We thought we had today's
Origami news covered, especially with our
hands-on visit to Samsung's CeBIT
booth. But it turns out there's still a little more info out there, courtesy of
tomorrow's official CeBIT
show daily, which was released to the web today by its time-traveling publisher. According to CeBIT News, the Origami
will include a circular virtual keyboard as part of its user interface. The Origami Touch Pack Interface, as the
virtual keyboard will be known, is designed for thumb-typing, and is sure to guarantee tons of fingerprints on your
Origami display. CeBIT News also confirms that a range of external peripherals will be available for the Samsung Q1,
including a GPS unit, DMB TV tuner (which will be internal for units sold in Korea), Bluetooth keyboard and DVD drive.
CeBIT News also says that you'll be able to rip DVDs to the hard drive, though we assume that this doesn't include
CSS-protected movies.
[Via
the Inq]
posted March 8th 2006 5:21PM
I really excited about Origami. I think it's a really great form factor, which is big enough to get some work done, and small enough to carry around with you almost everywhere. They'll eventually get battery life and speed to be really good, that's Intel's #1 priority right now. Getting the pricing right will be the challenge. I hope it' closer to $500 than $1000.
Point 1: I think Apple wouldn't make something without a keyboard unless:
a. text entry was not required, and everything is done by selecting items on a screen. (See Front Row and Apple Remote, or iPod.)
b. or if text entry was required, then voice input would have to work well enough to be the primary input mechanism, and an optional keyboard (even Blackberry sized) would be a secondary mechanism.
Point 2: If MS doesn't show us something more tomorrow, then this is my conclusion: MS had a great idea in developing a small tablet but they just didn't finish the job by thinking through the use case. If they had, it would've led to developing the proper UI, and including the proper technology (battery life). Note that the really mobile devices now have double-digit hours for battery life. Granted they can't do nearly as much as Origami, but the resulting perception will be that Origami is not truly a mobile device; rather, it falls into the laptop computer category and the tradeoff comparisons will be made against laptops and not truly mobile devices. Origami really needs to have at least 7 to 8 hours of battery life to make any dent past early adopters.
buy if you like it, don't buy it if you don't like it
what's the fuzzzzzz?
"Granted they can't do nearly as much as Origami, but the resulting perception will be that Origami is not truly a mobile device; rather, it falls into the laptop computer category and the tradeoff comparisons will be made against laptops and not truly mobile devices."
I think this is where the hangup is. Origami is NOT intended to be a truly mobile device the same way a Windows Mobile device is. It IS supposed to be included in the laptop computer category.
The fact that it doesn't run a specalized UI or OS is the core appeal of the device when combined with the small size. You don't have to worry about all the caveats you usually run into when dealing with a highly specialized device.
Take the Nokia 770 for example. The use of Opera as the browser is an instant deal breaker for me. Gmail does not function properly with Opera and Gmail is my main email portal. There are too many gotchas when dealing with a very specialized device. Streaming media is also right out with something like the 770. If I wanted to hope over to the Apple Trailers site, I'm not going to be seeing much with that thing.
The thing I wonder about with this whole thing is the odd timing. We are on the cusp of a Vista release which will likely be much more adapatable for a device like this and the next generation of processors from intel will make battery life much better on these things. It seems strange to introduce this device now with the current OS and hardware instead of waiting 9 months. This is why I don't think I'll buy the first generation of devices. 2nd and 3rd generation devices have the potential to be really useful.
It does feel like it's getting rushed out the door, I will give you that.
#53-Your analysis has merit. However, depending on price and its ability to run iTunes, the Origami, with far greater functionality, may be perceived as an alternative to a video iPod. That's what has the apple fan boys worried here.
and one day, our kids will tell their parents,
I want that Orgy thing!
#56 It won't be an alternative to a video iPod because it's not pocketable; of course, I assume that the real video iPod will still be the same size as an iPod (maybe a bit thicker?). Being pocketable is a big distinction. See Gartenberg at jupiterresearch for further discussion of that.
#55 It could be neat as a smaller laptop; trading size for functionality, in the sense, of using a cramped UI, not in terms of applications not running. I'm so used to at least 1024x768 on a laptop and I had a real hard time with the small Sony Vaio's. In any case, a smaller laptop/tablet certainly doesn't deserve the hype that it "will change my life."
One other thing that bothers me: this thing could've been smaller if they moved most of those buttons from the front to the top or sides, or gotten rid of them altogether since it is a touch screen. I could see On/Off and Hold as real buttons/switches. Anyway, it certainly makes that keypad hard to use.
you know what i just realized this would be cool as shit for.... in philly were gonna have a wireless blanket in less than 15 months or soo, and there are plenty of hot spot arround most major citys anyway .... using remote access to get into your home pc, this way u wouldnt need to worry about filling up the hdd with any unessential stuff... such as mp3 or dvd's on ur home pc, u could just tap in and have access... i might buy one if the price is right, but def not 1000bucks
"Your analysis has merit. However, depending on price and its ability to run iTunes, the Origami, with far greater functionality, may be perceived as an alternative to a video iPod. That's what has the apple fan boys worried here."
are you stupid ??
You could carry any laptop around with you right now and use iTunes, some might even have more than 3 hours of battery life too.
Apple fan boys worried about it ?? .. yeah right.
"It could be neat as a smaller laptop; trading size for functionality, in the sense, of using a cramped UI, not in terms of applications not running. I'm so used to at least 1024x768 on a laptop and I had a real hard time with the small Sony Vaio's. In any case, a smaller laptop/tablet certainly doesn't deserve the hype that it 'will change my life.'"
Well, it's never a good idea to follow the direction of hype. By the same token, it's also not really a great idea to disregard a product because you resent the hype surrounding it either. Both highlight an inability to step back from outside influences and evaluate something for what it is rather than what others are telling you it is.
Keep in mind, when Apple realeased iTunes for PC, they touted it as the "Best application ever to be released for the PC." A stretch at best. Just because that's hypobole at it's finest doesn't mean the application doesn't have merit.
The screen resolution could be hard to deal with for some tasks, but for it's core use I think it could be ok. I haven't seen any specs as to what the resolution actually is. I would wager that it's around the Nokia 770's at the minimum which is 800x480. This seems to be corraborated by looking at the desktop icons. 6 icons stacked like the picture take up just shy of half of my 1280x1024 desktop LCD.
Truth be told, when I'm on the web when using my desktop, firefox usually is only sized for half my screen's vertical resolution anyways since I'm doing things like watching TV and chatting in the other half. So, in that respect, I would only be losing horizontal resolution by browsing on this thing and most sites are still optimized for 800x600 anyways. Meanwhile, by virtue of being mobile, I'm no longer watching TV in a small window at my desktop from my desk chair, I'm watching it from the comfort of my couch in front of my Sony Vega.
Yes, a notebook could do that too, but I have a feeling I would carry a device of this size around much more than a 12inch notebook.
The side buttons don't bother me. Quite a bit of what you do on the web is scrolling, clicking, and going back and forward. It's better that you don't have to touch the screen for those things if you don't need to. Plus, a thicker trim gives more of a firm grip. I know I wouldn't want to grab for this thing and end up with a handful of LCD or just barely holding on to the bezel.
I wouldn't buy it if it's priced like the Fujitsu P1500 or some of the other small tablets in the $1500 price range. But, I feel that's why intel made this UMPC standard and why Microsoft is giving it special attention. Standardization helps reduce costs.
Something else to keep in mind. Apple uses Intel chips now and the UMPC standard is seperate from this whole origami deal. It would not be hard for apple to release a device on this platform which looks like it may be likely due to recent patent activity. This could also be the reason why origami is being rushed to the market.
I'm feeling more and more that unless these things are cheap then there was little point in the amount of hype they're getting and are destined to flop as they settle between a dying market (PDAs) and one that's pretty much already died (tablet)
I wonder how much of this is Microsoft and how much in Intel. If anyone can find a copy, the April 05 editon of Mobilepc magazine had an article about new tech that was coming to the market or being developed. They showed pic of an Intel concept pc that is what is now coming to the market.
From the article by Roger Hibbert on page 58, "One version of the future is pictured here, in these Intel provided photos of its concept PC. Just 2.5 pounds with an 8.9 inch deplay...also has intergrated GPS, a touch screen, directional mics for hands free VIOP..."
Other ideas shown were a pop up camera, a detachable keyboard that also acted as a screen cover, finger print reader, and a dvd driver that was swapable with an extra battery.
I really like the form factor idea. I have a media center desktop at home for any heavy computing needs. But I have often wanted a moble device (I use an Imate jam as a phone) that works similar to my Jam, but with a larger screen. The Motion computing LS800 is very tempting, but the price kills me. I recently went on a vacation to Las Vegas. Several times I wished I had a laptop with me, to act as a base for digital cameras. The larger screen would have been nicer for movies on the flight, the gps would have been nice for the trip out to the Valley of Fire (ot, if anyone gets a chance to see this it is worth the trip). Better acess to the internet to order a rental car (which was a pain in the ass, but I manged to do this with pocket IE).
Basically something a little more than a pda, but not a full blown laptop (although as tech advances that is where it will go). Kind of a super pda.
Apple invented the thumb UI ? Apple invented the ROTTEN APPLE known as the Newton...FIG Newton ? What a flop.
#47 - "Has anybody here though for half a second that YOU ARE NOT THE MARKET for this? This is going to be marketted directly at people who own Blackberries!
It's too big to fit in your pocket, but it's perfect for a briefcase. This makes the folks happy that don't want to carry around a laptop. Your briefcase is with you always, so that doesn't matter.
Many older people (ie. senior executives, CEOs) complain that the text on Blackberries is too small to read comfortably. This is perfect for them. They've already figured out how to type with their thumbs, how is this any different? The learning curve is very, very slight."
Funny thing, we've just had this very situation to deal with, our CEO tried a Blackberry, liked the device but didn't get on with the small screen. We went out and got a Lifebook P7120 and it's a vastly superior solution for business use. For a kick off it doesn't look horribly ugly when you need to use it in a meeting, which is (unfortunatley) important to CEO's. Then she can edit documents with a full size keyboard, hook up her (3G) mobile via bluetooth to grab e-mail, view documents passed to her on optical media etc etc etc. With a battery life of almost five hours it's a perfect fit for her needs and does indeed sling into a briefcase (without having to worry about the screen getting scratched to hell and back by rouge pens, paperclips and all the other residents of the average executive briefcase).
It's also too expensive to go the Blackberry route. Frankly we showed our CEO a HTC Universal we had in as an evaluator and that's suddenly right at the top of the executive impulse buy list. As for issuing these as a laptop replacment, most of our users have difficulty tying their shoes, a touchscreen would seem like witchcraft. Plus the number of returns when yet another screen was damaged (if you've ever worked in a corporate IT environment you'll know just how rough a life this kit has) would be ridiculous. If it came in a clamshell format, then MAYBE it'd at least get to the evaluation stage. As it is now, for this generation, it won't even make it through the door.
What are we talking about?! This is not THE Origami, this is only ONE of the multiple devices that we will see in the next months. Some of them will probably be smaller and possibly with a real thumb keyboard.
But the problem is the same: What's the market for this devices?
Personally I don't think this as a Blackberry replacement for CEO with eyes problems. It's too big, too expensive, it will surely takes too much to boot to be really usefull for "immediately" check mail or write messages.
Will see...
I'm sure a lot of folks will opt for the Bluetooth keyboard option. Having a virtual keyboard on-screen will yuck up the screen over time. I have to admit though that I didn't know there was such a thing as a Bluetooth keyboard. I've seen a lot of RF-based wireless keyboards used on desktop PCs though.
Haha. What a fun product! It's too bad that it's not by Apple. Imagine the creators of the iPod bringing The Lifestyle Computer to the mass market- SOON!
What's the deal with this useless 1.3mp camera! Is that a joke?
C'mon Apple, Hurry up!
Come on, guys, let's give the manufacturers a break. They are trying to find the sweet spot in the gamut of mobile devices. We've seen what is too small (anything without a hard drive--ever had to do a hard reset on a PDA while overseas?). We've seen what is too large (anything bigger than a hybrid tablet PC). And we've seen what is too slow--the Crusoe Transmeta. Now we're exploring the middle ground.
When looking for that perfect form factor, think about the whole enchilada while on the road. How much crap do you have to haul around in the gizmo bag and in your pockets?? OK, we need the godd*mn brick. But what about everything else?
I travel for long periods of time and take long flights, so I need the DVD drive for movies and to write CD's for business. I need a real, honest-to-god keyboard. I need a phone and a headset. Wherever I can get maps (US & Europe for now), I need high end GPS navigation, so PDA maps are out. For the hotel room I like music and speakers and a wireless mouse. That's a lot of stuff to cart around in the gizmo bag. It's even worse now that the police state is upon us. The facists at the homeland "security" checkpoints have a cow going thought all that stuff.
A friend of mine "solves" the checkpoint problem by buying a large Pelican case, cutting out all the foam inserts, and packing ALL his computer stuff in that one bag, which he checks with the rest of his luggage. Homeland security has to open that bag in the back room every time. They leave a nice little note, he says. Jesus.
So what do I choose to wait for? The Flybook 3.51. Number one, it has the DVD/CD-RW, the keyboard, and THE PHONE built in. Did I mention the phone? For many people that could very well eliminate the gizmo bag right there (OK, you put the brick in the briefcase). It allows me to eliminate the bag by wearing a safari coat with large pockets and packing the Altec Lansing XT1 speakers with the checked baggage. That SHOULD make those godd*mn checkpoints a little easier, but you never know. It will definitely make the carrying easier.
Hope this helps someone.
Looks good can't wait to get my hands on one. As for Razor who posted "7. Rip-off, they copy everything...Apple patented the thumb UI in 1956."
impressive considering Apple was not formed until 1976!