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Origami Feedback Mixed, says Samsung
Ben Camm-Jones writes "Citing a mixture of reactions from customers who bought its Q1 device, Samsung has said that the pre-launch teaser campaign run by Microsoft about the Origami project may have been misleading."
Microsoft misleading? Naw...
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
I always feared that project would fold.
Nowhere in the article does it mention exactly HOW it fell short of the advertizing. Does its handwriting recognition fall short? Is its reported collaboration short of the mark? This article is about as worthless as it comes to getting any real information. Perhaps they modelled their article writing on the Microsoft advertizing campaign?
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
For those of you who don't want to read the article this is the section detailing how people felt mislead:
"someone [with prior] understanding of Origami, [they have been] saying 'We expected this and expected that' and comparing specification and price with laptop computers," said Steel. But even though a laptop can deliver more, it comes at a price, Steel noted."
Nor have they ever released vaporware.
...
By definition vaporware is never released
Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!
Any success at all for the Origami would have been a surprise. It was (is) much too small to be a PC in any context (especially with an anemic screensize, heck lots of tiny devices approach the resolution and quality of the Origami) and way too big to be a portable device like an mp3 or video player.
For those trying to make it PC-like, the device short-shrifted users on usability like keyboard functionality. For those wanting portable devices, the Origami was way overpowered and cumbersome (who the f*** wants to fire up Windows to play an mp3 or a video?!?).
In between someone must have envisioned a niche market -- there likely is one, it's just not very big, and not noteworthy beyond the demographic for which it might be useful (hospitals, shops, warehouse grocery stores, etc.).
The Origami wasn't that much different (IMO) from the notepad type portables, except it was lighter in features, but still heavy in the wallet requirements. Sometimes these devices seem to be brain farts -- "what if"s, and they get run up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes. Hats off to Microsoft for a clever attempt at "mystery" marketing the Origami. Sometimes the buying public has a clue before the marketers.
This isn't Digg; if an article doesn't interest you, you don't need to let the world know - just don't read it.
So, Microsoft hyped a product (that seems to do take a good jab at it's niche), and someone says it *looked* like it might have done something else. When I see an add for a BigMac on TV, and go in to buy one, it's not *as* big or *as* juicy as in the commercial, but still worth it. So, marketers promoted a product? Big deal.
If they had actually kept to the original price specs, maybe it would have done better. Still, the machines are probably a much better buy than a Nokia 770 right now.
Gee, they actually found someone who liked it?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I think it all comes down to battery technology. We don't have the battery tehnology to make something like Origami really useful yet. IMO, it needs to have at least 8 hours of battery life at the minimum.
My theory is that the whole Origami project teaser campaign was a tactical spolier campaign by Microsoft that didn't work out. I think they assumed that Apple would come out with some fancy new product on their 30th anniversay, and so timed the campaign to coincide with that to spoil, or at least taint, anything Apple did. But then Apple didn't launch anything, and Microsoft was left running a spolier campaign without anything to spoil. I bet if Apple had released a new product, Microsoft would have made a lot more noise.
No, seriously, if he doesn't care I don't care. Warning bells should sound, and the story should be removed, folded and burned.
/. and see what's going on in the tech industry.
It's not like a poor product launch, due to misrepresentation, could hamper what could otherwise be a growing industry.
Not having time to keep up on all the new devices coming out anymore, I like to be able to pop by
Because this form of tablet PC doesn't appear to be living up to it's hype, is Samsung just using Microsoft as a scape-goat?? I mean, come one, we all believe that Microsoft can be misleading...
...am I supposed to put something here?
When I first saw the Oragami teaser site, and read articles speculating what it was, i thought it was that blue and white cell phone looking thing that folded into a few different combinations (i can't find a picture right now...can someone help?). Then when the countdown was over, they showed this honking thing, basically a bit smaller than a tablet pc. There is no market for that. It's still too big. Anything bigger than a cell phone is too big to be convenient. Similarly, anything bigger than a cell phone should probably have been designed and marketed as a non-portable device, since if most people can't fit in in their pocket or a small clip on their belt, it just can't be called "portable". I don't carry my laptop clipped to my belt. It would have been time better spent if they modified a PDA to do everything these things do.
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
I would tell you, but I don't think I'd finish before
Some reviews say Origami's unusable; some say it's overpriced.
At the end of the day the teaser campaign was mishandled. This kind of product is a tough sell at the best of times - as shown by the relative failure of the tablet PC. Samsung have a good product, but at the price of a very good laptop it's a near impossible sell. People like keyboards for serious work and there still isn't enough processing power or good enough software to make handwriting recognition a suitable alternative.
,as was, was hyped to the moon and back but at the end of the day disappointed. Maybe it's a sign of the tech market - we tend to like less fluff and more hard facts?
But it was the teaser campaign that really hurt the product. Trying to run a teaser campaign that would grasp the news agenda at the same time as the world's biggest trade show like CeBIT might have sounded good but it annoyed a lot of journalists. At the same time the hints we did get on features were so inflated that when the final product came out it was a big let down.
Teaser campaigns are notoriously difficult to pull off. Look at the Segway for example. 'Ginger'
Work bought it for me, for a very specific purpose. I suspect we're the only people that have a job that it's just perfect for.
It's slow, it's heavier than you'd like, it gets really hot in use, it's fiddly to interact with, and it's not worth anything like the money. I know you should expect nothing else from first-generation hardware, but it really is almost entirely pointless for nearly everybody (it's absolutely perfect for what I need it for, but that's an extremely niche market, believe me, and if Pocket Internet Explorer on a PDA was anything more than a toy, I wouldn't need it at all).
The hype was extremely misguided - it's just a very small tablet PC, it was never going to set the world on fire. But that's neither here nor there - hype or no hype, my main criticism of it is that it's not even very good at what it's meant to do, never mind all the things people imagined it would do before it came out.
That actually it does have another thing going for it. It's absolutely perfect for is watching the BBC's streaming World Cup webcasts from the office toilet...
Oragami was not a revolutionary product. It was is not even an xbox. What it is is a product that really doesn't exist, and the initial marketing was done for the benifit of the fer vendors who took a chance to manufacture it. Not that MS did not take that risk.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Oh no...looks like the hitman got another one, maybe I should stop before
Synchronize your calendar and mobile phone via text messaging.
It seems that the real problem was how badly Microsoft marketing managed the release of Origami, giving too little information at a time, which causes people to guesstimate wildly.
Despite this obvious rant, the only thing I liked in TFA is how I misread the sentence:
For a split second, I read:
What do you do with a toilet computer? How (and where) do you put the pen away????Seriously, Samsung device looks like total rip-off of Nokia 770, Web tablet. However, it costs much less and doesn't overheat.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
No, I was actually hoping someone would point out some ramifications I didn't pick up on.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
"Nor have they ever released vaporware."
I think vaporware, by definition, is never released.
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
Sheesh... Some people didn't like the iPod when it lauched.. Some people don't like Palm's Treo.. Some people don't like the XBox, or the PSP, or the Gameboy.. Some people liked New Coke..
Can anybody name a product launch without "mixed" feedback?
The article has slim to no details as to what the problems were, and I suspect this is only on slashdot because of the dig at microsoft.
Does anybody have any real info on the device?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
But I found this:
http://www.tsg.ne.jp/TT/origami/products.html
I'm vaguely considering getting some hardware like this (or perhaps one of those dinky if overpriced Fujitsu lifebooks) as a doodling/art tool.
I'm hoping someday touchscreens will be the standard, not the exception. Or, conversely, that drawing on a blank pad on your lap or on the table while looking at what you're drawing on separate screen will be considered some weird anomaly.
Any suggestions for hardware? I don't need a huge "canvas" but Palm is a little too small (often with flakey digitizers as well)
I'd love to see Apple get on this.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Ah, that's a load of crap. Nobody ever liked New Coke.
You know, I and thousands of others have paid close to half the cost of these in purchasing Epson Photo Viewers for downloading pictures from our cameras while traveling, on assigment, etc. If these "PCs" had slots and reasonable speed for off loading cameras in the field and allowing us to do some editing and forwarding by wireless, they would certainly find a niche among photographers.
It may be more expensive, but i'd much rather have a OQO Model 01+. http://www.oqo.com/hardware/basics/
http://www.origamiboulder.com/
What aboot WHOOOOSHware?
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Can anybody name a product launch without "mixed" feedback? Windows ME and the Catwoman movie. The reviews were pretty much unanimous on both of those.
I think the origami was an attempt at an iPod killer. iPods have iTMS lock-in, but the Origami will run iTunes, bypassing that.
Of course they forgot the hardware lock in (will it work with your Bose thingies?) - and more importantly they forgot the three clicks to my music part.
I am using the Q1 to submit this post and I have to admit it has exceeded my expectations so far. The device is comfortable to use, has great handwriting recognition and is just fun to play with. I haven't had heat problems and the battery is consistantly in the 3 to 3.5hr range. It suits my needs rather well. The drawbacks I have seen are few. The price point is all wrong and the stylus is too small but for the realm of work I do, education support, it has been a great tool. Was the campaign too forward thingking? Sure. That said, the Q1 is a device that shows and meets its potential. It made me a believer and I will most likely stick to the UMPC platform when a new device with an improved feature set becomes available.
-- As it was eXtraheavy in the beginning, is now and forever shall be
Viral marketing seems to be their tool of choice. And when that doesn't work, flood the media with the same information.
I'm sick of hearing about the Origami. I was sick of it when it was just a rumor, then it was confirmed, then it was profiled, then it was abscent from E3, it's been 6 monthes and it's just basically vaporware. Jesus, this is what they WANT you to do. You already are overhyping it by just talking about it more and more.. Is it a game system, is it a handheld, is it just a small laptop.
Personally I think we all should just say screw you to microsoft and stop handling their free advertising with all their rumors and shit. Viral marketing might work, but do we really need to help it along with stories that allow their new name become household words?
. . . yet not as usable as a laptop. Gee, it's hard to figure why it's going to tank.
A key problem here was how Microsoft handled the marketing. This was essentially an effort by Microsoft to create acceptance for small tablet PCs. This is basically round 2 in the marketing effort. But they sold it like it was going to be something new and innovative, which it certainly wasn't.
I recently got a used Sony Vaio U70, through work. The thing is essentially identical to these current Origami PCs. It has a 1ghz Pentium M processor, 512mb of RAM and a basic Intel 3D card. I get about hour and a half of battery life if I'm using the thing continuously.
I think these devices are great. I like having what is essentially a complete PC I can easily carry around anywhere. However, there are a few glaring issues.
The first is the screen. Everyone who's seen it is shocked by how tiny everything looks. The display is 5 inches diagonally, but its running at 800x600. The real culprit is Windows, which isn't really designed to accomodate these displays. I suppose Origami was supposed to help, but I doesn't seem like it has.
The second problem is text input. A seperate keyboard is cumbersome; it can't be used with the device anywhere other than on a desk. Integrated keyboards are better, but still too small to be used quickly and reliably. Then there's handwriting which is decent, but I think too slow compared to typing.
One other thing is battery life. I agree that these devices should be able to run a good eight hours. Maybe the newer units have improved, but mine won't go very far on a long flight. Although, even three hours isn't very good. It's fine for a commute, but not for travelling at least not until you're at your destination.
Ultimately, the problem is that these things are useless for the majority of the population. If you commute via public transportation or travel a lot I do think these devices are ideal. They're more portable than laptops and are powerful enough to do anything most people need them for. They wont run the latest games, but that's about the only drawback.
To become a realistic desktop replacement I they need to be significantly more powerful. But I do think it's very appealing to be able to disconnect the PC from it's docking bay and easily carry it around the house, or stuff it in a small backpack and take it with me. The thing is small enough that I barely notice it.
I think the technology just needs time to be refined.
It is the perfect tool for Origami Software Developers :)
...And in Soviet Russia...oh never mind!
I've heard nothing but bad reviews on the Nokia 770.
So I'm not sure I want either of them.