Slashdot Mirror
FlipStart to Replace Your Laptop?
WED Fan writes "Paul Allen has a new hardware venture, smaller than a laptop, larger than a blackberry. According to the Seattle P-I, the vision is to replace the laptop for most everyday use, such as office applications, email, and web surfing. 'Really, FlipStart gives you everything that your laptop does [...] We're not promoting the idea that you would do CAD design on it, but for Office applications and most of what people do with their laptops, it's great.' But at a $2000 price tag, this could be a little bit out of the range of many users. The product will launch on FlipStart.com in the not to distant future."
So let me get this straight: They sell you a small brick for more than a notebook computer costs. You get a slow processor, small screen, small hard drive, worse battery life than the average PC or Mac laptop, a keyboard you can't type on, and you're supposed to believe that it's revolutionary? I'm not following.
Sony tried this years ago with their Vaio sub-notebook line of computers. (Here's a picture.) Unlike this... thing... its keyboard was actually fairly decent, the screen was bright, and it was overall fairly useful. It's only problem was that it just wasn't large enough to be practical. You can't really type notes on a keyboard of that size. Nor are you really going to squint at the small screen while typing letters/memos/spreadsheets. That's why the entire market moved more toward the ultra-thin notebooks that were nearly as portable, but offered larger screens and keyboards.
The only advantage I can find with this thing is that it's a sub-notebook with Wifi. (Based on the comments about replacing the BlackBerry.) Possibly even GSM/EDGE support. I don't think that's going to make up for the lousy form factor, especially when you can get a $50 PCMCIA card from your cell provider to do the same thing.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
$2000 is enough to buy a desktop replacement machine with a core duo, two gigs of ram, and a gigantic display. If you're not going to go balls-out, then you probably only need a tiny subset of your computer's power, and a super-cheap device like an OLPC machine would suit your needs. Very very few people need a tiny but complete PC, because almost all of the jobs that require that kind of power require a reasonably-sized display as well. The form factor is nice, but the price is at least twice what it should be for a device sold into this market - which itself is vanishingly small.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Google 'flipstart' - you'll find that this thing has been Vaporware since before 2004.
I'll believe it when woot has it on sale...
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
And not only that, the $2000 device can't even do what the $1000 laptop could.... I just don't see this going very far. Maybe if it cost $600-800.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
Sucky things: If it is too big to fit in your pocket you have to hand lug it and the size is not a huge benefit over a regular laptop. Screen is really too small, even for word processing etc.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Literally almost everyone who's going to be in this market already has a DS, and it's about the right size... a small cartridge loaded with a PDA-style application or three could clean up nicely. It's not going to be a laptop, but it's a nice cheap in-between that with a few key features could clean up big time.
Sorry for the brief comment... the review is here.
With the direction they're going with the iPhone, you know it's only a matter of time before Apple whips that technology into something with a 5"-7" display in a far more attractive package with superior software. I mean, look at that thing... not an ounce of industrial design, it doesn't seem like you'll be able to thumb-type on it like a Blackberry, and it's too big to fit in any coat pocket or to be carried on your belt.
And is it just me or is Paul Allen grinning like a paedophile holding something illicit in his hands? I can't believe their marketing team let that through (they probably don't have one, mind you).
The FlipStart team is also working on:
--a revolutionary car bigger than a SmartCar but smaller than a Mini Cooper
--a revolutionary porridge heater that will heat porridge warmer than "too cold," but colder than "too hot"
--a revolutionary Budweiser bigger than a 10-ounce but smaller than a 12-ounce.
Laboratory prototypes of the latter include a 10.5-ounce Bud, an 11-ounce Bud, and an 11.5-ounce Bud. "Really, they give you practically everything that 12-ounce Bud does," said a FlipStart spokesman, appropriately named Budd.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
This thing costs $2k. Why?
Because it needs to be x86, with in turn means that it needs to have a bigger battery, fancier engineering, special cooling. A hard drive because it needs to swap due to Windows memory needs and usage patterns.
Kill off Windows, and then you have a bunch of better processors - PPC, ARM, whatever. Smaller battery. No special cooling. No need for a hard drive. No Windows license. Room for other features - cell phone/modem? Bluetooth hub functionality?
BTW, it has pretty much been done... Too bad it isn't Linux.
I have a nokia n800 and love it. It can easily fit in a jacket pocket or a bag without having to think about it. Its big screen, wifi, and bluetooth, make surfing the web a breeze. I use it a lot to read news and documentation in coffee shops or on trains. With a folding bluetooth keyboard, or the on screen one, I can easily write quick notes or docs. And its linux and comes with a full featured terminal I can use to SSH into work and get some things done. Plus its only $400
The genius of the n800 I think is that it is not a laptop and not a pda. It is its own class of device, with a UI designed specificly for its small high resolution screen, touch screen, and set of buttons.
I am still waiting for a computer that looks like a small book, but where the screen itself folds in half, to become a tablet with a reasonable screen size. Apple dreamed of such a device called the Knowledge Navigator years ago in the following video, and I hope display and voice recognition technology will make this something real within the next 5 years.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3WdS4TscWH8
instead of holding your breath.
You waited three years to tell... &*$%#@ [NO CARRIER]
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Yeah this thing looks like it does less than the last Fujitsu P1000 which is just slightly wider (barely larger footprint than a paperback book), and has a touch screen which is an anchient 800mhz Transmeta system. This isn't even replacing a $1000 item with a $2000 item. This is at most a $400 item these days. For $2000 I could get a highly pimped out Fujitsu Lifebook P7230 (I dig Fujitsu's sub-notebooks, rugged lil bastards) that does everything that does, has a whole fucking lot more, and the only drawback would be a slightly larger system (would be even smaller if they dropped the optical drive).
The Nokia 9XXX machines are basically next generation Psions with a phone built in. The 9300 has a usable but not good keyboard. The 9500 is better, but obviously bigger.
It fits in the pocket and can do pretty much everything a laptop can do. The really massive benefit though isn't readily apparent. That is, you always have all your data with you.
Deleted
I'm shocked this is the only comment mentioning the OQO! I had the opportunity to work with the OQO 1+ model for almost a year and while it was not a speed demon by any stretch of the imagination it was more than competent. With the 02's bumped up processor speed and mobile broadband built in I can hardly see any reason to even introduce the flipstart (or should that be falsestart). At $2K I can purchase the fully loaded OQO 02 with Windows Vista (yes there are tutorials on installing Linux)and that includes any shipping costs.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I've heard good things about the OQO's features, but not about its build quality.. has the 02 improved in that respect?