Intel, Microsoft and `digital ink`

Intel is participating in the launch of a new generation of computing devices and a supporting operating system that could revolutionise how end-users think of mobile computing. The new device: a class of tablet PCs that supports use of both a stylus and a keyboard. The software: a new operating system by Microsoft that brings the power of Windows XP to an LCD screen on which you can scribble with `digital ink.` The processors, hallelujah, are predominantly Intel.

The concept of the tablet PC is not a new one. The devices have been used for years in specialised market segments, but they have yet to be adopted by the mainstream. In 2000, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced the development of a version of the Windows XP operating system for pen-based input. Despite Microsoft`s backing, the tech world was not exactly set afire.

Though the idea was intriguing, these early devices suffered from specifications that hedged more toward bargain-basement thrifty (read: cheap) than high-status cool (read: costly). Most early devices required users to scribble with a stylus on a low-resolution screen using operating systems, chipsets, and hard drives that left users wishing for more-more performance, more battery life, more input flexibility, more ... coolness.

Intel and Microsoft answered the call. Each company had in its own tech inventory the hardware and software to support a tablet that works as a full-featured PC, including all the bells and whistles needed to attract mobile PC and PDA users.

"A lot of technology has advanced and converged to the point that tablet PCs are an exciting proposition now," says Hitesh Mehta, a product marketing engineer in Intel`s Mobile Products Group. "Microsoft has been developing its operating system for several years and now has something substantial to bring to the market. LCD [liquid crystal display] screens are thin, light, and offer high resolution."

And of course Intel, with years of development effort behind the advancement of mobile computing technology, was ready with the computing horsepower to provide the needed performance with a processor that is a power miser. The first iteration of tablet PCs will be powered by the Mobile Intel Pentium III processor-M, which consumes only 0.5 watts while delivering the power needed to create and store what are called "original ink" files that can either be stored on a hard drive (typical capacity: 20-30 gigabytes) or converted to text.

Supporting the operating system and the processing power is a roster of components that are anything but down-spec. Wireless 802.11B technology is part of the package, as are Ethernet connectivity, 256 megabytes of random access memory (RAM), a VGA port, and LCD displays of up to 12-inches. Smart card readers are standard in most units, and some have slots that can read flash chips directly.

And the first generation of tablets, expected to be offered by about 14 major OEMs before the end of 2002, is only an initial foray into what could be a market poised for expansion. Already on tap for next year is a new generation of devices based on Intel`s Banias platform for mobile computing, a product that promises even more computing muscle using even less power.

"Banias will deliver much higher performance at lower power levels," says Mehta. "That should yield products that are even thinner and lighter. Also, Banias integrates both wireless standards in a single package."

A big shortcoming of the first tablet PCs: they did not offer keyboards. The stylus interface, while convenient, is not as efficient as keying in directives the old-fashioned way. The new generation of tablets goes to great lengths to make it easy to key, and it does so using two different form factors: a slate and a convertible.

The slate form factor will be available with docking stations, allowing users to plug in and type, when it`s convenient. That results in a design that is sleek and light, since it does not have to accommodate a keyboard.

The convertible uses an engineering sleight of hand to incorporate tablet capability into a unit that looks like an ordinary sub- or mini-notebook with a keyboard. But the entire unit can be converted to a tablet by first rotating the monitor and then folding it closed against the keyboard, whereupon the stylus can be brought to bear, and the digital ink made to flow. Microsoft offers a demonstration of how the convertible works.

Both form factors apply more clever engineering by Intel that concern by users that a device held in the hand should not suddenly begin whirring and expelling hot air. The need for a fan is nixed by more efficient cooling, thanks to Intel`s shrinking lithography (which has as direct benefits both reduced power consumption and less heat output), combined with other Intel power-conserving technology. It was these dual concerns that led developers to the Mobile Intel Pentium III Processor-M, and it will lead them next year to Banias, which is based on a higher-powered processor manufactured using even narrower line widths.

Another novel design element is a special stylus with an electromagnetic coil embedded in its tip-a radical departure from past stylus interfaces that used simple plastic pointers. The enhanced stylus provides higher-quality pen-based input and eliminates the potential for accidentally scribbling with a wayward elbow. But it also means a lost stylus cannot be replaced by a chopstick in a pinch. Developers of tablets to be used for more rugged applications, such as those expected to be used by the military, will use un-magnetised pointing devices, so that generic pointing styluses can be pressed into service.

All of which, Intel hopes, represents a new world of tether-free computing that dispenses with phone lines, untangles Ethernet cables, and now, at long last, eliminates even a keyboard cord.