The way I see it, with the App Store fully backed by Apple, that most people will want to go directly for an iPad over the Archos, although the Archos 9 is still reasonably priced for their 60gb version.

For anyone wanting a Linux or Android or Windows flavoured tablet pad, then the Arhcos 9 will definitely be for those people in mind, but for the regular consumer on the street who already has some investment in Apple whether it’s iTunes music, or other Apps on their previous devices, Apple will most likely be the way to go for their purchase of the iPad.

I read a comment from a customer on Amazon that said…”I bought the Archos 9 thinking I was buying into new technology, what a let down.
Windows 7 took ages to boot up was so slow in running I thought the touch screen was not working but the machine is so slow. Also MSN Messenger video always froze the whole thing up I would not recommend this machine to anyone, sorry to archos.”

Hmmm, that’s not a good endorsement for a tablet or for Microsoft Windows 7

Multi-touch isn’t new, many manufacturers have been using it, for instance Apple have multi-touch on the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can have multiple fingers on-screen gaming using virtual controllers, and you can also use other nice features like pinch to zoom.

So how will multi-touch change our lives I hear you say?

Well, like all old technology that disappears over time, the mouse input that we have on PC’s and Mac’s is very antiquated. You would think in the last 20 or 30 years that we would have designed multi-mice or track balls so you could have two pointers on-screen and use both hands, e.g. left hand to move one mouse or trackball pointer and right hand to move another mouse or trackball pointer.

The problem with many of the operating systems to date is they still don’t support multiple inputs of the same type. They do support multiple inputs though, like you can use the keyboard and the mouse at the same time, you just can’t use two mice because it will involve two pointers on screen. Probably one of the reasons we don’t have two mouse pointers is that it’s going to be difficult to work out which pointer is doing what on screen. Then the operating system needs to understand are you left clicking with one mouse pointer and right clicking with the other mouse pointer. It gets quite complicated.

Here’s where multi-touch is changing our lives already and will ultimately be the killer of the mouse. Why use an antiquated device like a mouse or a trackball to control something on-screen? It’s very unnatural to do this and the more natural to just touch the screen in multiple places. The downside with touch is that you can’t left click or right click, but you can hold your finger pressure on a subject for a second or more that could bring up a right click context.

Apple are one of the main companies that has designed multi-touch to be very sweet and to the degree that most people don’t even understand the technology is actually there on their iPhone or iPod Touch as it works extremely well and doesn’t inhibit you in anyway. That’s how technology should be, it shouldn’t be something that stands out and gets in your way, it should be something that’s subtle but effective.

Multi-touch will make us more productive and increase productivity, and multi-touch might go from two or 4 pressure points to 10 or 20 over the next few years. Microsoft have also been pushing the boundary with Microsoft Surface which is a massive table top screen that allows for multi-touch.

Apple have also recently incorporated the same multi-touch that they have in the iPhone and iPod Touch into the new Apple iPad to bring multi-touch to a much bigger 10″ screen. Other companies have tried to implement multi-touch but many still haven’t implemented it to the same quality or accuracy as Apple has.

This is not new, but what is new is an app called for Windows called SkyDrive Explorer which provides you the 25gb drive as a virtual drive letter in Windows Explorer and allows you to drag and drop files into the cloud and retrieve them effortlessly.

I think it should go without saying but you will need a broadband speed network to use SkyDrive otherwise it will be pretty slow. Anything from 2mbps upwards should be okay.

I’ve been thinking long and hard what made me move from HTC devices running Windows Mobile to the iPhone because I’m always smitten with the look of the front-end UI from HTC. I realised that front-end UI wasn’t the be all and end all, and what I wanted from a device was connectivity, thousands of applications to choose from, the speed of the iPhone, being able to quickly use Twitter, Facebook and other mobile connected apps directly on the phone. To almost be connected 24/7 to the internet.

HTC is getting there, they now have Facebook and Twitter, the front-end UI is spectacular and I wish it was available on non-jail broken iPhones. However for me, what lies behind the front-end UI on the HTC HD2 is Windows. Don’t get me wrong I love Windows, I’m one of the few that use Vista on as many Laptops and Tablet PC’s that I can, but Windows on mobile devices is just so far behind now that it makes me cringe now when I see the old UI shine through.

Unfortunately HTC can only do as much as they can to mask this, and ultimately the applications like the small X button, start menu etc will still be there. The small text on screen with small combo boxes to select. Hopefully WM7 (Windows Mobile 7) will be much more richer and a completely new UI but I still think all the fundamental things that have always been there in Windows Mobile will still be there in WM7.

Also the other thing is the Touch UI is getting better on the HTC devices, but it’s still limited to the botch that’s been done in WM 6.1 and 6.5 where touch scrolling is still no where close to what you would see on an iPhone which is truly depressing.

So for me now although the HTC HD2 is luring me closer and closer by it’s stunning looks and front-end UI, I still can’t put the money down to buy one because I know I will be surely depressed from the shortcomings.

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They say “This is very poor when you consider the number of employees MS has and the 20,000+ apps that have been made for the platform.”

• Books: 1
• Business Center : 9
• Communication: 18
• Reference: 20
• Entertainment: 17
• Games: 111
• Lifestyle: 20
• Maps and Search: 1
• Music and Video: 6
• News and Weather: 7
• Productivity: 19
• Social Networks: 6
• Travel: 19
• Tools: 27
• So the total is: 1+9+18+20+17+111+20+1+6+7+19+6+19+27 = 281

This must be a real blow for Microsoft.  Furthermore

“While it is true that in total there is over 20,000 apps for Windows Mobile available through side loading from various websites and online stores, Microsoft employees are extremely incompetent in the area of mobile software and Windows Marketplace for Mobile has the worst conditions for developers among all other app stores: it has worse conditions than Apple app store, Android Market, and BlackBerry app store. Developers cannot submit an app to stores it the whole world, because they need to pay $10 per additional country and they have to translate descriptions (what costs much more than $10!!!).”

“Developers have no copy protection from Microsoft: it’s enough to soft-reset the phone during installation and then to spread CAB file with the program on the Internet – no copy protection at all.”

“Furthermore apps can be installed only to internal memory what excludes GPS navigation software and big-size rich games (note: for comparison’s sake: Android 2.0 OS makes it possible to install apps on the memory card). And these are just few problems of many. Clearly Windows Marketplace for Mobile is a huge failure by now.”

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I love the way they’re still making the PC to be a Bill Gates. Maybe the next release of Windows will show a bald Windows guy instead?

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