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Microsoft Origami Unfolds
College Student writes "Microsoft has officially unveiled 'Origami', a paperback-book sized portable hybrid (laptop & PDA). From article: 'The new machines will connect wirelessly to the Internet and carry full-sized hard drives, but they are not intended to replace current PCs....The new PCs are expected to sell for between $599 to $999, but Microsoft said it is possible to sell one for $500 if the manufacturer selects components carefully.'" More details at the official Microsoft site, and via Channel 9 a look at the system with the UMPC general manager.
Why no physical thumb board? Surely the screen could have slid up (a la Sidekick) to reveal a physical QWERTY keyboard...it's good that there's an option for the onscreen thumboard deal in the lower corners, but it's intrusive and unnecessarily difficult (I have to learn a new key layout now?). The alternative,of course, is the stylus...and although I recognize the versatility of a stylus, I was still more than happy to retire mine when I switched from Palm to Sidekick.
Is this thing supposed to be a phone as well? The teaser site touts Origami as the "go-everywhere, do-everything mobile device", but in the screen shots I couldn't find any phone software, and I can't imagine holding this thing up to my ear (until Sidekicks became popular, everyone looked at me funny when I answered a call, and the Sidekick is about a quarter of the Origami's size).
Does it run Linux?
No...seriously. Does it? Or will it in the future? The device looks great, but I'd be happier running Linux on it than Windows. Unfortunately, I don't think Bill will buy back your Windows CE license if you do decide to switch. ^_^
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Or I'll just wait for that $100 PC. When is that coming out?
You can almost say the same thing about it and the Newton. In many ways it's like a more expensive Newton with a very similar form-factor and even the built-in stand.
It has some plusses and minuses though.
On the plus side, it's color (the Newton is grayscale) with somewhat better resolution, and its wireless stuff is all built-in (the Newton has pretty much the same wireless capabilities but only via PCMCIA cards). It's probably got a faster processor (not clear at first blush from the specs) but I'm sure that difference will be absorbed by software.
On the minus side, the built-in stand doesn't double as a screen cover like it does on the Newton. It's heavier than the Newton. I'm guessing that with its color display its battery life will be nowhere near the battery life of the Newton. It's not clear from the specs, but unless they made some big changes its OS is unlikely to be as stylus-optimized as the Newton's, and since the stylus is its main form of input that's a big drawback.
Yep. Strangely neither of these devices comes with a calendar. Something *I* would expect in a portable communications device. Clearly as these large powerful companies full of smart poeple don't think this is something I should have, I must be wrong...
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
I think that there is room for a device between laptop size and pda size. I remember the old HP Omnibooks and the Jornada-type devices.
MSFT's info says that this thing is the size of a paperback. Maybe a trade paperback. I'd like something in a clamshell design with a screen that is maybe the size of my HP17BII calculator, or just under 6" by about 3". A little keyboard below and a screen on top. Maybe use a Thinkpad nub for a pointing device. Allow PCMCIA and USB, and really that's all I want. I could add wifi via pcmcia if I really need it, or a Verizon wireless card that way.
I'd need maybe a couple of gigs on the drive, like 2 or 4. They can get that in an iPod, why not a small palmtop?
I wouldn't look for a really snappy processor, as battery life (and size/heat) would obviously be issues.
It would just be nice to have something small and thin to work with from time to time if I'm waiting in court or travelling or sitting at home with the kids. PLus, lugging around a laptop is a pain in the ass.
Lots of petrified grits
Apple hasn't come up with a tablet PC, does anybody here suppose they will try to come up with a competitor for this market? I'd envision them doing something along the lines of the eMate, obviously in color and much less garrish this time.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
...not the Asus product nor the Samsung product, both of which are the original OEM-partners for Microsoft.
Repeat after me:
a prototype is not a product, but an expanded idea of how a product could be
a prototype is not a product, but an expanded idea of how a product could be
a prototype...
I think that I may have found something in the ballpark of what I want:
7 7
http://www.mobileplanet.com/product.asp?code=1289
(not pimping the site, just found it)
Anyone with OQO experiences, please feel free to share.
Lots of petrified grits
Over-hyped yes, but this will still have a niche of practical applications. First, it runs standard XP, which means you can now have your standard business applications in a smaller form factor.
Secondly, it is about the size as the Day-Runner that I used to carry around with me in the early-90s. OK, so now imagine a leather book-style case (like the day runner) that will hold a fold-up USB keyboard and mouse. You basically have an ultra light laptop.
I think the real niche for this is to replace traditionally embedded one-application devices like inventory systems. You can now have a much more full feature general computer. So now you can put a shoulder strap on this, plug in a USB device (like a bar-code or RFID reader) do your inventory, look up items on the locally cached database, and run custom designed perl-scripts on the data right there in the field. You will also be able to get away from highly proprietary systems and instead have lots of competing software and USB devide vendors and much better integration into your networks (since it is just a pc).
The bottom line is that you can now squeeze a standard PC into a smaller form factor. This will displace some embedded devices in places that we haven't even thought of yet. At this point, I see very little need for XP-embedded or CE, if I can have the full featured version running standard software. And remember, this is generation one. Future generations will probably have even a smaller form-factor with more powerful hardware.
I have three MS keyboards and two MS mice. The ergonomic "split-key" keyboards are great, with excellent "feel," a good layout, and they are quite durable. I know there are folks who take issue with the extra buttons (above the F keys) but they don't bother me (since I don't use them). The wireless mouse/keyboard combo that I use on my XP game machine at home is really nice, and the battery life has been decent. Since I spend my days typing (I'm a tech writer) a good keyboard is a must, and despite looking around quite a bit, I really haven't found anything as good as the MS keyboards.
On the other hand, I'm doing my best to switch away from MS's software. But that's another story.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Hey Billy!
Great analysis here.
Actually, I wish Apple would come out with the ITEM all of us seem to want - something to surf with, answer emails, and watch our media.
My idea is something between the iPod and the iBook - 9" IMOS wide screen (16x9), super thin clamshell, with a 55 key full sized keyboard. It won't need drives if it has enough flash memory, thereby giving it excellent battery life. let it download via USB2 and/or Bluetooth, with WiFi on board, and I think you have the device we all wish ORIGAMI was (and isn't).
Such a device would be so popular that clothing manufacturers would invent clothes and jackets to carry this thing in, IMO.
Regards,
Roger Born
"Always drink upstream from the herd"
Hmmm, personally I find a PDA near useless. Too small for anything but a calendar and my phone now takes care of that.
:).
I think the new size could be perfect for many applications. I haven't heard media center mentioned but if this has XP media edition I think it could be a hit. Use this for a front-end on a box with a tuner and you can have a portable TV anywhere in your house. Not bad. Sony has been selling these for a while and ridiculous prices. The price points listed are cheaper then the Sony TVs and come with a bonus computer
One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
The killer product in this market is simply a wireless display. Ideally this would have a e-ink, some wireless adapter, a smallish keyboard, and a custom chip that does VNC really fast and efficiently. Then you can use the cell phone network to get your actual computer and all of its capabilities from anywhere over the cell network or get fast response over a house/hotel local wireless network. Or 'rent' a virtual computer from the phone company.
It would be light, disposable, rugged, protect against data loss, fast (if 'close' to your computer), have excellent batter life (10+ hours), etc.
These Origami class devices look like the perfect size to be useful in the small environs of a single-engine airplane cockpit.
You can actually install Asterisk on the 770 and make it into a PBX!http://www.cayennegraphics.com/asterisk770/
Why doesn't anything interesting happen when I have mod points?
If you don't mind keeping your drawings on paper and if all you want otherwise is to take notes, it's hard to beat a mid-1980s Tandy 102. (Lots of good info and links on that page, btw.) I'm dead serious. Up until a few years ago, I regularly wrote for publication. The gig required extensive travel and *all* I needed was something with a good keyboard to record text. For that simple purpose, these things are still amazing. Instant-on, rugged, super-lightweight, 20 hours of battery life from 4 AA batteries, exactly the right size to actually throw on your lap and get *real* work done - these attributes are nothing to sneeze at.
Compare the typing experience on a 102 to that of a modern PDA with an accessory foldable keyboard. Compare it to one of those idiotic thumb-driven toys. There is no comparison. If you learned to type the old-fashioned way, via a manual typewriter or, at best, one of those brand-fangled new IBM Selectric things, then what passes for a "modern portable keyboard" is a joke. In my heyday, I could pour text into my 102 so fast that the sound of individual keystrokes begn to get lost in a sort of clackety hum.
Right now, I temporarily don't use it. In two years, when I retire from my day job and start writing on the road again, you better believe my 102 is coming out of storage and I'm putting it back to work.
... it will be the perfect platform for running the Einstein Project on. For those who haven't heard of it, the Einstein Project is the Newton OS running in emulation on Linux PDAs, so you can ditch that klunky designed-for-the-desktop Windows OS and replace it with something better. Photos and more info here.
MacTacToe - for every problem, an elegant solution
Soon Nokia will make it even easier
From their website:
Asterisk and Gaim pre-installed, coming soon.
Now if only it used CF instead of RS-MMC (why use reduced size cards in something this big??)
Death and danger are my various breads and various butters.
Lots of people thought that this was going to play games, and so was aimed at the PSP market. If they do it right, with a decent graphics card, it probably will, but only PC games, so the Xbox is safe. Lots of people thought it was going to be a media device, and with Windows Media Player, and a decent bus, it probably will be, but it has no removable storage, just a big disk for its size, and dumping a DVD on that big disc is contrary to principles of DRM. It has potential as a portable communicator, but my PDA does that all ready. A built in camera would allow it to extend its messaging capabilities, and hey, why not a 3G or UTMS connection while you're at it, but they're probably not in the hardware spec. So what is it? I'm sure it will include Office or a UMPC version of it, so you will be able to capture those moments of inspiration on the train, but you can do that with laptop for not much difference in price. It will play music and movies but so does my (insert small format mp3 player here). It's got a nice big screen for reading ebooks, and it's stolen a march on the Sony Reader. But it's too big for that and has the same battery life as a laptop. The Sony Reader ain't all that either.
Microsoft find it difficult to think beyond the PC platform, and as the PC platform increasingly means the office they find it hard to think beyond office apps. Maybe we should leave them to their devices (heh), and grit our teeth at work (or persuade our bosses that Linux/OpenOffice is cheaper and more stable), while enjoying convergence in the comfort of our living rooms, and maybe expecting to see UMPCs for cheap in surplus stores in a couple of years time.
Yeah true. I just found out about Origami from CNN yesterday and what is the first thing I do? I start wondering what the hype is all about. Dig a little deeper and find it's a tablet. Dig further and find it's another type of tablet and I'm a bit disappointed. I know that CNN has to draw eyeballs, but they totally spun it as if this secret product meant a whole new direction for MS, ala Apple with it's IPod.
Pretty much another let down.
...with larger sizes on the horizon. Although I agree I would prefer if they used SD, which is now the most common card format (having overtaken CF some time ago.) At least the RS-MMC cards can be used in SD devices, and they are actually quite cheap. The 770 takes all RS-MMCs, it doesn't need low voltage like most phones (although I presume there is a battery benefit to going with low voltage.)
The only real limitation is the RAM; it would indeed by nice if they doubled or quadrupled this as it tends to run low on memory if you have a lot of large pages open (or numerous applications.)
The 770 is still light-years ahead of any other mobile device I've ever used (Palm OS or Pocket PC.) There is simply no comparison. The screen real estate is good, but the greater issue IMHO is the fantastic browser that it uses - there is very little that can come close to Opera in the mobile arena.
Yikes. The pic on this MS press page looks eerily like a Newton...
m ar06/03-09Mobile.mspx
.5 and 3lb, we'll treat it like a true book or notebook and use it for everything.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/
I love them, but they're neither fish nor fowl, they can't fit in a real pocket and aren't enough like a pad of paper. When it gets to 8.5 x 11 x
As long as they think they're breaking ground, when is someone with a "full" OS device going to give us if nothing else a piece of paper screen factor, because let's face it - we're still tied to pieces of paper for handling and output and the sad legacy of 24x80 CRT for display... seems easier to munge the screen than the paper or our brains.
Man, the press thought the Apple event was a non-starter, this looks like the headline of the day is "Yippee - Another Newton | Tablet | eBook"
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
No one knows what is going on. Look more closely to at the UMPC / Origami, there are some new things there:
- Has a touch-screen
As far as I know this is a first. Unlike all the PDA's out there, Tablet's generally have a screen that _requires_ a stylus. If you touched it with your finger, it does nothing. It's not like the pressure senstive screen that's on all the PDA's.
- Runs Windows XP Tablet Edition + some new software
The new software is what I think is the key. Tablet PC did not do well, in part, because the existing windows software is just not well designed for touch / stylus. An example is the thumb keyboard that let's you type on the screen with a keyboard that is layed out in quarter circles around the thumbs.
I was personally hoping for much more than this, but at the same time it is a step towards a device that is more ubiquitously useful than a laptop. Give it another iteration or so and we'll have a device that we will carry everywhere.
Correct.
From all the specs I can find on the Origami, it's just a small-form-factor TabletPC.
Uses Intel Pentium/Centrino M processor, up to 60GB HD, minimum 256MB ram, minimum 800x480 touchscreen.
And of course, full WinXP TabletPC edition.
- this means it does everything a desktop WinXP box will do and more, except high-end graphics hungry apps (no WoW, I presume).
I assume Microsoft is aiming at the potential consumers out there who like the idea of TabletPC but don't want to spend the typical $1400-2500 it costs for a full-sized one.
If I didn't already switch from a smallish-form-factor TabletPC (8.4" screen) to the smallest-form-factor WinXP Oqo Model 01 a year ago, I'd seriously be looking to get one of these when they hit the market.
I've seen the Nokia 770 in stores. The user interface isn't intuitive enough for my tastes (I'm a long-time windows user) and I was surprised at how small the screen is.
Granted, it didn't heat up as much as most Win boxes I've seen, and has impressive battery life, but that's mostly hardware as the 770 doesn't use a full x86 processor.
(for comparison, the Oqo uses a Transmeta Crusoe, and I get about 1 3/4 hours battery-life before having to swap batteries or recharge. They now have a double-sized battery available which should help on this end, but that adds to the bulk of the unit)
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!" -Rush