Everex's CloudBook arrives in Japan with touchscreen, Bluetooth

The FIC manufactured Everex CloudBook has finally made its way to Japan. What's interesting is not its US-rooted Everex branding but the fact that the ultra-portable picked up a 7-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, and 802.11a (to augment the existing b/g WiFi) along the way without any change to the CE1200J model number. All the other specs remain true to the original right on down to the 1.2GHz VIA C7-M proc and 30GB hard disk. We'd chalk this up to a typo(s) if it wasn't for the new, tax-inclusive price of ¥59,800 or about $600 -- a stiff bump from the $399 touchscreen-less, Stateside model. Let's see if the March 22nd release in Japan brings the additional options for North America and Europe.

[Via Impress]

[Les @ Mar 17th 2008 2:53AM]

It even looks better. I would definitely think* about picking this up


*if I wasn't a poor college student, but I still might...

[ishism @ Mar 17th 2008 3:13AM]

This looks something to the description I left on the "how would you change the cloudbook" thread. Very nice indeed. I wonder if that is the modular insert face, that would allow for optional gps or voip fone? Though, $600 is a little steep.

[Tristan @ Mar 17th 2008 3:17AM]

looks like the mouse might be usable on this model.

[JAmerican @ Mar 17th 2008 7:22AM]

The mouse placement on this one causes the laptop to have a lip (Top is shorter than base).

[Brad @ Mar 17th 2008 3:19AM]

I feel it necessary to point out that while translating Yen into USD shows that this is a $600 unit, that's only because the USD is in the toilet. Engadget has been doing a lot of overseas price comparisons lately, and I'd be willing to bet that is comparably priced to similar $400-450 items. You can't exactly do a flat comparison of prices across markets if one currency is actively in a nose dive.

[OneLove @ Mar 17th 2008 10:53AM]

why not? Is that not the price you would pay today? You want to wait till the dollar is strong to make a comparison? By that time they will have 6 new models, lol.

[OddManOut @ Mar 17th 2008 11:46AM]

Brads got a point. As I am planning on moving back to Japan near the end of next year (god willing) I follow the Yen to Dollar conversion pretty closely (the currency conversion gadget included with vista almost makes it worth the money...not!). About a month ago it was hovering around 110 yen to the dollat. I haven't seen it today, but it's probably around 98 to the dollar. Big drop over a short period of time. I'm probably going to have to buy yen in cash with what savings I have so far and keep it in a shoe box just to try to freeze my money's value...

[Brad @ Mar 17th 2008 4:17PM]

My point isn't that Americans visiting Japan and buying this with converted dollars wouldn't be paying more, its that there isn't really a "price jump" as the article puts it. The fact that the US Dollar is in the shitter means that any time you compare prices to an overseas counterpart and they're not coming from an American company, you're going to see a "price jump". It's just not a valid comparison. It's like saying "They pay $10 for a loaf of bread in Canada!!!" because our currency has lost 30% in the last 2 years and theirs has remained relatively stable.

[happy_penguin @ Mar 17th 2008 3:27AM]

It's not for me.

[ryan @ Mar 17th 2008 3:32AM]

ok

[Justin @ Mar 17th 2008 4:06AM]

Yeah, the trackpad totally got moved! Guess they realized their heads were in the clouds with that first round...

[Michael LaFramboise @ Mar 17th 2008 4:12AM]

hmm... this actually looks pretty darn interesting; would love to get my hands on one of these - if not to own then to atleast play around w/ it. Really the one thing I dislike about this is the extremely cheap looking case

Would be totally awesome if all these manufacturers would get on the choo-choo-express to DesignLand - ie hire a professional industrial designer as Sony and Apple have done, instead of letting your janitor do the design work.

but beyond that, pretty cool :) definitely looking forward to future versions

[CL @ Mar 17th 2008 4:13AM]

still gonna take some time to get used to the screen off to the side like that

[webon @ Mar 17th 2008 6:43AM]

yup, that fall right into the FUGLY territory

[Taylor @ Mar 17th 2008 4:52AM]

The touch screen and Bluetooth are certainly welcome additions, but 802.11a?
I thought Japan were up with the times.
I was under the impression b/g weren't backwards compatible (on the router end that is)...

[Erwos @ Mar 17th 2008 6:25AM]

The touchscreen and Bluetooth aren't additions - there were two versions of the Nanobook, and this is the other one.

802.11a is a nice addition for those of us who run dual-band networks.

[Drew @ Mar 17th 2008 5:10AM]

This is Japan we are talking about, "the best stuff is made in Japan" Everex would have no choice but to send a premium version if they wanted any chance of success...

[y3k.nik @ Mar 17th 2008 6:51AM]

Why am I not better of buying a Dell or Acer for $400 with better specs, instead of this for $600?

I dont get the concept!!!

[NG @ Mar 17th 2008 7:21AM]

Why God. WHY??

[Chebwa @ Mar 17th 2008 8:07AM]

Add a touchscreen to crap and you get...

...more expensive crap!

[Chebwa @ Mar 17th 2008 9:08AM]

Spam your shit elsewhere, cool guy.

PS: The answer to your "question" is right in the fucking article.

[JLTate @ Mar 17th 2008 9:10AM]

You guys forgot to mention it brings the ugly, too.

[TubeTop100.com @ Mar 17th 2008 9:43AM]

This is crap. For about 5000 yen more, you can get a Kohjinsha with a rotating screen so it functions as a tablet pc. Ohhh and it has a 120GB hdd and a better resolution (1024x600 instead of 800x480)

[Lesz8986 @ Mar 17th 2008 10:30AM]

I'm sure this would fit into a manella envelope ... right?

[rob @ Mar 17th 2008 11:55AM]

Lipstick on a pig and all that...

[nathancourt @ Mar 21st 2008 1:26PM]

Don't forget that the JP version has WinXP, not gos.