Microsoft unveils four new Windows Phone 7 devices – Acer, Fujitsu, ZTE, and Samsung join the WP7 league

Jul 132011
 

Today at its worldwide partner conference, Microsoft unveiled four new phones which will be powered by Windows Phone 7 operating system. The first one was from Acer which is also the first Windows phone from Acer. Second one was from ZTE. The third one was from Fujitsu. The one from Fujitsu was the most catchy as it was covered in a lively Pink shade. The phone is surely going to be an eye candy for the ladies who appear to be gushing over it already. Moreover, this phone is said to be waterproof. All these three phones were single core phones.

The fourth and the final one was from Samsung and it was the only dual core phone announced today. This phone appeared to be similar to the highly successful Samsung Galaxy SII but the main difference was that it included a Windows logo where the home button is placed. The phone also had a well intact front camera which could be good news for Skype lovers.

Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s Windows Phone division announced a number of Windows Phone 7 benefits for Microsoft partners. These included exclusive discounts on Windows Phone 7 devices, accompanied with aggressive rate plans from mobile operators and also new ways to attain the Mobility Competency partner accreditation.  Lees also emphasized that now was the time for its partners to be a part of Windows Phone network and benefit from the expansion.

This shows that even though Windows Phone 7 platform is small at the moment but with all these companies coming forward, the trend is going to change soon. Sadly, no details or specifications were given out, which will keep us on our toes till the release. Also, no time frame was mentioned regarding the release date. We will keep you posted on the latest.

No WiFi Sync Availiable for Windows Users Even With iOS 5 Beta 2

Jul 022011
 

Most of you iOS enthusiasts know that iOS 5 should support wifi sync from iTunes to your iDevice, but that might not be entirely true for Windows users. I can sync iTunes with my iPhone on Mac just fine via WiFi but on Windows there is no option “Sync over Wi-Fi connection” even in iOS 5 Beta 2.

It’s bit disappointing to be honest, but then again, these iTunes 10.5 Beta’s should be used for iOS developers that have to use Mac to code. Those of you that do have Windows and iTunes 10.5.0.43 and iOS 5 Beta 2 on iPhone or iPad – wait for Beta 3 which should be released mid July and then you will be able to sync your iDevices via wifi just like Mac users do.

Checkout my  predictions as to when iOS 5 will be released to public.

Team Fortress 2: Free

Jun 242011
 

 

Somewhere in the future, construction is overseen by two superpowers; the Reliable Excavation, Demolition incorporated, and the Builders League United. After United Nations legislation passed a bill where reconstruction contracts abandoned areas would only be awarded to the company that achieved its mandate, from capturing the opposing company’s flag, or taking ‘control points’ scattered around the map. In what began as a gentlemanly affair, with Engineers trying to go about their business, escalated into an all out war between Snipers, Scouts, Soldiers, Pyromaniacs, Demolitions Specialists, and ‘Heavies’.

Team Fortress 2 is one of Valve’s most renowned First Person Shooters, often praised for its humor, art style, and gameplay. In fact, it is likely even if Valve didn’t update Team Fortress 2, it would still be played by tens of thousands of gamers, all gunning for the next control point, domination, or revenge kill. But Valve is a clever company, suckering gamers into spending more and more time on Team Fortress, through innocuous additions such as hats that each character can equip, to new weapons, abilities, and other ‘items’ to turn the tide on the battlefield. On top of this, Valve introduced RPG elements into the game, allowing players to craft items, and even name them. Humorous weapons include ‘The Benedict Arnold’ for the Spies knife, to the ‘Malpractice’ Medic’s bone-saw.

From its original incarnation, these updates have swelled Team Fortress 2 into a 12 GB package, nearly more than double its original size when it was first released. But the game is still Team Fortress 2, in all of it’s rocket-jumping, minigun spooling, ubercharging glory. And with the release of Valve’s Uber update of Team Fortress 2, the long awaited ‘Meet the Medic’ trailer has been released by Valve. If you haven’t seen the other class videos released by Valve, I highly recommend watching them, they set the tone for Team Fortress 2.

But of course, the long awaited ‘Meet the Medic’ trailer seems almost insignificant to Valve’s announcement after its release. Yes, as you’ve guessed from the title, Team Fortress 2 is free, forever. Backed by a micro transaction system now, Valve’s Team Fortress 2 still lives on, half a decade from the Orange Box’s original release.

To download Team Fortress 2, make a Steam account, and… download the game. Considering 12 Gigabytes will take a while to get from the now overcrowded Steam servers, watch the Meet the Medic trailer while you wait.

 

 

Terraria on Mac

Jun 222011
 

 

Ever played Minecraft? If not, I really really really do recommend checking that out. But anyway, imagine Minecraft, an epic tale of constructing an invincible fortress against the hordes of zombies, skeletons, and those damn exploder things, and putting it into 2D. Yes, this includes mining… digging an obnoxiously deep hole, before harvesting gold, iron, and diamonds. Now, I want you to imagine Worms, the classic game of using weapons of mass destruction to brutally annihilate other worms, but instead, it moves in real-time, so a bit more like Liero. Lets say that these games were magically fused together. On top of this, add Multiplayer, a deep RPG system, and of course, NPCs that try to sell you obnoxiously overpriced items, while buying your items at obnoxiously low prices, and the game constantly evolves due to frequent updates.

Independent game studio ‘Re-Logic’ has made this awesome sounding daydream a reality with Terraria, an action packed struggle against the evil that plagues your land. Well, sort of. It’s more of a quest to build the biggest castle, and the greatest dictatorship that the world has ever seen, so powerful, that even the monsters that once walked the surface shiver and creep away from your mere presence. Afterwards, throw dynamite, and use star cannons to cleave rival dictators that intrude upon your kingdom. Terraria supports more than eight dictators in a single stretch of land, battling it out to claim that map as their own. Gone is the camaraderie of Minecraft, where users helped each other to make exquisite creations, in the world of Terraria, there is only war.

Currently, Terraria is on Steam, where you can purchase it for around $9.99 for the full game. Unfortunately, due to Terraria being coded in XNA, it is extremely unlikely that it’ll be on Apple computers any time soon. Supposedly, Crossover doesn’t work for the Mac, and more libraries are needed before it’ll even run. Being coded in XNA could possibly result in Terraria appearing on the Xbox Live Marketplace though…

Call of Duty: Black Ops Demo

Jun 222011
 

 

In the depths of the Cold War, caused by the bitter rivalry between the United States, and the Soviet Union, both sides, aware that they were unable to outright destroy the other, without being annihilated themselves, launched proxy wars to weaken the other side. These brutal conflicts include the 1980′s invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Russia, the Vietnam War in the 1970′s, and of course, the Six Day War in the late 1960′s. Experimental research of questionable ethics, and practices of an even more dubious nature were rife, with programs such as the CIA’s ‘MKULTRA’ a project supposedly designed to discover mind control, only making the light of day many decades later.

In addition to this, spying and assassinations were rife, with some suspecting President Kennedy’s assassination being due to Soviet or Cuban links, while Fidel Castro, president of Cuba, was ordered to be assassinated by CIA operatives a countless number of times. These operations, if conducted publicly, would almost have lead to nuclear war, as well as the mutually assured destruction of both sides. So of course, these rival governments never did tell anyone where these assassins, spies, and other shadowy characters appeared and disappeared. Classified as ‘Black Operations’, the sensitive nature of these missions, is so extensive, that even some members of the CIA that were killed in action, have not had their nature of death, nor their names disclosed after their deaths.

Call of Duty Black Ops explores the brutality of the Cold War, taking a whirlwind tour through the siege of Khe Sanh in Vietnam, fighting off a brutal NVA advance, to the lavish palace of Fidel Castro. Assisted with devestating weapons such as a minigun, crossbows, as well as the modern weapons of the time, your campaign against Communism will be an arduous one, with attack dogs, helicopter gunships, and the odd tank standing in your way.

In addition to this, after finishing the Single Player, Black Ops features a balanced multiplayer, unlike certain other games in the Call of Duty series. This means, no nuclear weapons, no ridiculous perks allowing you to have infinite ammo, no fifty meter knife lunge perk, and certainly no shotguns that have perfect accuracy, and dual wielding.

Interested? Treyarch  have finally released a demo for Black Ops, set in a secret chemical weapons laboratory. Unfortunately, as it is a secret weapons laboratory, a horde of soldiers prowl the premises, and as a result, an American SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest military spy plane in the world, is sent to assist you in this endeavor. With 24 styled countdowns, BASE jumping, and a lot of sneaking around, some players have commented that this level, ‘WMD’ is the best of the single player campaign.

Currently, the demo is only available on the PS3, and the Xbox 360. Check the PSN store, or Xbox Live marketplace to find the demo. For PC users, unfortunately, there have been no details released yet about a PC demo.

 

Rumor or Reality – Microsoft branded Windows 8 tablet by 2012

Jun 082011
 

If you think the tablet market is saturated enough, think again. According to a latest rumor, Microsoft is planning to come out with a self-branded tablet which will run on its upcoming operating system i.e. Microsoft Windows 8. The company is possibly planning to rope in Texas Instruments to supply the processor (probably the 1.8GHz OMAP4470 chip) and some Taiwanese or Chinese OEM to build the rest of the body. Although there is no official word from Microsoft on this, but I assume that Microsoft may be thinking of launching its own tablet as this market is starting to grow by leaps and bounds. People have shifted their focus from desktops to laptops to netbooks and now tablets. These devices are popular because they offer freedom/mobility/good connectivity to the users. We are already seeing a sleuth of branded tablets from Dell, HP, Acer, Samsung, local manufacturers, etc. and now Microsoft also wants to cash in on the pie.

Microsoft has prior experience of marketing devices such as the Zune and Xbox 360. Moreover, Microsoft would be planning to launch this device somewhere in 2012 alongside its release of Windows 8 to woo the early adopters. This device will be aimed to compete against the Apple iPad in particular as the iPad has surely captured a large pie of the market thus affecting sales of Windows based tablets. Apple has managed to closely integrate its iOS with the iPad hardware to provide the end user with a memorable experience. Microsoft will also face tough competition from Android based tablets which are fast becoming popular amongst users due to its friendly UI. Whether Windows 8 will be able to deliver the same experience, whether Microsoft will be able to come up with a USP for its new tablet, or whether the Microsoft tablet will ever make it to the market are some questions that can’t be answered at this point of time and one can only speculate.

We will surely let you in on the developments if any on this front.

 


PressReader Review: Mobile NewsPaper Reader

May 222011
 

pressreader front page from ipad

I just found the best newspaper app reader for iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices, called PressReader. What I like about this particular mobile newspaper application is that I can read newspaper from all around the world including my home country Slovenia and other 5 country (German, Russian, Bosnian*Croatian*, and USA/UK)  newspaper because I speak  5 languages.

PressReader saves your trip to Gas Station or place you are buying newspaper from, because you can download daily newspaper right onto your mobile device, not only you can read the newspaper you can copy, save it and also share it via social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter.

As you can see in the picture above, you can read top stories for free, you can listen to them and search for particular topic, because it is all text based.

Features of PressReader:

  • 1800 FULL CONTENT newspapers
  • Read news from 94 Countries in 48 different languages
  • Daily updated newspaper such as US Today, NYTimes, The Herald, The Washington post etc…
  • Download newspaper automatically to your mobile device
  • Flipping through pages like your paper magazine
  • It’s Green! Save trees
  • Supports on-demand audio, so you can listen instead of read!

Those are just few features that press reader has, but  there are many more features that I would like you to find it for your self,  because this application is free to download on most popular devices such as Blackberry, iOS, Windows Mobile and Android. When you download press reader you get seven free newspaper issues and  if you decide to read more, then you can  subscribe to various subscription plans that start as low as $0.99! (Subscription Plans)

Where to download Press Reader

My best suggestion is that you go to your mobile app store and search for Press Reader or press on the links bellow.

PressReader for iPad – App Store

PressReader for iPhone – App Store

PressReader for Android – Android Market

PressReader for Blackberry – App World

For other PressReader application downloads such as Windows Mobile, PC and Mac visit their website PressDisplay

pressreader countriespressreader slovenian magazinepressreader washington post

 

Using Windows Phone 7 with a Mac, It Just Doesn’t Work.

May 072011
 

Having been an iPhone user since the launch of the 3G model back in 2008, I’ve recently got a bit bored of it (Previously used the 3G model and currently using the iPhone 4). I decided to try out a Windows Phone 7 device after hearing some promising reviews. I quite liked design of the operating system, especially the ’tiles’ homescreen. In my case, I purchased a HTC Trophy. It’s a low end phone in the HTC line up but I’ll leave the hardware aspect of it aside for this article.

Windows Phone 7 is a solid and nice looking mobile operating system. It’s a huge improvement from the old Windows Mobile stuff (which to me was barely usable). From the first glance, the user interface looks pleasing and user friendly. Most of the in-built apps are decent; some very good (such as Mobile Office!). Also, the virtual keyboard is quite nice to type on. I won’t be going into the details of each feature but if you want, you can read Engadget’s detailed review here.

Problems

One of the in-built functionality of the People/Contacts app of the Windows Phone 7 is the ability to add your Facebook account. Being an active Facebook user, I quickly did without hesitation. This turned out to be a big mistake. Without giving me any kind of warning or the option to choose which contacts to sync, my Windows Phone 7 automatically added all my Facebook friends and even the Facebook Pages that I joined to the People/Contacts app. Absolutely disastrous. It totaled to about 500+ contacts. What was even worse was that my Windows Live account was also connected to my Windows Phone 7. Guess what? The 500+ contacts got automatically imported to my Windows Live contacts too (my Windows Live Messenger contact list). This is clearly not the way to go. Microsoft should have realize that users don’t want every single Facebook contact, let alone Facebook pages, on their phone. It’s just like how Gmail used to add everyone you email to your Google Contacts. Thank goodness Google realized their mistake.

The above was just one of my woes with the People/Contacts app. The 2nd problem I ran into was the inability to sync Contacts from my computer. It seems that Microsoft has taken a wireless approach to this. Being a Mac user, I have my contacts stored in Address Book (computer) and MobileMe (cloud). Unsurprisingly, MobileMe didn’t work (I didn’t have any hope for this in the first place anyway). I become quite frustrated when I couldn’t even manually sync my Address Book to my Windows Phone 7 via a cable. And it turns out that you can’t. Ouch! Although I am not entirely sure, it seems that you can’t even manually sync your Outlook Contacts on a Windows machine via a cable. Everything is done wirelessly through the cloud. According to the Microsoft support website, only Outlook users with Exchange can sync their contacts directly to their Windows Phone 7. Others will need to first sync their Outlook contacts to Windows Live which will then sync those contacts to your phone. Too confusing and too much work required for what should be a very a simple task. Users who have their phone contacts stored with Google or Yahoo or Windows Live will probably have better luck with this but still, what happened to cable syncing?

Adding and syncing contacts was one of my major problems with my Windows Phone 7. The same can be said for adding and syncing my calendar. I did however, manage to get my MobileMe email working. Adding iTunes media (music & videos) to my Windows Phone 7 was relatively easy through the Windows Phone 7 Connector App but as expected, not as good as using iTunes itself to sync an iPhone or an iPod. Another thing worth mentioning is that as an iPhone owner, the Windows Phone’s Marketplace is nothing like the iTunes Apps Store. The Marketplace’s range of apps are very limited and many are poorly developed.

Summary

The Windows Phone 7 is actually very good when used as a standalone phone. The user interface looks great and is user friendly. However, some problems arise when pairing it with a computer. Users who have their email, (phone) contacts and calendar with Windows Live, Google, (and maybe Yahoo I’m not sure) should be fine. The Windows Phone 7 does a good job at syncing with those services. For Mac users, it’s a nightmare and I certainly recommend opting for something else such as Apple’s own iPhone or even maybe Android. On the other hand, I just wanna add that the iPhone works brilliantly when used with both a PC and a Mac ;)

Windows 2008 Server Acting Up Slow on VMWare [Fix]

Apr 182011
 

Not too long ago I started testing  Windows 2008 server and see how applications that I use on Windows Servers behave. As soon as I got the W2k8 up and running there was two things I noticed and that bothered me quite a bit.

Windows 2008 Server Login Screen

Img Credit:Crunchgear.com

One was that server response was very slow when I opened console in VMware, so slow that  it took me almost a minute to click on My Computer, C drive and go to Program files , even though server had few CPU’s and few GB of memory assigned. I mean Windows 2003 and other servers were just fine, so after bit of a digging around VMWare Forums I found one solution that fixed Windows 2008 running slow on VMWare.

Here is how I fixed it:

Go to

C:\Program Files\Common Files\ Drivers\wddm_video\

If you have those folders, that means that Virtual Drivers are installed on W2k8 server if you don’t, please install it before you proceed.

I am assuming you are familiar with the Windows enough and know where Device Manager is? Well go to Device Manager, find your Video Card under Display.

Right Click and Click Properties. Then go to Driver Tab and click Update Driver…

Window will popup asking you if you want the driver isntalled automatically or you can chose the installation folder. Go with the option 2.

Click on Browse and point it to the location we talked about above and click next.Windows 2008 Server should find the video card drivers and install them. After you are done with installing the drivers, please reboot the VMware instance.

That solved my problem with Windows 2008 servers being slow on VMware , I hope it will solve yours too.

Second issue I faced, which unfortunately I have not yet been able to resolve is the RDP session being slow on Windows 2008 Server.  When I open VMware console W2k8 server is acting ok, no delays whatsoever, but when I use RDP to connect to W2k8 server, omg that thing runs like Windows 98 on 133mhz and 32GB ram! Not kidding…

Am actually writing this article in hope that some of you W2k8 experts might be able to solve this 2nd issue  of mine and share some information in commenting section below, as to what I  can do to speed Windows 2008 server RDP session up.

If you had chance to play with Wk28 , like it? Hate it? Sucks? Love it?

Microsoft Office for iPhone is Getting Out Soon

Jan 292011
 

Microsoft is pretty satisfied with sales of Microsoft Office for Mac, but they are not quite sure whether to make Microsoft Office for iPhone.  The Mac App store was launched earlier this month and already makes up thirty percent of the sales from Apple.

The visitors of App store are offered Apple’s iWork components, which rival Office offerings, like pages and keynotes.

Recently, in an interview the senior director of Microsoft, Jason Bunge, informed that soon Microsoft Office will expand its perimeter to other platforms. What he said was not just a bluff as last week the company released its first piece of office tools, One-Note, for iPhone.

Although it was just a small portion of Office and possibly the most low key part, it is probably the beginning of something new. Microsoft did not rule out the possibility to bring the complete Office suite,  rather, they said that they have intention of bringing these applications for other devices as well which in other words means… Microsoft Office for iPhone is coming soon.

In contrast, earlier this year Microsoft shipped two million Windows 7 phones to carriers. Although they have a lot of work ahead, they are about to pose a serious threat to iPhone. And  Office is probably the most appreciated piece of software they have ever produced. Indeed the latest version, Office 10, is the strongest consumer edition in the company’s history.

Yes, Microsoft should look to extend the compatibility of their applications, but whether or not their best product should be provided to their rivals is going to be a huge decision. The One-Note version for iPhones was free at the iOS store.

In the last quarter of 2010 the company had earned a revenue of 19.95 billion dollar. Microsoft has Kinect sensors and sold eight million of them in just 60 days. So the company is inspired with their recent success, and this enthusiasm may lead them to bring Office to the iPhone.

Either way it goes, try Quickoffice app is pretty awesome, we use it quite often on iPad and iPhone

Microsoft Brings One Note For iPhone device

Jan 202011
 

Microsoft is going to release a version of One Note application that can run on iPhone platform. This program is free for a limited time. The notes taken on iPhone using this application will be routinely synchronized to the Web through Windows Live Sky drive. User’s will require Windows live ID for using this application on iPhone.It is true that people care more about what are they doing than where these are done. The Vice president of Microsoft office unit wrote in a blog that they will be bringing office service to every device, platforms and operating system.

One Note is just a little portion of the Microsoft office software and probably the least used part but this is probably an opening of bringing other office tools into iPhone. The senior Director of the company Bunge said that they have been working on this project for the last 18 months but he denied commenting whether there are other office tools in the process. He cleared that at this time there are no other products for releasing. But Office will surely expand its perimeter into other platforms. Although at present this program will not cost any but Microsoft may have plans to charge for this application.

Rival programs like Evernote are already available for iPhone. But that doesn’t concern Microsoft a lot, the plan is to provide office tools to those users who has office installed into their Personal Computer. This will allow them to take advantage of office tools wherever they want. Apple considers Microsoft windows Tablets as fat and heavy kid and in contrast to that Microsoft is looking to supply applications for their device. Bunge, the senior director of the company says that office on windows devices will be at its very best and will provide the best productivity experience.

CES 2011: Rumors Come True

Jan 102011
 

At consumers electronic show we have already heard of many upcoming electronic products that would be ruling the year 2011. We have seen the fights in between the words best hardware manufacturers with their products. We are about to have many tablets, mobiles, LTE devices, 3D TV etc. Here are some more products that would be heading our way.

It was speculated that Samsung will be releasing a media player this year which will be mimic to its popular Samsung Galaxy tab. It is some identical specification of sans cellular connection. According to Russian site it available on 8GB and 16GB with white color. This attempt by Samsung is supposed to be answer to the Apples iPad. Apple has gained terrific customer attention with its iPad and now Samsung is looking for a similar response and they seemed to be pretty confident after their recent Galaxy tab success. This will be delivered early this year.

Lenovo has also delivered a tablet although at first instant it does not appear like a tablet but a 10.1 inch notebook based on windows 7. When it is detached it becomes a LePad that will be running on Android 2.2. Actually Lenovo showcased a similar product last year but had proprietary OS that was developed in house. One can buy the only tablet portion at a price of five hundred US dollar but to buy it as a laptop it would cost one thousand and three hundred dollar.

Although HP tried to keep it but every known knew that they would be releasing pavilion dv7 notebooks with Intel’s Quad core Sandy bridge chips. It was like the worst CES secrets. Eventually they comes but they are not the only ones using sandy bridge chipset as many other devices declared that their upcoming product will have the newest Intel product into their product. HP also posted some documents on their support pages giving a detailed feature of the product.

Microsoft Debuts Avatar Kinect for Xbox 360

Jan 092011
 

After getting an overwhelming response on the release on Xbox Kinect, Microsoft is here with another exciting feature for Xbox users. Steve Ballmer announced ‘Avatar Kinect’ at CES 2011 during Microsoft’s press briefing.

Microsoft's Ballmer delivers keynote at CES 2011

Steve Ballmer delivers keynote at CES 2011

Avatar Kinect is basically an Xbox 360 feature that allows users to act as their digital avatars on the screen using the Kinect for Xbox. It makes use of Xbox Kinect sensors to read the gestures and even the finer moments of smile and eyebrow. These gestures and motions are then replicated on the screen.

Avatar Kinect In Action (via Engadget)

Avatar Kinect In Action (via Engadget)

The idea is a superb, innovative one, you can hang up with friends on Avatar; join the virtual chatroom with other Kinect users over internet and much more. Microsoft describes the phenomena like this:

With Avatar Kinect, a player can invite up to seven friends to join them in one of 15 imaginative virtual environments to reflect their mood and inspire their conversations or performances. Arrive or leave sessions in style with unique animations like flying in with a jet pack, or snapping fingers to vanish. Players can also add cool animated and visual effects to creatively express their thought.

The Avatar Kinect is expected to be released this Spring, and the good thing is it would be available for free to all Xbox LIVE Gold members. Now that’s great, here is Avatar Kinect’s trailer to let you watch it in action!

CES 2011

Jan 082011
 

Techno geeks will gather at the sin city this week to get a taste of divine as the CES (officially called Consumers Electronic show) opens with the New Year. It is anticipated that it draw a total of 126,000 people to Las Vegas. It is the biggest show of latest electronic products made by different companies. They use this as a platform to announce their upcoming products and their features. They also look to share their views and plans for the future. It has become the centre of tech economy and any company that wishes to perceive as cool has to appear here. This year the show floor for this mega event is increased to 1.5 million square feet from 1.4 million. Last year it has an attendance of 126641 people and this year the presence seems likely to improve on a large scale as the companies continues to show off their latest products with interesting features and technologies. There are 2500 exhibitors present at the show floor and this does not include the number of companies who are using suits for exhibiting products. The show has proved that the tech economy is slowly but surely going coming out of the recent recession.

This year’s CES show has officially kicked off on Tuesday afternoon with CES reception. But various companies begin their usual activity of stealing each other’s thunder to create an early buzz. On the first day scores of different companies who has won innovation awards is displayed. Other thing is that this year consumers electronic show association is likely to update their forecast for 2011. All the renowned companies have taken part in this event and many of them made their announcement of new stuffs. We have already heard that Intel will have their movies services, Verizon will bring LTE smart phones, Microsoft have declared that they will continue to provide services for Windows 7 users and we hope that lot more to come.

MSI Unveils Two WindPad Tablets at CES 2011

Jan 082011
 

Ever since MSI introduced its WindPad 100 tablet in May last year, we hadn’t heard anything breaking from the company. But now MSI is out with two ‘WindPad’ tablets 100W and 100A at CES this year.

MSI 100A Tablet Hands-On (via Engadget)

MSI 100A Tablet Hands-On (via Engadget)

The 10.1” tablets are not quite lightweight (weighing just 1.6 and 1.76lbs) and both have 10-point multi-touch screens as opposed to usual two-point. WindPad tablets also have got 8-10 hours of battery life and have USB and HDMI ports.

Talking about the difference in both tablets we see that 100A is lighter of the two and runs Android. It runs on ARM processor, supports 3G connectivity, and features a digital compass and GPS locator.

MSI 100W Tablet (via Engadget)

MSI 100W Tablet (via Engadget)

On the other hand 100W runs Windows 7 Home Premium, has an 1.66GHz Intel Atom Menlow Z530 processor. It only supports WiFi connectivity and is not so different from the MSI 100 tablet which was introduced earlier.

Here’s the press release that says it all:

2011 International CES
South Hall, Booth 30359
LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MSI Computer Corp., a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions now entering its 25th year in the industry, today unveiled its innovative new line of tablets, as well as two all-in-one (AIO) PC concept products.

“Award-winning product quality and outstanding customer service.”

NEW GENERATION WINDPAD TABLETS: FEATURE PACKED AND LIGHT AS A FEATHER

MSI revealed two new generation WindPad tablets – one on the Windows platform and the other on the Android™ platform. Both tablets are a testament to MSI’s innovative R&D and groundbreaking, stylish design, with functions such as G-Sensor gravity detection, which protects the internal hardware in case the unit is dropped, an ALS light sensor which adjusts screen brightness according to the surrounding light source, and Wi-Fi.

MSI WindPad 100A tablet
The lean 10.1-inch multi-touch machine – based on the Android OS and weighing in at 1.6 pounds – is powered by an ARM processor, and offers features such as a digital compass, a GPS locator, and Wi-Fi with a 3G option available. The new tablet is approximately half an inch thick at its thinnest point, and can run for eight to ten hours on a single battery charge.

The WindPad 100A offers a complete array of I/O ports, with USB and HDMI slots for expanding and connecting. To ensure that the WindPad’s unlimited expandability is easy-to-use, the MSI design team carried out more than 10,000 computer simulations on the possibilities for their placement. This rigorous testing process means the I/O ports are seamlessly integrated into the tablet’s design.


MSI WindPad 100W tablet
The 100W tablet, weighing in at just 1.76 pounds, features the Microsoft® Windows™ 7 Home Premium operating system and a 10.1-inch screen that supports multi-touch control. In addition to the features of the WindPad 100A, it is equipped with the Intel® Menlow™ Z530 processor and a 32GB solid state hard drive.

The MSI WindPad 100W tablet will be available in Q1 2011 with prices starting from $499.

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