Hands-on with Intel's Ruby handheld PC

We kicked it at Intel's Destination Innovation event yesterday afternoon, and while most of what we saw there wasn't Engadget material — we couldn't care less about yet another way to sort through our digital photos — getting our hands on the Ruby, a concept design for a PDA-sized PC that can run Windows XP (or Vista…), made it all worth while. (The funny thing is that we didn't know this was an Intel prototype when we first stumbled upon the Ruby back in April.)

The one we played with was a little scuffed up (not by us, we swear), but James Song from Intel�s Systems Technology Lab schooled us on some of the Ruby�s features, like 8 hours of battery life, built-in wireless, a QWERTY keyboard, a low-voltage Pentium processor, the ability to automatically change screen orientation when you rotate the device (not sure how well that�d work in practice, but it�s an interesting prospect), and an active digitizer display so you can run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition on it (or whatever the Vista equivalent will be). They�re also thinking about developing a stripped down Linux-based OS to run on Ruby, but it wasn�t clear how far along they might be on that.


Anyway, you probably already have a firm sense of whether or not you�d ever want to get down with a device this size, but Song says that Intel (which obviously has no plans to build the device themselves) is already seeing interest in the reference design from several manufacturers and that we should hopefully see the first devices based on the Ruby platform in a couple of years or so.

[phi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

in a couple of years huh? It might be somewhat innovative now. but in a few years, not so much.

[Chris Coleman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think the power consumption and heat are what's putting it off a few years.

I think it's the kind of thing that just about every company would love to have now, and they can make the components small enough right now, but it would probably melt itself if the battery would last long enough to do so.

I think these are the reasons why Apple's holding out on a PDA. They want to do it right. Palms and PocketPCs are fairly crippled compared to real computers. I think that once it gets to the point where Apple can come out with something that'll run a full version of OS X at full speed and have a reasonable battery life, they'll be on top of it.

It might not be as innovative in a few years, but it certainly can't be very practical today.

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I thought they had a 0.5 Watt CPU coming out next summer? I saw proto's of handtops using the new chip when they announced all the new "performance per watt" chips.

This thing is going to be pretty bulky in 2 years.

[heath @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

damn, 8 hrs of battery life. where are the jumper cables that connect it to a car battery? oqo needs to call intel and find out how they get that....

[Homer J @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

My thumbs hurt just looking at this....

[acidscan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

me like it :)

[apeguero @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Why o why do they torture us by showing nice products before they are ready for retail.? The real question is, what do they expect this to fetch in the market? Pocket PC sized, DELL XPS priced probably.

[ft @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

i hate rubber keyboards. isn't it a time to figure out something better.

[emehrkay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

oqo seems to be the best aesthically deisgned handheld computer to date. sony's design sucked, that was a suprise and this thing's keyboard looks like it makes the thing huge

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

apeguero -- Intel told me they thought these things could cost as little as $500 when they come out a couple of years from now. Depends on the manufacturer, of course, but Intel thinks they can pump out Ruby chipsest at a very low-cost.

[Pat Horne @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Whoa. That things almost as big as the HP HX4700!

Seriously tho, it's coming to such a device. Still we wait for battery improvements.

[J. Sykes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

well it looks nice...but does intel really expect me to use some sort of weird grip to type on that thing....unless you can change the screen orientation, i wouldnt touch that thing when it comes out in 0-whatever

[Saffy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Agreed apeguero. The keyboard seems like the worst part of this. Methinks they should borrow a page from the pocket pc phone market, and give this thing a horizontal slide-out keyboard ala Sharp's recently-released W-ZERO3 / WS003SH.

Doing that would give Intel a lot more room for the keyboard too, which might actually (almost) make it touch-typable.

Anything would be an improvement on the keyboard they have now. It looks like something from a cheap electronic organizer circa 1995. Considering that this is a full-fledged computer, you'll want a much better keyboard than this, trust me.

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

You have to keep in mind that this is just a prototype to show off their chipset -- final form-factor, and stuff like screen size, keyboard, etc. are up to the manufacturers.

[George @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I like the idea of this, but I would hope the manufacturers would have the sense to ditch the silly little keyboard and put a proper (but scaled down) slim-line laptop keyboard underneath the screen, or in a slide-out style as Saffy suggested.

Hopefully fuel-cell technology will soon advance to the point where we can power these things for several days on a single 'charge'.

[muhanad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

interesting gadget
i hope it would use some Flash memory as a hard drive like 20gb should b good,,,it can replace PMP or mp3 player,,,,,,
i think if we consider the 500$price it would be good n worth getting instead of the nokia 770 which is expected to cost around 300-350$
i really want it badly

[Jordan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

$500 that would be great! Now let�s see it. This looks like a great device, its smaller than even the smallest tablets, except oQo & Sony, and not much bigger than a PDA. I know ill be interested when one of the manufacturers puts this out.

Anyone ever think that maybe Intel is working with Apple on their pda/tablet computer? I think Apple is in line to use this low wattage technology for their tablet. I wonder if they might be the first

[Sasha S. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Now we know why Intel wanted Apple so badly! My god this thing is UGLY!

[Superbad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I would purchase one if it were available in 3-9 months, but otherwise it will end up like the OQO, too slow with old technology.

[jmg_bt21 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'd be all over it if it had os X if not but at a $500 price point... I'd be willing to consider this...

That keyboard, yes that's an eyesore, BUT I like this... concept... even if it's XP/Vista... I am probably of the few that DON't mind just a touchscreen and some hand-writing recognition s/w... and or WHY NOT A FULL SCREEN and then a virtual keypad...

Maybe by then OLED (even with it's 'lifespan')

[Conjecture McSpeculate @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

That screen looks like it scratches really easily. Let's start a class action suit and demand a share of Intel's chip profits and that Moore's Law be renamed Rojas' Law.

[Jacques @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

That keyboard at 90� really looks awful to use. Why not use a Nokia communicator style? Make the thing foldable. You get a big nice keyboard that doubles as a screen protection.

[James Whited @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

My God, I already kinda like this thing. I would kill (well, not really) just to get my hands on one. Wanna share how to get one engadget? This could be a BIG leap forward in handheld computing technology.

---
James Whited, Reviewer, PDALive.com

[wisher @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Put this chipset in the I-mate Jasjar body and you have the perfect handheld computer.
http://www.imate.com/DETAILS_JASJAR.htm

[Gazzy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I like the word Linux! I have waited so long for a portable Linux computer and I cannot wait to apt-get stuff on the bus!!

[acidreflux @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think clam shell form factor would be more advantageous for this style of product, like the old sony pda.

[Sean @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"I like the word Linux! I have waited so long for a portable Linux computer and I cannot wait to apt-get stuff on the bus!!"

You want one of these then:

http://conics.net/shp/pda/zaurus-sl-c700/sl-c3100.html

with one of the X based distributions.

Or if you prefer something closer to the Intel form factor:

http://www.conics.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=93

If you can still find one....

[ultrapc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Any word on the type of microprocessor they used ?