Windows RT tablets and hybrids coming soon

Microsoft, Asus, Lenovo and Samsung are launching tablets with Microsoft's Windows RT

Microsoft will open the floodgates for Windows RT tablets at a release event Oct. 26 in New York City. The Surface tablet from Microsoft will be available on launch, with more tablets from Asus, Dell, Samsung, Lenovo and Acer coming in the following weeks.

The tablets are designed for long battery life and will compete with iPad and Android tablets on price and features. The tablets will come with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT Preview, which will include Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. There are things to consider such as support for older peripherals and backward Windows compatibility, but here are Windows RT tablets and hybrid devices that have been announced so far:

---

 

Microsoft's Surface

The RT tablet getting the most attention is Microsoft Surface. The tablet represents the first time Microsoft has made its own client hardware, and expectations are high.

The Surface can be ordered from Microsoft's website starting at US$499 with 32GB of storage. For an additional $100, Microsoft is offering a Touch Cover accessory, which is a magnetic cover that is also a keyboard. A 64GB model is $699 and comes with the Touch Cover. The Surface tablet is 680 grams, 9.3 millimeters thick and has a 10.6-inch screen. It has a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, which is based on an ARM processor.

Other features include front and back cameras, Bluetooth 4.0, a microSDXC card slot, USB 2.0 ports and 2GB of RAM. Microsoft is trying to differentiate the Surface from rival RT tablets with some tweaks such as a kickstand to hold the tablet. The tablet will be available initially in the U.S., Canada, Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the U.K.
 

---

 

Asus' Vivo Tab RT
Asustek was the first to show off a Windows RT device with the Tablet 600, which has now been renamed Vivo Tab RT. The tablet, scheduled to go on sale later this month, has a 10.1-inch display and a Tegra 3 processor. Asus has not yet officially revealed the tablet's price, but retailer Staples has tagged it at $599.99.

At 520 grams, the Vivo Tab RT is lighter than Microsoft's Surface, and also thinner at 8.35 millimeters. The tablet has 32GB of storage, 2GB of memory, a 2-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front camera. The tablet's display will show images at a 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, according to published specifications. Other features include a micro-HDMI port, micro-SD slot, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

AT&T has announced it would offer the Vivo Tab with 4G LTE later this year. Data plans or pricing for the device were not available from AT&T.

---

Samsung's Ativ Tab
Samsung is listing a 12-hour battery life for its Ativ Tab tablet when playing movies, which is perhaps the most of any tablet available today. However, it is unclear whether that battery life will be achieved by using a dock that has a spare battery. The tablet has a 10.1-inch screen, weighs 570 grams and measures 8.9 millimeters thick.

Pricing for the tablet hasn't yet been announced. But U.K.-based online retailer Clove said in a blog that the tablet will become available in late October for about US$735, which totals about $880 including value-added tax.

The tablet will run on Qualcomm's dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, which is configured to deliver connectivity and all-day operation. The Snapdragon processor has integrated 3G/4G capabilities but currently the tablet does not have mobile broadband features. Windows RT is being pitched as a consumer OS, but Samsung has highlighted some enterprise features in Ativ Tab including Microsoft Exchange and Cisco VPN (virtual private network) support.

The Ativ Tab has a USB 2.0 port and a micro-HDMI port. It also has a software and hardware feature called AllShare, which will allow the tablet to share multimedia files with other Samsung devices such as Android-based Galaxy tablets. Other features include NFC and Wi-Fi Direct, which is a way for devices to talk wirelessly without the need for an access point.

---

 

Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga 11
Lenovo in early October announced IdeaPad Yoga 11, the company's first hybrid laptop/tablet with an ARM processor and Windows RT. The device has an 11.6-inch screen that flips to turn the device from a laptop into a tablet. But with a starting price of $799 it won't be an easy sell as a tablet, especially as it is slightly heavier and more expensive compared to tablets with similar features.

The device will run Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor, and Lenovo did not say if it would have 3G/4G features. It weighs 1.27 kilograms (2.8 pounds) and offers 13 hours of battery life. Other features include 64GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, a HDMI out port, a 720p Web cam, a USB 2.0 port and a media card reader. The Yoga 11 will go on sale in December.
 

---

 

Dell's XPS 10 tablet
Dell is re-entering the consumer tablet market with the XPS 10, which has 10.1-inch screen and Windows RT. The company is targeting the tablet to fit in the BYOD phenomena. System administrators can disable the tablet remotely if it gets lost or stolen. IT administrators can also remotely deliver software images and updates to tablets. The tablet has a Snapdragon S4 processor, but other hardware details are not available. The tablet's price and specifications will be available at a later date.

Other RT tablets
Acer plans to announce a Windows RT tablet at a later date, while Toshiba has temporarily scrapped plans to launch a device based on the Windows RT OS.

---

Microsoft MCTS Certification, MCITP Certification and over 3000+
Exams with Life Time Access Membership at http://www.actualkey.com

A USB Hard Drive That Asks For Your PIN Before Allowing Access

Here's a hard drive that comes with a secure PIN (personal identification number) access that bars anyone who's not authorised.

Taking hard drives along for storage and portability needs has become a necessity these days. But security is still an unaddressed issue, in case the hard drive lands in the wrong hands. Apricorn has just come up with a new concept incorporated in its Aegis Padlock encrypted USB hard drive. The hard drive comes with a secure PIN access that bars any unauthorised entry if it is either lost or stolen. The Aegis Padlock includes a keypad on which you have to enter the required PIN as and when you try to access the data stored on it.

The Aegis Padlock features a choice of AES (advanced encryption standard) 128- or 256-bit hardware encryption that offers better security. The hard drive is available in the 250 GB, 320 GB and 500 GB capacities, and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. The price starts at $ 99 (Rs 4,829 approx.).

Best comptia A+ Training, Comptia A+ Certification at Certkingdom.com

Microsoft: Expect 100,000 Win 8 apps by Feb. 1; 400M devices by July

Microsoft has set some ambitious goals for Windows 8 -- 400 million devices in customer hands by next July and more than 100,000 applications stocked in the Windows Store by the end of January, according to a top Microsoft sales exec.

That's according to a Beet.TV interview with Keith Lorizio, Microsoft's vice president for U.S. sales and marketing, who calls the success of Windows 8 a guarantee.

ANALYSIS: What if Windows 8 flops?

HELP: 11 (FREE!) Microsoft tools to make life easier

He cites the 400 million Windows 8 devices out of a potential 1 billion devices in the marketplace as massive distribution of the new operating system. These devices would include both new sales and upgraded Windows 7 machines.

The company hopes to draw customers with the unified look and feel of Windows 8 with its Xbox and Windows Phone 8 platforms that rely on touch and tiles as their navigation preferences, he says.

But having a wealth of Windows 8 applications on tap is essential to the success, he says. "We're expecting to aggressively pursue 100,000-plus apps over the first three months." That would be a significant jump over the current inventory, estimated at about 3,000.

These apps are apparently vital to the financial success of the operating system because they will be rife with paid ads that Lorizio claims won't be a distraction.

"So all of the ads are going to be integrated, they're not going to be disruptive for the user/consumer experience but beautiful, relevant and useful," he says. Microsoft will split ad revenues with the apps' developers under terms each will work out, he says. "It's critical for us to get a critical mass of apps in order for the users to integrate in the ... highest consumer-oriented experience."

It's a costly venture for Microsoft to generate the needed volume of applications. "[W]e're putting millions of dollars against that effort and working with publishers in order to their apps live as quickly as possible," he says.

The company is running developer seminars to advise on how to write compelling Windows 8 apps that conform with the common look, feel and navigation Microsoft promises across all the applications. It is also vetting all applications before they are put up for sale at the Windows Store.

"[I]n order for us to reach our goal which is a conservative estimate of 400 million units in the marketplace by July first," Lorizio says, "we know that we have to have a very, very healthy ecosystem of applications."

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com