Mintpass' tiny Mintpad brings handwriting back from the 20th century

We can't remember the last time we stealthily scribbled a note to a coworker instead of shooting an IM, but Mintpass (a Korean firm founded by former iriver minds) believes some folks want to do both at once with Mintpad, a wireless handheld that's one part Nintendo DS, one part iPod, and another part Post-it note. Yes, it surfs the web on 802.11b/g WiFi and plays 4GB (or more with a microSD card) of music and videos on its sub-3-inch 320 x 240 display, but the draw is handwriting with a stylus. Don't pick it up if you're looking for handwriting recognition, though -- you just jot down notes the old fashioned way, though you can pass them over the internet to others who have their own Mintpads. We've seen a note or two saying you can pick one up in South Korea for ?198,000, or about $156.

[Via Pocketables]

[hitsthings @ Nov 5th 2008 7:08AM]

Kinda neat.

But probably doomed.

[hitsthings @ Nov 5th 2008 7:09AM]

(First.)

[Mark @ Nov 5th 2008 7:18AM]

Now, you see, you started off with a perfectly reasonable comment, and completely removed any credibility by following it up with that.

[Corey O @ Nov 5th 2008 7:14AM]

I think this is nice because it gives more personality in messaging that you don't get from typed text.

http://www.worldgonemobile.com

[Mile @ Nov 5th 2008 7:21AM]

This would cost me over $500.

I'd have to buy 2, give one to a friend, and then buy him a bunch of beer so he would use it for a while to send messages back and forth.

Pass.

Get back to me when I can M over the tubes or something.

[Benson @ Nov 5th 2008 7:24AM]

Hmph. You can get a Nokia N800 for that price these days (in the US; not sure about Korea).

Is this a bad idea? Conceivably not, depending on implementation.

Is it way overpriced for today? Absolutely.

[Roberto @ Nov 5th 2008 7:32AM]

McIntosh Post-It Notes. The post-it note for the rest of us.

Funny how life imitates art sometimes.

Lack of handwriting recognition means less "Eat up Martha" blunders.

[gigi @ Nov 5th 2008 8:27AM]

okay.. nintendo lookalike yes.. post it yes.. But I fail to see any "one part ipod".. erm? Just trying to sneak in a bit of apple eh? :-)

[Kevin @ Nov 5th 2008 12:50PM]

It's a PMP. Read the article.

[htd @ Nov 5th 2008 8:34AM]

the price doesn't make sense.

[N @ Nov 5th 2008 9:09AM]

words on screen say "Mintblock".

[real krn @ Nov 5th 2008 9:52AM]

no, it says "mint BLOG" which is one of the features they're putting into this thing

[Simon @ Nov 5th 2008 9:52AM]

The idea to send a little sketch instead of a written message is nice. But if someone would write a little app for the ipod touch, you could get at lot more for a little more by going that route. Maybe there already is an app like that, but if not there surely will be one pretty soon.

[Mike @ Nov 5th 2008 10:48AM]

if the iPhone had a stylus option... but Mr Jobs gets an attack of the Doonesburies every time he thinks about pen-related technology

[digihunter @ Nov 5th 2008 10:11AM]

this device need to work together with company website to upload photo and memo to blog all the time. Bcuz, Korean internet environment require to have activeX supports to posting any contents to most of portal site related blog. So, this device based on WinCE 5.0 Pro which mean it cannot able to work with other popular site and it make damn to play alone with people who purchasing this to play together....

Idea was great but market may not fit to device. I think this concept will be better to play outside of Korea. No worries with internet limitation with activeX...

BAD CHOIE, MINTPASS.

[Hackettman @ Nov 5th 2008 10:47AM]

Things like this are great for the niche market. But sadly they require two of the same which will damn it right there. Tablet style text messaging would be amazing.....

[Mike @ Nov 5th 2008 10:50AM]

Ink-texting with Live Messenger is very cool since you can express yourself more freely (not to mention include quick maps, sketches...), but I wish I had access to it on a handheld device

[sean @ Nov 5th 2008 11:52AM]

Sure, all you English 26-character typewriter "I'm the center of the world" idiots think this is doomed to failure. Have any of you considered how much better a handwritten note over IM would be for, say, Chinese or Japanese (I'm not that familiar with the Korean language, so maybe those as well) communications?

[Kragebein @ Nov 5th 2008 12:09PM]

Enlighten me on how this would be more useful for the Japanese than speakers of English, please.

[Kevin @ Nov 5th 2008 12:55PM]

Japanese uses three different sets of characters, each of which probably contains over a thousand individual characters. That would be one really big keyboard.

Or you could just write it down on this thing.

[Kai @ Nov 5th 2008 12:58PM]

It may be more convenient to write rather than to type a note in Chinese (and I suppose Japanese and Korean as well)... to input such languages with a regular keyboard requires typing the pronunciation (which can be slow) or other methods (which involve some memorizing). Of course those who are really skilled in this can type Chinese faster than they write, but more the rest, handwritten text can be faster.

And you can send pictures/diagrams/mathematical formulas with handwriting more effectively than typing!

Seems fun to have but I wonder if it is really something that people will buy... it would depend on how good the built-in browser is, I guess.

[Jay @ Nov 6th 2008 7:34AM]

Actually, Korean has its own phonemic alphabet (Hangul), and it's just as easy to type than English (in fact, when it comes to typing on cell phone keypads, it's actually easier to do so than with English). Typing is definitely harder in Chinese and Japanese however, and something like this may be useful. It's more of a novelty feature brought on by the touchscreen craze of late though..

[scape @ Nov 5th 2008 1:36PM]

too small, I think a larger screen size would make more sense, a few hand written would fill up quickly...

[frankXchange @ Nov 5th 2008 1:54PM]

Cut that price by maybe half, and I can see it making a major charge into the market place, complimenting the needs of the many that have regular cellphones. At $150, however, I'd be much likely to continue struggling with my cellphone or upgrade to an iTouch.

[thiel @ Nov 5th 2008 6:04PM]

Even without the notepad this looks really nice in their videos. Very nice UI with it's own identity too.

[mdscinto @ Nov 5th 2008 8:18PM]

Or I could use pen and paper. Hmm..

[bod @ Nov 9th 2008 2:27PM]

according to mintpass, they should have the english version of the manual and GUI ready by december.
i'd love to have a go with this thing though.