Windows 8 on smaller devices
I've been reading a flurry of posts about Microsoft quietly lowering their requirements to get devices Windows 8 certified by lowering the required screen resolution. And I have to say... why?
Do not get me wrong for a second. I understand why Microsoft wants to get smaller tablets into the game. Kindle, Nexus 7 and iPad Mini have shown that there is a market for these things and MS feels (and probably correctly so) that these uber cheap, small devices are eating up some of their sales. What I don't get is why bother with the screen resolution requirements now?
Microsoft seems to be ignoring that from a hardware perspective tablets are evolving more akin to smartphones than they are to traditional laptops and desktops. And what has been one of the biggest trends in mobile (cellphone and tablet) hardware? PPI. Pixels Per Inch. Pixel density. Higher resolutions on smaller screens.
Basically, my point is this. Sub-10 Inch touch screens for tablets have typically low resolutions today because the market is still relatively new. Expect second generation iPad Mini's and any true competitor for top dog in the Android market in the next wave to start to approach "retina" class displays. Expect cost of high density screens to come down a little while after that.
If you think I'm wrong, think about it this way, the screen on the iPad Mini is 163 PPI, the screen on the iPhone 5 is 326 PPI and the screen on a Mac Book Pro can get up to 227 PPI on a 13 inch screen. Basically, the technology is there to put double that screen density into a smaller screen and almost 50% in a much larger screen. The only reason why the screen size in the middle is left out is because no one has such a screen today, and while the market was unproven no one was going to produce one at market friendly costs. Now the manufacturers can see that the roughly 7" touchscreen market is here to stay expect to start seeing PPI values closer to that of an iPhone 5 slowly becoming the norm... which means much higher resolutions on these screens.
So, what we will end up with is this. Windows 8 will start supporting low res, small size screens just as high res, small size screens become what the industry is expecting. And lets face it, Microsoft's OEM's are DUUUUUUUUMB. They will pump out low res tablets with over inflated prices by the thousands and then blame Microsoft when they fail. Which in this case they should... in a sense. Microsoft shouldn't bother lower the requirements. They are just inviting this to happen.
The relaxation on the restriction only just happened. It will be months if not longer before anyone can actually get a new product to market. iPad Mini 2 is expected in the fall. And it will simply be the first in a wave of small tablets sporting better resolutions. These devices may even hit the street before ANY 7"-ish Windows 8 tablets making them obsolete BEFORE they even have a chance to sell a unit.
My opinion is that they should leave the low resolution screens to people who don't mind shipping non-MS certified hardware. Force your serious hardware partners to invest in devices people will actually want to buy by not relaxing your requirements less than a year before they are bound to become irrelevant. Forcing your OEM's to use better quality panels will mean a more rapid adoption of high density panels at that size which will lead to them becoming more profitable sooner.
Do not get me wrong for a second. I understand why Microsoft wants to get smaller tablets into the game. Kindle, Nexus 7 and iPad Mini have shown that there is a market for these things and MS feels (and probably correctly so) that these uber cheap, small devices are eating up some of their sales. What I don't get is why bother with the screen resolution requirements now?
Microsoft seems to be ignoring that from a hardware perspective tablets are evolving more akin to smartphones than they are to traditional laptops and desktops. And what has been one of the biggest trends in mobile (cellphone and tablet) hardware? PPI. Pixels Per Inch. Pixel density. Higher resolutions on smaller screens.
Basically, my point is this. Sub-10 Inch touch screens for tablets have typically low resolutions today because the market is still relatively new. Expect second generation iPad Mini's and any true competitor for top dog in the Android market in the next wave to start to approach "retina" class displays. Expect cost of high density screens to come down a little while after that.
If you think I'm wrong, think about it this way, the screen on the iPad Mini is 163 PPI, the screen on the iPhone 5 is 326 PPI and the screen on a Mac Book Pro can get up to 227 PPI on a 13 inch screen. Basically, the technology is there to put double that screen density into a smaller screen and almost 50% in a much larger screen. The only reason why the screen size in the middle is left out is because no one has such a screen today, and while the market was unproven no one was going to produce one at market friendly costs. Now the manufacturers can see that the roughly 7" touchscreen market is here to stay expect to start seeing PPI values closer to that of an iPhone 5 slowly becoming the norm... which means much higher resolutions on these screens.
So, what we will end up with is this. Windows 8 will start supporting low res, small size screens just as high res, small size screens become what the industry is expecting. And lets face it, Microsoft's OEM's are DUUUUUUUUMB. They will pump out low res tablets with over inflated prices by the thousands and then blame Microsoft when they fail. Which in this case they should... in a sense. Microsoft shouldn't bother lower the requirements. They are just inviting this to happen.
The relaxation on the restriction only just happened. It will be months if not longer before anyone can actually get a new product to market. iPad Mini 2 is expected in the fall. And it will simply be the first in a wave of small tablets sporting better resolutions. These devices may even hit the street before ANY 7"-ish Windows 8 tablets making them obsolete BEFORE they even have a chance to sell a unit.
My opinion is that they should leave the low resolution screens to people who don't mind shipping non-MS certified hardware. Force your serious hardware partners to invest in devices people will actually want to buy by not relaxing your requirements less than a year before they are bound to become irrelevant. Forcing your OEM's to use better quality panels will mean a more rapid adoption of high density panels at that size which will lead to them becoming more profitable sooner.
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