In Australia, we now have 7" full Win 8.1 quad-core tablets going for AU$89, which will give Android devices a run for the money. With such cheap Win tablets coming from even the big names, isn’t it about time that iC Pro had a version for them?
I have tried the BlueStack Android emulator on my Acer W511 dual-core Win tablet and it is rather laggy running iC Pro. While in the studio we don’t need high speed response, but waiting a couple of seconds for the screen to change, after a button has been acknowledged as pressed, is ‘stretching the friendship’.
However you could pick up a 2nd hand quad core Samsung (android) for similar money and basically have a nice dedicated remote + add Lemur ; and then one is really having touchscreen fun
We already have NEW Samsung phones and a NEW Nexus 7 tablet, so we are not actually short of devices that are usable now for iC Pro. And they have warrantees!
The real advantage of Windows is that it can be used to do the SAME things that we can do with our desktops, like transparent network access, though Cubase would be pushing it! An advantage that will be enhanced by Win 10 which will bring phones on board as well.
So, if SB makes iC Pro for Win, it will be able to be used on phones, tablets, laptops or desktops, even the small BRIX, though one would hope it would not be as size-scaling stupid as the Android version, as while there are only two information configurations covering sizes from 4" to 12", Win 10 will be able to cover devices from 4" to whatever size touchscreen one can get. If iC Pro were on Win now, I could use one of those $89 tablets with my 23.5" FHD touchscreen in the studio, with complete silence. Can’t do that with anything that is on the Android or iOS map!
So, please SB, pull your heads out of Apple’s backside, where you have had it for far too many years, blinkering your development, and look into the sunlight where there are other things going on.
The other advantage to W10 is that one could run multiple instances of the same app on a large touchscreen.
The significant benefits are:
a) Each app could have its own ‘dead’ bezel area, enabling one to use a finger or two to stabilise one’s hand for fine adjustments, without triggering ad-hock actions or stealing focus.
b) A lot of the Cubase UI could be farmed out to such apps, but could still be part of a workspace arrangement.
Of course, proper multi-touch support would need to be implemented, and the scheme would require some re-architecting of Cubase to allow UIs to be local or remote without issues.
It would be pretty sad if you couldn’t divert resources from the new discontinued Android version to Windows. We’re talking about the two most used operating systems after all; Android and Windows.
Plus, it’d give you the chance to abandon yet another product.
