http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/ 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/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/I don't think there is that much hype about the ipad. And if there is, why would Sony's development of such a product kill its hype?]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 6:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 5th 2010 1:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 5th 2010 1:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
bedside clock, picture frame, internet portal, ipod dock, internet music player, portable boombox, etc.

I love my Chumby One, but I would certainly trade it in for something with a 7 to 10" IPS LCD or AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, and superior processor and OS. Add in a tablet form factor so that it can also be used as a portable e-reader when it's not in dock mode, make it under $300, and I'm SOLD!

WANT!]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Yeah... but the Chumby's only about $100. A docked tablet-type device that is capable of playing network-stored (HD) media in every format/codec is going to cost 5-10x as much, if it's from Sony.

The more implementations I see, the more of a believer I am that the slate/tablet form factor has the potential to be EXTREMELY useful. Not mostly as a portable device, but around the house, and in the car.

A household with one or two tablets, and multiple docks (of course in addition to my laptop and htpc) seems almost ideal to me. The tablet is useful in one's lap as a reader, and it's useful in dock mode for about a hundred other things, from being a picture frame, to alarm clock, to recipe reader in the kitchen, to HTPC front end... the applications seem to be endless.

Though tablets have been around for well over a decade, this form factor is indeed in its infancy. Anyone who thinks it will ultimately be a failure simply doesn't understand the future of home/mobile personal computing.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is dash to my computer post-haste, so I'm not sure the benefit of having Facebook on my next to my bed. Plus, while in bed, I really don't want to know about my friends getting a cow in Farmville. But weather, music, pictures synced from my iPod/computer would be useful.

Also, since Sony seems to have an affinity for open-sourced OSs like this Chumby OS, their iPad competitor may very well be based on the Chrome OS.]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
I agree with you about tablets. I'm not sold as a portable device, but as something I have sitting on the countertop in the kitchen or next to my bed, I think they're very useful. More so if I can pick it up and walk with it. Not something I'd do often, but the versatility would be nice.]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
I fully agree. The Chumby is great, but something more advanced with a decent price would be a purchase for me. ]]>Feb 4th 2010 5:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Being based on Chumby OS, if the internet radio functionality is not expanded beyond Chumby's pseudo-internet radio pre-selections, then "fail".

If, like most Sony displays, it is way too bright even on the dimmest setting, then "fail".

My recommendation:
PURE Sensia FTW!
http;//www.touchmyradio.com

I have one. I love it! It addresses every clock radio/alarm/display issue I have. It's too expensive, but it's wonderfully executed. Someone with a sense of real-world use designed it.]]>Feb 4th 2010 7:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/

Can't their marketing team of came up with something..........well......more appealing? ]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
It has nothing to do with Sony.

http://www.chumby.com/]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/

Well then Chumby should have thought of a better name ]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Sony's marketing strategy is stored on an encrypted Minidisc. Only Morita knew the password.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Sony Tablet? Too specific!

You probably meant the Sony TM-434f.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Definitely. There's no WAY they could possibly cripple this thing worse than Apple did with theirs!

(oh wait, isn't this why comments got turned off?) x-)

I just find it amazing that touchscreen-friendly "skins" for W7 are so rare (only one I can think of is HP's TouchSmart), and as far as I know, MS hasn't released an official one, yet.

]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Why are you calling the iPad crippled? Don't you think that the decision to make it SIMPLE was completely intentional? Have you ever thought about why the iPhone is so popular? It's not because of its kitchen sink approach to hardware, obviously.

You're thinking of the iPad as a full blown computer that isn't running a computer OS and computer apps, and that's backwards and wrong. The iPad is an APPLIANCE. It's a simple device that does things most people would want it to to, like web browsing, email, basic apps, some iPhone-style gaming.

This is where Jobs has a better vision than people like you do. He knows MOST PEOPLE want simplicity in their devices, not a full on desktop OS on a device that can barely run it and needs virus protection and is susceptible to all the same issues as a desktop OS.

The iPad is a device that is simple and just works. It has a month of standby time. You can pick it up, get mail, check facebook or whatever and put it down again. Simple. If you don't want an iPad that's great. Good for you. But calling it "crippled" is totally and completely missing the point.

To make it relevant to this article, I'm not sure Sony gets why the iPad will be popular either. They're just betting it will be, because it comes from Apple, without knowing why. It's nice that they think they can makes some hardware that competes stat-wise with the iPad, but it's not about the hardware. It's about the software, the UI, the infrastructure. I guess it remains to be seen if Sony actually gets it or not.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/"On the contrary - I think putting Win7 on anything like this would defeat the whole concept of a tablet/slate/pad computer. It's not suppose to be just another version of a dekstop/laptop."

I agree that putting W7 on a tablet DOES defeat the whole concept of a tablet, but it's due to the extremely non-touch-friendly, downright archaic UI elements. It's NOT due to the increased functionality that a "real" OS offers.

The following arguments are complete bullshit:
"It's a tablet. Nobody's going to want to ______ "
"It's a tablet. Doing ____ with it is absolutely going to be a terrible experience".

If "nobody wants to _____", it's simply because nobody's introduced a compelling-enough UI yet. It's not beacuse there's no way in hell that iLife could EVER be useful in a tablet form factor.]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Well said.]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
The problem is not only Win7 specifically.

It's just when you put windows on it, people will try to run Office and hate it.

Which is why I strongly oppose a full blown OS X tablet also, imagine Adobe CS5 on iPad]]>Feb 4th 2010 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
Wow I didn't see your comments below.

The right approach methink is rewrite the UIKit and force every app to adopt it.

Or you will always get Adobe CS5, people are lazy you know.]]>Feb 4th 2010 2:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/But look at their netbooks... or what THEY call netbooks. Freakin $800!
Do you know what I could do with $800?]]>Feb 4th 2010 5:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
no, that wasnt well said at all. the point still was, its not a good fit. and the os is missing those things. he's still wrong.


you too bud]]>Feb 4th 2010 7:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
It does look very thick. I thought it was a fancy alarm clock at first.
]]>Feb 4th 2010 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 1:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 2:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://cnettv.cnet.com/sony-dash/9742-1_53-50081812.html]]>Feb 4th 2010 8:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsN6NOhWkxM&feature=related

And not a moment too soon! We are being overrun with tablets! But I think Sony will show us something a little different.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 1:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 1:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
someone will make a good one evertually!!]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/I would buy it in a second.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/
During this forced-hiatus, I realized how much I visit engadget to just read the comments. and how much i missed them.]]>Feb 4th 2010 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/04/sony-catches-tablet-fever-wants-to-be-an-active-player/Feb 4th 2010 12:46PM