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Microsoft reportedly working on $400 Surface tablets to compete with the iPad
Microsoft is working on a new line of budget Surface tablets to better compete with Apple's low-cost iPad options, according to a report from Bloomberg.
According to the report, the new Surface tablets won't just be smaller, cheaper Surface Pros. Rather, Microsoft is said to be completely redesigning the devices, with 10-inch screens instead of the 12-inch size currently found on the Surface Pro, rounded corners that more resemble an iPad than the more rectangular Surface design, and USB-C for charging. Most importantly, priced at $400, they will be more in line with Apple's cheaper tablets, too.
Google also recently introduced an education-oriented ChromeOS tablet to compete with Apple's iPad.
Also at Laptop Magazine.
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(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday May 18 2018, @01:21PM (1 child)
I hate to say it like this but having one USB port is dumb. What if I wanted the phone plugged into a PC and a USB device hooked to the phone? Or charging from a wall adapter? Sure there are adapter cables but are you going to carry one all over? Just put an extra damn port on the phone and be done with it. It's as brain dead as apples decision to remove the headphone jack letting you break it out of the charger port so it's purposefully inconvenient.
The Pi doesn't have an OTG port so my idea was to use a USB micro with SPI link to the BCM as some sort of endpoint. Since I've been tinkering a lot with Plan 9/Inferno, I'd be happy with a simple serial link like an arduino. Then you just run a listener on the serial link, connect to the phone and import the various shared resources on your local PC for tethering, music playing, file transfer, etc., all at the same time if need be. That could also allow two phones to directly communicate by plugging the device port of one phone to the host of another (or just use BT/WiFi).
Modularity isn't important to me. I used to think it was the end all be all but in reality it adds needless complexity. All I want is a nice open design running open software. I want to be able to completely change every bit of ROM code; right down to the radio if need be. So that is why I would rather these four ports: USB device/host (with JTAG!), USB host, HDMI (or DP/whatever), 3.5mm headphone jack. And yes, no USB C. That standard is an over complicated mess.
My end goal for a phone of such design is simplicity. Motherboard, battery, camera, screen, case. There's your modularity: simple design enables simple repair/replacement.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday May 18 2018, @03:12PM
Oh, I have no problem adding more ports - especially with things going USB-C where the same port can be used for anything from charging, to a printer, to an HDMI screen. By all means lets have two or three of them on the phone - when I read "break out" I read "none of them on the phone, all migrated to an external device over a custom cable - as you would with a break-out box on the Pi. USB hubs are already a thing.
Modularity would be nice - but really if they just had it for the three main parts: SOC, screen/case/circuit board, and storage, I think we'd have an 80% solution. And no need for anything general-purpose for any of those, just make them a bit more possible to upgrade. I.e. socket the SOC instead of soldering it in place, and add software support for using SD cards or similar as "first class" storage instead of artificially restricting it. Seems like a whole lot of software currently has issues running off expansion cards on many/most phones.
A standardized accessory module socket or two for cameras or whatnot would just dial that up to 11, and there's no good reason for them to add any real complexity - you already have a USB bus, all you need is a physical interface that would let you bolt on one or two such modules. Probably one for most phones, then they can skip the camera entirely on a budget phone, you can add it if you like. And if you want a camera that costs 3x as much as the rest of the phone, go nuts. You can migrate it across your next several phones. I mean really, cameras are popular, and a lot of people have to compromise between the phone they want, and the phone that has the camera they want - that'd justify a *simple* module standard to me. And maybe someone will come up with something else to tack onto a phone that would be similarly popular, it'd be nice to at least have a standardized interface to let them try.