Michael Arrington drops science on CrunchPad, still won't sell us one
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted April 10th 2009 7:15PM
posted April 10th 2009 7:15PM
In case you missed it (we all have our off days, it's fine) we got our hands on a mess of leaked CrunchPad photos yesterday, and we have to say -- the device looks pretty damn good. Now that the cat's out of the bag, a certain Michael Arrington has shed a little light into what's going on over there at CrunchGear HQ. He says that the "significant step forward" for the device has been in regards to the software stack -- it's now entirely customized, including the (Linux) OS and browser. It also sports an Intel Atom chip; previously, the device has been running Ubuntu on a VIA chipset. "The total software footprint is around 100 MB," he writes, "which is a solid achievement." And last but not least, the industrial design and hardware for this bad boy is being done by an outfit in Singapore called Fusion Garage. It looks like the project is in good hands. But anything beyond that -- including, sadly, a timeframe -- is still anyone's guess.
crunch
Not as nice as Apple's soon-to-be-released touch-tablet computer, but it's decent. If this Crunch ran OSX, I'd buy one for in an instant it if cost the price of a Kindle2.
i want.
bad.
This IS the future. Mr. Arrington get this out ASAP, this could directly compete with E-BOOK readers since it is FULL COLOR (the only reason i stay away from kindle and other readers - no color), and is the stuff dreams are made of. If this could be paired with Apples' bluetooth keyboard, the two could make the ultimate combination of portability and usability, full size computing at a low weight. This is the vision i've had for the past two years on what the apple netbook should look like. The screen resolution MUST be amazing, the power can be equivalent to current netbook offerings. THIS IS THE NEXT HOT ITEM. this will sell like hotcakes with the right configuration, marketing, and support. Holy mother of CPU this gets my juices flowing. Please do not delay on getting this out, i'll place my bet on this horse any day.
Yeah. You sound just a *little* bit over the top...
EInk based readers may not be in color yet, but they have other advantages. They get much longer battery life for one thing. And they don't wash out in bright light.
And actually I've heard some **rumors** that color eInk devices could begin rolling out as early as the latter half of this year.
The other reason not to have a Kindle is its UGLY.
looks good. Hope it works good. I will buy it whenever it comes out. I heard some other big computer manufacturer coming out with a device like this (not apple), not sure about the price.
Sorry but this is somewhat a useless device we really don't need. It has about the same footprint as a 10 inch netbook but offer way less functionality. That on screen keyboard isn't going to be user-friendly for typing. No doubt the device is cool but in the world of convergence there is a very small market for a keyboard-less laptop.
> Sorry but this is somewhat a useless device we really don't need
No, it is a device YOU don't need. Please don't speak for the world at large. There are many of us who would welcome such a device for dedicated purposes. When I'm lying on my sofa reading a newspaper site I don't want a laptop form factor. I want a tablet. A lightweight tablet that I can use my fingers with, not the Microsoft controlled pen tablet that is a failure for me.
I've been wanting a device similar to this for about 5 years. I have been tempted to build one for my own use from time to time, but if this ever gets offered for sale I'd buy one. A device doesn't have to do EVERYTHING - I'd still take my notebook when traveling.
This could be big and by big I mean orgasmic.
I'd like to know what are the netbooks priced in the 200 range that posters in the previous article were comparing this to.
Arrington says it would retail around $300 in its current design, and that's only with a slim 20% gross profit. The MSU Wind U100, Acer Aspire One AOD100, Eee 900 series all go for $300 or less.
$325-$350 is much more likely for the CrunchPad, at least for the first 3-6 months it's out. That puts it head-on with the MSI Wind U120, Eee 1000HA, Acer Aspire One AOD150, Lenovo IdeaPad S10e and HP Mini 1000 series.
With few exceptions, these are all Atom N270 machines with 9-10" widescreen displays, vertical resolutions topping out at about 600 pixels, with 1GB of RAM and 160GB HDDs. 9" N270-powered touchscreen Classmate-based netbooks go for $450-$500. Gigabyte's touchscreen M912 goes for $700-$800 but is specced significantly higher.
The CrunchPad has a 12" widescreen touch display; eyeballing that screenshot, I'm guessing the resolution is 1280x768. No word on RAM or internal storage, but considering the goal and Arrington's boast of a 100MB core system, internal flash may be as little as 256MB. Trimming Linux down that much to a fixed hardware platform with few drivers or services means they might get away with as little as 256MB of RAM as well; 512MB is a little more likely. No word on battery life, but considering the features it lacks, it had better hit 5 hours continuous Wi-Fi use - which is getting to be the new target for netbooks - or this'll be a quick fail.
It's an interesting project, but at $300, and especially $350, people will have trouble biting considering the competition of smaller, but more capable, netbooks. (Remember the running joke about UMPCs: All they needed was a keyboard to be successful.) Then again, "people" said the Kindle would bomb too, though the CrunchPad offers nothing as interesting as integrated GPRS or 3G or Amazon backing it up.
the UI and software dev is being done by Fusion Garage, not the industrial design - completely different fields of expertise going on here; reference other periodical resources for Fusion Garage and read on their contributions to the software dev, not ID aesthetics
PLEASE add two white knobs at the bottom.....
(a design-wink to Etch-a-Sketch)
Love to buy one if the price is right.
glad somebody is making this! i was waiting since forever for apple to make a bigger screen itouch
Looks like an ergonomic nightmare.
It's way too big to comfortably hold it and thumb-type, so you need to put it on a solid surface to type anything. And if you put it on a flat surface, you either see little on the screen (ever tried watching an LCD image from a flat angle from below the screen? Worst possible way.) or you have to sit like a hunchback to center your eyes above the screen...ouch!
Also, if this has a BOM of $250, I doubt it will become available below $400 - and going by Arrington's comments, it's gonna take quite a while longer before it comes out. By that time, I'd go for an Eee T101 convertible or a similar device. Likely in a similar price range, but a WHOLE lot more flexible and capable (non-neutered OS etc, more than one USB etc).
give it wacom support and I'd easily pay double. my holy grail is to have a solid 13" laptop for doing work, and a small and thin tablet for taking notes. overall, that would be cheaper than getting a slightly underpowered but uber expensive laptop for both purposes.
consider it: fujitsu 5010 is fat, x200t is expensive (as are the Dell and HP business tablets) and an x61 tablet is underpowered. however, a t400 and one of these guys (but pen enabled) would be fucking incredible.
Arrington is taking way to long to get this on the market. Its never going to sell, not even to his die-hard fans.
I doubt he will even see any sort of return on his investment. In fact, I would expect him to lose money on it.
way too long? Dude.. he just came up with the idea LAST JULY. do you even know how long it takes to get a product to market?
Pricing out all the hardware,
customizing the software,
designing the damn interface,
getting the industrial design finalized,
testing it, retesting it,
finding a manufacturer,
getting all the right permissions,
passing through the FCC,
designing the packaging,
finding retail distributors,
advertising it,
SELLING IT.
my god.. the pace this thing is on is mind boggling. and you're complaining???
Do we have an address for Fusion Garage? We could all pitch in and send one of us there to break in and steal a case. Tada!
I still think using an Atom is a bad idea for this, a Cortex A8 would have given much better battery life, and negligible performance differences for a task as basic as web browsing.
+1
The Atom sucks down more than 4x as much power as a Cortex A8. If you're running Linux and only want a web browser, you'd save a lot of money and quadruple your runtime with ARM. You'd cut down your size and heat dissipation requirements too.
I think their use of the Atom is possibly an indication of their belief that the x86 architecture will eventually win out over ARM. They will then be able to use the same custom OS on the Intel 32nm x86 SoCs coming out next year which will bring power consumption more in line with the ARM SoCs.
He needs to get this out ASAP and develop his customer base. This trend is going to get way more populated and competitive really soon aqnd as soon as he gets this out he can grab that niche market...... Id just hate to see a product that looks this good get lost in the shuffle...... Although would the atom processor make it beyond that $200 mark?
I already have a device like this, HP's TC1100.
"Not as nice as Apple's soon-to-be-released touch-tablet computer, but it's decent. If this Crunch ran OSX, I'd buy one for in an instant it if cost the price of a Kindle2."
Ya but at the cost of one Apple tablet you could have 10 of these (or more).
*Drops crunch in hot tub, calls wife for another*
"Honey your stock of crunches is getting low, we're down to 5"
"That on screen keyboard isn't going to be user-friendly for typing. No doubt the device is cool but in the world of convergence there is a very small market for a keyboard-less laptop"
Ya exactly why there is a market for small wireless blutooth keyboards. Hell even ones that dock the tablet. I use one on my cellphone to take notes on my Nokia n810.
Jeez I'm enjoying this little device more and more. I hope they get some videos of this thing's basic UI and web browser interface.
now this is sick dude regardless of specs !
This would dominate over netbook sales here in USA guaranteed!
osx + Multitouch an well i am sold
Does OS X have more than rudimentary touch support? (Serious question)
I can't wait for June/July. I have a feeling Apple is going to announce that rumored "iTablet" along with the new iPhone.
the way i see it, this is a 12 inch itouch and cheaper.
BTW: since the crunchpad was announced a year before the itablet, wouldnt that make the itablet a crunch-pad competitor? Theres a new twist.
I like this concept, few people are posting they want to use OSX or some bloatware apps on this thing, sorry but thats outside of the concept and defeats the point of a lite netpad with a decent sized screen.
my question is what kind of touch screen it has, because this could be perfect for taking notes with a stylus in college. the added bonus is of course if it has a long battery life, and or if we can add or use usb storage to it (either internally or through a usb port)
it has one usb port...
So when do we get to buy this thing? I'm waiting very patiently.