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It looks like Huawei is dipping their toe into the personal computing game. The company is reportedly working on a new tablet, although it isn’t just a tablet. It’ll reportedly be a tablet/laptop hybrid that’s compatible with a keyboard deck, somewhat like the Microsoft Surface Book. It’ll even have its own digital stylus.
Rumor has it that it won’t be similar in form alone — this thing is said to be getting dual-boot capabilities, with Android and Windows 10 being the 2 operating systems you’ll be able to use at any given time. It’s an interesting feature, though not one we haven’t seen before.
If you don’t remember, ASUS attempted to launch a similar device. It’d use Android and ARM-based architecture while undocked, and the keyboard dock would provide the x86 architecture needed to power Windows 10.
It sounded awesome, but Microsoft reportedly forced ASUS’ hand and used licensing clauses (including raising licensing fees and refusing financing to market it as a Windows 10 device) to discourage the company from releasing the product. Google might have also refused to give ASUS a license to use the Google Play Store and Google Play Service.
That product never saw the light of day. It’s the same issue that caused this interesting idea — and similar others — to come and go without a product launch.
And we’re not so sure things will have changed between now and whenver ASUS is hoping to release it. Huawei could eat the downsides and go forward with it anyway if they wanted, but having to pay an inflated licensing fee per device sold and not being able to get any marketing help might be a pretty big deterrent. We’ll have to wait and see how all of this unfolds.
[Weibo via GizmoChina]
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