Microsoft Plans 7-inch Tablet to Compete with Apple, Google

Microsoft is said to be planning a 7-inch version of its Surface tablet to help it compete with similar size devices from Apple and Google.

The 7-inch version, which will go into mass production later this year, is part of a new lineup of Surface tablets planned by Microsoft, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, citing people familiar with the company's plans.

The Redmond, Washington, software giant decided to get into 7-inch tablets to counter the iPad mini from Apple which has a 7.9-inch display and the Google Nexus 7 with a 7-inch display, according to the report. The company also plans cuts in the prices of its Windows and Office software to give a boost to sales of lower-cost touch-screen devices running Windows software.

Microsoft continues to test its own smartphone, although it isn't clear whether it will bring such a device to market, component suppliers told the newspaper.

The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

Microsoft started shipping in October its 10.6-inch Surface RT tablet, running on an ARM processor and the Windows RT operating system, to the dismay of some partners who were used to dealing with Microsoft as a supplier of software, rather than as a competitor in the computing devices market. The company also began shipments this year of the Surface Pro running an Intel processor.

IDC said in January that Microsoft needed to quickly adjust to the market realities of smaller screens and lower prices in the tablet market. The company entered the market during the fourth quarter with its Surface with Windows RT tablet, but failed to reach the top five among tablet vendors after shipping a little less than 900,000 units into the channel, the research firm said.

DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh wrote in a blog post in February that in the first month of this year, there was a dramatic shift towards smaller screen sizes in tablets as the devices are cheaper and can be held in one hand instead of two.



Microsoft finds itself increasingly threatened in its PC business. The future of PCs is being questioned as users move to alternative computing devices such as tablets and smartphones, IDC said Wednesday while reporting that first quarter PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units, down 13.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

The decline was worse than the 7.7 percent previously forecast by the analyst firm, and the market could be headed into further contraction. Microsoft's Windows 8 did not help PC shipments grow, as fewer consumers are upgrading PCs to Windows 8, and businesses are largely sticking with Windows 7.

Google Smart-Glasses

Google hurting glasses 2013 Google revealed that "Propel Glaze," which takes all the functionality of a smartphone and places it into wearable eyeglasses, is something that a gnomish squad of their engineers have been excavation on for over two period now. The overtake lens could communicate anything from matter messages and reminders, to video charts and maps with turn-by-turn directions. They may also be open of action photos and recording videos; all through unsubdivided vocalist commands, according to the conception Google released originally this twelvemonth.Though the over creation is plant several way off, it's believed that we may see it on shelves sometime in Q4 of 2013.

Wireless Connection and Functionality

Plans include an Internet connection that will allow you to browse online content or watch videos right on your glass lens. The idea is that you will still be able to perceive what is ahead of you while you are wearing the glasses. Some plans for the glasses include built-in cameras, facial recognition software, GPS and more. Some smart glasses will connect via your laptop, tablet, smart phone or other source, and incorporate the information needed directly into your view. Others plan wireless bluetooth connectivity. Applications for use on these phones are already underway, some of which include reminders of people you’ve met using facial recognition software connected to a database.

Companies already working on this emerging mobile application include Google, Apple, Vuzix and more. Smart glasses will be Internet-ready, provide multiple camera options and create augmented and virtual realities, whether watching a movie, getting directions or playing a game. Vuzix, a leader in video eyewear technology, has plans for a fall release of a single lens version with multiple lens versions following months later. Vuzix plans commercial, industrial and consumer applications for its smart glasses. Vuzix will use the licensed Nokia Internet Protocol platform for wireless deliverability.

Voice Activated

Some smart glasses versions include head-tracking support as well as earpieces attached to the lens, and may have voice-activated action request functionality. At this point, smart glasses look like sunglasses similar to the ones worn in the movie “Terminator” by Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the Vuzix Corporation currently offers multiple augmented reality glasses and applications for the military and medical fields, including night vision glasses and more, rumors abound that Google has plans for a late year release of smart glasses as well.

The Google version, according to a “New York Times” report, is based upon the Android platform and has a heads-up display (HUD). HUD allows users to view the information on a transparent lens without looking away from a standard viewpoint, such as through a pair of glasses. Google’s smart glasses are reported to include a non-transparent screen in one of the glass lenses, a camera capable of recording video and navigation controls of the HUD interface by the use of head tilts through a motion sensor. The Google version is also reported to be voice-activated and provide vocal responses. Rumored to be the next big paradigm shift in Internet and wireless applications, smart glasses are just the beginning of what proposes to be an all-out plunge into multiple mobile peripherals beyond smart phones, tablets and laptops in the coming years.

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date, news and rumours

Android 5.0 interface


While this is pure speculation, we're wondering whether Android 5.0 might bring with it a brighter interface, moving away from the Holo Dark theme that came with Android 4.0.


Google Now brought with it a clearer look with cleaner fonts, and screenshots of Google Play 4.0 show Google's app market taking on similar design cues. Is this a hint at a brighter, airier look for Key Lime Pie?


While we wait on more Key Lime Pie features to be revealed and scour the web for more Android 5.0 news, TechRadar writer Gary Cutlack has been thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles


It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.


We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.


Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.


Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.


Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.






2. Better multiple device support


Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.


Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.


You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support


Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.


Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?


Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options


Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.


UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2.


P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0



5. A video chat app


How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?


You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts


The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.


Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list



7. Cross-device SMS sync


If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option


This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.


Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.


Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change



9. App preview/freebie codes


Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?


It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.
10. Final whinges and requests...


It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.


Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.