Hasta La Gadget!

By most accounts, the Newton Tablet was a product ahead of its time–so far ahead that the device was an utter failure. It wasn’t necessarily a bad product, it just arrived at the wrong moment. Let’s suppose for a moment that Apple was seeking to get back into the tablet fold, where would the company start looking? The old Newton team might not be a bad start.

After 15 years, Apple has re-hired Michael Tchao, a developer who was part of the original Newton team. That Tchao might play a role in the company’s much anticipated tablet is pure speculation, of course–after all, the existence of such a device is little more than rumor fodder at this point.

Apple, for it’s part, isn’t really discussing how it plans to utilize Tchao–but then, Apple doesn’t really talk about all that much.

Microsoft’s Courier booklet was surprising, mostly because it was so far outside of what everybody now expects from a tablet. This internal video shows how Microsoft thinks we’ll use Courier.

Since publishing the first leak, several more people have come forward with details on the Courier project.

This video is produced by the same firm that collaborated with Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios on the previous clip, and it walks through a slightly different (and more conservative/realistic) iteration of the Courier interface. While the first video showed a handful of use cases, this one actually provides an overview of the interface and Courier’s features, and more of how you would actually use it if you are not a designer.

The heart of Courier appears to what’s called the “infinite journal,” which is what it sounds like: A journal/scrapbook that is endless, bound only by storage constraints (presumably). Hopefully they will call it something less awkward. The journal can actually be published online, and it’s shown here as able to be downloaded in three formats: a Courier file, Powerpoint or PDF. There’s also a library that looks a lot like Delicious Library, where things like subscriptions, notebooks and apps, are stored.

This interface does share a few things in common with the other one: In particular, the hinge between the screens is still used as a pocket to “tuck” items you want to move from one page to another. It also still revolves almost exclusively around using the pen for input: In 4 minutes of video, there’s not a virtual keyboard in sight. Fingers are still used just to navigate, through flicks, swipes and pinches.

The interface has a few more traditional elements than the first video, with more of a Microsoft feel (fonts and titles bars) and less of the entirely handwritten journal aesthetic: a smart agenda, more defined folder system, universal search and multi-page web browsing. It feels more evolved and fined, and less convoluted, suggesting it’s more recent.

It also begins to bring into focus Courier’s priorities, and possible limitations: Other than the brief glimpse at the library and the web browser, there is basically nothing about viewing content, like watching movies, reading books, or listening to music. Courier, in this iteration, appears to be all about creating and writing with a pen, which is vastly different from what everybody expects out of the Apple tablet.

We expect to have more a in-depth breakdown of the Courier interface in the next few days, so stay tuned.

We heard the Archos 9 tablet was due alongside Windows 7, but just in case you were worried that preposition would be stretched to the limits of its definition, the company made clear at IDF that October 22nd was the target, making it day and date with Microsoft’s latest OS. As for US price, it’s a better-than-expected (at least as far as UK currency conversions go) $499 for the ultra-thin tablet. Mark your calendars accordingly, the diehards in the audience have less than a month to prepare their bank accounts. Now if only Archos would do something about that maladjusted resistive touchscreen…

[Thanks, Anthony]

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos 9 confirmed for October 22nd with $499 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viliv has one of the best-looking convertible tablets we’ve ever seen here at IDF, the new S10 Blade. It’s actually quite striking in person — it’s thin and light, while still offering a convertible touchscreen and a decent keyboard. Sadly the version pictured here has a pretty slow single-touch resistive touchscreen and will be limited to Windows 7 Starter when it launches in November for around $570, but we’re told that a multitouch resistive model will hit early next year with Windows 7 Home Premium for around $700. We’ll see if that one has the functionality to back up these hot looks when it hits — but for now, check the rest of the pics in the gallery.

Filed under: Laptops

Viliv S10 Blade netvertible hands-on at IDF originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sheesh — whatever happened to TabletKiosk, anyway? Aside from one random slate PC tailored for the medical industry, we haven’t seen anything meaningful from these guys since 2008. And yes, that includes the present day. Oh sure, the company’s newest trifecta of machines — which includes the 7-inch eo a7330D, 7-inch eo TufTab a7230XD and 12.1-inch Sahara NetSlate a230T — may use the incredibly mighty Atom CPU now, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all uglier than sin itself. In fairness, all three are designed more for the enterprise market than for fashion conscious consumers, but still, we’re struggling to see any design improvements here compared to the wares this outfit was pushing way back in 2007. If you truly believe that beauty’s on the inside, hit the read link for all the dirt.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

TabletKiosk rises from the ashes, pops Atom CPUs into hideous new UMPC / tablet line originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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