Well it has been unveiled. Two things leap out at me. Real battery life seems to be two hours... box spec probably 3-4. Two they are being vauge aboutt he price. That means 500 for one of these isn't really an option. That means it is going to go head to head price wise with budget... and not so budget laptops (The 1000 dollar laptop is a serious machine these days). For example Comp USA was just offering a core duo with a gig of Ram after a 200 rebate. I mean really, it would be hard to justify the questionable mobile edge of this device with hampered input capacity over a laptop with core duo that would only be marginaly more cumbersome to lug around. Not to mention how to you appeal to the 300-400 top line PDA crowd ? Similar functionality in terms of input... but a size to big to put in a holster and it costs twice as much or more ? That being said I can think of enough uses for them that nothing else provides to keep them around long enough to see another gen or to. But for a genral use mobile system they have got to get battery life up in the solid 8 hour range and the price needs to be 500 for a top of the line system and well under that for the average unit. And I mean 8 hours of real use range... not box spec 8 hours of minimal backlight only reading a txt document with the CPU undervolted.
A system in this form factor that could run for 8 hours would win over PDA and laptop users alike. Of course if they get there then PDA and Laptops will also be sporting longer lives. So its kind of a catch 22 there. That is why the price point will be so important (my guess at least). Size wise this thing cannot kill the PDA but it can marginalize the upper echelon capacity that has finally begun to encroach on 'real' computing tasks (mobile office stuff). At anyrate in 3-4 years my guess is that various devices will no longer be dealing with different file types or any conversion issues (like mobile 5 does with most files) and need will dictate the final form factor.
That said this thing is going to have some serious appeal for a student and corporate meeting warrior alike. Real hard drive capacity, refference material like say I don't know... GOOGLE.... always at hand and the ability to easily expand it to a full input capacity. That Samsung unit propped on its stand with one of those flexible silicon USB keyboards and eithe BT or usb dongle mouse could make for a serious note taker. Throw in a swivel camera that can point towards the lecturer and a mic up to the task of recording standard lecture environments and you got a serious piece of kit for school and meetings alike.
How do I envision using one of these? Well first off if they break the 500 price point for one that works I would seriously consider using one in tandem with a laptop. It would let me go a little less mobile in Laptop Design in return for a sattelite computer that could handle the mobile needs. It also could be an electronic refference system. I could envision gettin the O-Reily safari bookshelf and using an IM client session between my laptop/desktop and this system for a technical refference library I could cut and paste from to the other machine (paste text into an IM messege and send it to the other system). I would also have a docking system in the car. If it were OBDII I would have the docking solution integrate a connection to the car computer. I would have a web cam or two for rear view/Blind spot coverage along with a Blue Tooth GPS receiver (integrated would be nice but problematic for proper placement to get a good signal... would probably need an antenna solution). As for size factor for luggin it around with a laptop? Well I currently have two or three Refference Texts that take up considerably more space than this thing would... and I almost always am choosing a selection instead of having my whole library available. Sometimes that is a problem. Additionally it would replace my note taking folio that I use to hold meeting materials and take notes in. I would probably keep my contacts and calander function on my phone... but with Blue tooth tethering and a headset it might rarely leave my hip. It would provide phone function and cellular data link since these do not seem to have such built in yet. With an expanded hands free solution and built in cellular capacity this thing could provide an out of sight phone capacity. IE voice dialing. With a blue tooth headset and a more functional voice dialing you could use it as a phone while it was still in your backpack/brief case or purse... or you could have an ultra slim (think half a razr) blue tooth handset in a traditional belt holster complete with screen for displaying information.
In the classroom I would say this thing has the potential to do something the Tablet has not delivered on. The ability to do text and drawing input easily. Why would this thing be better ? Envision that samsung unit propped up on its integrated stand sitting in front of you on a desk. You use a BT full size fold up silicon keyboard (see think geek, still wired but could be made into Blue Tooth would probably work even wired with a very flexible chord) and blue tooth mouse. Now you type just like you regularly would but suddenly you need to sketch a diagram or something. You just pick up the screen and start drawing... either with a stylus or potentially just your finger and sit it back down. That is a very simple action the tablet does not do well. You can either have it in tablet lay out and that work well... or its like trying to draw on a laptop screen which just dosn't work to well. And swiveling it around is both annoying for you and those around you not to mention to slow. I don't know if this would be any better. But I know I would like to give it a try. A key would be enabling a word document to recognize a drawings boundaries and automatically wrap text around it as needed (according to highly flexible user modifiable rules).
So I can think of ways I would like to use one. If money was no object I would love to get one an play with it to find out if it would proove practical or if it would just turn out to be a gadget that simply didn't do anything well enough or at least enough better than other options to make it a valuable tool rather than geek toy. It would be an excellent meeting tool I think. But if its 800+ thats an expensive replacement for a legal pad and a print out of agenda material.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Microsoft Origami: The begining of the real portable computer
I think Microsoft may be on to something with Origami. Why is it the begining ?
Pro's:
It is the right form factor. There is a reason that you do not often find books printed smaller than paperback size. There is also a reason you don't often see folks carrying around information printed in larger sizes. This is because standard paperbacks are big enough to display large enough amounts of information in a comfortable enough size but small enough to have few portability issues. Above a certain size people are just reluctant to carry them around. Under a certain size and they go with folks most anywhere. Any smaller and they are mostly novelty. Quality touch screens have gotten cheap enough to make them up into this range without it driging the device cost over 1000. And that is a very key threshold for the ideas of how such a device would be used.
It has a real OS. A stripped down XP targeted specifically at a hardware spec that is otherwise unhampered in terms of running available windows software will do wonders for mobile computing. There are certainly going to be growing pains here as mobile input solutions will have to be integrated into desktop aps. A marriage that as yet has not really happened because the real mobile world of PDA and PPC's (read limited input computing devices) has until now remained fairly isolated from the world of 'real' computing. So long as Microsoft has not introduced loads of compatibility issues with existing software this will be a plus. If they have introduced shedloads of incompatibilities then the whole idea will be still born.
Blue tooth HID systems will allow you to morph it into a micro laptop with full up input capability. USB wireless devices will do the same provided this thing has usb device ports and is not simply a usb device itself like current PPC and PDA's. But regardless of USB... this could be the take off point for Blootooth docking systems at least for input... you could then concievably use USB 2 for a monitor output solution and turn this device into a mobile CPU that has Mobile viewing/input capability that can turn into a full system anywhere a docking solution can be had... and with blue tooth it can eliminate the pesky proprietary cable nightmare that has plauged portable devices for years. The ability to use real input capacity combined with a display big enough to use will do a great deal to bridge the existing gap between the portable world real computing tasks.
Cons:
Well I am just guessing but the rumor mill is kicking out that the battery life is still going to be far less than a standard working day. The best guess seems to be around 4 hours tops. Now four hours spread out with intermitent use could well proove a capable daily machine. But it will not suffice for say a student who has 8 hours of classes and little down time if they were using such a device... or a teacher for that matter. Same for mobile people on the go where perhaps they use it as a GPS system which morphs into a point of sale system, and serves as a communication hub. The room for a new mobile device rests almost entirely with a system that can be used on the go without having to change batteries or constantly finding an outlet to top it up at. The army has long since figured this out and has largely abandoned the idea of svelt slim cases in favor of ones with HUGE battery compartment bulges so that the new devices for use by soldiers can be on and running solid for a good chunk of the day without worrying about the batteries going flat. And they STILL have endurance issues. Battery technology is a a major stumbling point to this kind of device.
Fragility. Touchscreens are notriously fragile. And a 7 inch highly portable device with a mostly unprotected bullseye is simply not going to become a rough and tumble go anywhere kind of system. Devices that ruggedize and go away from a touch screen are generally un-useable for real input tasks short of acess to a key board and mouse. Things are not much better with a touch screen but there is a threshold of useability crossed with a capable touch screen that captures a number of users. Witness the ubiquitous touch screen PDA. But you will notice most PDA's have some system of protection. Highly integrated cases, flip covers etc. This device is going to be a size where that will not work well. And it isn't exactly going to fit in a hip case. It is going to be a system that has to take abuse... and that is just something that touchscreen LCD's do not deal well with. Perhaps when we get more rugged LCD's that will allow for rougher treatment... or perhaps a new touch screen technology that can be used with hardened screens.
Resolution. A stripped down version of XP means that same old tired as 96dpi font resolution. That will kill it as a constant refference source. People just don't like reading on active display technology at low dpi resolutions. However, there are solutions on the horizon. In particular there is the possibility of the E-ink display that has newprint resolution capacity (300-600dpi).. and powerless non-active display ability. IE like printed words on paper as opposed to a backlit screen. if E-ink ever reaches useability for video display it will revolutionize display technology. Until then it still has the possibility of making portable electronics a viable replacement for printed information. That is because it is a technology that makes it possible to have a device that can not only store a libraries worth of text/pictures, it can also have Thousands and Thousands of page views on a single battery charge. At the very least they are capable of surpasing the idea of a device that would at most need to be charged while you sleep. Another resolution issue is the touchpad sensitivity. They still just art not anywhere near the experience of writing with a pen on paper. When the difference between stylus on touchscreen becomes much closer to that of pen on paper then it will be more realistic to be able to jot notes down. As is you tend to have to write so big to make anything legible that it is useless. The added screen size here over most current mobile handwritting devices will help. But I have used several tablets and non of them are very impressive in this reagard... and those have higher end cpu's... this is going to have a less potent cpu under the hood so I don't see this improoving any.
Cost. They are shooting for 500. 800 is much more likely and early adopter prices will be even higher I imagine. All of them are too high. For this kind of technology to take off like people seem to want it too this has to get down to the point where if someone sees one lying unatended they don't consider picking it up.
Pro's:
It is the right form factor. There is a reason that you do not often find books printed smaller than paperback size. There is also a reason you don't often see folks carrying around information printed in larger sizes. This is because standard paperbacks are big enough to display large enough amounts of information in a comfortable enough size but small enough to have few portability issues. Above a certain size people are just reluctant to carry them around. Under a certain size and they go with folks most anywhere. Any smaller and they are mostly novelty. Quality touch screens have gotten cheap enough to make them up into this range without it driging the device cost over 1000. And that is a very key threshold for the ideas of how such a device would be used.
It has a real OS. A stripped down XP targeted specifically at a hardware spec that is otherwise unhampered in terms of running available windows software will do wonders for mobile computing. There are certainly going to be growing pains here as mobile input solutions will have to be integrated into desktop aps. A marriage that as yet has not really happened because the real mobile world of PDA and PPC's (read limited input computing devices) has until now remained fairly isolated from the world of 'real' computing. So long as Microsoft has not introduced loads of compatibility issues with existing software this will be a plus. If they have introduced shedloads of incompatibilities then the whole idea will be still born.
Blue tooth HID systems will allow you to morph it into a micro laptop with full up input capability. USB wireless devices will do the same provided this thing has usb device ports and is not simply a usb device itself like current PPC and PDA's. But regardless of USB... this could be the take off point for Blootooth docking systems at least for input... you could then concievably use USB 2 for a monitor output solution and turn this device into a mobile CPU that has Mobile viewing/input capability that can turn into a full system anywhere a docking solution can be had... and with blue tooth it can eliminate the pesky proprietary cable nightmare that has plauged portable devices for years. The ability to use real input capacity combined with a display big enough to use will do a great deal to bridge the existing gap between the portable world real computing tasks.
Cons:
Well I am just guessing but the rumor mill is kicking out that the battery life is still going to be far less than a standard working day. The best guess seems to be around 4 hours tops. Now four hours spread out with intermitent use could well proove a capable daily machine. But it will not suffice for say a student who has 8 hours of classes and little down time if they were using such a device... or a teacher for that matter. Same for mobile people on the go where perhaps they use it as a GPS system which morphs into a point of sale system, and serves as a communication hub. The room for a new mobile device rests almost entirely with a system that can be used on the go without having to change batteries or constantly finding an outlet to top it up at. The army has long since figured this out and has largely abandoned the idea of svelt slim cases in favor of ones with HUGE battery compartment bulges so that the new devices for use by soldiers can be on and running solid for a good chunk of the day without worrying about the batteries going flat. And they STILL have endurance issues. Battery technology is a a major stumbling point to this kind of device.
Fragility. Touchscreens are notriously fragile. And a 7 inch highly portable device with a mostly unprotected bullseye is simply not going to become a rough and tumble go anywhere kind of system. Devices that ruggedize and go away from a touch screen are generally un-useable for real input tasks short of acess to a key board and mouse. Things are not much better with a touch screen but there is a threshold of useability crossed with a capable touch screen that captures a number of users. Witness the ubiquitous touch screen PDA. But you will notice most PDA's have some system of protection. Highly integrated cases, flip covers etc. This device is going to be a size where that will not work well. And it isn't exactly going to fit in a hip case. It is going to be a system that has to take abuse... and that is just something that touchscreen LCD's do not deal well with. Perhaps when we get more rugged LCD's that will allow for rougher treatment... or perhaps a new touch screen technology that can be used with hardened screens.
Resolution. A stripped down version of XP means that same old tired as 96dpi font resolution. That will kill it as a constant refference source. People just don't like reading on active display technology at low dpi resolutions. However, there are solutions on the horizon. In particular there is the possibility of the E-ink display that has newprint resolution capacity (300-600dpi).. and powerless non-active display ability. IE like printed words on paper as opposed to a backlit screen. if E-ink ever reaches useability for video display it will revolutionize display technology. Until then it still has the possibility of making portable electronics a viable replacement for printed information. That is because it is a technology that makes it possible to have a device that can not only store a libraries worth of text/pictures, it can also have Thousands and Thousands of page views on a single battery charge. At the very least they are capable of surpasing the idea of a device that would at most need to be charged while you sleep. Another resolution issue is the touchpad sensitivity. They still just art not anywhere near the experience of writing with a pen on paper. When the difference between stylus on touchscreen becomes much closer to that of pen on paper then it will be more realistic to be able to jot notes down. As is you tend to have to write so big to make anything legible that it is useless. The added screen size here over most current mobile handwritting devices will help. But I have used several tablets and non of them are very impressive in this reagard... and those have higher end cpu's... this is going to have a less potent cpu under the hood so I don't see this improoving any.
Cost. They are shooting for 500. 800 is much more likely and early adopter prices will be even higher I imagine. All of them are too high. For this kind of technology to take off like people seem to want it too this has to get down to the point where if someone sees one lying unatended they don't consider picking it up.
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