionary adjustable design allowing for more positioning choice and control than before, or the Panasonic Toughpad UT-MB5, a 20-inch touch tablet with 4K resolution display – four times better than HD which makes everything on screen look crisp and beautiful. It was just a proof of concept at CES in January and Panasonic announced today that it will be available in the first quarter of 2014. Graphic designers, photographers and visual media enthusiasts are drooling over this new offering from Panasonic. When it comes to these large-format touch displays, such as the Dell XPS 18, HP ENVY Rove 20, our OEM partners are absolutely leading the charge industry wide.

When it comes to notebooks, we continue to see more and more innovation from our OEMs with unique hinges and materials that are helping to reinvent how people use devices as well new capabilities that enable touch + type. Notebooks are also getting outfitted with the latest in chipsets and strong, scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass like the high-res Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus that became available in August and the beautiful ASUS Zenbook UX301 that is being shown off this week with Gorilla Glass 3 lid and palm rest. Recently, Dell announced the next generation of the business ready Latitude 5000 seriesthat are now available with strong steel hinges to redefine the corporate laptop with increased durability. Dell is also offering the Latitude series with non-touch or touchscreen Gorilla Glass NBT options so enterprises can select a device that meets their business needs.

Notebooks are also evolving into very compelling two-in-one devices that combine a PC and a tablet into just one device. Building on the great success they’ve had with previous models, OEMs continue to advance their designs. Acer has just announced a thinner, lighter, and more flexible version of the Aspire R7 thanks to the fourth-generation Intel chip and the addition of their optional magnetic stylus Active Pen. The Active Pen can be used with gesture controls at the same time, so customers can, for example, resize a picture with a pinching gesture and adjust fine details with the pen. Also, Lenovo is taking their creative Yoga line to the next level and bringing fun into the workplace with the flexible, secure and enterprise-ready ThinkPad Yoga.

 

These are just a few of the devices being shown off this week at IFA and you can see more over at the Microsoft News Center. It’s awesome to see the continued innovation and creativity from our OEMs and we look forward to bringing their new devices to market together for holiday!

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Outlook 2013 RT Coming to Windows RT Tablets as part of Windows 8.1 Update

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Today at Computex 2013, Tami Reller, CFO and CMO of Microsoft's Windows Division, announced that Outlook 2013 RT will be available on Windows RT tablets as part of the free Windows 8.1 update coming later this year.  This means that if you have a Microsoft Surface or a Windows RT tablet made by one of our hardware partners, or you are planning to buy one, you'll soon have access to the familiar tools in Outlook that help you communicate with others, manage your contacts and appointments, and find information fast. 

We're always listening to our customers and one piece of feedback was that people want the power of Outlook on all their Windows PCs and tablets.  In fact, a Morgan Stanley research study found that 61% of people shopping for tablets consider Microsoft Office to be the single most important software feature.  We're pleased to have Outlook 2013 RT join the other best-in-class Office 2013 RT applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.  And just like those applications, Outlook 2013 RT delivers a great touch experience for people using tablets. 

The new Outlook has so much to offer including a streamlined user experience that reduces clutter and makes your content king.  From cool new features like quickly responding to email with inline reply, to using 'peeks' to view your calendar or contacts without having to manually switch between tabs, Outlook brings great new tools to your fingertips.  And with today's news, Outlook will soon be available across Windows PCs, phones and tablets.  To learn more about what's new in Outlook, check out the Outlook section on Office.com.

 *Morgan Stanley Research, "Tablet Landscape Evolution", May 2012

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The 5 best Windows 8 tablets and laptops you can buy today

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The clamshell laptop is finally joining the beige desktop in the museum of computer artifacts. The basic hinged design made its first appearance in a device called the Grid Compass way back in 1982, so no one can scoff at the clamshell's longevity. Nonetheless, times are finally changing, which means it's time for the pure clamshell laptop to ride off into the sunset.

The traditional clamshell is being replaced by a wide variety of designs that merge tablets and laptops into a single physical package. These Windows 8 hybrid devices should directly appeal to PC users who might otherwise buy thin-and-light laptops. First-generation hybrids are already shipping, and most of them are flawed in some way, but they nonetheless bring new use-case scenarios to a mobile computing paradigm that hasn't changed much in 30 years.

Sure, there have been attempts to upend the clamshell. Take Microsoft's Tablet PC initiative during the Windows XP era. But those early efforts were hobbled by bolting touch control onto an operating system that was poorly suited for touch interfaces. Windows 8 and Windows RT, however, are designed from the ground up for the touch experience.

Now that we've reviewed a good number of Windows 8 portables, it's time to step back, name the best models, and put them all in context. Given their intrinsic design compromises, none of them is a clear winner as a do-it-all system. But we can still look at five innovative designs, walk you through why you'd want one, and suggest which usage models may best apply to you.

The Yoga's screen rotates to a "tent" mode for easy presentations.

Sometimes you really need a full laptop keyboard, but you'd like to couple it with a Windows 8 touch experience. And, occasionally, you may need to use your system as a pure tablet—but you don't anticipate that being the machine's primary use. If any of this resonates with your personal needs, consider Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga. It's an excellent 13.3-inch Ultrabook that includes a multitouch, capacitive touchscreen for all the cool new gestures built into Windows 8.

The Yoga has what it takes to be a solid ultraportable laptop. The keyboard is excellent for touch typists. The battery life approaches 6 hours. The sound quality of the speakers is surprisingly good. And it weighs less than 3.5 pounds.

However, it's the display that really sets the Yoga apart. It's a full 1600 by 900 pixels, offering a good balance in pixel density between 1366 by 768 and 1080p (or 1920 by 1080, by any other name). The panel rotates 180 degrees, allowing the Yoga to be used as a full tablet (albeit with its keyboard exposed) or in the "tent mode," where you can use it to give presentations or easily share content.

The ThinkPad Twist's display rotates around a single hinge.

Road warriors need work machines that are lightweight, rugged and reliable. Lenovo has long promised these qualities in the ThinkPad, a laptop line that was first conceived by IBM in 1992, and has been targeted at business users ever since. And now we have the ThinkPad Twist, which brings Windows 8 touch gestures and a clever hybrid design to a laptop legacy that's always been a bit buttoned-up and stodgy.

As with most ThinkPads, the Twist is a tad heavier than a consumer-grade laptop. And at 3.5 pounds, the Twist—even with its 12.5-inch, 1366 by 768 display—is a bit heavier than Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, which has a larger, higher-resolution screen. But what's nifty about the Twist's display is its hinge design, which lets this hybrid engage a tablet mode while still keeping the machine's keyboard protected. This makes the Twist more robust in tablet mode than the Yoga, whose keyboard remains exposed.

The base-model Twist ships with a 500GB hard drive and a 24GB caching SSD. Working together, the two drives deliver speedy startup times and copius storage. Lenovo does offer one model with a traditional SSD intended for storage, but it's a fairly scant 128GB. This SSD option, however small, will likely play well in larger businesses, where IT departments tend to lock down which applications can be installed.

Overall, the Twist brings the ruggedness of the ThinkPad line with some of the most usable features of Windows 8 tablets. The only significant omission is a 3G/4G mobile broadband option, which would make the Twist a more attractive hybrid for frequent travelers. Nevertheless, the Lenovo Twist is compact and reasonably light, which should allow it to travel well.

The Son Duo 11 is a tablet with slider keyboard built in.

The Sony Duo 11 looks like a tablet—most of the time. When you carry it around in its folded state, a seam conceals a sliding keyboard hidden underneath the bottom of the display. It's the laptop version of those old-school slider phones, complete with a compact, Chiclet-style keyboard.

Make no mistake: Touch typists will not like the keyboard on the Duo 11. Really, the most postiive thing I can say about the keyboard is that it's functional, offers tactile feedback, and is a little easier to use than an on-screen keyboard. For the most part, however, the keyboard is cramped and uncomfortable. Luckily, the sliding hinge seems durable enough. And given that that the Duo 11 will likely be used more in tablet mode than laptop mode, the slider bit works pretty well.

The entire affair weighs 2 pounds, 13 ounces—under 3 pounds, in other words. The 11.6-inch screen is an IPS display offering full HD (1080p) resolution. Sony also includes an N-trig stylus that supports 256 pressure levels, making it a useful adjunct for artistically inclined users. If what you need is a tablet for touch-sensitive art applications, the Duo 11 bears closer scrutiny.

Acer's Iconia W700 is a high-performance Ultrabook in tablet guise.

In the Iconia W700, Acer crams an Ultrabook into a relatively thin tablet. No one will mistake this device for an iPad or Microsoft's Surface RT, but in weight and thickness, it's pretty close to what Microsoft's Surface Pro will be. It's also 2.1 pounds; while that's significantly lighter than the Sony Duo 11, it still means that lugging it around propped on your forearm (as many tablet users do) may get tiring.

The tradeoff for the weight is robust, PC-like performance and features, including USB 3.0 and mini-HDMI video output. As with most tablets, it's got both forward-facing and rear-facing cameras.

As with Sony's Duo 11, the Iconia includes a full HD, 1920-by-1080 display. This delivers gorgeous-looking images and text, but it's also problematic for touch use when running desktop applications. It's simply difficult to put one's finger on desktop buttons and window bars that render so small. While Acer bundles a Bluetooth keyboard, the only pointing device is the touch interface itself—no mouse is included, and the keyboard lacks a trackpad. The W700 is really the purest, most recent incarnation of Bill Gates' vision of the Tablet PC.

But the real problem lies with the overall size, bulk, and weight. An 11.6-inch tablet, particularly with a 16:9 aspect ratio, will always be a little awkward to hold and use in landscape mode. Portrait mode is a little more usable, but often won't accommodate documents at their full width.

Nonetheless, despite all these caveats, if you're looking for a pure tablet that offers PC-like performance, the W700 delivers. It's a nice product, but we expect the Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro to eclipse the W700 early next year.

Microsoft's Surface RT offers covers with built-in keyboards

The Surface RT is Microsoft's bid for the tablet space currently owned by Apple's iPad. Sure, Android tablets may cost a little less and aspire to the same market, but none have been able to come close to the iPad in terms of ease-of-use and user adoption.

While the aspect ratio is more widescreen than Apple's, the 10.6-inch display seems a little more usable than the slightly unbalanced, 11.6-inch displays that dominate the Windows 8 tablet market. Windows RT is fast and responsive on the ARM-based, Nvidia Tegra processor. The Surface's 1366-by-768 resolution doesn't match the beauty of Apple's iPad Retina display, but most users probably won't notice.

In the Surface RT, Microsoft has introduced some clever touches, such as a built-in kickstand and the optional Type Cover, which integrates a flat, tactile-free, but extremely thin keyboard. The company also bundles a reduced version of Microsoft Office, but using those Office apps kicks you into desktop mode, which feels very weird on a device that's really meant to be a pure tablet. On the Surface RT, the Windows Start Screen is the native interface, and seems capable and usable.

Loyd Case first started writing about PC technology for Computer Gaming World, giving him a creative outlet for his obsession about PC performance. The PC industry -- and Loyd -- have never been quite the same since.
More by Loyd Case

View the original article here

The 5 best Windows 8 tablets and laptops you can buy today

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The clamshell laptop is finally joining the beige desktop in the museum of computer artifacts. The basic hinged design made its first appearance in a device called the Grid Compass way back in 1982, so no one can scoff at the clamshell's longevity. Nonetheless, times are finally changing, which means it's time for the pure clamshell laptop to ride off into the sunset.

The traditional clamshell is being replaced by a wide variety of designs that merge tablets and laptops into a single physical package. These Windows 8 hybrid devices should directly appeal to PC users who might otherwise buy thin-and-light laptops. First-generation hybrids are already shipping, and most of them are flawed in some way, but they nonetheless bring new use-case scenarios to a mobile computing paradigm that hasn't changed much in 30 years.

Sure, there have been attempts to upend the clamshell. Take Microsoft's Tablet PC initiative during the Windows XP era. But those early efforts were hobbled by bolting touch control onto an operating system that was poorly suited for touch interfaces. Windows 8 and Windows RT, however, are designed from the ground up for the touch experience.

Now that we've reviewed a good number of Windows 8 portables, it's time to step back, name the best models, and put them all in context. Given their intrinsic design compromises, none of them is a clear winner as a do-it-all system. But we can still look at five innovative designs, walk you through why you'd want one, and suggest which usage models may best apply to you.

The Yoga's screen rotates to a "tent" mode for easy presentations.

Sometimes you really need a full laptop keyboard, but you'd like to couple it with a Windows 8 touch experience. And, occasionally, you may need to use your system as a pure tablet—but you don't anticipate that being the machine's primary use. If any of this resonates with your personal needs, consider Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga. It's an excellent 13.3-inch Ultrabook that includes a multitouch, capacitive touchscreen for all the cool new gestures built into Windows 8.

The Yoga has what it takes to be a solid ultraportable laptop. The keyboard is excellent for touch typists. The battery life approaches 6 hours. The sound quality of the speakers is surprisingly good. And it weighs less than 3.5 pounds.

However, it's the display that really sets the Yoga apart. It's a full 1600 by 900 pixels, offering a good balance in pixel density between 1366 by 768 and 1080p (or 1920 by 1080, by any other name). The panel rotates 180 degrees, allowing the Yoga to be used as a full tablet (albeit with its keyboard exposed) or in the "tent mode," where you can use it to give presentations or easily share content.

The ThinkPad Twist's display rotates around a single hinge.

Road warriors need work machines that are lightweight, rugged and reliable. Lenovo has long promised these qualities in the ThinkPad, a laptop line that was first conceived by IBM in 1992, and has been targeted at business users ever since. And now we have the ThinkPad Twist, which brings Windows 8 touch gestures and a clever hybrid design to a laptop legacy that's always been a bit buttoned-up and stodgy.

As with most ThinkPads, the Twist is a tad heavier than a consumer-grade laptop. And at 3.5 pounds, the Twist—even with its 12.5-inch, 1366 by 768 display—is a bit heavier than Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, which has a larger, higher-resolution screen. But what's nifty about the Twist's display is its hinge design, which lets this hybrid engage a tablet mode while still keeping the machine's keyboard protected. This makes the Twist more robust in tablet mode than the Yoga, whose keyboard remains exposed.

The base-model Twist ships with a 500GB hard drive and a 24GB caching SSD. Working together, the two drives deliver speedy startup times and copius storage. Lenovo does offer one model with a traditional SSD intended for storage, but it's a fairly scant 128GB. This SSD option, however small, will likely play well in larger businesses, where IT departments tend to lock down which applications can be installed.

Overall, the Twist brings the ruggedness of the ThinkPad line with some of the most usable features of Windows 8 tablets. The only significant omission is a 3G/4G mobile broadband option, which would make the Twist a more attractive hybrid for frequent travelers. Nevertheless, the Lenovo Twist is compact and reasonably light, which should allow it to travel well.

The Son Duo 11 is a tablet with slider keyboard built in.

The Sony Duo 11 looks like a tablet—most of the time. When you carry it around in its folded state, a seam conceals a sliding keyboard hidden underneath the bottom of the display. It's the laptop version of those old-school slider phones, complete with a compact, Chiclet-style keyboard.

Make no mistake: Touch typists will not like the keyboard on the Duo 11. Really, the most postiive thing I can say about the keyboard is that it's functional, offers tactile feedback, and is a little easier to use than an on-screen keyboard. For the most part, however, the keyboard is cramped and uncomfortable. Luckily, the sliding hinge seems durable enough. And given that that the Duo 11 will likely be used more in tablet mode than laptop mode, the slider bit works pretty well.

The entire affair weighs 2 pounds, 13 ounces—under 3 pounds, in other words. The 11.6-inch screen is an IPS display offering full HD (1080p) resolution. Sony also includes an N-trig stylus that supports 256 pressure levels, making it a useful adjunct for artistically inclined users. If what you need is a tablet for touch-sensitive art applications, the Duo 11 bears closer scrutiny.

Acer's Iconia W700 is a high-performance Ultrabook in tablet guise.

In the Iconia W700, Acer crams an Ultrabook into a relatively thin tablet. No one will mistake this device for an iPad or Microsoft's Surface RT, but in weight and thickness, it's pretty close to what Microsoft's Surface Pro will be. It's also 2.1 pounds; while that's significantly lighter than the Sony Duo 11, it still means that lugging it around propped on your forearm (as many tablet users do) may get tiring.

The tradeoff for the weight is robust, PC-like performance and features, including USB 3.0 and mini-HDMI video output. As with most tablets, it's got both forward-facing and rear-facing cameras.

As with Sony's Duo 11, the Iconia includes a full HD, 1920-by-1080 display. This delivers gorgeous-looking images and text, but it's also problematic for touch use when running desktop applications. It's simply difficult to put one's finger on desktop buttons and window bars that render so small. While Acer bundles a Bluetooth keyboard, the only pointing device is the touch interface itself—no mouse is included, and the keyboard lacks a trackpad. The W700 is really the purest, most recent incarnation of Bill Gates' vision of the Tablet PC.

But the real problem lies with the overall size, bulk, and weight. An 11.6-inch tablet, particularly with a 16:9 aspect ratio, will always be a little awkward to hold and use in landscape mode. Portrait mode is a little more usable, but often won't accommodate documents at their full width.

Nonetheless, despite all these caveats, if you're looking for a pure tablet that offers PC-like performance, the W700 delivers. It's a nice product, but we expect the Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro to eclipse the W700 early next year.

Microsoft's Surface RT offers covers with built-in keyboards

The Surface RT is Microsoft's bid for the tablet space currently owned by Apple's iPad. Sure, Android tablets may cost a little less and aspire to the same market, but none have been able to come close to the iPad in terms of ease-of-use and user adoption.

While the aspect ratio is more widescreen than Apple's, the 10.6-inch display seems a little more usable than the slightly unbalanced, 11.6-inch displays that dominate the Windows 8 tablet market. Windows RT is fast and responsive on the ARM-based, Nvidia Tegra processor. The Surface's 1366-by-768 resolution doesn't match the beauty of Apple's iPad Retina display, but most users probably won't notice.

In the Surface RT, Microsoft has introduced some clever touches, such as a built-in kickstand and the optional Type Cover, which integrates a flat, tactile-free, but extremely thin keyboard. The company also bundles a reduced version of Microsoft Office, but using those Office apps kicks you into desktop mode, which feels very weird on a device that's really meant to be a pure tablet. On the Surface RT, the Windows Start Screen is the native interface, and seems capable and usable.

Loyd Case first started writing about PC technology for Computer Gaming World, giving him a creative outlet for his obsession about PC performance. The PC industry -- and Loyd -- have never been quite the same since.
More by Loyd Case

View the original article here

Xbox Music: Free streaming music on Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs and tablets

i was hoping to see a device like this with windows 8 on

www.theverge.com/.../google-new-samsung-chromebook-249-monday

and the spec directx 11

www.theverge.com/.../samsung-exynos-5-dual-specs

the price 249 dollars

why do you not prduce a device like this ,, microsoft

and here the same spec as your surface tablet ,, just to a price at 229 dollars

www.theverge.com/.../acer-iconia-tab-a110-price-date-official

so all your new windows 8 systems are over price ,,

i do not understand you i have work and sell your server solusions for over 10 yaers now

and after bill gates left or rater step into the dark , it is goon down the hill for you , first the phone in 2010

and now the next version of windows and phone

what is wrong,,,, microsoft stop the gread and give people a cheap device ,, put a device in every people hands

only 900 million people has a computer or some form of a internet device

why not incerase this by a factor 3,

it can be done ,, i can see it on android,, they are putting cool hardware spec and nice design looking device at cheap price onto the market

Michael Hansen

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Incorporating Tablets and Mobile Devices Into Your Creative Process

 

Before the announcement of our Adobe Touch Apps, we asked our Creative Suite Ambassador Group* how they use tablets or mobile devices during the creative process, and what they hope to see from tablets and mobile devices in the future. We wanted to share some responses below, and would love for you to weigh in by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.  Also, check out the video above of Creative Director Brian Yap talking about how he sees tablet apps enhancing his workflow.

“I use my phone to take pictures of things that are interesting, creative, or inspiring. This way I have an ever-changing source of inspiration in the form of a photo album. When I purchase an iPad I plan to use it to sketch out quick ideas and rough drafts when I’m on the go or away from my workspace.”

- Joe Weber

“I use my iPad mostly for research. I’ll search the web, and view content related to my project. I use my iPad… [to explore] how content is designed, and how well the interface and interactivity has been developed for the user.”

- Joseph Caserto

“I’ve recently displayed my portfolio on my iPad. Fabulous! When I teach I use the iPad to often draft class notes, research on the web [and] test out demonstration ideas.”

- Joy Makon

“I keep a portfolio of images of my work in my media folder on the BlackBerry so I can show potential clients my work or take them directly to a website I have designed.”

- Cathy Rudd

So, how do you use tablets and mobiles in the creative process? Which Adobe Touch Apps are you looking forward to exploring?

*Note: Our Creative Suite Ambassador Group is currently a closed community. We will evaluate future opportunities to open the group. For those interested in joining, please stay tuned for more updates on group openings.

View the original article here