Microsoft Surface tablets

BTW I'd be surprised if people cared about the OS they boot if all they need is getting access to a Web browser; it's so trivial on most OS to launch a browser that I can't see how that could make a difference.

You think the average Joe is going to search around on the Net to figure out which is the best Linux distro to use?
 
e-ink displays are much better for reading because they use reflected light and a static image. Backlit displays refresh. Not only do they look unnatural as they do not match ambient light, they refresh which causes eye fatigue. Viewing angles on e-ink are also better, which adds another level of stability to the image as you hold the device in front of you.

I've also read about white light triggering your brain to become awake. Something about using softer or warmer colours for nightlights, and not switching on the bathroom lights if you get up in the night, and relying on a nightlight instead (hopefully without peeing on yourself in the dark).
 
What, you don't think the original Xbox is beautiful? :)

But her systers are the Xbox 360 S and Surface. Maybe she'd be considered more beautiful in another family. :smile:

And I use both 7 and 8. I'm currently moving my main dev box to 8, since I just got a new PC.

So does your version of Windows 8 have a start menu??? :devilish: I want it baaaack.
 
e-ink displays are much better for reading because they use reflected light and a static image. Backlit displays refresh. Not only do they look unnatural as they do not match ambient light, they refresh which causes eye fatigue. Viewing angles on e-ink are also better, which adds another level of stability to the image as you hold the device in front of you.

I've also read about white light triggering your brain to become awake. Something about using softer or warmer colours for nightlights, and not switching on the bathroom lights if you get up in the night, and relying on a nightlight instead (hopefully without peeing on yourself in the dark).

this.
 
I think he meant that the 200 WPM is done on a normal hardware keyboard, just that the difference between normal KB and a touchscreen KB is so huge that he prefers handwriting over on screen KB.

200 WPM is still more than I'm willing to believe at this point.

Yup, this. I just can't get used to a capacitive touch (touch screen) keyboard. The lack of keys completely weirds me out after decades of touch typing. Hence, I'm much faster at handwriting on a slate than I am at typing using any of the on screen keyboards I've tried.

That's why I absolutely cant stand the touch only slate that I have. For me it's absolutely worthless as capacitive touch pens, at least for me, are absolutely worthless and not worth the money spent on them. And trust me, I've spent quite a bit of money on specialty capactive touch pens in my quest to find one that is at least 1/10th as good as an active digitizer pen. Unfortunately no such thing exists or even comes close to being 1/10 as good. :(

And it's quite possible I may have fallen off 200 WPM the past few years. I haven't had the need to type quickly recently. And with age, I'm probably closer to 160-190 now, depending on the weather (joints and muscle stiffness if it's cold :p). My typing instructor back in high school used to type 225-240 WPM. Most people these days won't be able to approach those speeds as they aren't taught the tricks to fast touch typing that was required back in the era of mechanical typewriters (non-electric).

Regards,
SB
 
e-ink displays are much better for reading because they use reflected light and a static image. Backlit displays refresh. Not only do they look unnatural as they do not match ambient light, they refresh which causes eye fatigue. Viewing angles on e-ink are also better, which adds another level of stability to the image as you hold the device in front of you.

I've also read about white light triggering your brain to become awake. Something about using softer or warmer colours for nightlights, and not switching on the bathroom lights if you get up in the night, and relying on a nightlight instead (hopefully without peeing on yourself in the dark).

That may be true for reading eBooks but of course, if you're surfing, e-ink can't help you.

There are surveys showing that tablet usage has spikes in the early morning and late night hours, suggesting that people are using tablets in bed, before going to bed and when they wake up.

A lighter e-ink reader might be better for bed but with the limitations on what content you can view and needing a separate light in the dark hours.

Do adults use night lights?
 
Scott_Arm said:
Backlit displays refresh. Not only do they look unnatural as they do not match ambient light, they refresh which causes eye fatigue.
Well, no, not really. I'm not saying that an LCD doesn't refresh, it does, but for static images, it might as well not refresh and the end result would be identical, as long as it doesn't last too long (but the time constant is quite long, way longer than anything that would be perceived as flicker.) An LCD pixel can best be compared with a very large DRAM storage cell.

Completely the opposite from a CRT, which has a very short time constant and where flicker is a serious issue, of course.

If you'd ever see flicker on an LCD it'd be because the backlight isn't set to 100% and using PWM to get a lower brightness, but that'd only be the case if the PWM frequency is set way too low. Still flicker, but not related to refresh.
 
You think the average Joe is going to search around on the Net to figure out which is the best Linux distro to use?

You wrote:
Yeah, but people still need an OS to boot into a Web browser.
Where exactly did you say they have to choose a Linux distro? Isn't the context of this discussion about how great it is to have Win8 on a tablet? If so, I stand to my point: people who are using Windows every day have no issue switching to Android or iOS.

[OT] As far as choosing a Linux distro goes, it's much more a pain for experienced users as me. I've been using Linux for 15 years and the large distro have become disgusting for me. For an end-user Ubunutu probably is the way to go.
 
An LCD panel with definition and color reproduction as refined as the new iPad's noticeably eases fatigue on the eyes and brain over standard-fare LCDs, showing a lot of potential to improve readability before considering a change in the fundamental display tech.

I can definitely see the case for coupling a stylus with a convertible tablet, yet I ultimately feel that touch apps will adapt and evolve their interface and functionality to capture the necessary input in other ways such that mass market tablets could still succeed without a stylus.

Apple's design philosophy is to target the needs of the mass market as aptly as possible by controlling every part of their products, software to hardware from the ground up. Touch-only is just an extension of what was needed, not some philosophical standpoint in itself. If apps remain too limited in their ability to capture input without the use of a stylus as the market evolves, Apple would embrace an active digitizer stylus + capacitive multitouch screen in iOS products, of course. They wouldn't have reached the success they have without being able to adapt. The delay in that adaptation, however, would represent the opportunity for taking marketshare for the companies who had been more visionary.
 
Yes, but any technology that relies on broadcasting light rather than using reflected environment light will always have significantly more light emitted, afaik? It will always have the light plus the environment light? Especially reflective screens? (not 100% sure)

I do not deny that the iPad 3 reads better because of the high resolution, but the kind of fatigue of looking at the screen isn't much different from me.
 
Where exactly did you say they have to choose a Linux distro? Isn't the context of this discussion about how great it is to have Win8 on a tablet? If so, I stand to my point: people who are using Windows every day have no issue switching to Android or iOS.

AzBat stated on the previous page that people aren't as entrenched into the MS/Intel platform as what they were in the past, partly because a lot of tasks can now be handled by online programs. I was stating that even though they may do a lot of stuff online, a browser is a program that still needs to be run on an OS. If people don't choose Windows, they are probably using a Mac - the vast majority of users aren't going to go down the alternate OS path.

I also agree with your point, that Windows users have no issue switching to Android or iOS, probably because the use of these is very similar to Windows (i.e. you press an icon, it opens a program, you use the program, etc etc). The benefit of Win 8, of course, is that the user experience should be the same across multiple platforms. Remember, people in general hate change, and they won't if they don't have to.
 
AzBat stated on the previous page that people aren't as entrenched into the MS/Intel platform as what they were in the past, partly because a lot of tasks can now be handled by online programs. I was stating that even though they may do a lot of stuff online, a browser is a program that still needs to be run on an OS. If people don't choose Windows, they are probably using a Mac - the vast majority of users aren't going to go down the alternate OS path.
Ha, we weren't talking in the same context :smile:

I also agree with your point, that Windows users have no issue switching to Android or iOS, probably because the use of these is very similar to Windows (i.e. you press an icon, it opens a program, you use the program, etc etc). The benefit of Win 8, of course, is that the user experience should be the same across multiple platforms. Remember, people in general hate change, and they won't if they don't have to.
Won't they have to adapt to the new interface that's suitable to a tablet? That looks like a disruptive change which looks as great as moving from Windows 7 to Android or iOS.

But I agree with your point about resistance to change. I just disagree that Win8 on tablet is a small enough change that would make the typical end user (not the pro or advanced users) prefer a Win8 tablet, be it x86 or ARM, over an Android/iOS one.
 
Won't they have to adapt to the new interface that's suitable to a tablet? That looks like a disruptive change which looks as great as moving from Windows 7 to Android or iOS.

But I agree with your point about resistance to change. I just disagree that Win8 on tablet is a small enough change that would make the typical end user (not the pro or advanced users) prefer a Win8 tablet, be it x86 or ARM, over an Android/iOS one.

Yeah, I thought about that when typing my previous post. I think that Win 8, with the Metro interface, is going to be different enough that people will initially be hesitant to use it. However, I think that people will be more likely to buy a Win 8 tablet or phone once they do the initial upgrade to Win 8 on their desktop/laptop.

For myself, I can't wait for Win 8. I need a new laptop (my current machine is my 4 year old netbook with an SSD, extra RAM, and Win 7. And yes, it does run Photoshop!) and my phone is out of contract in August. So I'm planning to buy a hybrid laptop/tablet, and will probably get a Win 8 phone so that both run the same platform. I'll either upgrade my desktop to Win 8, or get rid of it all together and use a NAS for storage. I figure the laptop will be powerful enough for my work use, and I no longer game, so I don't require a beefy video card.
 
Yes, but any technology that relies on broadcasting light rather than using reflected environment light will always have significantly more light emitted, afaik? It will always have the light plus the environment light? Especially reflective screens? (not 100% sure)
Turn off an LCD and you see how much ambient light it reflects (that's not entirely true, the screen I'm using right now actually reflects less light when turned on). I haven't done any direct comparisons, but my gut feeling is that a completely "black" e-ink screen reflects more light than a matte LCD, as e-ink screens aren't exactly known for their high contrast.
 
I think the e-ink vs. backlit lcd thing is less about transmitted vs. reflected light (though I think that contributes to eye strain as I'll explain) and more about focus.

Color screens have closely-grouped, single-color subpixels that vary in intensity relative to their adjacent subpixels to create different colors. The muscles in one's eyes are constantly trying to bring objects into perfect focus and this is literally impossible with color pixels. Add to this the fringing caused by the transmitted backlight and those muscles are going to be working overtime trying to focus those black-on-white looking color dot groups. The effect is negligible for gaming and movies as the eye is tricked by the lack of sharp borders. Toss in an infinitely lower persistence of and LCD and you get more eyestrain than e-ink.

Compare that to e-ink with its infinite persistence, non-existent fringing and true pixels for sharper focus...and please remember that focus isn't the same as resolution. For a focusing eye, accuracy (where is that pixel) is more important that resolution (how small is that pixel).
 
Also: With a reflective screen, the brightness of the screen is always relative to ambient light: Never too bright, and never too dark.

Cheers
 
Compare that to e-ink with its infinite persistence, non-existent fringing and true pixels for sharper focus...and please remember that focus isn't the same as resolution. For a focusing eye, accuracy (where is that pixel) is more important that resolution (how small is that pixel).
The two usually do go hand in hand, though. While it's possible to build a low resolution screen with small, tightly packed subpixels, it wouldn't look particularly good (screen door effect). Thus high-ppi screens do tend to solve that problem by also decreasing the distance between subpixels. But I'd love to see a stacked OLED screen just to make a direct comparison with RGB subpixel screens.

Could you explain what you mean by fringing "caused by the backlight" and lower persistence?
 
Fringing...put an opaque object in front of a light source and the light at the edges diffracts around the corner (the edge is like a line source with light moving away at all angles including in the direction of the opacity).

Persistence is just the reciprocal of flicker. e-ink has no flicker at all.
 
I have both a new iPad and a kindle. I tried my nighttime reading using the iPad, and after a week or two I just had to go back to the kindle. So for both bus use (where the reflections off the iPad screen make it hard to read easily) and reading in the dark, the kindle is vastly superior. I use an octovo reading light for the kindle, most reading lights are too bright and bother my wife.
 
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