Microsoft never had any real place in the tablet PC market. The project Microsoft Courier project was their greatest hope, and even that was canceled for some strange reason. From the very beginning it was not clear if the Courier was ever going to reach a real life product, because it is one of many Microsoft’s working prototypes that never end up going anywhere. But everyone’s response to the Courier should have drove them to making that thing a reality.

The Courier looked like it could have revolutionized the personal device market for businesses and students. Although details were scarce, all we knew about the tablet was that it would’ve had two color screens, a built-in camera, wireless internet and a sick UI (at least in the demo video). Users would have used a stylus for writing and drawing, but it could have also operate through touch.

Courier was ”almost the total opposite of what everyone expected from an Apple tablet.” It could have been an expanded iPod Touch with camera, multitouch display, microphone, wireless internet and 3G capacity.

Microsoft spokesperson commented on the decision by saying: “At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing and incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”

The real problem with the Courier though was “It was running a modified version of Windows.”

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Rugged Convertible Intel Classmate PC

Kids can be pretty rough with their belongings. That’s why so many gadgets and toys designed for children are outfitted with soft rubber padding and that kind of thing. Computers are no exception. That’s why the Intel classmate PC line has always been pretty rugged, and now it’s been upgraded one more time.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an Intel classmate PC – not by a long shot – but it seems that Intel is intent on keeping this line alive. The latest announcement shows off an Intel-powered convertible classmate PC reference design. This is supposed to be the most flexible and durable design to date. To me, it looks like much the same thing.

For the newest convertible classmate PC, kids get a 10.1-inch LCD monitor, Intel Atom processor, and tablet PC-like functionality that also allows for easy e-book reading. It does have a touchscreen, after all, but it has a “palm rejection” feature to ignore hands resting on the screen in tablet mode.  Continuing with the rugged design are a water-resistant keyboard, touchpad, and screen. It also has improved ruggedness for drop tests, as well as scratch resistant surfaces. If you’re scared of germs and drool, they’ve got an optional anti-microbial keyboard too.

Kids these days are getting some pretty cool toys. Growing up, I thought the Speak ‘n Spell was hot stuff.

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Logic Instrument FieldBook

Logic Instrument has just launched their rugged FieldBook.  The Windows handheld device sports a 7-inch “sunlight readable” WVGA display with a resistive glovetouch screen, that means no sausage wieners necessary.  You can drop it from 4′, bring it to extreme climates of -20C to +50C, rain won’t stop it, nor dust-storms.  It’s not exactly the handheld you would buy for watching movies and surfing the web, unless you were out roaming the Adirondacks in December.   It would be more in line with maintenance and communication crews such as military, logistics and emergency services.

Packed inside the rugged shell is a 1.6GHz Atom CPU with 2GB RAM and a G-Sensor protected 120GB HDD. Probably not what you expected, why no Solid State?  But G-Sensor does add a free-fall sensor designed to detect when the  FieldBook has been dropped which then protects critical data that could otherwise be destroyed. Seagate says “they can withstand a mechanical shock up to 300 Gs when the heads are flying over the media. The same drive can withstand a shock up to 900 Gs in a non-active state.”  I guess that will have to do, for now.

You would expect some type of 3G connectivity considering its purpose, but only Wi-Fi is available.  Bluetooth, GPS, camera, USB, RS232, Ethernet, RFID, Barcode and PCMCIA, ExpressCard or mini-PCI Express slots are standard, with the ability to upgrade for various automobile and truck installations.  So if your boss said no to the iPad, he may go for the FieldBook, butdon’t expect any app action on this thing.
Pricing stats at US$2,895, a full review is over at Rugged PC Review’s website.

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"The enTourage eDGe is the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one. It’s a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time. This is nothing you've ever seen before!" Source: entourageedge.com

The enTourage eDGe is the world’s first e-reader and netbook hybrid device to hit the market, and it begins shipping next week. With dual displays, the eDGe has a 9.7-inch E-Ink screen on the left, and a 10.1-inch touchscreen LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution on the right.

The specifications are quite abundant, much to offer in an eReader, but the real eye catcher is that it runs on the Google Android OS. This will free up system and allow it to receive amazing new applications currently being developed around the world for Android devices. The three pounder is quite thick looking in the photos, but on the enTourage specifications page it’s actually just 1-inch closed. Three pounds seems pretty heavy considering Apple’s iPad is half that, but of course with only one display.

Battery Life is said to be 16+ hours utilizing the e-reader screen and up to 6 hours running the LCD screen. That’s quite good and is in line with other devices. Connectivity comes in WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth flavours, no wireless 3G.

“Pre-orders received by January 12 will start shipping at the end of this week. New orders will ship in March,” E-Reader.info reports in an interview with Doug Atkinson, Entourage’s VP of Marketing and Business Development.

The company plans to have their own e-book store and isn’t afraid of going up against Amazon or Apple’s iBook store. “Having our own e-bookstore allows us to offer books and documents based on our customer demand,” said Atkinson in the interview. They will also provide access to over 1,000,000 free public domain titles from Google Books.

In a video demo by the company they show how you can drag a grayscale image from the E-Ink screen and view it in full color on the LCD one, or attach a video clip on one side to a passage from an e-book the other.

At $499 it sounds like a great buy, and you get to use the Android OS.

enTourage eDGe Dualbook Tablet Image Gallery

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Lenovo today unveiled their ThinkPad X201 tablet laptop, what they claim to be the industry’s fastest ultraportable, and also the thinnest and lightest ThinkPad yet.

Clocking 2.66GHz with the Intel Core i7-620M on Turbo Boost, 4GB RAM and a 320GB 5,400 hard drive. Battery life is decent, Lenovo’s specs claim 11 hours of battery life on a 9-cell battery, a review by Engadget shows the 6-cell battery of the X201T lasting 4 hours and 16 minutes. Lenovo will offer a 4-cell battery model to take the bulk out of things.

What shines incredibly is the 12.1-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel resolution touch screen with SimpleTap. It’s “quite bright and lacks the greyness that’s sometimes symptom of the added touch layer.” says Engadget. Viewing angles are good, the 360-degree bi-directional hinge is solid, and the latch is strong with no movement or jiggle to keep it locked into tablet mode. Touchscreen response is quite good, with multitouch gestures, two finger scrolling, and pinch to zoom. Check the video below to see the response.

Prices for the Lenovo X201T start at around $1900 Americanos, they go on sale March 1st on Lenovo’s website. The X200 series tablets with Intel Core 2 Duo processors have seen a recent price drop and start at $1509.

Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet Photo Gallery

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