Microsoft Enters Tablet Competition: Courier

We first reported on HP’s DreamScreen “tablet” which many say is the first tablet in the race to get tablets out to customers (Apple’s long rumored tablet has yet to have any solid evidence) and now Microsoft has reportedly joined in the game. Microsoft reportedly is making their own tablet dubbed Courier, which the news broke on Gizmodo’s website.

According to Gizmodo, “Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development. It’s not a tablet, it’s a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.”

So how would it compare to Apple’s tablet, if the rumors have any truth to them? “It’s complex: Two screens, a mashup of a pen-dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications. Microsoft’s tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we’ve seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD,” states Gizmodo.

This “booklet” seems to be the real deal, which in comparison, may be the first tablet to actually reach the market. For more pictures and videos of this gadget, Gizmodo has a fantastic article and video.