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Nokia Introduces Windows Tablet
jones_supa sends this news from The Verge:
"Rumored for a long time, Nokia's Windows tablet has finally been released. Microsoft might be buying Nokia's device business, but for the next few months they're going to be battling it out as competitors for Windows-based tablet market share. The new Lumia 2520 tablet is everything you'd expect from Nokia; it comes with a very bright and colorful full HD 10.1" display and it looks just like a supersized version of a Lumia series Windows Phone. Other Nokia signatures are a high-quality camera and maps which work reliably offline too. Inside there's a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, and the word is that Windows RT 8.1 runs great. It's responsive and multitasking apps seems just as good as the Surface 2. Because this is Windows RT you also get access to the desktop Office apps as part of this device. At that point the real Surface-like keyboard and trackpad become useful, alongside two USB ports. Estimated battery life is of 11 hours, which is increased when the cover is attached."
Sounds great, looks great, but the price is the most important piece of information here and I don't see it. If it's as affordable as a Nexus 7, it's quite interesting. Priced at parity with ipad like Surface? Not nearly as interesting. Anyone know what the price is?
Can programmers really not manage to present two different ways of presenting information.
They could, if the web had been designed to separate content from presentation. Then different devices could display the same information in whatever form they thought best.
Oh, hang on, that's what HTML was supposed to do in the first place, until 'web designers' decided they needed the page to look exactly the way they wanted it to look.
It's packing LTE, and a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 CPU inside, with a bright 650nit screen made out of Gorilla Glass 2. A 6.7MP rear camera featuring Zeiss optics and a 2MP front facing camera. 800mAh battery go from drained to 50 percent charge in just 40 minutes. The Nokia Power Keyboard accessory extra $149, and promises an extra five hours of battery life plus two extra USB ports.
Its not really the best article when it cuts out all the information!!!!!! The fact is is 3 times as expensive as new Nexus 7 with a less desirable OS. Other than it being fun(or depressing) to kick what is left of Nokia. I am not sure of the relevance. I cant help finding it extra ironic(or again depressing) that Windows Phone limited success has been at undercutting Android in its traditional counties.
We have a USELESS tablet, with locked down hardware. We have a miserable selection of apps, including a YouTube app which is nothing more than an HTML5 webpage. We have a high price, $400-$500 minimum. And we have a company that will not be making any further versions of this machine, also bringing into question their ability to even support the poor fools who buy one! Utterly useless waste of time and money for Nokia!
I think *ALL* computers running walled garden OSs where execution must be approved by a single entity are offensively stupid.
Neither would I consider purchasing such an expensive device without a user replaceable battery. Batteries still suck and there is still enough variance during manufacturing and use it is still very much luck of the draw what you'll get.
There is no useful technical reason for locking down execution and planned obsolescence (dead battery = dead device) other than screwing over customers.
In this way I hate the new Nokia and Windows RT bullshit as much as I hate Apples ipad bullshit.
It really is quite a depressing situation... the hardware guys continue to kick ass while software guys seem to be spending all their time picking their noses, fiddling with UX and carefully apportioning value such that none dare be left on the table.
Vote positive (to even slightly pro-MS posts) and you will no more receive voting points. I have huge amount of positive karma (tens of +5 posts) but after I voted a few of these up, I receive no more voting points.
Btw. I have never worked for any American company or organization (let alone MS). I have been using Linux since 15 years ago on servers but windows on most workstations. I have developed mostly for *nix, Java and at the same time C++ for Windows.
So don't assume the votes on /. really show the opinions of all readers. /. gives the up vote points to those it likes.