There's no I in pad. Only
we, of course. Yeah, we've been wanting to make that joke for awhile -- but in all seriousness, Neofonie, makers of the
11.6-inch WePad, held a press conference in Berlin today to reveal a bit more about its Linux-based slate. According to our German counterparts there will be two versions of the Intel Atom N450-powered tablet, which has two USB ports and an onboard webcam -- the 16GB / WiFi version will go for €450 and the 64GB / HD capable model for €569. We're a bit intrigued by the promised "full HD" support of the larger version, but Neofonie was quick to say that there is no NVIDIA inside. Hmm...
Broadcom's Crystal HD, perhaps? The company wasn't willing to let reporters play with the early build of the multitouch device, but they did show off some videos of the Linux interface. You can watch a few after the break, but the live widget-based GUI looks extremely attractive and amongst other things, the browser supports Flash. It sort of hurts that we won't be able to get our hands on one until August, but we're happy to hear that the company,
unlike some others, is taking the time to get things right.
Updated: We can't help but laugh at the fact that many sites are reporting that the WePad on display at yesterday's press conference was actually running
Windows 7 underneath the Linux-looking UI. Apparently the company has more work to do than we originally thought.
posted April 12th 2010 7:16PM
Looks interesting. Open platform. Desktop. Desktop gadgets. Looks like it has a file system. USB ports!
In other words, it doesn't treat me as if I'm a child.
Jeff Jarvis said he was traveling to see this device in person, so I will be watching his blog.
@grapeDrank idk about cheap its about the same price as a ipad but yeah this thing is definitely cool though i still wont buy one (i dont like the concept and designs of tablets keyboards ftw!!!)
@semblance
The user interface surely looks good, but they are like re-inventing the wheel on this, why not using Android?. I think with the netbook Atom processor using a variant of Linux Desktop can be needing much RAM. On the other hand there is the forthcoming Notion Ink Adam, with better specs (NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor and Android OS).
Nice Try from WePad, I like them, but my money is waiting for something like ADAM, or ICD Gemini.
@semblance lets just see how this one plays out. So it has flash, specs,., and what... http://bit.ly/wepad-tablet-impressions
@semblance Nice keyboard UI...
Interesting, interesting. Hopefully the battery life can back it up.
@CDice
And that the price drops a bit.
@CDice It has an intel atom, so expect same batterylife as a netbook with 3 cell battery.
That side scroller demonstrated in the second video looks very interesting.
And just like that, I lost interest in this pad. Price is too high to not buy a better spec'd laptop instead.
@The Stig errr... you can't actually compare a laptop and a tablet, they're completely different things. It's like saying "Oh, this motorbike is too expensive, I'll just get a car"
@The Joker WTF ever. They're not THAT goddamned different.
@plyx you've got to be kidding.
You're stuck with landscape on a laptop/netbook thanks to that keyboard - they don't make e-readers in landscape. Books aren't in landscape either. Portrait is a better orientation to read - with tablets you have the choice, which makes them a great reader AND portrait is a significantly better way to read a the majority of web pages. That's right - you don't like the orientation of the screen? Just turn it 90 degrees. Do that with your laptop, report back with pictures of you looking decidedly awkward.
While you're feeling a little stupid about not realising that aspect of the tablet form why don't you sketch me a picture... with the trackpad. Unless you're part of 2% of the population it's going to look like crap and even then it's going to take a lot of time to produce anything decent, however a lot of people can probably draw a lot better with their fingers on a flat surface.
Lets make some music in real-time! Fire up that piano app on your keyboard... oh wait. OK how about a DJ app with two turntables... oh wait. Kinda awkward with that screen sticking straight up and not having multi-touch.
Let's not go into the types of games/apps that will/can make use of an accelerometer, and the fact that a tablet will generally be half the size and weight without sacrificing screen size (compared to a netbook anyway). And a nice, light-weight mobile OS makes things simple and stable. And I assume the extra portability means they'll generally have GPS chips as well which opens up another set of capabilities...
A portable, lightweight, location/orientation aware device with a large multi-touch screen is an entirely different beast, don't be daft. I stand by my comparison. They're both vehicles but an entirely different ride.
@The Joker Wow. I've never seen better arguments for a tablet. Very impressed.
@The Joker You're spot on about those concepts, but they're not borne out in the WePad. Their UI for scrolling makes me wonder if one can use it in portrait at all. The quality of the digitizer is in question as the prototype arrived from Taiwan literally 10 minutes before the press event and they, I assume, started optimizing on Tuesday. And finally, since they run a custom Linux, they won't have software on day one. Well, except for OpenOffice. I'm sure it's a great drawing app.
The iPad anticipates the cold and wears a turtleneck, while the WePad slaps a blood red scarf on a black suit.
according the German Specs, this WePad only has 6 hours of battery life. It looks like from all these tablet announcements that most of these are due in the summer. It's going to be hard to choose and piece among all these tablets until i see a review.
And for a minute I thought that guy looked like a cross dresser.
just saying...
@mrsamo For a second I thought the guy looked like Vigo from Ghostbusters II.
@mominshahab
Sorry, It's not the product. my bad
I am just trying to figure out is that a guy or gal in th epic?
@Ops If you can't figure out if a dude with a 5 o'clock shadow is a lady or not, me thinks the one with issues is you...
@ddddd The idiot is strong with this one.
What's the point of demonstrating performance and usability on what looks to be a simulator being controlled by a mouse?
@imikedaman Prob runs like crap.
Uhh yeah....who cares?
So, pardon me for being an idiot, but is that circular cursor something that's just in these preview build since we can't see the hand on the tablet, or is that always going to be there? It really did look like it was being controlled by a mouse to me.
I don't know, I think I'd rather have an Android tablet with the Market for apps. I don't want a tablet to be another PC only without a keyboard. I want it to be something different.
@pasmith It's being controlled by a mouse. Merely a demonstration on a simulator.
I love how these companies stand on the shoulders of giants claiming they have the answer to Apple's inferior products. These clowns are even so brazen as to steal the name. Awesome, you stole Apple's entire concept, added Flash and widgets, and are standing there with an undeserved sense of accomplishment on your face, well done Germany, well done.
@SaggyBalls I know, it's great isn't it? Yet another big "F-you!" to Apple for making a product that could have been great but is heavily lacking in features
@youngluck
Down-rank him into oblivion we must.
Wow this looks very nice I love the desktop/field of widgets look. I would like to see some hardware pictures of this tablet pc which I am dubbing "krautpad".
@ddddd
I think its fairly obvious that Android will eventually over take and fully surpass the iPhone OS for the exact same reason why Microsoft easily surpasses Apple right now in desktop OSes: The OS is made available for a huge number of manufacturers and platforms. For anyone to think otherwise is simply just being short-sighted. They are the same people that thought Apple would rule the desktop computer world back when the Apple II came out.
@Bhima
I don't think that this is obvious at all. Androis already suffers heavy version splitting in the Market. This is anything but a monolithic OS like Windows, it's rather a zoo of different devices and opeating systems and extensions that much closer resembles Linux.
Mein gotten!
This tablet is in German and I only speak español, English and français.
How am I supposed to use it?
HOW!!!!!
@prometeum
I am sure they will have an option to select your language (as many if not almost all Linux OS versions I have tried have that option)
Spanish is my native language, I learnt English as a second language, Portuguese is easy to understand as Italian.
Saludos
The UI makes me go "ew". I know the Germans are smart, but maybe they're just too techy to get in on something as visceral as the interactivity of a blank screen with a living person. They should out source to the Swedes, man do they know great, simple design. :)
@SaggyBalls fear catching his stupidity, we must not. Banished to oblivion, the fool has been.
I gotta say this is more interesting of a purchase for me than the iPad. Flash support, open platform, USB ports, a way not to have to use iTunes.....
@mkhpalm I await your unboxing video with anticipation.
@BergerFan
And I await your realization that blindly following any one companies like Apple does not benefit *you* as a consumer. While cribbed environments might be just right for *you,* some of us actually know how to use computers and don't need to be saved from ourselves.
Looks like a fake to me. They didn't let reporters play with the thing because it was running Windows:
www.bit.ly/aTsyiK (scroll down to 3. pic)
Interestingly the guy quickly stopped the demonstration and vanished as he realized that everybody could see the Windows error pop up (video below).
Wow. If Apple doesn't sue them for the name, Nintendo certainly will.
@cherryboom
I'm sorry, are you under the impression that it only takes about a week to make a device like this start to finish?
Just like ladies, we get a new "Pad" every month...
Rick Wakeman certainly looks happy with his new tablet
Great photograph. Give hug to who ever caught this guy making that face at that exact moment. I don't know who the hell he is so is face may always look like that. Hold the hug.
That interface is absolutely hideous.
Pathetic.
She looks weirdly attractive, except I think she has a beard? Is that scarf covering up an Adam's apple? No!!
Look, it's Dieterpad -- "Touch my monkey". The price alone will doom it , even if it does have two USB ports. I'll look for it in the BigLots crapgadget bargain bin next year.