Pepper Computer @ CES - The Pepper wireless pad

It's such an obvious move for a tablet-style PC—split the keyboard down the middle, with half on one side of the screen and half on the other—and it's earned the Pepper wireless pad a little special love from us this CES. We were buzzing about a slightly different version of this one back in September—basically it's a Linux-based tablet PC with an 8.4-inch touchscreen, a 624MHz processor, 20GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM, built-in 802.11b WiFi, Bluetooth, an SD memory card slot. The processor is a little on the poky side, but you probably wouldn't want to use this thing for anything too hardcore anyway.

[num10ck @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

i would imagine that using this for any decent length of time (20+ minutes?) would trash your neck. maybe a laptop layed out like a nintendo DS, things could get interesting.

these seem to be the wrong sort of keys, and needlessly too small. spread them to the edges and give the fingers a chance. the cursor on the left needs to become something more analog/mousey, perhaps a trackball. the scroll wheel on the right should have left/right clicks straddling it, and the scroll wheel should be less than a finger thick.

this form factor could be good in meetings, where a laptop would form walls.

[Woolly Mittens @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Those hands behind the thing... is that a midget, or is this machine the size of a whale? I can't imagine holding that beast by it's key-pads comfortable for very long.

[kenny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

is it just me or does it looked like an evolved atari lynx?

[Rick James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Wouldn't it have made more sense to place the speakers at the top and the contols at the bottom. Surely this way round they are covered by your wrist as you type. It does look rather cumbersome. I think its an idea with merit that could have been better designed!

[Rick James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Wouldn't it have made more sense to place the speakers at the top and the contols at the bottom. Surely this way round they are covered by your wrist as you type. It does look rather cumbersome. I think its an idea with merit that could have been better designed!

[Rick James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Wouldn't it have made more sense to place the speakers at the top and the contols at the bottom. Surely this way round they are covered by your wrist as you type. It does look rather cumbersome. I think its an idea with merit that could have been better designed!

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

yea, it seems like the oqo would have a lot more potential as a handheld computer than this

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

How much???

[Kamalot @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Think of running emulator games on this. It would be a portable, big-screen SNES!

[Sean @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Don't forget Pepper's URL: http://www.pepper.com/

[Wayne Chiang @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

This may be a good Skype tablet. When the voice quality drops, one can always use the keyboard to text-chat. Somebody have to make sure that the Bluetooth works with the headset.

[christopher wanko @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I almost bought it, but one detail kept it from happening: lack of any fast I/O from the PPad, by which I mean Firewire, USB 2.0, or even an Ethernet jack. Even 802.11g might've swayed me, or a PCMCIA slot. That's a big blocker for me, maybe for others as well. Can't beat the price, would definitely buy one as a living room VNC client if it had faster wireless.

[Chuck E @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I like the ability to save web clippings, but I'm old fashioned and want this device to have a dialup modem inside. Also the price is too high. Looks cool though.

[George M. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

It maybe a cool machine but how they want to sell it if this is only available on Best Buy or Amazon web site. This should be market by computer dealers or Home Media dealers where customers can put their hands on it. The price is right but the interface is a little poor and difficult to read. It is just waiting for someone to customize it. And maybe this is the way the company should market it. Custom dealers with the capability to tailor it to a client needs. I think they are making a big mistake by going after the big guys to sell it. It is too big and expensive for a toy and to complicate for the kids at Best Buy to explain how it works. Also, you can only set up one email account on it. So for example three people at home will have to use three units to check their email. They will have a lot of them returned back. Just wait and you will see it for less than half price on EBay before long.

[George M. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

It maybe a cool machine but how they want to sell it if this is only available on Best Buy or Amazon web site. This should be market by computer dealers or Home Media dealers where customers can put their hands on it. The price is right but the interface is a little poor and difficult to read. It is just waiting for someone to customize it. And maybe this is the way the company should market it. Custom dealers with the capability to tailor it to a client needs. I think they are making a big mistake by going after the big guys to sell it. It is too big and expensive for a toy and to complicate for the kids at Best Buy to explain how it works. Also, you can only set up one email account on it. So for example three people at home will have to use three units to check their email. They will have a lot of them returned back. Just wait and you will see it for less than half price on EBay before long.

[Romayne R @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

This is very attractive. Several of these types of devices have come about in theory but failed to make it to market. Take the Ericsson H610.
I think it is high time a company followed through with the concept. The price is gonna put a crimp in it though. Consider Nokia's own 770 for less than half that. Good thin is that it is Linux!!! :) So too is the Nokia!!! I like the keyboard though. But the price :(