Microsoft Is Working On a Foldable Device With a Focus On Pen and Digital Ink (windowscentral.com)

Microsoft is reportedly working on a foldable device with an emphasis on pen and digital-ink functionality that runs Windows 10, and it could be here as soon as next year. The company is looking to create a new category-defining mobile device that's aimed at an entirely new demographic, and that puts pen and digital inking at the forefront of the experience. Windows Central reports: At Windows Central, we've been covering two ongoing internal projects within Microsoft: CShell and Windows Core OS. Both of these projects play an important part in Microsoft's next rumored mobile device, which appears to be commonly referred to as "Andromeda" on the web. According to our sources, the Andromeda device is prototype hardware; a foldable tablet that runs Windows 10 built with Windows Core OS, along with CShell to take advantage of its foldable display. I imagine CShell plays an important roll in the foldable aspect of this device. Considering it's foldable, being a tablet doesn't mean much, and I'm told it's designed to be pocketable when folded, kind of like a phone. I make the comparison to a phone because I'm also hearing that it also has telephony capabilities, meaning you could replace your actual smartphone with it and still be able to take calls and texts. My sources make it clear, however, that this is not supposed to be a smartphone replacement but rather a device similar to the canceled "Microsoft Courier." In short, Andromeda is a digital pocket notebook.

Comments

Will it do what I tell it to do?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't stand modern day software.

If I tell the computer to do something- like, say, stop pestering me about using Edge, or showing displays on my home screen, or installing updates without my permission- it better well fucking do that. If the computer is in any position to deny my wishes, then I do not own that device- someone else does, and therefore I refuse to buy and run such hardware and software.

Frankly, I'm at a point in my life where I barely use ~40% of the capability of the software I've got right now. The particular industry I'm in isn't changing that much and the standards we have now will be valid for the next 10-20 years. I'd rather have a good backup + imaging system and some heavy duty firewalls and run "antiquated" (by Microsoft's definition) software for the next several decades than deal with any of this newfangled shit that can run off and do whatever the hell it wants on MY fucking equipment.

TLDR; fuck walled gardens and "mobile ecosystems". That shit is a fucking disgrace to your personal freedoms as a paying customer. Modern day hardware is practically built with an obsolescence timer built into the software (they're called "yearly updates" now) and hardware (shoddy construction, glued/fused together chassis, glued in batteries, etc). Fuck that noise. And fuck all the companies ran exclusively by their shareholders to perpetuate that shit at the cost of the general public. We should be trying to build better devices that are more flexible and last longer, not the other way around. This project sounds no different.

Re:Will it do what I tell it to do?

[Misagon]

Being in control of my computer is the main reason why I am mainly a Linux user.

You could build a long-lasting PC from components but you would first have to do a bit of looking for info, and then read up about them ... but there is a whole lot of cruft out there. The PC builder enthusiast community is now largely made up of gamers that just want high performance and run it hard for a short time before they upgrade.

It works well with previous Microsoft hardware

[johannesg]

Andromeda is just a code name. The final name for consumers will be Microsoft Tablecloth.

What I have been waiting for

[pablo_max]

This is the type of device that I have been waiting for.
For my job, I need to take a lot of notes. I often need to sketch out things like simplified pulse trains for my customers so they can understand what they need to change on their radio. This is something which "could" be done on something like a surface, but I find writing on a normal laptop screen to be very uncomfortable and unnatural. It tends to make everything I write or draw look like I was doing some finger painting. Large and crappy.
I have tried that sony e-paper doodad which you can write on. That really did "feel" like I was writing on a paper, but the software and overall usability was supremely bad. Definitely not something which I could live with as a productivity device.
If MS could get the feel and accuracy of the writing to be at least very close to pen and paper, I would buy it.
I often use onenote anyhow, and it would be really great to have a dedicated program to manage all my handwritten notes.
I would prefer that it not try to convert my writing to typed text, but if it were still searchable...that would be fantastic.
Normally, I would assume MS would F it up, as they always do with HW, but in the last couple of years, their notebooks have actually been pretty damn good.
So.. I hope they pull it off.

Re:What I have been waiting for

[TuringTest]

You may want to try again with the reMarkable, a new product in the same category as the Sony e-paper.

It is expensive, and it has very limited software, but that allows them to provide a very focused minimal interface that feels like using paper in a notebook - just editable, with layers and background templates.

Awkward half-way house devices

[Custard Horse]

Is it the PDA - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... - that MS is seeking to reinvent?

I don't get it - why would you want to push technology backwards? I get that people still write things down and they still use pen(cil) and paper which serves the purpose perfectly - albeit without SD slot.

We don't need some awkward bastard child of paper and tablet/phone.

Please MS, please stick to what you know - Word and Excel. Amazon and Google will bring new ideas to the table and Apple will make them look pretty and more slick, just like it has always been (for most of the elapsed current millennium).

Re:Awkward half-way house devices

[Samantha Wright]

They tried that already. Gates himself picked Windows 8 tablets over the Courier because it was easier to integrate into the Outlook/Exchange ecosystem. Given how spectacularly and repeatedly Windows tablets have failed, it's good that they're finally revisiting what everyone thought was their ace in the hole against Apple. Watch this video. You're right, it's not a product for everyone, but for the creative professionals who make up the bulk of macOS's (ever-dwindling) userbase, it was way more attractive than the passivity of an iPad, and likely still is.

Re:Bad autocorrect?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

You mean Composable Shell?

No, the Compostable Shell has been in the Microsoft Developer's Code Suppository for a long time now.

They have only just recently pulled it out of their ass.

Re:The pen is mightier

[Joce640k]

"Writing" could be done on smartphones.

But it isn't.

For a reason.

Nokia Communicator type device?

[Hal_Porter]

A long time ago I owned one of these

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It was a clamshell device running Geos. Folded up it had an external display for phone stuff.

Now I reckon something like this might be viable now. You'd have Windows on both the phone and PDA side. The phone would be somewhat limited - i.e. basically a dumb phone for calls. Everything else would done on the PDA side. They could use one of the Atom descendents like this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Or they could run on ARM with their x86 to ARM emulator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Of course Microsoft have managed to wreck the desirability of such a such a device. Right now if you look at all device classes Windows and Android are actually neck and neck - Windows dominates desktops and notebooks but Android dominates tablets and phones

http://gs.statcounter.com/os-m...

It's questionable if there is still a market for a clamshell phone sized device running desktop Windows. Basically you'd end up with a 5 to 6 inch display, which is probably too small to do desktop stuff.

Also even though desktop Windows has most of the desktop market share, it's no longer the only desktop OS. Back in the old days if you wanted to view .doc and .xls files you basically needed Windows and Microsoft Office. Now it's not like that - both open OK on my Android phone and Mac using non Microsoft OSs and non Microsoft office packages. And if you want to run Photoshop or Office you need a big screen and fast processor.

I actually thought they'd do something like this with WIndows Phone. Instead they decided to kill Win32 support and try to move everyone to buying Metro apps from the Windows Store. And they Metroised Windows 8. Still perhaps now they've officially dropped Windows Phone they might decide to rethink. I suspect the ship has sailed for Win32 anyway though, and that probably means the end of Microsoft in the long run. If you're going to move from Win32 to a new OS as a user you'd be better off moving from Microsoft to Android, Chrome, macOS, iOS or Linux.