Windows 8 on tablet: hands on

Anyone who has used Windows Phone will find the tile-based look and feel of Metro instantly recognisable, and that’s no coincidence.An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. It features ‘live tiles’, which show live information such as the most up-to-date weather forecast, birthday notifications and information on the music track to which you are currently listening.Award Winning solarpanel and heat pumps for electricity and heating. Just as you see in Microsoft’s mobile operating system.

But Metro isn’t simply a port of the Windows Phone OS to a larger screen size. It has a range of extra features that help you make best use of tablet-sized screens. And it links in to the more Windows-like desktop-style screen, too. Here we’ll take a look at what Metro has to offer to tablets, and how well Windows 8 functions as a touch-friendly interface. We used an Intel tablet and Windows 8 Consumer Preview as Windows RT was not available at press time.

It’s worth noting at the very outset that the Metro interface isn’t limited to interaction by finger alone. You can control it with a mouse and keyboard too, and there are keyboard shortcuts for lots of tasks. We plugged in a mouse and keyboard via USB, and had no trouble using them.

If you are working with a finger, which is most likely on a tablet, the Metro interface is comfortable to use. On our test machine, a Samsung Series 7 slate PC, it was responsive to finger presses and sweeps, and there are some interesting features. We like the way, for example,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. you can zoom into the interface so you can see all your shortcuts with a quick pinch in and out.

Viewing all apps is easy, too. A sweep upwards from the bottom reveals a menu bar. What’s actually on offer here can vary depending on what you are doing at the time, but if you’re viewing the Start screen and instead would like to see all your apps, just tap ‘All apps’ and you’ll see a full list.

We’re big fans of how easy it is to pin any app to the Start screen. It’s just a case of sweeping upwards to get that bottom menu to appear, choosing ‘All Apps’, then dragging your chosen app down to the bottom of the screen to reveal the option to pin it to the Start screen.

You can also easily move tiles around the Start screen by dragging them, so that your most frequently used or favourite apps are always the ones you see first when you open the Start screen.

Just as with Windows Phone, the Start screen can display live information. If you are signed in to an email account, the Mail tile will provide alerts. If you allow Bing Weather to use your location it will show you the current weather situation, while the music tile will display information about the track you are currently listening to. It’s all designed to keep you up to date without you needing to keep opening apps all the time.

One of the great plus points of this operating system is the Windows Store. Accessed via the Metro interface, it gives you a direct route to third-party apps,The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. which take advantage of the Metro look and feel to provide a whole host of extra functionality.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design App stores are nothing new, but this will be the first time we’ve seen one integrated into Windows.

In the Consumer Preview we’ve been looking at, the apps are all free, which certainly won’t be the case later on. Applications are categorised by subject, and you sweep through these to see what’s new or being promoted. The look and feel of the interface is similar to that of the Start screen.