Hardware requirements for Windows 8 tablets now official.

Just like Windows Phone 7, it seems like Windows 8 devices, especially tablets will follow the same strict hardware regiment in order to deliver a universal experience across manufacturers, thereby bypassing the fragmentation issue that is plaguing Android currently. These guidelines apply not only to tablets, but also convertible PCs, like the one Intel demoed at CES 2012.

Furthermore, tablets or convertibles that are Windows 8 certified must have five hardware buttons: power, rotation lock, Windows key, volume rocker. This being a much larger mobile device compared to a phone, it will not have a dedicated camera shutter button. Coming to the display, the screen should have a minimum resolution of 1366 x 768 with a depth of 32bits. Also, the dimensions of the panel must match the aspect ratio, which makes sense, I guess. As this is only the minimum requirement, manufacturers are free to bump up the resolution provided they stick to the 16:9 aspect. Devices that will feature broadband radios, must have assisted GPS radios as well in case there’s NFC, the device area, which needs to be touched should have “touch marks”.

Coming to storage, there should be a minimum of 10GB free space by default, nothing less. Also present is WLAN (draft ‘n’ we assume), Bluetooth 4.0 + LE (low energy), Direct3D 10 device with WDDM 1.2 driver, 720p-capable camera, light sensor, magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, USB 2.0 and speakers. For more details head over to this link.