Always thought the
iPad should've really just been an enlarged iPhone? No, seriously -- like an iPhone after one of those "Honey, I Blew Up the Kids" incidents? Well,
iiView is bringing just that to market this month, except its
M1Touch runs Windows 7 Premium and packs an Intel Atom N450 processor along with 2GB of RAM. It also has a 250GB hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel cam on its left bezel. We finally got to see the tablet up close and personal -- it's been under lock and key in the Microsoft booth all week -- and it's pretty much the biggest iPhone you've ever seen. The capacitive touchscreen was fairly responsive, though there was a noticeable lag in opening programs. We're told it also has an accelerometer and that the familiar circular button on the right bezel will bring you back to the desktop, but both were disabled on the display model. Around the edges you'll spot a trio of ports, a SIM slot, a mini HDMI output and a microphone jack. As for the actual feel of this thing, it's pretty thick from the sides and weighs 1.5 pounds. Chances are that you stopped reading this post a few minutes ago and started clicking through the gallery to see shots of bugger alongside a
normal iPhone, but we'd encourage you to also peek the video waiting just past the break. Oh, and if you'd like to give your iPhone an inferiority complex, you can always head on over to that source link and order one of these for $499.
posted June 4th 2010 9:39AM
What a HUGE thing.
@okh Thats what she said
@okh That's what she... Nevermind. I don't wanna get downranked.
@okh
This is the biggest iPhone you've ever seen? Um...have u seen the iPad? I'm pretty sure it took that crown months ago.
@okh Thats tablet man not phone, it should be huge
@brnkcv iPad is the only tablet that can claim being .5 inches thick... i don't see any windows tablets doing that!
@brnkcv How is this like a giant iPhone? Look past the looks and it's essentially couldn't be any different from the iPhone and the iPad. I really don't understand this write-up at all.
full windows OS vs iPhone OS
Windows UI vs iPhone icons and UI
big HDD vs small SSD
lots of ram vs little ram
front-facing webcam vs N/A
mini-HMDI vs docks to unlock connectivity options
ugh....
@juanvaldez
usb port vs N/A
file directory vs N/A
intel vs arm
I think a merger of the best of both worlds would make me nut in every way imaginable. After creaming myself unintentionally I'd start pleasuring myself.
@okh But it has flash!
@juanvaldez
It looks like a giant iPhone. The bezel, the button placement, the shape. It literally looks like they used the Free Transform tool in Photoshop to design this product.
How can you deny that?
"Ughhh"
@johnm24 Joke aside, that did seem to be what she implied. My netbook weighs 2.3 lbs, and I consider it a featherweight.
This is basically a netbook, note the specs, and only weighs 1.5lbs.
To me that is DAMN light for a device that isn't just a cellphone with a bigger screen.
@Joao The shell does look like an iPhone. But thats just plastic.
The important parts are REAL computer parts, not weak cellphone grade equipment, and THAT is what counts. :D
@Joao quote from the author:
"Always thought the iPad should've really just been an enlarged iPhone? "
Quote from me:
"Look past the *looks* and it's essentially couldn't be any different from the iPhone and the iPad. I really don't understand this write-up at all."
So, did I think the iPad should just *LOOK* like a giant iPhone? No, I couldn't care less. It's what I wanted the device to do that was/wasn't similar to the iPhone that mattered when I tuned in for the liveblog.
@juanvaldez Amen, if you tear down an iPad, its essentially a gimped iPhone with a bigger screen and battery, or more accurately a scaled up iPod Touch.
Gives it great battery life, but its still really just an iPad Touch "biggerized".
This device is a real computer with real computer parts and a real full operating system, and while the plastics may be "uninspired", its ultimately just a shell and it doesn't look bad and the bezel isn't huge. =)
@Ducman69
Maybe you should rephrase that to "the important parts for people who want a netbook without a screen". Compared to the iPad, this thing is probably a nightmare for people who don't like using a computer in the first place (which means: almost everyone except the kind of people who frequent Engadget).
Also, I don't consider a 9" IPS screen and a battery that lasts 10+ hours of active use to be "weak cell-phone grade components". I do consider an Atom N450 to be a pretty "weak desktop-grade component" for Windows 7, by the way.
@okh Why do peoople insist on coming out with stuff that looks exactly like the competition? I mean seriously, I am tired of seeing these companies come out with crap that is just a rip off of others designs. Like every tablet I see coming out looks almost exactly like the iPhone or iPad with a few exceptions. Just makes me wonder why the hell would you buy a tablet that looks like a rip off of another tablet for the same price. Thats like buying a Kobe Bryant jersey with the Cavs on it.
DOESNT MAKE SENSE
@drange You described a large screen and a large battery... I said that the iPad has weak cellphone parts with a bigger screen and battery. ROFL!
Inside the iPad are cellphone grade parts. It runs a gimped limited operating system as it would choke on OSX.
People run OSX and Windows 7 on netbooks all the time, and they run great, and guess what 2GB of RAM w/ a N450 is the latest netbook hardware. =)
@Vellie No, it's much more like putting Kobe on a different team, or letting one of your players where a Laker Jersey because it looks good. God that's the worst Engadget analogy I've read all week. It's keeping the same look and surrounding it with different parts and hoping it's a better experience. So, it does make sense, especially when you can have 1 Kobe on every team (Android, MeeGo, Apple, W7)...
Again, really, really bad analogy.
@Ducman69
It's not only a bigger screen, it's also a very high-quality IPS panel. In fact, most cellphone screens use much better technology than the cheap-ass screens used in netbooks, which makes your own wording 'cheap cell-phone parts' even stranger. The same holds for the battery by the way, there's nothing 'weak' about that if it lasts 3 times longer than the battery in this thing, is there?
I'm not disputing that there are cell-phone grade parts in the iPad, and I'm not disputing that iPhone OS is a tuned-down version of OS X that doesn't do everything it's desktop cousin does. But you know what? THAT'S THE EXACT POINT OF IT. Instead of acknowledging that a tablet has completely different design goals and applications, which justify cell-phone grade parts and software, that actually do a much better job than netbook hardware and a desktop OS, you keep insisting on derogatory qualifications such as 'weak', 'gimped', 'limited'. I think you're just being pedantic.
Also, while bad-mouthing the 'weak cell-phone hardware' in the iPad you keep repeating how well W7 runs on netbook hardware and/or tablets, while literally EVERY W7 tablet out there disproves your point. W7 *doesn't* run great on hardware like this, Flash doesn't run great on it, in fact even current netbooks don't run great on W7. Yes, it runs, and no it doesn't immediately grind to a halt when you starting doing anything with it, but as soon as you hit a heavy website, start a few applications or open a few large files, a W7 netbook is a pain in the ass to use. You can keep repeating how great the hardware in this thing is compared to 'weak cell-phone hardware', but right now, the user experience of said 'weak cell-phone hardware' is kicking every other tablets ass, whether you like it or not.
@juanvaldez
It physically looks more like an oversized iPhone than the iPad. Why does every gdf'n post have to turn into a flame war about this crap? It looks like an oversized iPhone. If the Windows OS gets in the way of realizing that, just picture the damn thing on standby and get over it.
@drange "which makes your own wording 'cheap cell-phone parts' even stranger."
I did not say cheap cell-phone parts. I said weak cell-phone grade parts, because they are, and because its hardware is weaker than an N450. That is why an iPad could never run OSX, even though OSX runs like a champ on hakintosh netbooks.
Flash does run well on netbooks, specifically the N450, thanks to hardware acceleration added in the 10.1 update. Outdated argument.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m84V-jAKRXM
So cold boot is within a second of the iPads coldboot, both are capable of instant wakeup, but the latter has the largest library of software in the world and far greater functionality and inputs/outputs.
@okh I'd be the last person to say it. This thing has the exact same form factor as the iphone.
gross.
@Levi Yes, the UI and the USB and the mini HDMI all get in the way. Essentially everything but the case has no resemblance inside or out to the iPhone. Did you notice the compliments I made to the iPhone? Of course not, because I didn't actually really compliment this device either. I'm not sure how I'm flamming either side as a matter of fact, both are compelling and both have more potential. To talk about something so superficial as the case in the opener, is um....NOT WHAT I COME TO ENGADGET for, but the alternatives are not much better.
Please read for more meaning in the future rather than accusing me of flamming.
@Ducman69
Well let's agree to disagree here then, since my personal opinion remains that user experience > specs, that cell phone parts *can* be better than desktop parts, that W7 on an atom provides an a user experience inferior to a tablet os on cell phone parts, and that putting a desktop OS on a tablet makes no sense. Clearly you disagree but I still don't really understand why, and how a w7 tablet is better than a w7 netbook.
@okh 2 GB of RAM, 250 GB hard drive, a proper OS, SD slot, HDMI, ports instead of a shitty dock connector? How is this an ipad?
@drange
While I do agree with most of what you said, but you countered yourself when you said
"no it doesn't immediately grind to a halt when you starting doing anything with it, but as soon as you hit a heavy website, start a few applications or open a few large files, a W7 netbook is a pain in the ass to use"
You can't open a few large files or start a few applications with the iPad, that is one of my issues with the device. I can give up file system access on my iPhone, as I don't use it to store much other than music, photos, and the occasional video. On a tablet, I may want to store other things as well, but can't.
@juanvaldez
I never accused you of "flamming..." But seriously, we can all read. It's a post about a Windows tablet. Of course the functionality is going to be different. The form factor is so ridiculously close to a large iPhone that it's practically BEGGING for the reference, so why would you blame anyone for making the comparison? We're not idiots, when you turn the thing on, it's not an iPhone or Pad or whatever, but the form factor does incredibly resemble an iPhone. There are two reasons you'd have to come in with a feature list: you're either being an annoying troll, or you're just plain ignant. Or maybe I'm just flamming...
@Fragmented
If you have to copy the design exactly of your competetor you blew it.
@Ducman69
"but the latter has the largest library of software in the world "
And the largest library of viruses in the world.
:P
@juanvaldez its nothing like putting Kobe on a different team... If that were the case it would be a iPhone OS on a different manufacturers tablet. Not a knockoff of an iPhone with Windows 7 desktop homie.
@Extinction omg YES! now i can BSOD my way home on the plane, with my "proper" OS!!!!!
This is actually quite a funny product, given the "desktop" button and all. But I really wouldn't pay that much for it.
@xavierpr14
I didn't think the iPad should have been a large iPhone, I thought it WAS a large iPhone.
@mr88 a gimped large iPhone. I thought it should be a more powerful iPhone (I could live with a shared UI though I had optimistic thoughts of something a bit more magical like dual-boot or something). It's possible, though unlikely that the next iPhone is more powerful than the iPad and that's a little sad.
Slathered in win sauce. I'd buy this.
@chase1963 Why don't you visit the source link and write us a review, please.
Love the W7 responsiveness -- everyone wants a UI that doesn't believe you the first time.
@Ed T Maybe try running the machine without a slow hard drive
@Excalibur
Yeah, maybe. Maybe there is a reason it was locked up in a case. Maybe I can buy one at BigLots later in the year, for $29.95.
@Ed T Probably. There are already a load of these things on ebay right now and months ago. Windows means you can config the thing. vLite it if required. Options are great.
@Ed T
Exactly. Looks terribly non-intuitive. But hey, it's just a prototype. I would expect the retail version to be running software that would make it meaningful to even be a tablet. Not plain ole Windows.
Why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhk_OL-5aVo
Well, I purchased an Archos 9 the other month (Now sold) and it was, as the reviews stated, an absolute dog with it's slow 1.8" hard drive.
I exchanged that drive for an SSD and... well... what a great machine. Fast and very easy to use.
My point: These things WILL be sluggish until you add a SSD drive. That and disable windows search (Indexing), auto defrag etc. But then again you all know that as you're all techies.
@Excalibur M1 Touch = 3 hour battery = Oh well, never mind
@Excalibur You shouldn't have to make those changes for Windows 7, only on XP. W7 detects the SSD and makes appropriate changes.
The Dell Mini 9 a billion with cheapo 16gig SSDs back in the day (got mine for under $300), so don't see why these don't include them.
You can always store your media on your home server and stream it w/ Orb, get the rest off hulu, pandora, youtube, etc. :D
@Excalibur 3hr is the average battery life of the smaller netbooks.
I get about 30hrs in standby (sleep) mode w/ instant wakeup, and honestly if I am sitting at the netbook for more than three hours at a stretch uninterrupted, I'd rather jump on one of my bigger faster machines.
So where are all the folks that wanted a full blown OS, HDMI & USB ports and a webcam when the Apple tablet came out. Hey guys does this one work for you?
@jmaine Here's the thing, tablets have been available for ages and in all honesty, no-one's been bothered and probably never will be. Madness!
As you said, where are they?
@Excalibur This is a netbook minus the keyboard, Vista was always too bloated, and XP was never designed for touch interface like Windows 7 was.
Netbooks are selling like hotcakes, and this is really just a slightly new keyboardless form factor.
I reserve judgment on the build quality, but this is what its all about! =)