MICROSOFT HAS announced an overhaul for tablet support in Windows 10.
The current tablet mode, designed for use on keyboardless devices is a bit fiddly, to say the least, and it looks like Redmond is well aware.
The new features aimed at 2-in-1 devices are likely to be enabled by default as soon as you detach the keyboard but give a slightly less ‘alien’ look to the desktop that is offered currently.
Currently, tablet mode hides the desktop completely in favour of the tiled (formerly ‘Metro’) interface. In the new design, currently being tested by Windows Insiders, the desktop remains, but with slightly wider spacing in the taskbar to accommodate fat fingers.
The on-screen keyboard will only pop up if you tap on a text field that needs filling, and File Explorer will get a touch-friendly version of its UI too.
If all this sounds a bit familiar, it should – much of the design for this feature owes more than a little to Windows 8 before most of the enhancements were removed for Windows 10.
It’s by no means a final design either – Microsoft says it plans for further changes based on how the Insiders (beta testers) react and feedback.
Microsoft has said that the current tablet mode will remain by default on devices that don’t have a keyboard at all – this new UI is aimed specifically at 2-in-1 owners.
The move is just one of a number that the more cynical amongst us could see as bowing to public opinion. Since Windows 8 radically changed the way we interact with the operating system, Microsoft has been quietly rolling back towards a more ‘classic’ experience, but still underpinned by the tiled interface.
It’s not known which update these changes are aimed at for a public release, but given the early stage announcement, we can’t imagine it will be until Spring 2020 at the earliest, probably more likely Autumn 2020. µ