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OneNote 2013 on Windows 8 slate #win8 #surface
I am a big fan of OneNote and use it on my desktop, iPad and Windows Phone. The iPad version of OneNote is fairly limited and I have been looking forward to the Windows 8 version especially a version that supports touch.
Here is a great short video on OneNote 2013 on a Samsung 7 series slate:
I am hoping that this version on the new Surface device is going to be amazing. One thing that I have attempted & failed on my iPad is to try and take handwritten notes using a stylus. OneNote 2013 allows the use of touch as well as a stylus, it will be interesting to see whether you can actually take notes properly.
The coolest thing I saw was the radial menu – something very unique and designed for proper touch based use – UX is an area Microsoft have in the past struggled with.
The keyboard layout for thumbs is also something new.
I am really looking forward to using OneNote 2013 on Surface – I am hoping it will not disappoint.
Codename Windows 8 – lots of Windows Phone 7 influences
Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky announced some details about the next version of Windows codename Windows 8. There are some very cool features and clearly a shift to a “Touch First” UI which means that we won’t struggle to use touch with Windows 8 as with Windows 7.
Check out the video to see some of these improvements and features.
Some highlights for me:
- HTML5 and Javascript centric
- Tile based UI
- Appears to be adopting hub based approach all photos in one place
- Multitasking is Windows 7 but touch enabled – very nice!
- Touch UI / UX appears very slick and similar to the recently announced BlackBerry PlayBook with menus appearing from the side.
- Two types of apps, the classic desktop apps and the new HTML5 based Windows 8 apps.
- Ergonomic virtual touch keyboard
- Touch centric browser in Internet Explorer 10
The well-received Windows Phone 7 experience clearly has influenced some of these initial ideas based on the screenshots of the Lock, Start screens and example Weather App.
I am looking forward to seeing Windows 8 on a real tablet device as this is where Microsoft need to make this work and gain tablet share.
