News - ViewSonic formally launches Oak Trail, dual-OS tablet

[HEXUS]

For people who want to keep a foot in both worlds.

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[kingpotnoodle]

Instant? I bet it's not, surely it has to hibernate one and wake the other, it can't be keeping both running at the same time, that would be awful for battery life even if it's possible I would think?!

[[GSV]Trig]

I would prefer a windows7 based tablet but they are over priced, under powered and the battery life sucks..

As for a tablet that switches between the two, I dont see the point..

[Unique]

I would prefer a windows7 based tablet but they are over priced, under powered and the battery life sucks..

As for a tablet that switches between the two, I dont see the point..

you pretty much answered your own question

sounds good, but too expensive. start by knocking it down under the £400 mark for a start, £350 or better still £300 and they might be on to something

[miniyazz]

They could have 'instant' switch if they suspended Android in the background (would be feasible) and switched immediately, then suspended windows in the background. And vice versa. Naturally, Windows suspend isn't perfect and would use more power than nothing (or Android suspended), but it would be pretty damn good. Wonder about the battery life though..

[Spud1]

It's a nice idea - and the right concept..but neither the hardware or software is there yet.

Hardware wise it needs something like the Asus transformer's docking keyboard if its actually going to be useful for productivity, and also a stellar battery life (in the region of 8 hours+). I also really don't think that an Atom is going to cut it - surely a ULV real x86 CPU would be a better choice. Strongly related to battery life though I guess.

Software wise, the android + win7 combo again doesn't cut it. Windows 7 is not touch friendly unless you have a stylus..end of. Android is touch friendly but its designed for phones, not tablets..and anyway I don't like it myself so its just not for me. Maybe if HTC did something like this they woudl include sense which transforms things considerably, but still..

I have huge hopes for Windows 8 in this area, having seen previews of their touch/tablet interface, and read about the instant UI switching capabilities..there won't be any need for running 2 OS's then - you just run windows 8. Undock it and you can use it in tablet mode - still has all the power of the full/real OS so you can run office, counter strike, WoW etc natively..but the windows UI is touch based and designed for tablets. Dock it and you get the full Windows UI designed for keyboard/mouse with some touch friendly options.

This would be the perfect/dream tablet, and I am 100% confident it's what we'll see in 1-2 years. For now though, if you want productivity, get a laptop. If you want a toy, get an iPad or Android tablet (depending on what apps you want)..but if you can - wait for the Windows 8 ones to come along, it'l be worth it