Microsoft has been doing handwriting recognition for a very long time.  They started promoting ink support in 2000 with the Pocket PCs which had inking and handwriting recognition as part of every "notes" field in any kind of data item. Contacts, Calendar appointments, etc.  Then in 2002, inking became part of the Windows Tablet PCs.  Today, that ink and handwriting recognition has evolved significantly and it really shows how far we've come in the Surface Pro with its included Wacom stylus.  In the video below, we'll take a look at just how it works. You'll see how well it can ...

Last week, on the heels of the BlackBerry 10 launch event in Toronto, I crafted a pair of quick-and-dirty comparison videos showcasing the differences between the BB10 OS and the Windows Phone 8 and Android platforms. I admit that the set had its problems, filmed as it was under severe time constraints in a hotel room with horrible audio. Several factual errors needed to be corrected in editing, and we subsequently filmed some follow-up videos to offer a more thorough presentation. Still, neither Android nor Windows Phone came away from the analysis unscathed: in the categories we selected ...

Every once in a while, we see Samsung file for trademarks on a whole bunch of new device names. It may seem that more often than not, nothing interesting comes of these finds, but occasionally the company decides to follow through on one or more and we actually see hardware eventually come to market. Today, we have a handful of new candidates to throw in the running for new Samsung smartphones, including a number of Galaxy models and even one ATIV device. In the US, Samsung has filed for trademark protection for the names Galaxy S Kit, Galaxy S Mate, Galaxy S Impact, and Galaxy S Act. With ...

Here's when you start to debate if the word "Pro" is really worthy of a product's name. While some of us are both excited or simply underwhelmed by the news of the Microsoft Surface Pro reaching retail stores on February 9th, it seems that choosing the right Surface will be crucial to satisfy your needs. As it turns out, if you choose to go for the 64GB entry-level model, you won't be left with much to actually do with your "tablet that's also a PC device". You'll barely be left with 23GB of usable storage, and we don't think many of you had even started high school when dealing with that ...

I've spent a day full of second thoughts. Back when Microsoft announced the Surface in two flavors, both an RT and a Pro version, I immediately jumped the gun and said I'd wait for the Pro. I've always been frustrated by the fact that the iPad is not a work machine, and I seriously find it annoying to have to haul my laptop everywhere. I borrowed Brandon's RT Surface in Vegas back when we were covering CES just to make sure I was doing the right thing, and as it turned out I was, since going RT would've just been adoption another iPad when it came to usability. There was really no point in ...

Ever since the Surface RT launched, we've been anxiously awaiting the debut of its big brother, the beefier, Windows-8-Pro-running Surface. In late November, Microsoft finally revealed pricing data for the Surface Pro, but we still didn't have a firm date for its availability, beyond sometime in January. Well, we're deep into the month at this point, with no sign of any new Surface models; what gives? Today, Microsoft provides the Surface Pro a release date, and while it's going to miss that January window, it won't be by much: the Windows 8 Pro Surface will go up for sale on February 9. ...

Less than a year ago, back in early March 2012, Google took the axe to its Android Market and renamed it the Google Play Store, as part of a company-wide rebranding around the Google Play name. It may have seemed a little strange at first, but it's rapidly grown on us, such that the Play Store has become synonymous with Android apps. That's why we're a little surprised to hear about Microsoft's latest attempt to sell games, which it's promoting under the very similar "Play" banner. The branding's a little inconsistent, and Microsoft seems to refer to this both as Play XBLA and just ...

This year's Consumer Electronics Show from Las Vegas has come and gone. As usual, we've been both on-site bringing you coverage from events as well as the show floor, and here on Pocketnow, keeping you up to date with what's going on in the mobile world. For some the show has been excellent; for others it has been a letdown. We can't compare CES to a specialized mobile event like MWC (maybe with IFA); still, our experience from past years has taught us to expect certain things to happen at CES. They might or might not have happened in a straightforward way but there was a lot of innovation ...