After six years in development, a total of RM6.3 million in investment, with design changes along the way, local developer Advance Tech Communications Sdn. Bhd. unveiled working models of its Magic W3 (W Cubed) Windows 7 PC-phone tablet to the media at its office in Petaling Jaya. ATC plans for the Magic W3 to be available in the market around May or June.
Unlike its earlier conception which essentially was a highly powered PDA-phone with a QWERTY keyboard running Windows Mobile, the Magic W3 is full-blown, Atom processor-powered netbook running the Windows 7 operating system but with an Internet tablet form factor.
The Magic W3 is the world’s first Windows 7-based microcomputer with an integrated 3.5G and quad-band GSM smartphone with High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) wireless broadband connectivity for anytime and anywhere Internet access.
Advance Tech developed the patent-pending technology and custom coding of the cellular chipset to enable Magic W3’s interaction with the network architecture.
As expected with tablets, it has a 4.8in, 800 x 480 pixels WVGA touchscreen or up to 1260 x 600 pixels with interpolation. It recognises handwriting input and it can be connected to an external USB keyboard and mouse, while a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port lets you connect it to an external monitor for regular desktop-style use, especially over long periods and to a large screen projector for presentations.
Enterprise focused
Unlike the majority of the current tablets which are designed for media consumption while on the go, Advance Tech designed the Magic W3 for enterprise and business users on the go who need the full functionality of a PC with a highly portable and pocketable size.
This makes it ideal for today’s highly mobile workforces, such as in sales, servicing and logistics, to remain in touch with their office and their customers, access information on the Internet, submit orders, check up on customers’ account status, issue invoices and basically work while on the go.
Users can also access entertainment content, engage in popular social networking and even conduct videoconferencing while on the go using its in-built, 1.3 megapixels camera.
Being Windows 7 OS-based with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM memory and a 32GB solid-state hard disk, the Magic W3 runs all popular Windows-based programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe PhotoShop, accounting and other business applications, while it also has WiFi b & g and Bluetooth 2.0 Extended Data Range (EDR) for local connectivity, and a GPS transceiver for navigation applications.
Moreover, Windows supports multi-tasking which lets these applications run concurrently.
The Magic W3 measures 141 x 81.5 x 22 mm, weighs 260g and its 3200 mAh battery. It also comes with a microSD card slot and a microSD card, a charging and input/output dock, 3.5mm audio socket, stereo speakers, dual microphone, Magic Telephony Touch user interface, phone dialler, messaging, call history, as well as call and end buttons.
Whether one likes it or not, Windows market share on consumer and enterprise PCs remains over 90%, despite some gains made by alternative operating systems.
IT industry analyst firm Net Applications claimed the market share of Windows XP, Vista and 7 stood at 91.08-percent worldwide in September 2010, while industry analyst Gartner predicts that Windows will have a 94.4-percent share of the enterprise PC market by 2014 and 92.8-percent of the consumer PC market by that time.
While Windows’ share has declined by a few percentage points compared to 2009, especially as more consumers switch to other OSes, including smartphone OSes such as Android and Apple’s iOS, Gartner’s Neil McDonald sees overall growth in the absolute number of Windows installations, so the number of Windows devices is still growing.
More importantly, this means a huge ecosystem of Windows developers, hence the huge availability of free or paid Windows applications, coupled with support for almost all peripherals such as printers, scanners and more in the market.
“There are millions of third-party Windows applications out there which is much more than are available for competing platforms, said Advance Tech product director, Jonathan Loi.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show 2011, Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer displayed several Windows 7.1-based tablet PCs from several manufacturers and like the Magic W3, these are intended for enterprise users, rather than media consumption.
So contrary to notions popularised by some of the media that Microsoft is “fighting back” against the non-Windows tablets, instead Microsoft is addressing quite a different and highly lucrative enterprise market. While the local price of the Magic W3 is yet to be announced, its international price is USD1,350 or about RM4,115
For more information on the Magic W3, visit www.advancetc.com
Article written by contributing writer Charles Moreira
