Bloggers’ Origami dreams crumpled | News.blog | CNET News.com — This was supposedly going to be announced on Thursday at CeBit and was under embargo. No journalist is happy about the surprise rollout.
But today’s prototypes feature 7-inch touch screens, x86 processors and weigh 2 pounds. But Microsoft is readjusting expectations on price, saying they’ll come in under $1,000 (not the $500 goal they had previously set). And the devices have a battery life of only about three hours, not exactly the all-day-on-the-road action some were hoping for. Intel showed off a prototype of a device with a swivel-
out keyboard that may ship in the future, but the first-generation version won’t have that feature.
Meh … who cares? Just more over hyped crap from Microsoft.
Ok, I give. Just what the heck is it? What will it do, or do better then what is already available?
Could be, after Apples $99 pig-skin iPod sack, that Microsoft (or is it Intel?) wanted to pis–damp down the over excited media.
Here the CeBit Origami preview:
http://cebitnews.turnpages.com/
$1000 for a small underpowered laptop… gee wiz… I can hardly contain my excitement… sigh…
Another overhyped product from the tech industry, destined for a quick “whatever happened to that Origami thing?” grouchy Dvorak column 2 years from now.
So, the Newton WAS 15 years ahead of its time.
What surprises me is that Microthought is raising the rollout price. They must think it is going to be the next iPod… or… Pet Rock?
A portable DVD player with 7″ screen sells for under $200 now. Add an old x86 chip and a stylus… and $500 still seems like too much.
I’m convinced there is a market for a tablet like device that can surf the internet, decently display e-books, and do basic tasks. Think Palm Lifebook or Pocket PC with 7″, 800×600 screen, with battery that lasts 8 hours.
You don’t need XP as PocketPC or PalmOS would be good enough and save on RAM/CPU requirements. To me, it is the perfect 2nd computer, something for commuters and students, etc. to slug around and then plug into their main computer.
Heck, if it would increase battery time by a lot, or decrease cost by a lot, I’d be willing to have a black and white display!
Don’t forget it comes with a five year old operating system as well!
I agree the price is too high for what will be nothing more then an overpriced paperweight. I really can’t see a high consumer demand for it. O well another M$ failure. Can’t say I will shed a tear.
In a era of $500 laptops, cheap flash RAM, and with flexible OLED displays just around the corner, it’s hard to get excited about an over-priced, under-powered PDA apparently designed to fit comfortably only inside a large kangaroo’s pouch. If they ever do another remake Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”, they can hang these things from Jacob Marley’s chains for effect.
I dub the device the “iPox”.
Its a iddy biddy notepad PC. Doesn’t Toshiba make one already?
MSNBC, this morning, is showing this thing in “action” — and quoting $600-1,000 retail.
One word: Brick.
My cell phone looks cooler and does its job. My laptop looks cooler and does its job. My MP3 player looks cooler and does it’s job. Why do I need this device?
To me, this is “The Road Ahead” gone to the Nth degree. In Bill Gates book he laid out a number of things, most of which have come true. The only thing that hasn’t is pen based computing (on a scale larger than PDAs). He seems damned and determined to make it come true, regardless of cost.
If the power was at least 7 hours, while running movies/games/software, this would sell out! With a 3 hour battery life, it’s useless….
Lou [#8] — not that I thought they would listen to me; but, after I got my Tungsten C, I asked Palm if they would make a version of the OS available for larger boxes, laptops, whatever?
I leave my Palm on the corner table, and if something strikes my fancy [conversation, TV, news], I can turn it on > be logged into my wifi network > and navigating to Web/Google content inside of 30 seconds.
The “daring” concept of using a minimal OS to enable Web access, browsing, text management and a wee bit of database should require a tiny fraction of the crap taken up by the maniacs who profess to be offering us a “reduced” version of their world-domination OS. Just about anyone I’ve ever known who worked for a living using a laptop would prefer the former solution to Bill-bloat and Office-interoperability.