On stage at CES today, Jonney Shih proclaimed his company’s new Transformer the world’s first 4-in-1 device. By that he meant that it’s a Windows laptop and tablet as well as an Android laptop and tablet. This new 13.3-inch slate transforms both physically and virtually thanks to the company’s new dual-OS setup. A quick switch of three or four seconds is all that’s required to morph you from the Windows 8 environment into the familiar Android UI and vice versa.
And all this is actively promoted and supported by Intel. So, Microsoft creates an operating system that is supposed to be both desktop and tablet operating system. However, nobody wants it. So, Intel and PC makers confuse everything even more by… Adding Android to the mix? What?
This does not solve any problem that anybody has.
What if their problem is that they don’t have enough things to bash or complain about?
There is never a shortage of things to bash or complain about.
Never.
When people start getting bored of bashing the same old stuff, then previously sacred cows are put up for slaughter.
planet Earth.
One is ruler supreme on desktop. Other is absolute in mobile.
Actually it make much sense for all-in-one | two-in-one | other-hybrids-desktop-mobile-here. For day to day “desktop” usage just use Win. For mobile (like display that after detaching become tablet) use just Android part.
And people who will buy such stuff will want both worlds. They will know Win, and they will know Android.
Actually Win only here is more confusing. Cause its so different from Android in mobile!!!
The immediate issue I see that’s gonna ruin this whole approach is…lack of interoperability and cooperation. I mean, you go and download your e-mails under Android, you hack out a draft and intend to return to it later. Later on when you have more time to use you open up Windows, go and look at your mails and… the draft isn’t there. Well, what the fuck? That’s totally confusing for most people. Or what about bookmarks? History? Your photos and albums?
Even if Android and Windows both utilized a portion of the storage media that’s formatted in e.g. FAT32 the problem would still be that you have to duplicate a lot of the work on both operating systems since they do not share almost anything. Your files may exist and be accessible on both OSes, but unless you have the exact same software on both of them it’s likely that you’re just looking at confusion and frustration when working with them.
Considering that most people who use Android will be using google services, that kind of syncing is trivial.
It’s also extremely easy to have the /User/Username folder be shared between them, so as to give the android portion access to *everything* on the windows partition.
Chrome and firefox autosync, most users have swapped to webmail, or use corporate platforms which can be used on multiple platforms easily enough.
It’s now nowhere near as much of an issue as it would have been even 3 years ago.
As I said, you’re only thinking of the files existing there, not all the other stuff. Like for example, what if the person has made albums of their pictures on Windows, tagged them and all, and then switches to Android? They’re going to have to redo it all. *That* is the problem, not the access to the files themselves.
I dunno about Chrome, but Firefox doesn’t autosync unless you set up syncing, and that’s still confusing enough for Average Joes that I am not aware of any such who would’ve done it themselves. Also, it’s a safe assumption that a lot of people will just be using whatever browser is the default, ie. Internet Explorer on Windows and whatnot on Android, and they certainly don’t sync between one-another.
I would like to know where you get the “most” there.
That’s the problem with using proprietary native software. If they’re using something that tags via EXIF, or if they’re using a cloud-based solution, that’s not a problem.
Any “Average Joe” that is using Firefox probably had it set up for them by a tech-savvy relative/friend; otherwise, they’d be using IE.
Chrome just needs the user to sign in to their google account, and it syncs everything – considering the rate at which businesses and users are swapping, it’s not unlikely that they’d be using it -especially with a tablet like this, which has Chrome as the default android browser due to the Android version.
It’s the impression I get from the language used by the tech media/commenters to describe native email clients.
Even large businesses are swapping from exchange to google apps, most home users probably use gmail or hotmail and MS is pushing outlook.com as a replacement for outlook at home users, so…
First: Google Chrome auto sync as long as you add the same gmail account on Chrome in Android and in Windows.
Second: I tried the synchronization feature in Firefox but it is confusing. And I do not need another one.
Third: A non-IT person here is looking for Chrome (Surprisingly not Firefox) to replace IE, they do not like IE. This proves the point from a g+ post that Internet Explorer is the most widely used browser to download another browser.
Fourth: Users have been using yahoo mail(remember Eudoramail?), hotmail for ages. And now gmail.com. These are all webmails. But if you work in a corporate world, chances are you will be using Outlook, Thunderbird or any native mail client out there. But we know that people’s personal emails must not be corporate accounts but from webmails.
Edited 2014-01-07 02:46 UTC
I agree. Another scenario is opening an app in one environment, switching to Android, and not being able to pick up where you left off on that same workflow.
That, and you’ll run into the rather ironic but inconvenient truth that Google services are just worse on Windows vs Android, thanks to Google.
Another reason I saw someone else bring up: Android tablet apps are nothing to write home about, and the vendors who have given a damn enough to update their Android phone apps to tablet apps already provide Windows Store apps.
Edited 2014-01-07 15:37 UTC
Granted, its all anecdotal evidence, but it seems to me that only my technical friends are really saving anything to actual local storage these days. Almost every program is set to do stuff in the cloud by default, that most people don’t even think of it. It just works for them.
If, and I understand that’s a big If, everything is set up to use cloud based solutions, then no problem. However, I think the way this could work, is if out of the box either windows was set up with Googly programs to use Drive, or Android was set up to use the Skydrive. I kind of doubt that they are set up in either way.
So after thinking my way through the situation, I think you have a very valid concern for average people. Not just because of local storage, but also due to the different default cloud storage setups.
I can see that being resolved by making use of a separate, mountable storage partition, that either OS will automatically mount upon booting. The same music/pics/etc will show up for both.
Hi,
From what I heard Android is actually running inside a virtual machine on top of Windows (its not a dual boot setup).
If that’s the case, the smart way would be for Android to use a virtual network device and something like Samba/CIFS to mount “remote” shared folder/s on the host.
TIL: any OS that can run a virtual machine can be marketed as an “as many OSs as you like in one” system.
– Brendan
Symlinking/bind mounts on Android to mount windows folders on the Unix filesystem tree. Easy enough problem to solve. I do something like this already with my RAID-6 fileserver.
Uh, you’d need to be running a clustered filesystem if you want to mount the same block device from two different kernels.
+1
That was the first thing on my mind.
What is with the obsession trying to shoehorn everything into one? Is there some huge demand for a single desktop/laptop/tablet/cellphone/Windows/Android/kitchen_sink device that people want to be tethered to 24/7, and that I’m unaware of? I would much rather have different tools for different tasks, each great at what it does. Than a single all-in-one tool that’s not great at anything. There’s a reason we don’t have fridge/dishwasher/microwave/oven/ricecooker/coffeemakers.
All-in-one devices are mostly good for 2 things… Filling airtime in As Seen On TV commercials, and pretend technology in the future in Star Trek.
Your comparison is not valid. First, a PC, a smartphone, a tablet are all computing machines, so naturally, they can be made as one. While fridge, dishwasher, microwave etc., have physical components engineered and catered to different tasks, the difference is really big in that they’ve been designed physically different from each another and they only do a particular/single task. While a computer(be it smartphone,tablet, super computer etc.) can do zillion tasks at once.
The demand? Let us see when 2014 is over.
I thought the sarcasm in the comparison was obvious. It appears I was wrong about that. However, I do not agree that it’s natural to combine a pc, smartphone, and tablet into one. Depending on needs and/or personal taste, I can’t even agree it’s a good idea, hence the reason for my post to begin with.
Your comparison is not valid: It’s not zillion tasks performed by the computer which count but the task the user performs with the computer.
And that’s where all these crossovers fail.
– Combine a heavy truck and a Ferrari. What could go wrong?
– Combine Android and Windows. Double the fun of getting lost in an OS!
– Let’s add a touch interface without windows to Windows. Everybody wants it! Getting things done is sooo overrated…
“MEDICAL tricorder!”
I jokingly suggested a toilet, but if you piss in a urine catheter with a bag full of sensors all day long you’ll have a very useful medical device.
I think a toilet would be nice.
It is very annoying when you don’t have a toilet when you really need one ! 🙂
I don’t know about a *huge* demand. But I like it, and I am considering purchasing it.
But a tablet and a PC have very much the same uses: browsing the interwebs, posting pictures of cats to Facebook/Reddit, chatting, consuming media and information, and doing stuff to data. Granted, any Android or iOS tablet is grossly insufficient for the latter (they are toys), but any modern PC can do all of the above. What’s this about different tasks? The difference is one of use cases: you use a tablet lying on the sofa or on the bus, or even walking around, and you use a PC at your desk.
But how about this use case: You’ve got one of these modern jobs in which you consume media and information and do stuff to data. From time to time, you need to take pieces of information with you for whatever reason. For this, you possibly use a printer, an ancient device that leaves persistent marks on dead trees. This is stupid. I’d rather just walk off with the part of the computer that I need, the screen.
The one problem with convertibles is that the tablet UI sucks, and the current solution to making the PC work as a tablet is to turn it into one (Windows 8 Metro). This sucks. Another is to use Android as a laptop OS. This isn’t even funny, Asus! And now we have Android on Windows, most likely on the Windows 8 desktop (with a classic Windows start menu installed). A bunch of people (me included) obviously really really want a portable computer that can be used as a tablet, and here we have a few (poor) solutions to that problem. While we’re waiting for something better, software developers have real hardware to work with.
If all you need/do is roam the web in a browser, check email, post pictures of your cat & lunch to Facebook, etc. then yes, a tablet or laptop may suit your needs. But what happens when you want to do something that requires more horsepower? What happens when you need to work in a multi-screen environment? What happens when you need to plug in several peripherals/devices? Laptops and tablets can’t satisfy those needs. So yes, different types of devices are better at different types of tasks. It’s not just a simple matter of whether you want to lay on a couch or sit at a desk. It seems people have forgotten that basic little fact — At least the ones who only use a computer for the most mundane & elementary tasks.
For all those things, I use a laptop. With docking. It’s basically my desktop PC at work: laptop, docking, two widescreen monitors, a bunch of USB devices, wired networking, full size keyboard, mouse. A laptop OS needs to be able to do that sort of thing, just like Windows 7.
That’s cool that a laptop satisfies your needs, but that doesn’t hold true for everybody, every task, and every need. In some situations a desktop is the best choice, in others a laptop might be, in yet others a tablet may suffice. Again, it isn’t simply a matter of where you want to use the computer like sitting at a desk or sitting on a couch.
Yes, yes, but I’m talking about software and UI here. The software needs to scale over several types of devices, either through some ingenious new UI that works equally well for touch and for mouse + keyboard or by switching depending on context. Laptops already share the UI with desktops. I don’t want to do away with the specialised desktop, I want better portable computing.
The alternative to a scalable or modal UI is cloud computing. It has a thing in common with tablets in that it sucks, albeit for different reasons.
Two OSs fight for supremacy and the ring is a single tablet! Punishment for the loser is death, who will be the one coming out victorious?
In other words, I wonder which one will people use more
If I can wipe the windows partition and install Linux, I want one.