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.