Yesterday I published part 1 of my in-depth review of the ExoPC where I looked at the hardware, and we’re off to a cracking start as it’s extremely impressive.  The most noticeable thing about this tablet however is the custom interface that ExoPC have provided to make working with this Windows 7 tablet simpler and more enjoyable.

Before I look at the UI let’s have a look at exactly why it’s needed.  With Windows 7, Microsoft have continued with their philosophy of merging the consumer and business versions of their core OS that, only a few years ago, were seperate entities with different development teams.  The upshot of this is that we now have a Windows that’s much more stable and secure than anything else before it, but where the business-focus has taken precedent over any consumer considerations.

There have been attempts with features such as Media Centre to simplify and consumerise the Windows UI, but even Media Centre has always felt like a type of lost bolt-on.

Now we’re in a situation where Windows simply cannot cope with the demands of a touch interface but in some ways it doesn’t matter, and I’ll come to why in the next part of this review.

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The main UI is based around a series of pages on which there are 80 circles.  These circles on each page are customisable and by default the UI comes with links to settings, games, a web browser (which is a skin on top of the installed copy of Internet Explorer 9), a files browser, mapping software and more.

You can add additional icons to these panels which at the moment requires modifying an underlying file to add a web link but is much simpler with programs, even ones not designed for the UI (I had it launching the Live Essentials Suite).

There are also other apps supplied with the ExoPC that you can install or download from their website.  Already there are quite a few but the quality varies.  The best selection though are games and it’s here that a tablet will excel if they’re a good and useful selection.

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Now it’s worth pointing out that, as with just about every other piece of software out there at the moment, this UI is still in beta.  ExoPC tell me that the plan is to tap into Windows 7′s APIs and create an interface that people can stay in “90% of the time”.  They’re working on this actively too and intend to be able to deliver much of this in the next four months.

There’s consistency in the UI as well with an attractive brushed metal effect set against a black background.  All in all there’s been as much attention to detail gone into this UI as has gone into the hardware, and this is very important as it could so easily have been overlooked.

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The browser is a good example of the in-development nature of the UI software, as there’s currently no bookmarking or tabbed browsing support, but these are coming soon I’m told.  Also the pinch zoom falls prey to relying on IE9 and isn’t smooth like you’d find on other tablets, in fact it’s quite jerky and only has a few settings.

This is a very well laid out and organised UI with a home button permanently in the top right and a Windows key in the bottom left should you need to drop back to the Windows 7 desktop.  The running apps appear on the right side and you can simply slide them off the screen to shut them down, which is a lovely touch.  Removing icons from the UI is also simple, you just slide them to the left and a recycle bin appears.

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These problems aside there’s a lot to like about this UI.  It’s very polished already and the guys at ExoPC are very excited about the ways they’ll be improving it in the next few months.  It’s very simple to update too, and can be done with just a few clicks.

It will be very interesting to see how this UI develops.  It reminds me, fairly obviously I suppose, of the work HTC did to mask the horror that was Windows Mobile on my HTC Touch HD.  At first the Malina interface they added was only skin deep, much as things are here.  They persevered though and that UI then won universal acclaim and ended up being ported to Android.

For myself I found I was using the standard Windows 7 interface on the tablet more than the custom UI because there’s still work to do.   I can easily see myself enjoying using it though in a few months when it’s been upgraded.

Coming next : Windows 7 on a Tablet