There was so much on offer during the Google event, but what caught my eye was the idea of computational photography on Pixel 4. It's "ambient technology" theme is a unique invention as well. #Google #Pixel4 #computationalphotography #Chromebook
If you’ve been paying attention to tech news lately, you’d know that laptops and tablets have been locked in a weird state of flux. Laptops are trying to become tablets and tablets are trying to behave like laptops.
Early on, manufacturers have already been generally great with the hardware. The materials they used on their hybrid devices varied from polycarbonate plastic to space-grade aluminium, to magnesium alloy. These materials result in sleek, beautiful, and most importantly, relatively durable hardware.
The dream of an ultra-versatile computer, however, was held back by poorly designed operating systems.
Windows RT comes to mind as one of the biggest mobile desktop OS failures. It was a touch-centric OS designed for productivity tablets that tried to be a good content consumption device as well. It ended up in a classic case of trying too hard to become two things at once. In effect, Windows RT never became any good in either.
It was only when Windows 10 released that people started noticing it as a viable mobile desktop OS. Albeit, it served more like a desktop OS with the functionalities of a mobile device if you toggle on the tablet mode.
Other companies also had a difficult time creating a versatile mobile desktop OS. Samsung didn’t try until the DeX in 2017. And quite honestly, it hasn’t caught on to the degree that they probably expected yet. Apple, on the other hand, didn’t even have a similar offering until this year in the iPad OS.
But it seems that the collective efforts of all these corporate giants have paid off. These days, Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets with Windows 10 are quickly becoming one of the most sought-after products in the market. Apple’s iPads with iPad OS, on the other hand, are experiencing a further boost in sales since the new OS released. This is despite it already being the top dog in the tablet market. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 with Samsung DeX, lastly, is almost single-handedly reviving the dying premium Android tablet market. This is arguable because they've embraced the ultramobile experience in both hardware and software.
All these operating systems have their strengths and weaknesses. Which OS you’ll prefer to use depends on which strengths you’re after and what weakness you’re willing to live with.
Windows 10
Microsoft’s OS is probably the odd man out in this group. That’s because it’s technically a full desktop OS instead of a tablet OS. But it’s worth mentioning that it’s designed with touch-interface in mind, so it still falls within the category.
As such, good apps come far and few in between.
The few good ones that are left on the app store, however, work exceptionally well. Most apps that work well with it are first-party apps. If you’re heavily invested in Microsoft Office 365, a Windows 10 tablet would leave you satisfied.
Another thing that it’s got going for it is that you can install full versions of apps on it. This means you can have full functionalities of your favourite productivity apps. Both iOS and Android have mobile app versions that are often limited in functionality. For example, Windows 10 is the only system that can download Netflix movies because the dedicated app allows it.
Samsung DeX
Samsung DeX’s mobile OS-first approach makes it a direct opposite in design philosophy to Windows 10. Technically, it’s just an add-on feature that Samsung installed on a limited selection of their Android devices.
It initially launched on the Galaxy S8. It’s automatically activated once you place the phone in a dedicated DeX dock and connect it with an external monitor. From there, you can have a desktop-like experience in navigating your phone.
The leverage of the Android-based DeX setup is that there’s an excellent and up-to-date app selection. Microsoft itself even let users download mobile versions of their apps such as Word and Excel, available to the DeX.
Previous iterations of this Samsung feature were limited to using the DeX on external monitors via a dedicated dock. This makes it a desktop replacement instead of a fully mobile experience. Making DeX available on the Galaxy Tab S6 makes the whole system a decent mobile computer.
The result is a surreal experience of using an Android device that behaves like a desktop. Enabling the feature lets you have mouse and keyboard support that’s eerily like Windows. Features such as drag and drop, multiwindow view, and various others that you only used to be able to enjoy on a desktop will be available for you.
It does have some limitations though. For example, you can’t have two instances of an application open at the same time. And since you only have a mobile version of the application, functionality might also be limited.
iPad OS
As expected, Apple’s take on the mobile-yet-productive operating system is arguably the most refined. It’s got the best of both the tablet and full desktop OS worlds.
For one thing, it’s got a desktop-level internet browsing experience because it now comes with the full version of Safari. There are also other developers who've made full versions of their applications available for iOS. Adobe, for example, has made the fully-featured Photoshop available on the device. This enables you to leave your often-heavy photo editing machine at home if that's all you need to do on the go. The added Pencil support should also make editing more fun and precise on iPads compared to other photo editing alternatives.
Unlike Samsung DeX, you can run several instances of apps running at the same time. You can, for example, run two or more Excel documents for easy referencing. The multitasking features on iPad OS is also on par with the Mac OS now. In a lot of ways, this new operating system has become somewhat of a bridge between traditional iOS and Mac OS from form and function.
It does have its downsides though.
While fans lauded the move by Apple to include mouse support, they instantly became dismayed upon learning that it’s limited as an accessibility feature. It merely mimics touch support instead of natively supporting a Mac OS style pointer. Another thing is that it is, again, is still based on a mobile OS. This means some apps that you’re used to using on desktops and laptops might not have all the features you need for a certain task. Looking for the easy reference management of Microsoft Word? The iPad OS isn’t going to work for you.
This is a good article comparing some of the different capture cards for #streaming your current #gameplay or for recording it to edit and upload later. A few #gamers hang out here, which capture card do you use? #digitalgames #games #Twitch #YouTube #YouTubegamer #gaming #Razer #Elgato #tech#AverMedia
Was the Face ID Apple's initial idea? Either way, the Pixel 4 will now feature the face unlock technology and not a fingerprint sensor. It will also be interesting to see how the hand gesture commands will work (Project Soli technology). What is your take-home from this event?
Is the company the proverbial cat with nine lives? There has been a mass exodus, but Facebook is still putting up a brave face, amidst all the turmoil. What's next for the blockchain currency and the social media giant as a whole?
The most common myth has been that your phone can explode if it is left charging overnight. For a long time, almost everyone believed this. What I have picked from the article is that the battery doesn't have to drop to zero before recharging!
Let's be honest, how many of us have caught little ones playing games or surfing the internet when they were supposed to be quietly reading on their tablets before bed? Well, #Amazon has solved that dilemma with its #KindleKidsEdition e-reader. #bedtimereading #AmazonPrime #ebook #ebooklover #kidlit #freekidsbooks #FreeTimeUnlimited #tablet #book #fiction
This tiny device is the #TitanSecurityKey and it's meant to protect against phishing attacks. It's small enough to tuck away while on travel and could be particularly useful to those who work in IT. #Google #cybersecurity #antiphishing #YubiKey5C #FIDO #madebyGoogle #CIS #technews #dataprotection #accountsecurity #passwordsecurity
There used to be a non-Pro version of Microsoft’s tablet offerings. So when rumours started to go around that there's an ARM-based Surface on the way, we immediately assumed that it was going to be this non-Pro version - a much-awaited upgrade of the Surface 3. However, Microsoft decided to subvert our expectations. They released, instead, two tablets with the Pro moniker – the Surface Pro 7 and the Surface Pro X.
Most tech enthusiasts would probably already know the Pro 7. It’s the 7th generation of a device that’s mostly been iteratively updated every year since the Surface Pro 3. This means we’ve already had at least four generations of almost the same device to work with.
The Surface Pro X, on the other hand, is still a bit of a mystery. It’s an intriguing device because it’s an ARM-powered, Microsoft-built tablet that’s aimed, as the name suggests, at accomplishing some pro-level tasks. ARM-chips aren’t exactly known for being great productivity processors. I even got duped into thinking that this new ARM-powered Surface would be called the Surface 7 when rumours and leaks started swirling in the tech landscape.
How did the Surface Pro X exactly earn its Pro moniker? This is something that should interest a lot of tech enthusiasts. It’s an important question to ask because it just might be pointing to where the future of computing is going.
The Benefits of ARM on Tablets
The Surface Pro X isn't the first-ever Surface device to come equipped with an ARM-chip. That honour is with the original Microsoft Surface tablet launched back in 2012. It ran Windows RT and came in with the Nvidia Tegra 3 running it. It was a decent device for content consumption but a bit limited when it came to productivity.
It had great battery life, decent speakers, and adequate performance. It was Microsoft's response to the Apple iPad. You can, therefore, expect it to have all the same perks. It was a snappy, touch-prioritized device that served as a great content consumption machine. It was a tablet that was trying to do laptop things.
The Surface Pros, on the other hand, evolved to become excellent laptops that just happened to come in tablet form. It, however, did not have tablet-like performance especially in terms of battery life and a good touch interface.
Disadvantages of the ARM-Equipped Tablets
While Windows RT was a decent device to use when using the touch interface, it was also trying to be a productivity device. It came traditional input devices such as the trackpad and the keyboard. This is where things start to unravel for the first-generation Surface.
It seemed like it had an identity crisis because it was trying to be a content consumption device and a workhorse in equal measures. It became neither.
Running on processors designed for mobile devices have a lot of trade-offs. One of them is that it can’t run x86 programs made for Windows. This forced Microsoft’s hand to design an OS specifically for these types of devices. The result was the birth of the Windows RT – a scaled-down version of Windows 10 that only supported apps that can be found on the Windows store.
It was a limited app marketplace as Microsoft was late to the party. Google and Apple were pretty much saturated the mobile OS platforms at the time of the Surface’s release, so developers weren’t keen on making Windows apps. Surface users were left in the dust. They couldn’t run traditional productivity programs and they couldn’t find decent content consumption apps in Microsoft’s marketplace.
Snapdragon Swoops In With Custom Microsoft SQ1 Processor
One thing that the explosive entrance of the smartphone into the world of consumer electronics proved is that size doesn’t exactly translate to power. Apple’s in-house 7nm chips proved this by beating out a lot of Intel processors at video editing. Renders on the iPad Pro and iPhone X are extraordinarily quick, intuitive, and uncompromised. That’s mostly because some video editing apps such as Adobe have designed full desktop apps that work with iOS.
Android’s chipset maker, Snapdragon, is not too far off. They’ve been making pretty powerful chips too. Some of them found their way to the laptop segment. This resulted in the birth of the Always-On PCs. Technically, the Surface Pro X checks a lot of the boxes that align it in this category. The custom Microsoft SQ1 chip from Snapdragon that it comes equipped with has a built-in LTE receiver which means you won’t be limited to WiFi connections when you’re on-the-go. The processor is also power-efficient which means you can expect up to 10 straight hours of use before needing to plug it in.
While its architecture still limits its capabilities to run x86 programs, it's powerful enough to emulate them. How well these emulation works is yet to be tested. But if it does this without hiccups, the Surface Pro X should be an overall better product than the Surface Pro 7 because of its hardware superiority.
Superior Hardware
These days, laptops are going bezel-less. The Surface Pros are the lone holdouts. It's probably because of the tablet form-factor. The bezels are essentially thumb rests if you’re using it as a tablet.
On the other hand, Surface Pro X has no pretentions that it's going to be used as a tablet so most of the bezels are gone to make way for screen real estate. Which, in my opinion, is always a welcome compromise for a productivity device. It’ll have the same general size as the Surface Pro 7 but with a screen that’s almost an inch larger.
There are also two USB-C ports that fans of the Surface devices have been clamouring for. It still sports the Surface Connect that’s now capable of fast charging.
The keyboard is still something of a wonder. Like its predecessors for the Surface Pro, the Surface Pro X Typecover Keyboard is still one of the best tablet keyboards around. The new Surface Slim Pen, on the other hand, has a slight deviation from its predecessor, the Surface Pen. Instead of being magnetized on the side of the device, it now finds its home inside a cradle in the Surface Pro X Typecover. From inside there, it charges wirelessly.
It's meant to be more of a productivity machine than one that's geared towards content consumption. This is the general direction that the entire Windows ecosystem is currently going towards. They haven't had any sort of innovation in the tablet mode. It has been relegated to something that might be convenient to use but not necessarily a deal-breaker if it's weren't an option.
Overall, the Surface Pro X looks like it’s shaping up to be the future of the Surface Pro line of Microsoft devices. A long-lasting productivity device that’s capable of doing a little content consumption as well. If it works as advertised, it may just become the default Surface Pro device in the years to come. It has all of the pros of its predecessors minus some of the cons. This makes it a really compelling look into the future of mobile computing.
Could you imagine if you could live in a dorm with such fabulous set-up? I bet I would just stay at the dorm without leaving haha. Though I’m not sure if it’s really possible for a dorm and it might be a bit too costly.
Corsair is a company well-known for manufacturing incredible gaming headsets. This particular one is portable and has a louder bass and impressive surround sound. It looks like the future is wireless.
