http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Personally, I'm holding out for something very SIMILAR hardware-wise, but that's non glossy and can have different mobile operating systems loaded onto it; basically all the win (mobile and ce,) and linux flavors (moblin, android, etc...).]]>Oct 1st 2009 5:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 6:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
About that tablet...]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Add a camera and touchscreen, along with a finger friendly UI, and then its pretty useful. But at that point, you're approaching smartphone territory, or at least what will be smartphone territory in two years or so.

Netbooks will live on because they aren't laptops or true pocket-friendly mobile devices - they fit the needs of a unique, but present group of users. But as hardware becomes cheaper and faster, the bridge between MID, phone, and camera will close, until we end up with some 5 inch touchscreen phone capable of shooting video in 1080p and running standard windows / linux / (probably not osx) apps.]]>Oct 1st 2009 11:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 11:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
...2 words.

Flash support.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 5:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
The reasoning is that the masses won't buy MIDs unless they can run their PC applications on them, but companies won't rewrite those applications for another OS until there is mass adoption, so the solution is put desktop Windows on it. ]]>Oct 1st 2009 5:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
I would guess we should expect MIDs to take off right now then?]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 6:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 4:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.oqo.com/products/index.html

too bad they went out of business

]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
I still am a teenager and I still do lust after an OQO]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Netbooks came out and showed that people will buy tiny computers provided the price is there; they are very handy when traveling and with light document editing, movie watching and surfing they are perfect for that task.

Drop the price of these MID's to $200-$300 and you'd see tons of people buying them up.

The thing with MID's is they are very small; unless you can do a high resolution on that screen (thus making the screen and applications look even smaller) you have the majority of desktop/notebook applications displaying incorrectly/stretched/cut-off . ]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
QUOTE:
"Second, there's a limit to the number of device consumers will carry. For most consumers, it's two, and the max three. A MID therefore must dispalce something else in a user's hierarchy of functionality."

Yep. For me, the device category I'd replace is portable game system. I currently have a PSP. I'd love to replace that with a Windows machine that would let me install more complex (albeit older) games. A $200 portable system that runs PC RPGs like Daggerfall & Baldur's Gate? Sign me up!
]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 9:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 2:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Here's my perfect MID. Market it, and I'll buy it.

1) Must run all day on the battery, just like a smartphone. Thus, it will probably have a mobile OS. I don't particularly care if it's WinMobile, Android, or WebOS.

2) Must have at least a 4" to 5" VGA or WVGA screen. I don't know what type of skinny-ass pockets that you have, but I have no problem putting a device with a 4" screen in my pocket. I have a crappy 'ol Palm TX with a 4" screen that I carry with me everywhere.

3) Must be able to run full-blown copies of apps, so I don't have to lug a netbook around. Ever try using a netbook while standing on a subway train? Thus, the device must support dual operating systems. WinMobile and Windows 7, or Android and Linux. I don't care. Don't make me choose between real applications and battery life/always-on functionality. I want them both. If the device is going to be marketed between smartphones and netbooks, it has to offer something that neither provides.

4) A slide-out keyboard is a must for serious text entry. However, a decent touch screen keyboard is also a necessity. Again, don't make me choose. I want both. A device with a 4" to 5" screen should have the world's sweetest keyboard and plenty of screen real estate for a touchscreen keyboard.

5) It *must* have 3G. What's with all this WiFi shit? I don't get WiFi on the train, or on the interstate, do you? It's not much of an *internet* tablet without access to the internet, now is it?

6) Expandable memory. "Nobody needs more than 64K". Please don't tell me how much freakin storage I need, OK? Give me a damn SDHC slot so that I don't have to by a new model every year when you increase the storage.

As far as I can tell, no single device provides all this. If you do, you'll sell them in bunches. Seriously, as the article points out, you can't have *less* functionality than a smartphone or netbook. Now, combine all the advantages of both, and you'll have a winner.


]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
me too
]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/So that device needs two different processors for both x86 and ARM. That kind of device in a pocket sized chassis, is simply not practical with current technology!]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Covers point 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Runs Windows Mobile and Windows Vista (or Seven). The XDA-Devs community has un-crippled the Windows Mobile side so it works just like your regular ol' WinMo smartphone. Hit a button and you're back at the full-size desktop.]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Too bad the Shift never went anywhere... it was the answer to one of the shortcomings of UMPC/MID.

Want to check your calender/messages/email really quick? Instant on capability with SnapVue (like a weakened version of WinMo). Need Excel, bring XP to life (4-6 sec time to wake up isn't so bad).

I would buy one if they made it with a 5" screen and a 4 hr battery life.

The shift's incredibly poor battery even made the Sony UX series look good.]]>Oct 1st 2009 8:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/As tmarks11 points out, the Shift had a 7" screen, which is a bit too big. Also, at 2.2 lbs, it's
a beast. Lastly, the battery was poor.

Now, shrink it to 5", increase the battery life, add a Snapdragon and a dual core Atom, and
then we'll talk. :-)
]]>Oct 1st 2009 10:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 2:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Does everything you want. 3G isnt standard, but nothing a USB dongle cant fix.
Any linux OS runs on it, aswel as android (being ported)

There are still some orders left for the first batch.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 3:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 7:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 3rd 2009 3:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 6:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
I'm tired of this... Can I have an Entelligence free Engadget?]]>Oct 1st 2009 6:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
...would it be to direct to say "never would be a good time for Michael Gartenberg to write another article"

The bias makes me sick and is so anti-good reporting.]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
The iPod touch owns the MID product space. I don't see how anyone can dispute that. The screen is a bit smaller than maybe what people considered "typical" for a MID, but otherwise the functionality is all there. More to the point, despite all of Intel's efforts nothing else comes close.

"It's the software, stupid." Intel and the rest haven't got that memo but Apple sure has. Trying to shoehorn a desktop OS and desktop apps (Office!? IE8!? Microsoft Mail!?) on a 5" screen has fail written all over it regardless of how good the hardware is.

Yes, it's smaller than a netbook, but until the software becomes at least reasonably easy to use on the platform, MIDs are dead in the water.

Netbooks are bad enough, as anyone who has tried to use Google Maps at 1024x600 under a desktop browser can vouch for. (less than half the screen ends up left over to display the map, the rest is toolbards, window borders, and that stupid Google page header) MIDs under a desktop OS/Apps are all that and worse.



]]>Oct 1st 2009 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
I'd like to have the new Umid M2. So what's attractive about it ? It's totally pocketable, incredibly light, has a web-cam to enable video chat, allows me to show powerpoint presentations from it. It runs all Windows stuff.

Drawbacks, it does not have phone capability and the keyboard, by necessity, is small. Providing there's sufficient battery power, it would be even better with 2gb RAM than the 1gb on offer.

I travel a lot and I'm just tired of lugging a laptop with me. The Umid would be a nice substitute for my current small laptop. I won't get rid of the laptop, but there are times I don't have to enter a lot of text, or do other advanced stuff, and then the Umid would be perfect. I have more than one car. More than one motorcycle. More than one watch. I know there are Americans with more than one wife. Why not have more than one form factor computer? What is it about computers that make us want only one? Is it just cost?

I could also foresee bringing an external foldable keyboard, and hook the Umid up to the hotel TV screen for more serious work.]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/I don't see a contradiction. The device must provide all-day service, so it has to have a low-power chip
with an always-on mobile OS.

However, to support full blown applications, it must be able to boot to a full OS when necessary.

Power users will not accept reduced battery life.

I believe HTC had a device 2 years ago that had a dual-boot capability. I'm not sure how they did it, but it
is possible.
]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 2:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
In order to compete today, the tweeners need to offer some combination that phones and notebooks cannot match. I would argue that they need the following:

4.5 to 5 inch screen, possibly OLED, to provide a better visual experience than a phone while still being able to shove it in your pants pocket unlike a netbook.

Weight of 8 to 12 ounces so that when you shove it in your pants pocket it doesn't drag your pants off.

3G connectivity for always-connected computing to have the web always available as opposed to most netbooks.

A full, standard browser to have more of the web (flash, silverlight, ajax, etc.) available as opposed to smartphones.

A large SSD to hold massive applications and media files without the heat, noise, power consumption, or susceptibility to shock of a HDD.

Beyond that it depends on whether you are targeting consumers (in which case I'd beef up graphics and audio) or business (in which case I'd add a thumbboard and run Windows 7).

Still, it wouldn't be a mass market item like netbooks, much less smartphones.

If you want to move it beyond a niche product, figure out how to DRM a movie on an SD card and cut a deal with a studio to put their catalog on SD. If that happened, I would be forced to buy one for each of my teens.]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 7:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/This analogy is to represent that all internet or web based news, websites or columns (like this website) can be biased and sometimes subconsciencly so towards internet or web based anchored devices. The relatively more powerful MIDs such as the UMID m1, OQO and the such are powerful personal computing devices ,which goes against their thinking or trade. So, subconsciencly they all prefer web based devices, and are unknowingly pre-exposed to bashing powerful personal or independent computing.
Once I read that the CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison predicted that one day all software will be client / server based. . This prediction is influenced by the fact that his business is of said model. Maybe it is true that all software will be all web based one day, but I would like a second opinion from some expert outside the web community.
]]>Oct 1st 2009 7:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 7:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 8:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 9:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
Make it cheap enough and we'll buy anything that allows us to access internet. I almost bought a Mylo back in the day.]]>Oct 1st 2009 9:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/A MID on the crapper? Yes, what a brilliant idea. The dumb 'MID' moniker has been holding them back. They
need a cool name like 'Netbook'.

How about Canbook? Loobook? WCbook? Dunnybook? Nettybook?
]]>Oct 1st 2009 10:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 1st 2009 11:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
There's no stool in the bathroom for me to rest my netbook on.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/When did netbooks explode? When the majority of them went to the 200-400 dollar range, rather than these companies that loaded up on specs and tried to get people to pay 600+.]]>Oct 1st 2009 10:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/There are a lot of us who don't care about the price. I'd have no problem paying $800 - $1000
if they provided the specs I listed above.

Again, they have to offer something that neither smartphones or netbooks offer. You can't take
features *out*, and charge more. That's why the current lineup of MIDS is a miserable failure.
]]>Oct 2nd 2009 7:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/
The current MID that are succeeding have to be turned into mobile phones in function and form factor. See ipod touch, iphone, n97, n900, htc devices. Those and similar are the only workable mids and only have a market because they have a primary function; phone and or media.

What exactly is a MIDs function? Internet access. However phones already do that, can be subsidised, have a service association and are much more mobile than the typical mid as well as, importantly, they have purpose built applications that mids wont have. But most of all, these devices succeed over mids because they have real world application and purpose. There is no niche for any other types of mids unless it brands itself as having something else as a primary function. Nokia doesnt even know quite how to classify the n900 but to consumers it is clearly a smartphone. Again, the phone form of mids wins in mindshare and general consumer understanding. By itself, no matter how powerful, mids lack definition. They lack real purpose. They are the dot com trying to find a bubble.]]>Oct 2nd 2009 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/Oct 2nd 2009 2:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/A 3.5" screen? Does that come with a magnifying glass?

I like the form factor, but bump it up to 4.5" to 5" and you'll be getting closer.
]]>Oct 2nd 2009 7:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/entelligence-the-muddled-mid-market/ * 430-MHz TMS320C64x+™ DSP Core
* PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
* 800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
* Wifi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth & High Speed USB 2.0 Host
* Dual SDHC card slots & SVideo TV output
* Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
* 43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
* Around 10+ Hours battery life]]>Oct 2nd 2009 3:29AM