Samsung continues to hang with the slate PC genre and recently upped the ante with the release of two models with Windows 8 OS on board
Slate PCs are a slight curiosity in the gadget world, lying somewhere between tablets and ultraportable notebooks. They pack the power of a notebook but miss the built-in keyboard and trackpad, while offering only similar screen dimensions to a tablet PC but carrying much more bulk.
Regardless, Samsung continues to forge on with the genre, releasing two Windows slates late last year to lukewarm acclaim. But they have upped the ante recently and re-released the models with the attention-grabbing new Windows 8 operating system on board.
But can a few hardware bumps and the Win 8 hype take the genre into the portable computing market, and indeed Microsoft and Samsung with it? Let's take a look at the Series 7 Slate and see.
FORM
With a brushed metal back and familiar glass front plate with a black bezel around the screen, the Slate looks and feels like what it is - a robust hyper-tablet device. It's 12.7mm thick (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is 9.6mm) and weighs in at over 850g, much heavier than an iPad 3 at 650g, but also supplies much more power and screen real estate to work with.
It ships with a sturdy base that enhances the connectivity of the device nicely.
FUNCTION
It features a spacious 11.6-inch display with 1920x1080 full-HD resolution; impressive with its 16 million colours and brightness. And it's sensitive to the touch also, with 10 points of recognition. Although the two-hand gesture potential sounds like overkill, the technology is heading in the right direction.
The touch capacity is lit up by the inclusion of a stylus, the S-Pen that appeared with Galaxy Note phone and tablet releases this year. It is said to offer 1,024 levels of sensitivity. If the software is able to harness the power of the stylus it could be the feature that propels the slate into the portable game proper.
In the engine room is a Core i5 CPU and 4GB RAM; backed by 120GB SSD - similar spec to many ultraportables. Samsung are really trying to lure the PC market into tablet/slate land here.
WINDOWS 8
Perhaps the make or break factor of the Series 7 Slate is the integration of the new OS - Windows 8. It's the biggest jump for Microsoft since Win 95, and was officially released on Friday, to much fanfare.
Win 8 is an integrated cross-device system that will eventually be run on computers, tablets and smartphones alike (ableit in slightly different versions). It is designed to be operated with a touchscreen in mind, hence without a dedicated keyboard or mouse, meaning a big shift. But it's going to be difficult to convince PC loyalists to do away with their keys and mice so abruptly. Making the device a content consumer more than generator for now.
The start screen is a major renovation, activated by pressing the dedicated button, and displays tiles that enable easy navigation around the OS. The tiles represent important apps, settings and desktop programs, and they can be configured easily. Another feature is the "charm" bar that is activated with a simple swipe from the right side and offers search, share, start, devices and settings functions. Modern UI apps seem to be the future of the OS too, moving away from the desktop-based functioning that Windows 7 and earlier formats depended on without the touchscreen capability.
Samsung has tweaked the OS by adding MediaHub that integrates existing Samsung apps, which are only beginning to utilise the nicely sensitive screen of the Series 7 Slate.
VERDICT
Samsung has gone out on a limb here. It is obviously hoping for some PC credibility to come with the marriage of the new Microsoft OS. And it will give it a big boost.
The new system is a refreshing and welcome change, with its cross-device integration and user-friendly UI. The Start screen and Charm bar enable smooth handling from anywhere in the OS, and the Modern UI potential will carry it into relevance as the apps come.
Samsung has given the slate genre a big kick along in the Series 7. It offers good operability with its highly sensitive touchscreen, stylus and strong spec, but still can't compete with the content generability of a keyboard as an input device. It will lure some over from PC laptops and desktops alike. But it ultimately remains an in-between gadget, with the existing Samsung's Series 9 ultrabook and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 stealing the show as they take up the Windows 8 OS themselves.
The Samsung Slate Series 7 will be available in Thailand by the end of the year with Windows 8 for around 40,900 baht.
