Michael Arrington's little experiment with consumer electronics is about to get real. The image above is the "near-final industrial design" of the man's
CrunchPad with "first working prototypes" expected in another few weeks. Changes include a display now flush with the bezel and an 18-mm overall thickness thanks to the switch from plastic to aluminum. Inside we've got a Linux-based OS that boots direct to a Webkit-based browser. Michael says that the next public appearance will be at a special press event in July. However, as a man (in)famous for leaking other people's details ahead of official announcements, we wouldn't be surprised to see his vision of the ultimate couch computer make its way to the Internets before the big unveiling.
posted Jun 4th 2009 7:40AM
That's beautiful, period.
indeed!
im selling my liver or kidney for it. u choose which.
I dont get the form factor - am I supposed to constantly hold it upright with one hand while I multitouch with the other?
Not a big deal with a tiny iPhone, but awkward with a 12" device (note tablet PCs arent exactly ubiquitous)
Seriously, if you remove the hinge and keyboard from a 12" notebook and add a touchscreen, all you've done is make input slower and taken away the part that conveniently holds the screen upright for you.
If you look at it the other way and call it a big iPhone, you've removed the pocketability factor and again, you might as well put a keyboard and hinge on it so when you have a convenient lap or flat surface nearby it can actually stay upright on its own and you can touch type.
I think Michael Arrington is going to find out that mobile device design isnt as 'obvious' as any one consumer seems to think it is, and stuff that sounds great on paper has very fundamental usability hurdles when you actually have to live with it.
@Seth
Have you never used a clipboard before? It's really not at all awkward. You hold in on your forearm and write or tap away with your other hand. If you're sitting down you wedge the end against your lap and hold the top with one hand as the other hand interfaces with it. Or lay it flat on a table like a notepad. It's actually a great form factor for a computer. 12-14 inches like a regular notebook size would be the perfect size.
I can't believe how many people keep bringing this up. Like it would be so horrible not to have a keyboard even though we've had paper notebooks and canvases for decades.
@ seth
tablets arent ubiquitous because they are expensive. priced right... around $500, im sure they'll do better.
OQO was a nice device that i wanted but it was well over the price that i would pay and use the thing for. which is basic tasks like surfing, music, and youtube.
It's in the form factor of a Star Trek Padd.
Its like that thing bill gates showed off 2-3 years ago, very nice.
The only way this could be more beautiful, is if it miraculously used tegra.
Hulu Heaven.
damn.... touchscreen? pen? windows 7? Bought!
touchscreen - yes
pen - no
windows 7 - it's 1.6 GHz Intel Atom + 12" capacitative touchscreen. But no word for ram and not sure about it's size of SSD. So put it as maybe.
Linux... actually
capacitative? actually there is multi touch available? there should be some third party pens working ;-). this "laptop" is on the buying list for sure
base on 2nd model it's will have
12" (4:3 aspect ratio)
Via Nano
1 GB of RAM
4 GB of flash memory
4-cell battery
WiFi
Camera
3th model say that it will change ...
12" wide touchscreen.
1.6 GHz Intel Atom.
4th model say that it will change ...
capacitative touchscreen.
aluminum case.
screen flush with case.
thickness reduce to 18 mm.
This thing needs pen input, although perhaps there's a dedicated digital notes taker somewhere i can buy :>
Holy crap - if I could run Win7 on this I'd buy it in a heartbeat!
Even without Win7, it looks like a really attractive proposition -- just a basic browser and good font rendering, and the ability to play most media files would satisfy 95% of users.
The only reason I'd like having Win7 on it is that most of my work stuff requires Windows (and Office) and I'm often doing work stuff while lounging in front of the TV. Besides, Win7's touch capabilities are awesome.
I'd even buy Win7 seperately and install it on this, if there's a way of doing that. However, if the rumors of it having just a 4GB SSD are true, that's not really practical :(.. I guess for the installation to be possible, it just needs to have a regular BIOS (not EFI) and should have a USB port that it can boot from, or otherwise at least a PXE boot (network boot).
I think that if It's really Intel Atom.
You will got regular BIOS and bootable USB port for sure.
it's bundle in Atom set - all intel mainboard include gma.
from eeepc to vaio p. Intel Atom have same chipset inside. (not include Ion that using mainboard from nvidia)
if it comes out withing the target price range, i'll buy
Nice minimalistic design. Elegant and refined. Now just have to see what software it runs, and it specs!
According to an article from back in January (on engadget),
12-inch touchscreen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. -obviously no longer correct
Via Nano CPU
1 GB of RAM
4 GB of flash memory
4-cell battery
WiFi
Camera - can't really see it in those pictures
Hopefully this product isn't as good as the quality of Arrington's journalism.
So you want the product to be bad?
I've never read any of his work so I don't know how great of a journalist he is. However, if you're gonna take a jab at someone take the time to think about what you write. Perhaps you should have said: I hope this product is better than the quality of his journalism. At least then it would be clear what you were trying to say.
Ever heard of sarcasm? Apparently not...
What about battery life?
Good Lord! I dont care if its ticker, put an atom inside and boot win7 and im buying it at 600$. I would like a letter format screen please.
Doesn't the Atom draw a lot more power than VIA cpu's? With Windows you'll end up with a 2 hour device. :p
Dude.
It's the Win7 bug.: It makes you want to run it on EVERYTHING.
(I am also afflicted, as it's been great. Either that or my hardware is better than I thought.)
I still really like my netbook. (Running Win7)
Personally, I'm still smarting from my bad Nokia N810 experience, so excuse me if I hang back a bit and watch over the reviewer's shoulders for a while.
I'm guessing this is the type of thing apple is working on. If it flows as well as my iPhone only with all the features the iPhone is missing, I'm thinking it will be a real winner.
This looks really neat, but it's hard to make something this fancy and extremely usable and have a cool UI at the same time.
No Windows, I would buy it today! :)(Really cant wait)
It sure as hell won't spin OSX if that's what you want.
please make it true! my ipod touch screen is too small for web browsing.
Why is the Crunchpad logo a back to front OS X window commander (the traffic lights)?
Funny that you call them traffic lights, all the while inferring that Apple invented them.
What the hell are you talking about. Trying to create problems over nothing, I am asking why they have used those coloured orbs that are clearly a take on the window commands in OS X, and you try and suggest that Apple copied traffic lights?
Seriously, fail argument.
What I meant was, they are clearly a take on traffic lights, just as the OSX buttons are a take on traffic lights. That doesn't make the Crunchpad's markings a take on OSX.
He didnt really say they invented them.
I think you'll find the logo is just the CrunchPad word, and the "traffic lights" will be a power light, charging light , and HDD or something light.
I hope this blows away the products being designed by Conde Nast and NY Times. Oh, and sorry, Kindle. You had a good run.
This with the E-ink/color display that was shown of yesterday on the modded Acer netbooks would be awesome! Kindle when you need, netbook when you need!
Want with Windows 7!
Bangable!
Very nice indeed!
If apple would make a tablet, I could imagine it looking somewhat like this. Anyway very solid and good looking!
now this can be a good antidote!
This is THE gadget I want right now. Even the old prototype had me drooling. This new version is ridiculously nicer.
Scratches!
Nice form factor. If it can run some sweet drawing apps so it can be used as a sketch book, run gps and google maps and do some other stuff, PERFECT.
This looks like a cool device.
Expect for these to be the next consumer device space that companies beat each other silly to dominate in. Apple is supposedly releasing a similar 'media tablet' with 3G connectivity on Verizon Wireless, and no doubt the next gen Amazon Kindle will be similar to these.
Should get interesting for us consumers.
YES!
WANT! (and for the love of god, keep anything Microsoft OFF this thing).
That's got a lot of potential.
Fantastic. The thing I've been looking for and I didn't even know it.
What I would like to see is a simpler version of such a device, suitable for couch based remote/home/media centre control, maybe with a little surfing thrown in for good measure. There are such device from Crestron, AMX or even the Philips Pronto 9600/9800, but all for over £1500 - er no thanks.
A small screen (7-9") would be great for one hand holding operation. The Archos 7 looks fantastic, cost just under £300 and runs Linux, however, I'm not sure how much you can add to it in terms of software. A windows based device would be cool, but windows mobile seems to have stalled. I have a very nice HTC Diamond 2 but its a little small to use a centre remote.
Netbook PCs also look promising, but I think the EeePC touch will also be expensive. Does anyone know of such a device?