Little was heard or seen of Windows 8 tablets at CES; where were they, and what's to come?
Considering that 2012 will be the year of Microsoft's dramatic upgrade to Windows 8,
one might have thought the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show last
week would be filled with prospective hardware platforms for the new
Windows operating system. it might have seemed logical to expect that to
hear lots about tablets with Windows 8. But news on that front was
surprisingly...quiet.
While CEO Steve Ballmer talked Windows 8
at his keynote and showed a Qualcomm prototype tablet running Windows
8, Intel's Paul Otellini briefly showed a and Lenovo unveiled its
innovative IdeaPad Yoga,
a Windows 8-primed convertible notebook whose screen can twist around
to turn into a tablet, little chatter was heard on the Windows tablet
front.
The same three companies that showed off Windows 8 on ARM processors
at BUILD were in the mix once more. Nvidia got things started by having
a Microsoft rep do a five-minute demo of Windows 8 running smoothly on
an Nvidia reference platform at its press conference. Then, just hours
thereafter, Ballmer was on stage
showing the Qualcomm tablet already seen at BUILD. And in private
briefings off the show floor, Texas Instruments displayed a Windows 8
reference platform.
Running 7, Testing 8
A few Chinese tablet makers displayed tablets of distinctly generic
design running Windows 7, but only one spoke specifically to Windows 8
plans. One tablet maker, Kupa, showed off its X11, a Windows 7 tablet
available now that runs an Intel Atom Z670 processor; Kupa exhibited the
tablet running the Windows 8 Developer's Preview, and billed it as
Windows 8-ready thanks to its 1366-by-768-pixel, 16:9 aspect ratio
display -- which matches to Microsoft's optimized target for Windows 8;
and to the specs of Samsung's Series 7 tablet, distributed to Microsoft BUILD attendees last fall with the Windows 8 preview preinstalled.
But beyond the Yoga -- an inventive concept that's perfect for making
noise at a big event like CES -- none of the tablet makers were ready
to talk about Windows 8 on a tablet, and what we might expect to see in
that form factor. Samsung had nothing to discuss at the show on the
Windows 8 tablet front.
Fujitsu's Paul Moore, senior director of product development, hinted
that Microsoft is encouraging a clean look on tablets that will run the
new OS, but “they've been a bit vague so far.” Fujitsu, which already
has the Stylistic Q550
on the market running an Intel Atom CPU, is looking at least one, maybe
two updates to that model's specs by midyear. The company is looking at
boosting performance for better video playback. “That seems to be the
biggest challenge on Atom,” Moore says. “And that's the noticeable
complaint customers have: The video is a little choppy.”
Windows 8: The CPU Question
The Windows 8 interface is clearly optimized for touch, but what
remains unclear is what, if any, advantage Windows 8 will have when it
comes to the tablet market. That's in part because Microsoft hasn't yet
clarified if and how exist Windows apps will work on the Windows 8 version destined for use on ARM processors.
ARM tablets will have a distinct weight, power, and likely price
advantage over tablets with x86 processors, which makes the ARM tablet
space an intriguing one to watch.
Meanwhile, Intel is readying a dual-pronged approached to tablets to compete with the coming ARM onslaught. Its single-core Medfield platform, launched at CES and due in the second quarter, is designed for Android; and its Clover Trail platform, due in the second half
of this year, is built from the ground up for Windows 8. Clover Trail
will replace the current Atom chips being used in most of the Windows 7
tablets available today, from companies like Fujitsu, Kupa, and
Viewsonic; only Samsung, with its Core i5-based Series 7, has released a
Windows tablet that uses the beefier CPU common to laptops.
What should users expect from ARM devices? In a private demo,
Qualcomm showed off the second public Windows 8 build of its reference
system, this time showing that the connected standby feature was
enabled, even for connectivity like AT&T 4G LTE. Connected standby, a
new state that powers down the system in a way that you can resume
immediately, will enable 4G Windows 8 tablets to save power and extend
battery life, for example.
“Microsoft has discussed this new [to its OS] concept of always on,
always connected. We see this as a marriage of smartphone functionality
and computing,” says Qualcomm's Steve Horton, director of software and
product management. “The content you care about will be active, and you
will be able to program it, and it will be able to be fed.”
While tablet makers were mum when asked how ARM platforms will
influence their tablet designs, the use of ARM will no doubt keep things
interesting. In a previous conversation at BUILD, Horton noted that
with ARM chips, there's no restriction on form factor beyond the fact
that Microsoft is asking hardware OEMs to stick to displays with 16:9
aspect ratio to match the optimal screen size for the new Windows 8 Metro interface.
When asked about Windows 8 tablets using ARM, for example, Senior
Designer Junghwan Hong and Principal Designer Sangwon Yoon, the Samsung
designers involved in creating the gorgeous, lightweight Series 9 laptop, shied away from specifics, but admitted that the prospect of ARM presents a new design opportunity and challenge.
“As designers, we are studying ARM,” Yoon says. “ We have a lot of
different form factors for ARM devices. ARM has no fans, so for
designers, that's a good feature.” One logistical challenge: ARM tablets
will likely carry relatively low prices, which “means we cannot use
fancy materials. But they have to look good. That's a challenge.”
And it's likely not the only challenge for Windows 8 tablets. Even
without any solid teasers at CES, 2012 promises to shape into an
interesting year for tablets running Microsoft's next operating system
refresh.
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