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The Windows 8 picture is becoming clearer. Following on from the slides allegedly leaked in June 2010 by a software engineer at HP, Microsoft has outed far more details about the interface design.

Microsoft says Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, “from the chip to the interface” and has launched an Engineering Windows 8 blog. The corporation has promised that a pre-release Windows 8 build will be available to the public.

Microsoft says that “a Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.”

• Opinion: Windows 8 could make you rethink buying iPad 3

Indeed, the new OS appears to have two completely separate interfaces – one, a traditional (and, on the surface of it, unchanged) Windows desktop and the other a new touch-based interface that borrows heavily from Windows Phone.

Actually, as you’ll see, it basically is Windows Phone. You can move seamlessly between the interfaces and even have both on screen at the same time. So that leads us to believe there will be a single OS for tablets and traditional PCs.

This shows the transition between the interfaces:

Windows 8 release date

We originally wrote that we expect the Windows 8 release date to be in early 2012 and on 23 May 2011, Ballmer confirmed that Windows 8 will be released in 2012. He didn’t go as far specifying when in 2012, though.

Bizarrely, Microsoft later said: “It appears there was a misstatement,” adding “To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.” However, it now seems he was spot on – as you’d expect.

However, more stories are now adding weight to the 2012 date. Microsoft corporate vice president Dan’l Lewin, hinted that the Windows 8 release date is likely to be next autumn – late 2012.

Seasoned Microsoft-watcher Mary Jo-Foley suggested on 27 June 2011 that the RTM, or Release to Manufacturing, date could be April 2012.

Speculation is rife that a Windows 8 beta will surface at Build, a developer conference being held by Microsoft in mid-September 2011. Expect to see some Windows 8 action there for sure.

Windows-related jobs have also appeared online, presumably gearing up for the launch.

Windows 8 system requirements

The new demo shows Windows 8 running on touchscreens (potentially tablets too) – expect many Windows 8 devices to be touch-orientated – and this may make its way into the device spec.

Both Windows Vista and Windows 7 have system requirements of a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. Vista requires 15GB of free hard drive space, and Windows 7 requires 16GB.

Given that there’s been no real jump in requirements from Windows Vista to 7 (unlike the jump from XP to Vista, where XP required a 233MHz processor and 64MB of RAM) we’d expect Windows 8 to happily run on a system that can run Windows 7.

On 13 July 2011, Microsoft confirmed our assumption that Windows 8 would have the same system requirements as Windows 7. At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Corporate VP of Windows Tami Reller talked about “continuing on with the important trend that we started with Windows 7, keeping system requirements either flat or reducing them over time.”

On 18 May 2011, Intel confirmed that there will be separate editions of Windows 8 that run on ARM processors and versions that require Intel’s own chips. The Windows 8 ARM editions will be tailored to mobile devices and Windows 8 tablets. The Intel versions of Windows 8 will feature a Windows 7 compatibility mode, while ARM versions won’t.

Motorola says it is “completely open to Windows as a platform” according to Cnet.com. During an earnings call in mid August, Nvidia’s Jen-Hsun Huang said: I’m very bullish about Windows 8,” said Jen-Hsun, “I think it’s going to be an amazing operating system. Windows 8 tablets and Windows 8 clam shells that Tegra is going into, I hope will translate into real growth for our company in the second half of next year.”

“We’re not leading the charge on Windows 8, but as we become comfortable that [Windows 8] is a viable ecosystem [and] that the quality of innovation and quality of services and quality of capabilities [are] being delivered there, we will certainly be open to that,” he said in response to a question.

However, the following day, Windows President Steven Sinofsky said that Intel’s statements were “factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading.” Sinofsky didn’t elaborate on how the statements were inaccurate, simply saying “[We] have emphasized that we are at the technology demonstration stage. As such, we have no further details or information at this time.”

Windows 8 price

Windows 7 Home Premium costs £99 for an upgrade copy and £149 for the full version. Expect the Windows 8 price to be similar.

Windows 8 interface

In March 2011, we reported that Windows 8 could offer a cut-down version of its user interface, taking on some design elements from the Windows Phone 7 UI in the form of Aero Lite. And it appears that prediction was correct – what we’ve seen looks a lot like Windows Phone. Indeed, it essentially is Windows Phone.

Windows 8 gestures: what the Touch Mouse tells us

And, what’s more, you can swipe between any of the interfaces in a cycle – and that includes traditional apps on the Windows desktop.

“Fast, fluid and dynamic, the experience has been transformed while keeping the power, flexibility and connectivity of Windows intact,” says Microsoft’s head of Windows Experience Julie Larson-Green.

“Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard. Our approach means no compromises — you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer, with peripherals you choose, to run the apps you love. This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardware and software development, improving the experience for PC users around the world.”

Here’s a full list of what Microsoft has announced about the interface:

• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
• Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

The user interface and new apps will work with or without a keyboard and mouse on a broad range of screen sizes and pixel densities, says Microsoft “from small slates to laptops, desktops, all-in-ones, and even classroom-sized displays.”

“Hundreds of millions of PCs will run the new Windows 8 user interface. This breadth of hardware choice is unique to Windows and central to how we see Windows evolving.”

Windows 8 features

The ‘fundamentals’ Microsoft is aiming for with Windows 8 include “a fast on/off experience, responsiveness, and a great level of reliability from the start”.

You’ll be able to use an encrypting hard drive to boot Windows 8 and they’ll integrate with BitLocker and third-party security apps. Anti-piracy measures are also set to be improved, though it’s unclear currently just how this would work.

Improving battery life will be based on some deep changes to the kernel; removing an interrupt in the kernel scheduler completely and removing more of the timers that interrupt Windows when it’s trying to save power.

Windows 8 might get the same option for powering down unused areas of memory to save power that’s on the cards for Windows Server, it will block disk reads and writes and some CPU access when you’re not doing anything on your PC and PCI devices can turn off completely when they’re not in use (assuming the drivers for specific devices support it).

Windows 7 stopped laptops waking up automatically when they’re not plugged in; Windows 8 will get a new ‘intelligent alarm’ that can wake them up for things like virus scans, but only if they’re plugged in.

OEMs will get new test tools that check the performance, reliability, security and Windows Logo compatibility of the PC, as well as measuring performance in Outlook and IE. And depending on whether partners have “concerns” about it, Microsoft might give the same tools to journalists, IT pros and users.

Windows 8 is also set to feature a native PDF reader, meaning PC owners will no longer need to install a third-party app such as Adobe Reader to view PDFs. The new PDF reader is known as ‘Modern Reader’, and uses the new AppX application package type, which is similar to that in Windows Phone 7 and likely to be used in Windows Phone 8 .

Reports that surfaced on 18 April 2011, suggest that you’ll be able to run Windows 8 from a USB stick, using a feature called ‘Portable Workspace’. This feature is said to only be available in Windows 8 Enterprise Edition, though.

Microsoft has shown effortless movement between existing Windows programs and “new Windows 8 apps.” Yep, that’s right – Microsoft is going right down the app route…

A Windows app store and Windows 8 apps

More than 30 app stores have launched in the last year and Microsoft isn’t the only company copying Apple here; Intel has its own app store for Atom PCs. PC makers like the idea – apparently at the first forum they commented that it “can’t happen soon enough”.

With an app store, Microsoft hopes to attract more of the type of developers who are currently building smartphone apps and it wants them to create apps that make Windows the best place to use web apps (a job advert last October claimed “we will blend the best of the web and the rich client by creating a new model for modern web applications to rock on Windows”.)

Microsoft says the new OS will support “web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.”

There is “effortless movement between existing Windows programs and new Windows 8 apps. The full capabilities of Windows continue to be available to you, including the Windows Explorer and Desktop, as does compatibility with all Windows 7 logo PCs, software and peripherals.”

Windows 8 apps use HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML. New Windows 8 apps are full-screen and touch-optimized, and they easily integrate with the capabilities of the new Windows user interface.

“There’s much more to the platform, capabilities and tools than we showed today,” says Larson-Green.

The Windows Store will be branded and optimised for each PC manufacturer. Your settings will follow you from PC to PC, as will your apps (although some slides refer to this as a possibility rather than a definite plan) – but you’d need an HP ID to log into the ‘HP Store powered by Windows’ and get your HP-specific apps. Microsoft doesn’t plan to make money from the store; the early slides called it “revenue neutral”.

The full capabilities of Windows continue to be available to you, including the Windows Explorer and Desktop, as does compatibility with all Windows 7 logo PCs, software and peripherals.

“Windows 8 apps can use a broad set of new libraries and controls, designed for fluid interaction and connectivity,” says Larson-Green.

“Apps can add new capabilities to Windows and to other apps, connecting with one another through the new interface. For example, we showed today how a developer can extend the file picker control to enable picking from their own app content or from within another Windows 8 app, in addition to the local file system and the network. We’re just getting started.”

Windows 8 is also set to offer improved file management, including the possibility to have multiple copy jobs going on at the same time.

Windows 8 startup and shutdown

The ‘big three’ are boot time, shutdown time and battery life which will undergo massive improvement, but Microsoft is also thinking about how long it takes to get things done – how long until you read your first email, see the home page in your browser or start playing media. PCs should feel like an appliance that’s ready to use as soon as you turn on the power.

FASTER STARTUP: Windows 8 will show you what slows down startup and if removing an app you don’t use improves it

Mobile PCs should resume ‘instantly’ from sleep (in under a second from S3 sleep), and booting up will be faster because of caching, with a boot layout prefetcher and the ReadyBoost cache persisting even when you reboot.

As only 9 per cent of people currently use hibernate (which will work more quickly in Windows 8 because system information will be saved and compressed in parallel), Windows 8 will have a new Logoff and Hibernate combination that closes your apps like shutting the PC down does and refreshes your desktop like restarting does, but actually caches drivers, system services, devices and much of the core system the way hibernation does.

Turning the PC back on will take about half the time a cold boot needs (and the slides point out that on many PCs the power-on tests take longer than the Windows startup, so BIOS makers need to shape up).

It will be the default option but it won’t be called Logoff and Hibernate; Microsoft is debating terms like Shutdown, Turn Off, Power Down and thinking through how the other options for turning the PC off will show up in the interface.

We’ve previously reported on a whole load of other Windows 8 rumours, too:

Windows 8 Media Center and multimedia

Windows 8 will have better media playback and recording, but it will balance using hardware acceleration to save battery life and using the CPU when it gives a better result.

Audio will use hardware acceleration more because that does improve battery life. There will be post-processing to take out blur, noise and shakey video filmed on a phone or webcam, and support for more codecs including AVC and as-yet-undetermined 3D video codecs (stereoscopic3D support is coming, for games and for 3D movies in Media Center, but there are format issues).

Windows 8 may well end up with Media Center incorporated still – Microsoft dissolved its eHome team previously but a few leaked screen shots at TheGreenButton.tv show the same old Windows 7 Media Center well and truly alive in Windows 8.

Microsoft talks about sharing ‘with nearby devices’; one way that will work is adding the Play To option currently in Windows Media Player to the browser for HTML 5 audio and video content, so you can play it on any device that supports DLNA, another is APIs to let other software do the same.

That will work with DRM content, if it’s protected with DTCP-IP (digital transmission content protection over IP) or Microsoft’s own PlayReady and hardware acceleration will speed up DRM decoding.

There’s also a new ‘remote display’ option that will let you send your screen from a laptop to a large monitor (which will use DirectX hardware acceleration and the same multimonitor interface that’s already in Windows 7, but for wireless displays as well, which could be an Internet-connected TV – Microsoft refers to 35 per cent of TVs having network connectivity by 2012 and wonders whether to prioritise Internet TV over further improvements to broadcast TV).

Windows 8 Help and Support

In Windows XP the Help and Support centre was a branded hub of tools and links; in Windows 7 it’s far more minimal. Windows 8 will go back to the branded experience, with integrated search for support forums run by your PC manufacturer but add the Windows 7 troubleshooters.

It will also link better with the Action Center, with tools that show more clearly what’s happening on your PC; what apps are running, what resources are being used (like Task Manager showing which apps are using the most network bandwidth), how and when things have changed and what they can do about it. It will also include an Application Management tool that will let you find what apps are causing performance problems and adjust or remove them.

IMPROVED TASK MANAGER: Task manager will make it easier to see why an app might not be performing; here the Zune software is using all the network bandwidth to download podcasts, so video in the browser keeps pausing. We hope the white on black isn’t the final design!

The Windows pre-boot recovery environment will be simpler, combining the safe mode and ‘last known good’ options into one interface. It will use what Microsoft calls ’superboot’ to remove malware and rootkits

If you have to reset your PC, Windows 8 will restore “all the files settings and even the applications” although you’ll have to go to the Windows Store to download apps and get a list of apps that didn’t come from the store, so it’s not clear how automatic this will actually be.

UPDATE: On 28 March 2011, the Windows 8 System Restore feature surfaced in a screenshot.

Microsoft is also apparently building a feature called History Vault into Windows 8. History Vault would allow users to back up files and data automatically using the Shadow Copies function and could also allow users to restore documents to a particular moment in time.

Devices matter (almost) as much as PCs

One of the reasons that Windows took off in the first place was working more easily with devices – in those days, printers. Support for a wide range of devices is one of the reasons it’s hard to other OSes to challenge Windows but Microsoft would like to get hardware manufacturers to do more with the sensor platform and DeviceStage interface it introduced in Windows 7.

With Windows 8, Microsoft wants to see “PCs use location and sensors to enhance a rich array of premium experiences. Users are not burdened with cumbersome tasks that Windows can accomplish on its own. Users are neither annoyed or disturbed by the actions the PC takes. Instead, the PC’s behaviour becomes integrated into users’ routine workflows. Devices connect faster and work better on Windows 8 than on any other operating system.”

The ‘current thinking’ is for Windows 8 to include Microsoft’s own Wi-Fi location service Orion (which has 50-100m accuracy in North America and Western Europe but falls back to using the location associated with IP addresses elsewhere, which can be as bad as 25km).

Orion will be used in Windows Phone 7 (as well as Hawaii, a Microsoft Research project to build cloud-enabled mobile apps which refers to Orion as a ‘prototype service’). Microsoft partnered with Navizon in March to use their Wi-Fi and mobile network location database but the slides claim that Orion is buying a bigger database than Navizon’s 15 million access points, giving it 40 million compared to Google’s 48 million (neither matches the 120 million Skyhook gives the iPhone).

Location will be available to the browser as well as to any app that’s written to use it (music players as well as mapping tools), and web apps will get access to webcams.

Microsoft is emphasising the privacy aspect of location and webcam use, with mockups of how apps can ask for location and users can choose to deny it or only allow it once. And it’s also asking PC manufacturers how many devices they plan to put GPS in and offering a Device Stage interface for using a PND like a Garmin nuvi as a GPS source for your PC.

LOCATION PRIVACY: Web apps can see your location and use your webcam – but you get to control that to protect your privacy

As we’ve said before, Device Stage will become the standard way you work with devices; Microsoft previewed the options you’ll get with a featurephone and a webcam as well as GPS.

Along with GPS, Microsoft is expecting PCs to include infrared sensors as well as the ambient light sensors that are becoming common, and the accelerometers that are in tablets with rotating screens.

Put that together and the PC could know which way up it is, whether there’s anyone in front of it – or near it and what the lighting is like in the room. So when you walk into the room your PC notices and wakes itself up so by the time you sit down the webcam is ready to recognise you – and no waiting or having to line your face up with a box on screen.

If this works, the camera will pick your face out of the room, like Photo Gallery finding a face in a picture (hopefully without thinking the face in a picture on the wall is you). When you walk away it goes back to sleep again.

We like the idea of rotation lock buttons on ‘Lap PCs’ so you can move them around to control a game without flipping he screen repeatedly; again, if you look away from the game, Microsoft envisages it pausing automatically and if you pass a slate to someone it will switch to their account automatically.

What’s in: USB 3.0, Bluetooth hands free and headset profiles (mono and stereo audio).

What’s out: Microsoft has no plans to support Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed, 1394 might be deprecated and Microsoft seems to expect USB 2 ports to be phased out in favour of USB 3 within the lifetime of Windows 8.

Dolby has said its technologies won’t be incorporated in Windows 8.

What’s under consideration: Bluetooth Low Energy (from Bluetooth 4.0). What’s not mentioned: Intel LightPeak, although Microsoft does ask if it’s missing anything on its list of connectivity.

Windows 8 Xbox Live integration

Like Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is planning to add Xbox Live to Windows 8. Microsoft VP Mike Delman said plans are afoot to bring the experience to its other platforms.

Windows 8 will know who you are

With better ways to log in to your PC, like your face, Microsoft is considering giving Windows 8 a way to “securely store usernames and passwords, simplifying the online experience”.

Your Windows account might connect more directly to the cloud than just having a Windows Live ID, logging into web sites on your behalf; there’s very little detail on this but it could revive the CardSpace technology introduced in Vista but not widely adopted.

FACE LOGIN: Forget passwords; Windows 8 will use the webcam to find and recognise your face (probably)

Windows 8 gaming

Microsoft hopes to use Windows 8 to relaunch itself at the forefront of PC gaming, with Redmond ready to put its weight behind the platform once more.

“Windows 8 will represent a real new push into PC gaming,” a source told TechRadar. “Gaming will be a key component for the whole OS.”

It sounds as though Windows 8 won’t include an Xbox emulator, as if there was any surprise in that. However, as with Windows Phone, it’s more than likely that Xbox Live will be included – and indeed the Xbox dashboard itself will start to look more like Windows Phone and WIndows 8.

Windows 8 tablets and ARM support

The revamped interface and support for ARM processors point only one direction – Microsoft wants to be big in tablets.

LAP PC: Using the Lap PC to read a magazine and play a driving game

• Windows 8 tablets rumours: what you need to know

Key to making a successful Windows tablet is apps with user interfaces that change depending on the form factor (touch and gestures instead of keyboard and mouse), but Microsoft is also looking at stereoscopic 3D and high colour displays and natural input that uses touch, voice, 3D gestures (“on the horizon”), and facial recognition.

3D SUPPORT: Windows 8 will play 3D movies and games, but don’t ask Microsoft to pick its favourite format yet

Optimising “for smaller screens” will help netbook users as well; Windows 7 gets key dialog boxes to fit on a small screen but not all apps do.

Put it all together and you get some welcome improvements. It’s impossible to say if Microsoft can come up with a simple enough programming system to appeal to the developers it wants to create Windows apps to rival Apple’s App Store.

Windows 8 laptops

PC World believes that Windows 8 will start a low-cost laptop boom as ARM processors steal up to a quarter of the laptop market from Intel.

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

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Competition among tablets is fiercer than ever. The HP TouchPad is out, and there are a handful of compelling Android tablets available now. Even the BlackBerry PlayBook has a lot to offer.

Meanwhile, Microsoft – who never garnered much interest for the Tablet PC platform – has announced that Windows 8 will run on computers and on a new breed of Windows 8 tablets.

Details are sketchy, however. Here are 8 must-have Windows tablet features we want to see at launch.

1. True multitasking

If Windows tablets do not provide real multi-tasking, and instead work more like a Windows Phone, the platform will start off slowly. On the PlayBook, you can run a game in the background and it will continue to run. You can even upload files to Dropbox and switch over to your e-mail and send attachments. On a Win 8 tablet, multitasking would be a major differentiator.

MULTITASK: On the BlackBerry PlayBook, games will run in the background even if you switch to a different app. Windows 8 tablets need to follow that lead; apps should not just pause

2. Outlook Cloud

Microsoft has experimented with cloud email since the original Hotmail, yet they’ve kept the basic Outlook client in tact. (Exchange Online is a step in the right direction, though.) On a tablet, Outlook should become a full cloud-based client like Gmail. On your computer, a Windows Phone 7 device, or Windows tablet all email should be a click away.

3. Zune video rentals

Not all Android tablets offer a video store – the Motorola Zoom and HTC Flyer do, but not many others. Microsoft will likely port Zune software to tablets, offering video downloads as they do now on a Windows Phone. To compete with Netflix, Microsoft should also offer a monthly plan to stream at least a few major Hollywood releases and not just for-rent downloads.

4. New touch features

Windows 7 hinted at some innovative touch features – on a touchscreen laptop, you could spin a globe, rotate photos, and play a few touch-enabled games. Windows 8 needs to go beyond what Apple offers with the iPad and include quick gestures for deleting emails, photo rotation, and a new way to control games. The challenge is to make the most powerful apps, say for project management or video editing, work with gestures, zooming, and swipes.

GESTURES: Gesture control on an Android tablet means swiping through a music library and zooming in on photos. Windows 8 tablets need to go even further and offer swipe gestures for email and other apps

5. Grouped documents

The HP TouchPad enables you to group documents together even if they are from different apps. On a Windows tablet, we want a feature for grouping documents from Excel and Word, add related emails, and even Internet Explorer pages using the tile interface. This grouping would help organize projects in the same way you’d group files on a computer. A way to then e-mail all grouped docs would be a bonus.

6. Full Office apps

The Apple iPad lets you view and edit Office documents, but not with full desktop-like applications. Windows 8 tablets provide the Office suite for editing rich documents, making pivot tables in Excel and adding charts, and making PowerPoint slide sin a way that competes with Keynote (templates, slide-sharing). And, each app needs to print over Wi-Fi.

7. Surface mode

Here’s a unique feature that could set Windows tablets apart. Microsoft should take what they have learned with the Surface Table and move it to the small screen. This should include two-player chess and checkers, shared photos that multiple people can stretch and rotate, and a full-screen browser that works faster than Google Chrome on a desktop machine.

SURFACE: Microsoft Surface is a multiuser touchscreen table, but many of the concepts could be ported to Windows 8 tablets

8. Ported Xbox 360 content

We want to see a version of Halo running on Windows 8 tablets at launch, plus other Xbox 360 games like Gears of War. Too much to ask? If Microsoft really wants to dethrone Apple, it should start by making the Windows 8 tablet the go-to platform for games, include achievements and link into the console version of the game — maybe even as an extra controller.

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

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Lenovo has announced the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1, a 10.1-inch tablet set for release with Windows 7 OS, alongside two tablets running Android 3.1 Honeycomb.

The IdeaPad P1 will offer a 1.5GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 2GB of RAM and the option of either 32GB or 64GB SSD storage, it also has expandable storage with a microSD card slot.

The tablet also comes with a 1280 x 800 capacitive multi-touch screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, a USB 2.0 port and an optional 3G modem.

The IdeaPad P1 weighs in at around 790g making it heavier than both the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Xoom tablets.

Ideas galore

You’ll be able to video call friends using the front-facing 2MP camera, however with no camera on the back don’t expect to get too snap-happy.

Windows 8 is tailored for the touch screen market and is set for release soon, so it will be interesting to see how well this Windows 7 tablet does in the market.

Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet P1 UK price and release date are still yet to be announced by Lenovo, however, it is to launch later this year in the US.

Lenovo also launched two tablets running Android 3.1 and offer dual-core Nvidia processors. The Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 is designed for entertainment and and Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet which is more business-focused, coming with productivity apps and data encryption software.

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

Dell has worked hard to improve its industrial design in recent times, with design teams given more credence internally.

In addition to the Dell Streak line, the company also released the Inspiron Duo which, although weighty and underpowered, is an interesting convertible with a rotating screen.

We caught up with Michael Smith, Dell’s Industrial Design Director to talk a little about Dell’s design ethos, how it comes up with new materials and concepts, the forthcoming opportunity of Windows 8 and the challenge of designing PCs and tablets that combine both style and durability.

“The battery life is not as long as it could be, but the biggest feedback we’ve had is about the processor itself,” says Smith, who adds that his department always has plenty of questions to ask itself and Windows 8 is at the forefront of current thinking.

“We’re working on a lot of stuff in the lab around mobility, convertibles, where do we take it? What is the processor, where is Windows 8 going?

“Microsoft is redesigning its interface to be landscape, 16:9 with a focus on touch – today Windows 7 isn’t the best touch interface in the world, the targets are small.

“That’s why we developed our Stage touch software because Windows 7 is difficult to use in a touch environment. We’re looking at all types of different form factors. The Inspiron Duo is almost four years old from when we had the first idea.”

“We’re looking at extending the idea of convertible into the next generation of thinner and slimmer [devices], larger screens. We’re looking at everything from ARM processors to… everything.”

Cost and materials

One key aspect of PC and tablet design is, of course, cost. Smith talks about the challenge of making the high-end Adamo notebook first introduced in 2009, but then dripping aspects of its design further down the range to the Inspiron Duo.

“The Adamo is 16mm thick but to get there it’s all machined out of solid aluminium. That is not cheap to do, but it’s a very rigid part. We started this programme before the [similar] new MacBook unibody was constructed.

ADAMO ALUMINIUM: Expensive to produce

“This is extruded… and then machined with a five axis router and it takes a lot of time to make these parts. You’re talking a $ 2,000 box versus a $ 400 box [in the Inspiron Duo].”

“We invest in our materials. This is magnesium [shell] right out of the tool,” he says, picking up a shell. “It’s light, it’s rigid, but it’s a real pain in the ass to finish. You gotta machine all this away.

MAGNESIUM SHELL: Before the machining process

“This is a very cheap material, the expense is making it look nice. You’ll see one of the clever things we can do is insert moulded plastic, this is puttied and sanded and painted. It’s a very lengthy process.

“When you look at our Inspiron stuff, which is all plastic, that enables you to get the price point down.”

So what other materials is Dell playing with. He’s a bit cagey here, but he does say they’re messing around with some pretty cool stuff.

“We’re playing with carbon fibre, titanium and others. We have a Surface Studio with a full time team of six people. That’s all they do, look for new materials and we do trials.

Screen and keyboard tech

Picking up the Inspiron Duo again, Smith turns to talk about screen tech “We were the first to work with Gorilla Glass in the notebook market.” Gorilla Glass is now also used in Dell’s tablets and mobiles.

“Originally you could only get it to 0.7mm thickness, this is 0.5mm on both sides, the back is glass as well to handle the wireless LAN. We had to spend time on prototype after prototype and finally found a way to do that.

“Carbon fibre’s an interesting one, we’re doing a lot of work on that.”

Smith is clearly proud of the Inspiron Duo and talks candidly about Dell’s efforts in the tablet market. “There were all these convergent devices – what if we could create a device that was about work and play, had a keyboard and became a Transformer, if you will.

“We built lots of different prototypes. One of the early ones we looked at was a slider with a 7-inch screen. We also did a bunch of different form factors and ultimately we ended up with this [final] idea.

CONCEPT: This 7-inch concept never made it beyond the model stage

“We wanted something that was robust. If you look at the traditional convertible it has a centre hinge that twists around, but these hinges are notoriously fragile and put in the hands of a 12 -year-old, havoc can happen.

“So we went for an all-magnesium construction, we had to go soft for [wireless] antennas and this whole idea of, ‘boom it flips’ and then we have a keyboard, trackpad and it turns into a traditional netbook.

“So it has an Atom processor and we designed a touch interface specifically for this product – we extended it into our Stage software. When we showed this to kids they were like ‘wow, do it again’ – the whole idea of transforming from one state to another.”

What about usability, we ask – how much work is done on keyboards for example? Smith looks serious here and indicates that Dell takes keyboards especially seriously, even on a convertible tablet, since it’s crucial in both the business and consumer spaces. “We do a ton of work on keyboards. The Inspiron Duo goes to 98 per cent full pitch for what is [primarily a touch device].

“Netbooks are notoriously too cramped, people didn’t like that. We took a lot of time trying out different layouts, doing error counts and dialling that all in.

“We probably spend more time than any of our competition on keyboards, especially in the business space where, if you mess up a keyboard, you’re done.

“Even for consumers at retail, the first thing they do is walk up and try the trackpad. If that’s not a good experience from the get-go, they’ll move down the line. It’s a big focus for us.”

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

Microsoft’s been pushing tablet computers for the best part of a decade, so you can imagine how happy the iPad’s success makes them.

But Microsoft doesn’t give up easily, and Windows 8 tablets will emerge. So what’s Steve Ballmer going to be shouting about when he shows them off?

Windows 8 tablets will have a new touch interface

As we saw from the recent Windows 8 preview, Windows 8 tablets will have a marvellous new interface that looks rather like Windows Phone 7.

“Fast, fluid and dynamic, the experience has been transformed while keeping the power, flexibility and connectivity of Windows intact,” says Microsoft’s head of Windows Experience Julie Larson-Green.

“Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard. Our approach means no compromises — you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer, with peripherals you choose, to run the apps you love. This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardware and software development, improving the experience for PC users around the world.”

Windows 8 tablets’ release date

In December 2011, the New York Times wrote that Microsoft would unveil tablets running Windows 8 at CES 2011 in January, which proved to be incorrect.

The NYT credited an unnamed source for the leak, which suggests that Microsoft’s keynote will be enlivened by the arrival of the next generation of Windows, as well as Samsung and Dell tablets. As it turned out, no Windows 8 tablets were shown at the show.

However, the Windows 8 release date may be sooner than you think.

Speculation is rife that a Windows 8 beta will surface at PDC, a developer conference being held by Microsoft in September 2011. The dates for the conference were announced by Microsoft at its MIX event on 12 April 2011.

That means Windows 8 tablets could be out by early 2012 – after CES 2012.

According to Bloomberg there will be no Windows for tablets until 2012. As we reported on 4 March 2011, sources told Bloomberg that a tablet-friendly version of Windows will be tested at the end of this year and not released until the summer of 2012.

Microsoft may launch its own Windows 8 tablet

New rumours suggest that Microsoft is working on an own-brand tablet to launch running Windows 8. The speculation comes from Taipei, with sources claiming that the tablet will make use of a Texas Instruments chip and will launch by the end of 2012.

Digitimes, which first published the rumour, claims its sources say that Microsoft is also looking to launch a tablet brand, as it did in gaming with the Xbox.

Engadget posted on 8 July 2011 that Dell is to follow up the Streak line with a Peju tablet that will run Windows – possibly in late 2011 – so no Windows 8 initially.

Windows 8 tablets manufacturers

It’s no surprise to see the names Dell and Samsung in the NYT piece: both firms have close relationships with Microsoft, although it’s interesting to see Microsoft getting groovy with an Android tablet manufacturer. We’d expect to see something like the leaked “Lap PC” from HP too.

UPDATE: On 9 May 2011, we reported on a rumour of a forthcoming Nokia Windows 8 tablet. The info comes from phone commentator Eldar Murtazin, who wrote on the Mobile Review forum that Nokia will launch a tablet in 2012, possibly pushed back to 2013.

Windows 8 tablets will probably look like iPads

While Dell makes some unusually shaped tablets already, the Samsung tablet is “similar in size and shape to the Apple iPad, although it is not as thin.” Unlike the iPad, “it also includes a unique and slick keyboard that slides out from below for easy typing.”

Windows 8 tablets will be designed for business use

“The company believes there is a huge market for business people who want to enjoy a slate for reading newspapers and magazines and then work on Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint while doing work,” the NYT says, quoting the inevitable “person familiar with the company’s tablet plans”.

Windows 8 tablets will have apps and an app store

Apps are a big part of Windows 8, with Microsoft convinced that “app development will move to the web” and building a Windows Store with manufacturer-specific entrances. Again, we saw a lot more detail on this from the Windows 8 preview.

Windows 8 tablet specifications aren’t strange or startling

We’d expect Windows 8 tablets to have similar specifications to other iPad rivals such as the Galaxy Tab or BlackBerry Playbook, essentially netbooks in a different form factor: a gigahertz processor, a gigabyte of RAM, 802.11b/g/n wireless and multitouch capacitive displays. Expect lots of connectivity too, with USB ports a key selling point.

Windows 8 tablets will run on ARM, Intel and AMD chips

On 18 May 2011, Intel confirmed that there will be separate editions of Windows 8 that run on ARM processors as well as standard x86 processors from Intel and AMD – all companies involved are serious about tablets, though ARM has stolen a lead; all major tablets on the market are ARM-based.

The x86 versions of Windows 8 will feature a Windows 7 compatibility mode, while ARM versions won’t.

Windows 8 tablet prices should be similar to Android ones

Windows 8 tablets will be up against iPads, Android tablets and Chrome OS netbooks, so if they’re not priced very aggressively they’re going to be a tough sell.

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

Among the many Windows 8 topics that Microsoft hasn’t discussed is what ARM performance is going to be like.

After all, while Windows ARM tablets will have dual core or quad core cpus running at a 1.8 or 2.5GHz speed – faster than most netbook Atom processors and the Celerons in cheap ultraportables, or even ultra-low power Core i5s – what does that mean for an operating system as complex as Windows?

• Windows 8: everything you need to know

One of the key features will be the GPU. That’s what IE10 relies on to get fast performance using hardware accelerationand IE10 is the engine powering the Windows 8 touch interface and the new breed of Web apps.

ARM has been suggesting recently that its Mali GPU will be as fast as Xbox graphics within 18 months but there are other options already; both Texas Instruments and Qualcomm have announced ARM SoC packages for Windows 8 with powerful GPUs in, and Nvidia’s quad core Kal-El Tegra (coming in Android tablets this year) will have 12 GPU cores in.

USE THE CORES: Performance on ARM is about how well the OS handles multi-threading (and how well apps like IE take advantage of that)

The lead program manager on the IE team, Rob Mauceri, pointed out to TechRadar how important the hardware acceleration and multicore support in IE is for the new Web worker feature, which is what will make those Web apps run fast.

• What does Windows on SoC mean for Windows 8?

“In same way we take compiled JavaScript and run it in the background with Chakra [IE's fast JavaScript engine], we can take that script as it’s compiled for a worker and execute that across multiple cores. This is really some of the power in why workers are so interesting because you can keep that main thread running for user responsiveness while other calculations are going on.”

GPU FAST: The browser subsystems that speed up in IE using hardware acceleration will speed up Windows 8 on ARM as well

But does that still hold true for browsers on mobile devices as well, like phones (or, say, ARM Windows tablets)? That’s up to the OS, he told us.

“It depends really on the operating system and the underlying support that’s there for threading. Multi-threading has existed on single core chips and systems for years and it’s really about the scheduling that the operating system does and how efficiently it does that. I think we’ll see [mobile] hardware improve over time and more and more multicore CPUs on there – and at the same time it’s really the OS and the interactions that you have there that enables it.”

Does 64-bit matter?

While almost every PC that ships now is running the 64-bit version Windows, despite rumours ARM still hasn’t publicly announced a 64-bit chip and all the ARM processors announced for Windows are 32-bit.

That’s not a problem for performance because while there are cases where 64-bit processing can be faster (because you can work with more of a media file at a time), in general 32-bit processing will actually be faster.

Jason Weber is responsible for performance in IE and he doesn’t see 64-bit support being significant for browsers at this point. “Even a hefty JavaScript app is not physically that big to manipulate in memory.

And when you move to 64-bit, you have 64-bit pointers – they’re twice as big so you have more data to move.” That wouldn’t slow down Chakra significantly; “it would be about the same speed on 32 and 64-bit but there’s a definite overhead.”

As with Office on the ARM version of Windows, IE 10 on ARM is more than just an app Microsoft has to have running well (and it’s about more than the user interface and Web apps that IE will power, important as they are). IE and Office are proof points; if Microsoft can port the full versions of Office and IE to ARM, then ARM on Windows is the same powerful operating system it is on Intel processors.

Microsoft is doing all the right things to make Windows, IE and Web apps perform well on ARM. Developers of other applications are going to have to think about the same multi-threaded, GPU-accelerated way of programming to make sure that Windows apps can run fast on ARM as well.

TechRadar: Mobile computing news

HP iPAQ Pocket PC rz1710 – Handheld – Windows Mobile 2003 SE – 3.5″ colour TFT ( 240 x 320 )

• FULL HP WARRANTY WITH THIS PRODUCT

This product comes direct from HP as part of it’s HP RENEW product offering. This is HP’s policy to provide a renewable sustainable life cycle for product that is EXCESS,DISCONTINUED,EX DEMO or RETURNED DOA product which is then repaired and retested to HP’s demanding standards and hence carries the same full warranty as HP’s new product.
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This reveiw comes from ArtaneOnl

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