Story highlights
Picture password feature is fun, convenient alternative to system unlocking
In Windows 8, switching between open apps is much more intuitive and easy
Users can adjust key size in the Windows 8 split-screen keyboard
When Microsoft revealed the “consumer preview” of Windows 8 on Wednesday, it didn’t just give the world a glimpse at a new OS — it also showed us that it can be a leader in touch-based user interface design. Yes, Microsoft’s new tablet UI isn’t merely utilitarian. It’s actually innovative, and even cool.
And in some ways it trumps the best that Apple and Google currently have to offer in iOS and Android, respectively.
Here are five of our favorite new Windows 8 features.
Picture password
We’ve known about Microsoft’s picture password feature in Windows 8 since its developer preview was unleashed in mid-September. But now that we’ve had a chance to give it a spin, we can definitely say it’s a fun, convenient alternative to other system unlocking methods. In a nutshell, you choose a photo for your lock screen, and then define three touch gestures to draw on top of the photo in order to unlock your device.
When Microsoft first detailed picture password, some were skeptical: Won’t evil hackers be able to figure out your gesture-based password based on the smudges you leave on the display? In a blog post, Microsoft said no: “Because the o