Yesterday we had a chance to get Otto Berkes
on the line, the man behind
Origami at Microsoft, as well as
Dustin Hubbard, Group Manager for Microsoft's Mobile Hardware and Application Development team. We had a few things to
ask about what the deal is with
UMPCs and Origami, here's what we
learned: Origami is a term originated from Berkes that doesn't necessarily refer to a device or specific hardware
specification, per se, but to an ultramobile PC running Windows Tablet (or Vista, later) and enhanced Microsoft Touch
Pack (a suite of apps and utilities meant to optimize using Windows by touch, and not necessarily only by stylus).
Touch Pack consists of a launcher app that better groups and opens apps based on a touchscreen interface; DialKeys, a
thumb-based text input system that uses those
two onscreen touch inputs on either
side; Touch Improvements, a suite of environment optimizations to make using Windows with your fingers a less painful
experience; and some other stuff, like Sudoku and an Origami-optimized Windows Media skin to kind of round out the
whole thing.
Otto made it pretty clear that Microsoft is aiming UMPCs based on Tablet with Touch Pack at the
general consumer, and not necessarily as another device for the already gadget-laden mobile office -- we'll be seeing
(and have already seen) initially launches by the likes of
Samsung, Asus, and Founder, so keep
an eye out for those today. We did ask about
Alexandria, the other Microsoft buzz-video /
project we saw the other day, and it sounded like a system MS was working to ease acquiring music and movies online --
is Alexandria a service that might be an iTunes-killer, perhaps? We don't know (we're working on finding out), but we
do finally know what the hell Origami is, and now you do too.
posted Mar 9th 2006 3:31AM
It still doesn't seem all that worthwhile.
What a let down after all that hype. What about games though on this thing?
it seems pretty worthwhiled too me, i like it its new and thats all i need
So, nothing new here
Let's hope that Apple joins in the fray with their patent pending touchscreen app and the Intel connection... Maybe it will get worthwile then, 'cause this pretty much doesn't rock my boat!
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx
Can you make agent "Bob" dance with the two thumb wheel on-screen grease-pads? This device is 100% guaranteed chick-repellent material. A toy for people who can't find the world around them just quite fascinating enough. Get a laptop and do some work. Use a smart-fon if you have to, but this gizmo-no should stay in a hospital. and should stay made by Fujitsu.
If in the next few years they can actually really make the price below 1000, and not have a piss poor battery life of 3 hours, I would definately pick one up.
However, I cant wait till I can play solitaire, watch a movie, surf the web and read engadget on the crapper :D
What a disappointment!
Does anybody else feel let down?
I feel let down. I was for once excited about all the buzz behind this thing, thinking it was a piece of microsoft hardware. I should've known. Now I'll stay true to my one love, Apple products, which even when disappointing are still better than this...
It's too big and bulky looking for me. I say this will go along with tablet pc's. Nothing really new and exciting other than you get to control windows with your stylus/finger.
what's the point?
Boy, do they need lessons in marketing. By the way I came across this, I guess it's old news for you all: http://www.angel.cc/ms-ipod-parody-real.wmv
I like it and I hope I can get this "suite of apps and utilities" for my Flybook.
That 'all screen' device the MS woman showed off was too good to be true. Anyway, I love my Flybook and some tools made especialy for its touchscreen would realy rock.
For anybody who's got a device like the Flybook, go take a look at Adobe's Sketchbook. That's a great paint tool made especialy for touchscreens.
I for one am disappointed. And I for one will stick with my Etch-a-sketch. It will last longer than 3 hours.
Despite all the new technology that these devices have, they are just like the Vaio U which got canceled after a short periode of time two years ago...
If these are $500 I can understand all the hype.
If they're $1000 (which seems more likely at this stage) then the whole Origami thing is stupid. I notice they're keeping a lid on the pricing of all the models...
#17: Why would you want XP on a PDA exactly? The whole point of Windows Mobile is that it cuts it down to the essentials.
And how exactly has Microsoft all but abandoned Pocket PC??
Although I won't be buying one myself (not yet at least), it's dangerous for so many people to write off a new type of product before it's even launched. Give it time to settle into the market and then draw a verdict. Products can CREATE niches, they don't have to necessarily fit into a pre-existing one.
It seems to me like the waters have been muddied here. The reality of the device, from both a hardware and software perspective, is intriguing, but it's a far cry from the UMPC ideal (sub-$500 price, all-day battery, etc.). I know these goals will be achieved with time, but it needs to become more obvious how these devices will otherwise differ from existing ultraportables like the Motion LS800, OQO 01+, and Fujitsu P7000.
If the answer is simply "the Microsoft Touch Pack," then I'd like to know whether it is more like Microsoft Power Toys or the MCE interface? If it's the former, could traditional tablet owners install it on hardware that's running the tablet OS? They might otherwise be put off that the tablet experience warranted additional "apps and utilities ... to optimize using Windows by touch" that they were not entitled to. If it's more of an abstact layer like MCE's 10-foot interface, then the niche that these devices are going to fill needs to be more clearly defined to the average consumer.
In the meantime, I'm going to put my plans to purchase an LS800 on hold until I know more about Origami. And while that bodes well for UMPC adoption, it's bad for the companies that are trying to sell existing tablet products to consumers.
Doesn't anyone remember why the Newton failed? It was too big to be a palm-top, too small to be a laptop. It was in the dead zone between.
Fast forward to now: processors are faster, color is pervasive, and Microsoft basically re-introduces the Newton, but with DRM pervading the device so they can make you suckle their music teet while they reach over your back and pull bills out of your wallet.
It's still too big to be a PDA or a digital music player (small is the way to go: check the Nano), and doesn't seem to be able to displace laptops as a serious productivity device, nor blackberries as text communication devices, nor cellphones. A gaming device it is not; that would pit it against the PSP and Nintendo DS. What it is is an indirect iPod competitor that's too big. And if early reports are any indication, Vista runs like a glacier on anything but the fastest hardware. If this thing will run Vista, good luck. I'm disappointed already. In other words, it's the Newton, all over again.
So are they Tablets, or are they touchscreens, or did someone come up with a clever way to have the touchscreen disable when the stylus was in proximity to the tablet, and you get the best of both worlds? I am assuming that they are just touchscreens with a plain old stylus with no pressure sensitivity, or tilt sensing, but you guys got to play with them, what are they?
Both Tablet technology and touchscreen technology have their benefits. To my knowledge, no one has ever combined the two. I am not sure you even could, since a pressure sensitive tablet stylus might be rough enough on the touchscreen surface to damage it. However, if someone pulled off marrying the two technologies, then that would be a real news story.
Video interview with Otto Berke (who seems a pleasant chap) here (.wmv):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=46&p=5&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=2fdf4cbc-7ef4-433b-a875-089b6b3c5436&u=http%3a%2f%2fdownload.microsoft.com%2fdownload%2f7%2fc%2f2%2f7c2a8d5f-2dcf-4aee-9f75-97026f2aa04b%2forigami_otto_berkes_2006.wmv
Good god, to everyone that keeps parroting that this is just another Newton: Did you ever own a Newton? The Newton was nothing like this. It was much more like a Palm or Pocket PC device! It had its own OS, and required special apps written just for the Newton. You couldn't just move files from your Mac to the Newton, and keep working on them in the same program. You couldn't load Photoshop, or Pagemaker, or Quark onto your Newton.
The reason the Newton failed wasn't size! It failed because people couldn't figure out what purpose it served, and because it never sold enough units to encourage a large enough software market, so that the apps would come out to show people uses for it. The Newton was the same sort of product as what is now called a PDA. It had very limited functionality compared to the desktop machine it was suppose to be an extension of.
None of that is going to be a problem here, because it runs XP, and a large portion of the planet's population already knows what purpose XP serves. There is no need for users to wait for software vendors to come out with special software for these devices, because they can load the software they use every day on it as soon as the devices come out. Saying that is just like the Newton, makes as much sense as saying every laptop on earth is just a copy of the Newton! If Apple fans want to say that Apple invented the PDA with the Newton, fine, that is an argument that I suppose can be made. However, this isn't a PDA. It makes no logical sense what so ever to say that a Palm is just like a Newton, and then say this is just like a Newton as well, since this is nothing like a Palm!
How exactly is this like a Newton? Did the Newton have media player functionality? Did the Newton have Wi-Fi? Did the Newton have Bluetooth? Did the Newton have a Lithium-Ion battery? Did the Newton run Windows? Did the Newton have a full web browser? Oh, wait, I know, the new UMPCs are going to run off AA batteries just like the Newton, right? The Newton was a handheld device with pen input, it wasn't the first, it wasn't the most successful, and it wasn't the most advanced. So what does it have to do with the UMPC? Oh right, the Newton was made by Apple, so every handheld device in the world (even the ones that came before it) are just lame copies of the Newton. I forgot!
As a PocketPC user I can't see the point.
I can remote-desktop to my PC to get the "Windows in your hand, touchscreen" experience. It's really not that useable. Tried using messenger with a stylus? :/
To be useful everywhere the PPC needs a small-screen app for each task.
Laptops are too bulky to be useful everywhere, and there's the effort of getting it out and setting up.
This is trying to fill the void, but is it really a problem? What can you do that you can't do by walking a few paces to your real, big screen, full keyboard computer?
It's a neat concept but I'd rather wait on Apples product line as I'm disillusioned with what Microsoft can deliver affordable software and hardware. Take the new OS as an example - 6 versions if Vista - no way am I upgrading to it as its going to be expensive and we all know what MS is like with security!
You can take it with you. You know, outside. Where your real, big screen, full keyboard computer can't go, and to places you couldn't be bothered lugging a laptop.
A smartphone can do this even better, sure, but have you ever tried browsing the web on a smartphone? Tedious. Playing (e.g.) RTS or FPS games? Editing Word docs on the go? Watching movies? Browsing a map? Lots of things smartphones just aren't very good at, due to lack of storage, lack of power, lack of screensize, you can do with one of this - and do it in places where you wouldn't be bothered carrying your laptop.
I'm interested. Maybe when price is lower, battery life is better, and weight is down a bit more.
Re: #24
"How exactly is this like a Newton? Did the Newton have media player functionality? Did the Newton have Wi-Fi? Did the Newton have Bluetooth? Did the Newton have a Lithium-Ion battery? Did the Newton run Windows? Did the Newton have a full web browser? Oh, wait, I know, the new UMPCs are going to run off AA batteries just like the Newton, right? The Newton was a handheld device with pen input, it wasn't the first, it wasn't the most successful, and it wasn't the most advanced. So what does it have to do with the UMPC? Oh right, the Newton was made by Apple, so every handheld device in the world (even the ones that came before it) are just lame copies of the Newton. I forgot!"
Wow, you must not have been alive or old enough to be around Newtons when they were released.
All the things you list, are very recent technologies. When the Newton came out, having a fax modem was kick-ass. Having a modem to post on BBS was kick ass. Having a touch screen and stylus was kick ass... Everything in your list has become popular in the last 5 years. I know they have been around longer, but did you try to buy a bluetooth keyboard in 2000? How about a WiFi router? How many models could you pick up from your local electronics store?
My point is that you forget that the newton was released in 1993. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton
#24 needs to lay off the caffeine for awhile. No, the Newton was never designed to be a UMPC, and Apple admittedly was never quite sure what to do with the poor little machine. The Newton was really only ever an extension of your desktop's calendaring/contact functions. HOWEVER, there is one thing that Newton nailed that Palm nor any of the wannabes that followed ever succeeded in emulating: handwriting recognition. By the time Apple axed production of the Newton, the MessagePad 2100 (running, I believe, Newton OS 2.x) had spot-on handwriting recognition once the system got used to your writing style. I truly miss that kind of input, and I don't think any other product since has come close. My .02 cents, of course...
Yes, thank you #27, that was my whole point! Saying the UMPC is just a lame copy of the Newton, is basically like saying the Prius is nothing special, because the Model-T did it first. Well, they both had wheels.
I not only was around for the Newton, I sold them, and did a little programming for them. I also had a GridPad, and a couple other ancient pen-based portable devices. I would say that if anything, the UMPC owes more of its history to the Grid or the Dauphin than the Newton. Even then, I hardly think a DOS or Win3.1 device have much in common with a modern computer, but at least they had a full OS.
The whole "this is just a Newton" thing annoys me, because it is the typical machead illogic that Apple once put out a device that had a touchscreen, and you could carry, so every single device made from that point on that you can carry and that has a touchscreen is obviously a copy of Apple's product. Palm OS devices, a copy of the Newton. Pocket PC, a copy of the Newton. Tablet PCs, a copy of the Newton. UMPC, a copy of the Newton. It makes no sense and that was my entire point.
Newton stayed for six years... 93 to 98, stll it failed. Do we need to argue more?
It was miserable with handwriting recognition as the wikipedia link by gap suggests.
Also, as Lloyd pointed, Newton didn't sync wid a mac. How can u guys miss the fact that UMPC runs full-blown XP.
Look #28, just about anywhere you go on the internet, you can't read a single story about UMPC without some machead commenter spouting off about how this is just MS trying to copy a long dead failed Apple device. Maybe you think I need to lay off the caffine, but about the 100th "this is just the Newton all over again" comment I read, I suddenly felt the need to vent about how stupid a comparison it is.
I know, it makes me a mean, bad person to say anything that might be construed as negative about Apple or any of its products, but that is just how it has to be sometimes.
Oh, and the Newton had great handwriting recognition for some people, awful recognition for other people, just like the Pocket PC. I know people who picked up a Newton, and almost immediatly had a 98% recognition accuracy, but I also know people who had one for years, and it never really got the hang of their writing style. By the same token, I have a friend who's Pocket PC can perfectly recognize every single scribble he puts in it. The damned things are doing good if they can get a single word out of my writing.
Part of why the Newton had such a good reputation for handwriting recognition, was because it was very good at recognizing a specifc style of writing, and people who didn't write that way, either weren't impressed enough to buy one in the first place, or didn't usually keep it for long if they did get one.
"You couldn't load Photoshop, or Pagemaker, or Quark onto your Newton."
Yes, and using Photoshop on this "UMPC" thingy would be a real joy. :|
Did a Newton run over your dog, or are you just a raving lunatic?
I think they hit the size just right. Any smaller and its just a PDA. As it stands I can see a ton of neat applications for this.
I'm hoping they have a media center version built in. If I could use this as a mobile TV anywhere in my house it would rock. If they can get this under $700 and they marketed it as a mobile entertainment [in addition to normal computer functions] I think they could do very well.
L. M. Lloyd writes an informed response to all the niggling jits portending to know that Origami will fail because Newton failed. And yet all the ignorant responses backup his argument. Did any of you even read his posts?
So the UMPC is a PDA on steroids? Or what a PDA should have been all along. I remember watching Star trek when the lowly guys in the red shirts would have one of these (slimmer of course) and they would show it to Spock or Capt. Kirk, who would check off something and the lowly minon would go get dressed so they could die in the next scene.
The umpc has been here before in different models, but it didn't have the right software to go with it. The one thing it does need is a good, no--excellent voice recognition program. Something useful like. "Computer, show me a map of where I am and all the nudie bars within a half mile walking distance."
Yea, something useful.
How depressing, it's windows with a new skin laid over the top of it. At least it seems.
As a tablet PC user, I can't really say that having a screen I can touch with my finger is anything great. I use, and like my current tablet PC but I wouldn't buy another.
If this thing could act as a phone over VoIP, could play Xbox games (not 360, yet) and stay connected to the net where ever I go then sure this would be great, but it looks like a rip off to be honest. Buy a laptop, you get so much more, and some even have touch screens.
I don't think I would even play with it in the store, what is the point of this? Ah, that right, revenue.
All this from a MS fanboy too :(
I can pretty much do all this with my Dell PDA. It's not widescreen or anything, but I can watch videos from my Media Center PC re-encoded and saved on a 1GB CG card, play some 3D accelerated PDA games, surf the internet, and run a spreadsheet. And it costs me about $400.
This is the point where the world will move an extra inch because everyone has let out a collective yawn, isn't it?
This thing is so similar to me.
I have multiple touch points.
You can play solitaire with me.
I have multimedia and entertainment applications: I sing, I dance; I will be your beard.
I last approximately 3 hours.
I cost about $1000.
Sign up today.
Two things:
1. Why are all the interface elements so small on screen? Aren't you suppose to operate this thing with your fingers? Wouldn't it be better to have targets on screen that you can operate with your fingers (without hitting multiple buttons at once) and less wasted space on graduated blue backgrounds; especially since it looks like you use your thumbs the most?
2. Touch screens are "almost" a good idea. Ever look at the screen of a touch screen ATM? Can you now imagine trying to watch a movie through your own greasy finger prints all over the screen? My Palm's screen still gets smudged-up and I only use the stylus on it (don't even get me started on what the screen on my cell phone looks like after spending a couple of minutes next to my ear - yuck).
Not really sure what the point of this thing is. Especially when it costs the same as a full blown laptop.
Doesn't this make sense for those of us who don't walk around a whole lot, but would like some gps functions, in car movies, dedicated music device (for hanging out in the park, hooking up in the car...not just walking around- we don't all live in New York or on college campuses.
I have an G3 Ipod with a dead battery. I've known for sometime unless I want to go through the CD burning nightmare to rid myself of DRM that I would have to buy another IPOD... until now. UMPC with ITunes- brilliant.
It's not a horrible idea... I think it'll catch on as a vehicle oriented device. GPS for me, movies for the kids, music for all.
If the price is right- it's not a completely horrible idea.
Eew, looks like they pucked that thing right out of Jetblue's seat back. Very ugly and chunky (2 lbs, meant to be used while holding it, while a nice Sony vaio laptoop is 2.7 pounds with DVD-player with all features and you can put it down and type).
I could see this in a CarPC type of application very easily and maybe thats what they are gearing it towards since they seem very interested in automotive systems as of late. Maybe our radios will be controlled by Microsoft one day......cant wait to shut down the car and restart to get it working again, haha!
How will this work with subscription-based music services (like Napster to go)? Will it be considered a full computer - such that it counts as one of the 3 computers on which you can play the music - or will it be considered one of the two or 3 portable music players on which you can use the music? My guess is the former, but I'm not sure that is best.
L.M. Lloyd (24, 31, 32) -- so quick on the draw with that "machead commenters" label, aren't we? I haven't owned a Mac in years, though I'll likely switch back later this year given the impending release of the yawn-inspiring Windows Vista. Had you set your own bias and bluster aside and actually READ what I originally wrote, you would have noticed that I AGREED with you that Apple never really gave the Newton a purpose. I didn't compare Microsoft's equally crap-tacular Origami to the Newton at all because there IS no comparison. Functionally, Origami runs circles around Newton, but consumers will NEVER shell out nearly $1000 for it. Whatever -- thank God that YOU, the self-proclaimed mean, bad Apple expert, are trolling herein to set us all straight.
Sol (35) -- what are you, L.M. Lloyd's b*tch?
But if you use this to just control all your media, what the hell is the point in that. There are alredy countless home media systems designed to control not just your media, but how your lights and your curtains work to, all from companies that have experience in it.
Wow, I didn't know comparing it to the Newton would cause such controversey. Sorry.
All I meant is this: like the Newton, it's in a "dead zone" between sweet spots. I know it has far more than the Newton; that's not my point. My point is that the established (and unlikely to be unestablished) sweet spots for portable electronics are:
1) PDA.
2) Portable gaming device.
3) Laptop.
4) Portable media player.
This device, as I see it, is not likely to compete well against the above four unless it is extremely inexpensive. As it stands, there is no compelling need it fills. If there is, someone explain to me what that is.
. . . so you can type on it. Great. Do you prefer to type with your thumbs or with a keyboard? Laptops will beat this if you like typing with a keyboard, and it's too large to compete against the other thumb-typers out there as a text messaging system.
"Take a message in your Newton, Beat up Martin." (Newton translation: "Eat up Martha."}
Ah, cool, so if I wipe Windows off this thing and install Linux, then it's not an Oragami device anymore. :)
I'm quite excited about these gadgets; we've needed something like it for quite a while now. PDAs are too small, and laptops are too big. These are sized just right, and don't have the dead weight of a keyboard (though if you want to ues a Bluetooth one, you can, which is a good idea for those attached to their little buttons for text entry).
I just hope somebody sells one without Windows pre-installed, to save me the trouble of removing it.
I wonder if thumb-typing is going to cause cases of RSI down the track?
A physio told me that thumbs are not suited to long periods of delicate muscle control use, and are better for grasping.
Gamepads are tolerable for thumbs, but typing requires finer motor skills. There's a reason "Blackberry thumb" has become a recognized symptom.
To number #46
The need it fills, is a portable computer. Honestly, everyone I know owns a phone that can conceivably send and receive email, and theoretically browse the web. Those with a phone form factor device, may or may not ever actually read email on their phone, but almost never send email from their phone, and will never browse the general web from their phone, sticking to content designed for phones, if even that. Those with a BlackBerry or PDA will probably send and receive email, but 9 times out of 10 if you send them a link, they will send back an email saying something like "I'll check this out when I am at a real computer."
None of these devices are used very regularly if at all for anything like opening attachments, or working on files. That is almost exclusively the province of a laptop. The laptop users are pretty much only using their laptops at specific locations like when they are at a coffee shop, at home, at work, or in a hotel, and have to carry a special bag for the laptop that adds a lot of weight, and doesn't leave much room for anything but the laptop in the bag.
This fills the need of giving you portability of a PDA, but with access to a real screen, a real browser, and real applications. I know plenty of people will say "it is too big to carry like a PDA," but let's remember for a second that 51% of the population makes a habit of carrying around these little bags they call purses. Beyond that, and awful lot of the male population typically carries a briefcase, messenger bag, backpack, gym bag, or other type of manpurse. Then you have the guys who favor BDUs or other cargo pants, and the percentage of the population incapable of conveniently carrying an 8"-10" device is actually surprisingly small.
For all those people who aren't limited to what they can carry in a pair of tight jeans, I think the idea of a computer that can view any website (even the ones with Quicktime, Flash, AJAX or PDFs), run your favorite full email client, run your favorite IM client, and open any file you can open with Windows, all for under $1,000, is a pretty compelling product. Until now, there were only three or four products, all in the $2,000+ range that could do this, and still fit in an average sized purse, or leave you room for anything else in your briefcase. Even the super-high powered PDAs from the likes Sony or Compaq were still limited by software support, file format support, and crippled browsers that couldn't view every page.
That is no trivial market. Could they be better? Sure! $200 always connected wireless broadband devices with tiny fulecells that lasted for days at a time, and had flexible displays that could be rolled out to any size you wanted would be fantastic. However, the fact that those don't exist yet doesn't mean that there aren't women who want to throw their computer in their purse, or guys who want something more powerful than a phone when they are out on the go. I think that most people looking at a $499 Lifedrive, or a $599 iPaq will seriously look at these devices. Anyone who was looking at a $2,200 Vaio or a $2,100 OQO will certainly have to give a lot of thought to their purchase. Plus all the people (of which I know several) who weren't even in the market because they knew a PDA wouldn't give them what they wanted, and knew the Vaio or OQO was out of the range they were comfortable paying will flock to these things as a possible new option.
I don't know why some are insisting the Newton was in a size dead zone. Folks buy and use schedule folio's in this things and the Newton's size range all the time and they take them EVERYWHERE. Newton had plenty of problems. But size wasn't really one of them. True OS functionality from a Newton may well have overcome its problems but it just wasn't feasible at the time.
That said I do think it is sitting in a dead zone and that is price vrs. limitations. This thing at best is going to sit right under the low cost laptops and at worst range up into the range of decently equiped ones. It is overkill to replace a nice pda/superphone and yet is going to be relatively limited input wise no matter how good the touch screen interface. And setting up full input capacity while possible is going to be a kludge compared to tradtitional fold and go laptop unless someone gets real creative with a docking shell system.
However you drop the price for this thing right smack into the middle of the upper echelon PPC technology (300-500) and you will see a lot of folks wondering why they are buying a mini OS with similar capacity (bluetooth and wi fi) with out full OS capacity and full up hard drive storage capacity. Stick it in a leather folio replacing a bulky schedule and contact ream of paper.. a screen big enough to actually replace printouts for meetings follow alongs that allows on the fly document editing that is easy to pass around or share and you have something that is right interesting.
Though to really compete there they have got to get the battery life up. 3-4 listed meaning 2 if your lucky really using it is not going to make this a real viable option for PPC lovers... or even someone that needs a mobile system. Tablet systems are an obvious example of how a mobile system without long lasting battery life is hamstrung in a way that just exacerbates all the compromises made to give it that tablet form factor.
I'm a little surprised no one has compared Origami to the Apple Newton eMate (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate.) The eMate was heavier but had a built-in keyboard and 28-hour battery life (!). And it made a huge THUD in the marketplace back in 1997-1998. I remember seeing one at CompUSA, though originally they were only available to the education market. The Origami concept seems to be "take an eMate, lose the keyboard, put a lot bigger onboard storage and computing power onboard, make it color, up the screen resolution a bit, and have it run a version of a desktop OS."
As an enthusiastic PDA user, I've seen that PDAs only "click" with certain people; they're not for everyone. Everybody digs Post-It notes; maybe 90% digs cell phones; maybe 60% of folks dig iPods; laptop computers might be dug by 40% of folks; PDAs may be liked by 10-20% of folks; I think Origami/UMPCs will be dug by even less than PDAs. What sort of market research these guys did would be fascinating to know. The "am I having an acid flashback?" feel of their promo website at http://www.origamiproject.com (complete with a tribute at the top of the page to the oft-derided advertising slogan used at the introduction of the now-departed Dodge Neon, no less) leaves me fascinated as to who they think will buy these things. Sure, some will be sold. But people have bought Segways, too... and look how much that was hyped & anticipated.
Inappropriate technology. It's like trying to combine the best attributes of a motorbike - small, fast, manoeuvrable, low fuel consumption - with those of a Heavy Goods Vehicle - big, carries enormous loads, turning circle of a small African country, drinks fuel like John Prescott* eats pies. Fundamentally at odds. A music device/phone should be small. Anything requiring complex user input via a screen needs to be comparitively large. Oh dear. A triumph of marketing focus groups over common sense.
Looks like we are still waiting for folding pop-out screens then.
* British deputy Prime Minister
I like the concept even if it is a pretty obvious one that folks have tried with mixed success before. Some folks just can't seem to get over their anti-MS bias, but MS is not building these things. If you want Linux on it, put Linux on it. If you want Doom on it, install it. If you have a USB key, use it on it. These things are the future of mobile computing.
Laptops are too big. Smaller devices have screens so tiny that they are worthless for what I'd like to do. Purpose-built devices are idiotic because as soon as they are obsolete they are all but worthless. Perfect example: an old iPod. Unless you view it as a fashion accessory, it has no purpose once you get a new one.
With something like this, I could use it as a navigation system/music player/phone in my car, take it in with me when I go to have coffee to write emails/surf/pay bills, watch video/TV while in a plane or on a treadmill, and/or then bring it home and use it to remote to my media PC (there's an enormous advantage to having something that gives remote access to a media pc as opposed to something that just gives you remote control over a limited subset of functions). If I buy a new device, I still can use the old one - I'd probably just dedicate it to one of the application. However, for the apps I've listed there should be no real need to buy a new device every two years because those apps don't need that much computing horsepower.
Don't like how the first ones look or how much they cost? Well, that's one bennie of having a intel/windows device - there will be a lot of companies competing for your dollars. These things will come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. If only one company was making them and only letting me run their software on them, these things wouldn't be nearly as attractive to me.
Even though I was disappointed (see my comment at #5) I have reconsidered this thing. It's not there yet but with added battery power (8h), slicker design and a decent price (say around $750) I would probably go for it.
Advantages:
1. the weight is Ok to carry around, only 800gr. which kind of beats my Dell 5150 which is a bit more than 3 kg! This one you can actually take to the park without feeling like your arms are slowly extending to ground level;
2. very easy to hook up to the internal network through WiFi so music everywhere in the house with iTunes;
3. most important: I could check my photos taken with my digital SLR on the spot on a larger screen than the f***ing small LCD on the back of the camera. Much more in the way of evaluating and knowing what settings to change to get that perfect shot. Man would I love that!
So it beats my laptop which I mainly use for internet and email, beats my pocketpc which I mainly use for contacts and agenda. More powerful, lightweight, small enough to carry: yeah, actually, I'm falling for it. 2nd generation that is, if it ever gets there.
$500 - OK. $1000+ (The samsung is around $1100!!) forget it. I'd buy a thin laptop before I'd pay $1000 for an UMPC.
What about Flipstart when are they going to ever release that. I thought that was going to compete with OQO???
Actually, comparison of the Origami to the Newton is useful in one way. Apple knew that trying to cram a desktop OS and methology into a handheld wouldn't work. The Newton introduced more than handwriting recognition. They also had something called the Intelligent Assistant. The Newton could automatically make intelligent cross references to related material stored. So, if you entered "Lunch with Trump" on the Newton, it was smart enough to know that lunch tends to be around noon. It would make an entry in the calendar for the next business day at noon, and it would pull up Trump's contact info if it was stored in the addressbook. Other examples of plain english queries back then would have been an old DOS database product called Q&A, which did it's best to interpet simple english statements and turn them into complex database queries.
Microsoft, on the other hand, knows that the success to Windows is simply momentum. There are so many developers, so many knowledgable techs, so much compatible hardware, that by introducing products that use Windows development tools ensures a wide variety of compatible software RIGHT AWAY. They use momentum rather than innovation to sell you a new product. The status quo.
I've been here over and over with Microsoft before. They came out with something in the 90's called Pen Windows. It was their current version of Windows at the time (Windows 3.0) with pen input throw on top. Compaq produced a poertable computer called the Concerto, which was basically the precursor to Tablet PC's. And then, as now, Microsoft threw halfhearted support behind the concept. It languished, and hardware developers eventually discontinued the slow selling products. Unfortunately, I had bought into the concept when introduced, and equipped my entire Washington DC with those Compaqs. In the end, they were simply quirky portable computers. So when Tablet PCs came out, I rolled my eyes and smiled, seeing history repeated. And so here we go again with the Origami.
Just another halfhearted attempt by Microsoft to expand the Windows francise and appease stockholders. Otherwise, nothing new or innovative here. The Newton, however, was quite an innovation that simply came out before it's time.
A solution looking for a problem.
The loud sound you hear is this Microsoft bomb.
Amazing isn't it that if Microsoft is not ripping off anothers design to copy, it has no innovation at all.
Mount it in your car's dash for an instant CarPC.
Uhmm... the Newton didn't exactly "die" (at least not a natural death). It was spun into its own company which was promptly killed by Jobs when he went back to Apple. The Newton was Sculley's brainchild - not Jobs' - so it had to go. (Plus, it was too big, but time could have solved that).
I owned every version of the Newton and it definitely wasn't an Origami-like device. It was a PDA (the first). Had it survived, it would have been the same size as today's PDA's.
I think most people reading this blog are very tech-savy and already own several computers and thus have a hard time seeing where the UMPC would fit into their world. But I think it has the potential to create some new markets (on-board computer in cars, kiosks, seat-back computers on airplanes, email in the shower, Engadget on the john, etc).
It seems some are quick to dismiss this as a Newton re-make by M$, but before we go down the easy road, why don't we wait and see? I never saw the Newton, and it seems that by the time the idea was so new that it wasn't fully developed and failed. The internet was still growing and no WiFi technologies were on the horizon, because all that is very new. This is a new device, I think it goes against some media devices put out by Arcos which curiously enough look similar (AV700 comes to mind). It's a fully functional computer in the size of the PSP, which is intriguing, because in a PDA or smart-phone net-surfing is cumbersome, needless to say gaming. another thing is space: PDAs have limited space I don't care what card you stick it in, it's nothing compared to a HD, it indirectly touches the iPod (this sentence may rise comments) because it does some of it functions but the iPod has made an effort to stay small and thin, this device however tries to be more portable than a laptop but retaining it's functions, the problem is size: where do you put it? pocket? pocket PC, backpack? the laptop, wear it? where??. Maybe the problem is trying to do everything at once. The iPod specialized and succeeded. I don't want to say this will fail, because it's too soon, screens have an appeal to people, maybe it will be a hit, what I see is a trend to make everything portable, but since we don't really now what "everything" stands for everybody is trying to come up with a home-runner. That this device is "chick-repellent material" I don't know of any electronic device that actually works the other way around, "chicks" are not really device-junkies, guys are. (Maybe SOME notice the iPod, but again because of it's size and uncluttered look.) So that argument goes out. This device could be good if the interface is smart enough and doesn't need a lot of customer training like the PDAs (write this way to do an "a", and this way to do a "j"). Voice recognition? sony walkman smart-phone has something like that, but we are still far away from "computer, tell me where is the captain". Watching movies on the go..umm..unless they come up with some BIG development in battery technology we'll still be stuck with devices that can't make it through the day....all I say is let's wait and see...I just hope it doesn't crash/freeze like most M$ products
if I wanted a WIFI tablet, which I don't, I'd get the Nokia 770 (5.5 inches x 3.1 inches x 0.70 inch).