Tactus first look: the screen technology that adds a physical keyboard to a tablet

Friday, January 11th, 2013

We wouldn’t have believed this if we hadn’t seen it with our eyes, but Tactus has created a way to add a genuine, physical keyboard to any touchscreen device. The cleverest bit: it appears when you’re typing and disappears when you no longer need to enter text.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S review: first look

Friday, January 11th, 2013

There are a lot of them at CES 2013, but is this the Windows 8 convertible Ultrabook you’ve been waiting for? Built using the same innovative design as the Yoga 13, the IdeaPad Yoga 11S’s screen flips around a 180-degree axis, allowing you to use it as a full-powered laptop when you want it and then move to tablet mode in a single, slick movement.

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Panasonic 20in 4K tablet review: first look and video

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

It takes something a little special to make us go wow as we wander the halls of CES, but this product is it. Not that it’s even formally a product: Panasonic’s 20in 4K tablet is still a prototype and may never see the light of commercial day.

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HP EliteBook Revolve review: first look

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

If you’re not already sick of hybrid laptop/tablets — like PC Pro’s features editor David Bayon — HP’s adding another one to the pile here in Frankfurt: the business-focused EliteBook Revolve.

Unsurprisingly given the name, the Revolve’s 11.6in touchscreen display pivots on a hinge on the rear, swivelling round to be laid flat against the keyboard, turning the device into a tablet. The display is a fraction smaller than the keyboard part, giving it a stacked looked when folded up.

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Sony VAIO Tap 20: a day with the world’s biggest tablet

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

Steve Jobs famously said a 7in tablet was too small — but for some, even a 10in like the iPad is a touch too tiny.

The assortment of 7in tablets are perfect for average people with normal hands, but while the rest of us consider whether the Nexus 7’s portability is more useful than the iPad, monstrously large people — such as 6ft 5in man-mountain Mike Jennings, PC Pro’s senior staff writer — are left prodding at minuscule icons with their sausage-like fingers.

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Working with a Windows 8 tablet: a long-term test

Friday, October 26th, 2012

Yesterday’s official launch of Windows 8 felt like a curious anti-climax for me. Not because of the lacklustre presentation – although the death by PowerPoint was thoroughly deflating – but because I’ve been running Windows 8 on my primary work PC for the past six months, ever since the launch of the Consumer Preview. And for the past three months, I’ve been running the new OS on a Samsung 700T tablet, to get the full touchscreen experience.

So what’s it like using a Windows 8 tablet as your primary work PC? For the vast majority of the time, it’s been absolutely fine. The 700T comes with a smart little docking stand with HDMI-out, that lets me connect a second 24in Full HD display on my desktop. That means I can keep the old-school desktop running on my primary display with all my regular Office apps etc, and use the tablet’s screen as a secondary display for Metro apps and keeping an eye on the PC Pro Twitter account.

Without that second screen, I don’t think I’d even bother with the Windows 8 Start Screen or Metro apps at all, because they don’t scale well on screens much bigger than my tablet’s. However, when sat on the secondary display, the live tiles on the Windows 8 Start screen are actually quite useful for spotting a new email dropping into my Gmail account, upcoming calendar appointments or news headlines.

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Dell XPS 12 review: first look

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past couple of days examining Windows 8 devices in all shapes and forms, but to me the XPS 12 (which first broke cover at this year’s IFA) looks like the real deal: a powerful laptop when you want it, a tablet when you just want to consume or fiddle with information.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 review: first look

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

If Windows 8 tablets are going to take off, it’s designs like the IdeaPad Yoga 11 that are going to make the difference. It’s slim, has stunning battery life, and it’s stupidly easy to move between tablet and laptop positions.

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Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx review: first look

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

With two days to go until the Windows 8 launch, we’ve enjoyed an hour or two with all Lenovo’s new devices: and the IdeaTab Lynx promises “the ultimate flexibility between work and play”. So can it deliver?

The design is fundamentally similar to the Asus Transformer Prime, with all the intelligence packed into the tablet but an optional keyboard base for when you need to get some work done.

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Dell Latitude 10 review: first look

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

We knew it was coming, but Dell has finally unveiled its business-friendly Windows 8 tablet, the Latitude 10. With a full-fat version of Windows 8 Pro, and Intel’s Clover Trail Atom processors at the helm, this 10.1in tablet could be just what many businesses have been waiting for.

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