Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development. It’s not a tablet, it’s a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.
WOW – it looks like the hackers will have that “hold the home button” hacked in no time.
Visit the wrong web page and suddenly you have a surprising new home page…
Looks nice, but they could have come up with better uses to demonstrate its capabilities, like ones which we would actually use the device for
Excellent. Now students will be able to use a BSOD as the reason that they didn’t get the required reading done. 😉
I need to two screens in a device like this for what?
The new Microsoft DS!
Sick! I am a mac loving student, but I can get down with this! It is better than a e-reader and it surfs the web and lets me take notes. I wonder if asus e-reader will be like this? lets hope it dont have a bsod…
WOW,
Cloud based PDA..
Loose it in the cloud…Whose to blame if it gets LOST?? Cant blame your carrier..
No way in hell this thing exists! Microsoft is in a CYA (cover your a**) mode, running scared from Apple’s supposed tablet. Cool your jets, people! Two screens, just to simulate a book?!?! WTF?!?
I can see such a thing as useful for very specific tasks, but 2 screens… why?
i CAN SEE SOME APPS FOR THIS..
But this is running CLOUD BASE.. theres NOTHING on the machine.
I can see illustrated books, and Tech books on it..
I can see STOCK counters using it..SCAN, see picture, COUNT.
QUICK design and layouts..
They show it as a GIANT PDA with options. ALL running on the CLOUD computing..
Problem is 7″…and it folds out to be..7″x7″
like u never seen a dual monitor?
Hey, it’s hardware regardless of who put’s it together, or what OS it’s got. It’ll be hacked in no time. Must have a lot of LiPo in there to keep the two screens running. The ONLY way this thing is gonna be succesful is if they sell it at a loss like they did with xbox. If they price it at 300 or less they’ll sell well, otherwise another failed MS project.
It’s not a Windows based, so what is it?
I saw a presentation 2 weeks ago based on what Apple could be doing with their multitouch etc. patents and OS X.
When watching this video the first thought in my mind was “Weird, now Apple made a proto?”, then “Wow, Google is really working hard on their Android”. Later it somehow occurred to me it was all about Microsoft and then thought “Am I brainwashed or what for not expecting anything from Microsoft. My brain is just refusing to see something advanced with Microsoft name attached to it”.
Wow! So much negativity. I think concept wise it is pretty cool. I hope the open up the functionality to more applications. If they do I could see it being a very popular device. Laptops are clumsy devices so this would be a welcome design.
I, for one, think this looks interesting. And I am with another poster here in the shock that Microsoft is the creator?!?
It’s vaporware … I would be very surprised if it actually made it out the door and if it does it won’t be nearly as cool as the demo.
#15 Exactly
I think this is really cool. I could see using it.
I would worry about breaking it though
I think I’d prefer something about the size of a pad of note book paper with a cover. The touch screen part is okay. Just the thing for doc. making their rounds if it was tied into his office/hospital computer. YMMV
#19,
They already have these devices. Theyre called tablets. Theyve been around for a while now, though Im sure once apple releases theirs many will claim how revolutionary it is.
Two screens so that you can continue working on one, while the other reboots after BSOD?
Does it say “Don’t Panic”, in large friendly letters, on the front cover? Then it’s “mostly harmless”.
I thought ASUS made a new Dual screen..
BSOD is a thing of the past you Morons. Stop living in the Windows 95 era and grow up. I have used Windows Vista for more than a year and I got BSOD probably less than two time, but only once in Windows 7 and that too in Beta version of the Windows 7. All this was due to my mistake when i installed the wrong driver for my Video Card. Once I removed those, nothing crashed again, not even in Vista.
So stop this BSOD crap and move on now.
I, for one, love the idea of a tablet/booklet I can carry around. I’d really like something bigger than my DS for sketching things, or something that isn’t a stack of paper.
I hope this comes out and is relatively cheap.
Could it be! Microsoft created a product worthy of Apple’s design? Kuddo’s to Microsoft!
Tied of Apple having huge marketing presentations about product refreshes. Bring on some truly new products!
I’m speculating that there are two screens for the same reason people use dual monitors- to increase the usable real estate.
Also because a single screen will need some kind of fold-over protective cover anyway, so why not make the cover into a screen?
Additionally, I could see one of the screens turning into a touch keyboard.
RBG
If this had Apple’s name on it, presses would stop, jaws would drop, and the fanboys would offer sacrifices to statues of Steve Jobs. But because it has the word Microsoft on it, “it can’t possibly be real”, “it’s totally useless”, “it’s probably vaporware”, and “Microsoft will never be able to sell it”.
People never cease to amaze me.
#27
Agree!
I have one of these, its called an iPhone.
Here’s a place where dual screens is ideal: on one screen, a standard page. On the other screen, the image of the keyboard you’d normally be typing at to control it. Instead, you tap it with the stylus. OK, it’s not the ideal, but it can work and you can gradually improve the UI from there.
Also, in the minds of many users, every screen that moves, needs a cover. In laptops and notebooks and netbooks, that cover involves a keyboard. This tablet doesn’t have a keyboard. So you cover the screen with:
a) blunt wafer of nihil
b) another screen
c) none of the above: _____
?
Both the scrapbook idea and dual displays, have been shown off before by Microsoft Research, so it’s not farfetched at all that they’re thinking of combining them:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/23/codex-and-inkseine-the-roots-of-microsofts-courier/