Microsoft Courier User Interface Out in the Open?

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Microsoft has not announced its Courier tablet yet but it looks like the user interface has been leaked to the public. Is Microsoft trying to build up momentum for the Courier? Apple on the other hand is not willing to show us anything and we have to keep digging for one shady rumor after the other.

This time it looks like Gizmodo got a hold of the whole user interface so let’s take a look at it. The tablet comes with multitouch support which will include various gestures: tap once, touch and hold, 1 finger flick and 2 finger flicks. So what do all those gesture do? Here’s a quick list that should help you better understand how the Courier will work:

• One finger tap and hold: clips content
• 1 finger flick: scroll vertically and turn pages
• 2 finger flick up or down: opens an app
• 2 finger flick left/right: closes the app or moves the app to the other screen

Now that you know what basic hand gestures will do you need to know that the content of the Courier is referred to as the Infinite Journal. The Smart Agenda is what you will be dealing with daily. It will show you appointments, emails, to-do lists, messages from friends and weather details. Think of the Smart Agenda like the home screen of your smartphone for example.

The Journal overview will show you the contents of the Courier. An interesting feature of the search engine is handwriting recognition which is must-have for a tablet. The Journal will also offer you cloud support. Shared portions of the Journal can be used by friends and colleagues to leave notes which will appear instantly in the Smart Agenda. The web browser looks like an index-card. Flip through your recently browsed pages just like you would in Safari. It’s basically a vertical version of Cover Flow if you will. With the touch of one finger you’ll be able to grab the content you want and paste it in your journal.

Copy and Paste is called “Clip, Tuck, Paste” in the Courier. You can copy any content which will be tucked into the spine of the tablet. Then you can move it into any page of the Journal. The Infinite Journal will show you all that content stored in the Courier. Everything is tagged with a timestamp and geotag so you’ll know exactly when and where you took a certain picture or made a certain note.

Besides multitouch support, the Courier will let you use a smart stylus. The pen has an undo button, an eraser and a twist mechanism which switches drawing modes.

Other features include the Library which acts as the main file browser and the camera which can be used to take lots of interesting photos.

That’s how the Courier is supposed to work, at least in theory. What do you say? Does any of that sound like something you want in a tablet?