retroremakes
March 5th, 2010, 17:05
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/500x_courierfreshhher.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/courierfreshhher.jpg)These fresh images and details (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/) of Microsoft's Courier paint a slightly different device than the one uncovered a few months ago (http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet)—tinier, perhaps less genre-busting, and a more direct iPad fighter.
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/500x_courerhands.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/courerhands.jpg)This take is built on the same mobile OS core as Windows Phone 7 and Zune HD, powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 hardware (http://gizmodo.com/5428016/tegra-2-coming-in-january-nvidia-promises-netbooks-smartphones-and-smartbooks-galore). It's supposedly thinner than an inch, under a pound, and about the size of a 5x7 photo when closed.
As you can see, the device seems even smaller, the interface, though still pen-based, seems less whizzy based on these stills than the wildly complex and sophisticated (or maybe just complex) interface shown earlier (http://gizmodo.com/5380626/courier-user-interface-in-depth/gallery/):
Is Courier progressing or regressing? It's hard to tell—we're not sure where in Courier's development these concepts are from vs. our initial reportage. But if they are newer, a few things stand out.
• Courier's grown to be more realstic and less different, which is not uncommon for mind-bogglingly radical-seeming products. (Our mind was blown by the original interface, anyway, for better or worse.)
• Shifting from using Windows 7 as its core as Mary Jo Foley first reported (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4103) to Windows CE6 and mobile guts puts it more squarely against the iPad, using a similar philosophical approach of scaling up (http://gizmodo.com/5461767/the-two-wrong-ways-to-make-a-tablet) to a tablet, vs. scaling down as Microsoft's always done before. (Which makes sense, given that this is supposedly J. Allard's project (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4011)—he'd want to use E&D's own goods to power his tablet.) Also, mobile guts are cheaper than low-power laptop guts.
• This could be one of the several prototype (http://gizmodo.com/5366002/courier-isnt-the-only-secret-microsoft-tablet) tablets J. Allard's got—which would explain why there's versions that seem more like full Windows 7 vs. Windows Phone 7.
• Engadget pegs the launch date later this year, though we've heard separately that Courier won't show up anytime in 2010.
• We're still pretty excited.
[Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/)]
http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?p=1 (http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?p=1) http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:H0mrP-F8Qgo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:D7DqB2pKExk</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:D7DqB2pKExk) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:V_sGLiPBpWU</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:V_sGLiPBpWU)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/XsHGG6aya7I
More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/XsHGG6aya7I/microsoft-couriers-devolution)
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/500x_courerhands.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/courerhands.jpg)This take is built on the same mobile OS core as Windows Phone 7 and Zune HD, powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 hardware (http://gizmodo.com/5428016/tegra-2-coming-in-january-nvidia-promises-netbooks-smartphones-and-smartbooks-galore). It's supposedly thinner than an inch, under a pound, and about the size of a 5x7 photo when closed.
As you can see, the device seems even smaller, the interface, though still pen-based, seems less whizzy based on these stills than the wildly complex and sophisticated (or maybe just complex) interface shown earlier (http://gizmodo.com/5380626/courier-user-interface-in-depth/gallery/):
Is Courier progressing or regressing? It's hard to tell—we're not sure where in Courier's development these concepts are from vs. our initial reportage. But if they are newer, a few things stand out.
• Courier's grown to be more realstic and less different, which is not uncommon for mind-bogglingly radical-seeming products. (Our mind was blown by the original interface, anyway, for better or worse.)
• Shifting from using Windows 7 as its core as Mary Jo Foley first reported (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4103) to Windows CE6 and mobile guts puts it more squarely against the iPad, using a similar philosophical approach of scaling up (http://gizmodo.com/5461767/the-two-wrong-ways-to-make-a-tablet) to a tablet, vs. scaling down as Microsoft's always done before. (Which makes sense, given that this is supposedly J. Allard's project (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4011)—he'd want to use E&D's own goods to power his tablet.) Also, mobile guts are cheaper than low-power laptop guts.
• This could be one of the several prototype (http://gizmodo.com/5366002/courier-isnt-the-only-secret-microsoft-tablet) tablets J. Allard's got—which would explain why there's versions that seem more like full Windows 7 vs. Windows Phone 7.
• Engadget pegs the launch date later this year, though we've heard separately that Courier won't show up anytime in 2010.
• We're still pretty excited.
[Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/)]
http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?p=1 (http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?p=1) http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:H0mrP-F8Qgo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:D7DqB2pKExk</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:D7DqB2pKExk) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:V_sGLiPBpWU</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=XsHGG6aya7I:kk9Vcys3OgY:V_sGLiPBpWU)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/XsHGG6aya7I
More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/XsHGG6aya7I/microsoft-couriers-devolution)