The Coolest Computer Yet!

[threegee]

Only 700 grams in weight, and with 'N' WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. Supposed to have built-in 3G radio too (presumably HSDPA/HSUPA) so that would be just brilliant. It would be a shame to have to use something this cool with a USB dongle when you are out and about!

The real problem here seems to be that with a limited edition there's going to be no second sourcing of the custom batteries.

You will never see anything like this from Apple, because there's just too many expensive bits in it, and at their mark-ups the price would be so astronomic they couldn't even sell them to their biggest Fanboys!

[Monsta®]

looks fiddly, touch screen keyboards suck! its just a waste of battery life a whole screen just to run a keyboard??? what were they thinking of?

[threegee]

looks fiddly, touch screen keyboards suck! its just a waste of battery life a whole screen just to run a keyboard??? what were they thinking of?

LOL - you obviously didn't look at the videos. It's not just a soft keyboard - desireable though that is for the spilt coffee, and customisation angles - it has both tactile feedback and it doubles as a proper screen extension. People who've tried it says it's in a completely different class to the iPad and a pleasure to type on. And, of course, the "main" screen is touch too.

Lot's more CPU power than the tablets that are coming, and a four hour battery life is easily good enough for me providing the device is pocketable. Anything under £800 and it's a steal, esp if it has HSDPA built-in. Ten times more of a computer than the iPad!

Though only a limited edition, it shows what is on the way with the 32nm Intel CPUs that are just around the corner.

[Monsta®]

i did see the video! if you need to type something you loose a screen as the keyboard is displayed on the lower screen!

anything under £800 is a steel? out over £300 is daylight robbery! seeing it costs pennies to manufacture!

[threegee]

Only one screen for a short while - that's a disaster! Of course there are some devices that have only one screen all the time, and some of those have touch screens that occupy almost all the viewing space some of the time. Haven't heard any complaints about this though. There are even devices that waste huge areas of interface space up front with a clunky mechanical keyboard that just says QWERTY most of the time, and that you have to make, and distribute, in 38 different versions to keep everyone happy.

The Intel CPU alone will cost Toshiba three figures in 1000 off quantities. - this isn't a weedy $10 ARM chip. Their bulk buy-in parts cost must be way over £500 a unit on this baby. Something like four times the production cost of an iPad I'd guess. Price up that SSD before you make silly statements like that. Probably why it's just a limited edition: they don't anticipate making any money out of it - even at a grand retail!

[Monsta®]

not quite!

$142 for the chip! maybe £200 for the screens and plastics so there making a killing on each one!

[threegee]

That is just for the CPU. But thanks for confirming that it's about ten times the price of the iPad's ARM chip. Not sure about the screen cost, but I'd think that for those advanced displays you'd probably be about right.

Then there's the rest of the chip-set, the memory devices and DIMMs, the support chips, the graphics, the 64GB SSD, batteries, two expensive multi-layer PCBs, several hundred SM components, and cabling. Then there's the WiFi and Bluetooth modules, and the 3G module. On top of that there's the licence fees to M$ and to the BIOS manufacturer. In the quantities they are envisaging the casings alone will probably cost more than the total ex-factory cost of an iPad. That's before you even get to setting up the placing machines for assembly, hand assembly and testing, distribution and retail packaging and promotion costs, import duty, dealers margin then VAT on top of everything! After that the support costs and guarantee wastage.

If you are only making say 5000 then there's little chance of getting any real economies of scale, and you are looking at about £800-1000 in the shops before you make a bean. And that's assuming you sell the lot at full price - which seldom happens these days, hence the huge number of price cuts.

[threegee]

Ah, the vapourware peddlers are at it already:

http://www.play.com/...p/Product.html#

Think I saw a £999.99 price in there somewhere. Which is probably what you are going to have to pay to get one this side of Christmas. But if this if the model without HSDPA then having to use a USB dongle is a big let-down, and it would certainly be better to wait.

Me, I will pick one up for South of £500 sometime - unless something better presents itself in the interim.

BTW I got that Nokia N900 sooner than I though, but fourgee (anyone want to but an iPhone? ) is "testing" it for me just at the moment. Review coming.

[Mr Darn]

Which IPhone? and what network?

[Andy Millne]

Which IPhone? and what network?

He's joking of course. Clunkiness of N900 does not appeal to me in the slightest.

[threegee]

Yeah, that extra 6mm in depth (in a slightly smaller device) has to be a deal breaker if you don't want a real computer with real keyboard, all the extra features, and a proper phone with 80 minutes extra talk time..

Then again if you don't you'd be far better off with a cool N8 than a clunky iWorshipSteveJobsPhone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N8

[threegee]

Just to illustrate that dual screens with soft keyboards are indeed the way forward:-

http://www.acer.com/iconia/

This is a real product scheduled to hit Europe (I think Spain first) later this month. At in excess of £1200 I'll be sticking with my singe, dual touch screen and keyboard for a while yet though.

Mentioned this before, but soft keyboards make a lot of sense in computer manufacture as you can ship the same product internationally. Only those manufacturers who like to charge up for smaller markets have anything to lose from this. They are also good from the consumer point of view as how many machines have died a death through spillages into the keyboard. They are more hygienic and can be easily cleaned. Also the keys can change on-the-fly to suit the mode (state of the Caps Lock say) or the application.

On the Iconia placing you palms on the palm rest automatically invokes the soft keyboard, which disappears you no longer require it for input. Sounds obvious and simple, but then a lot of good ideas are!

Update:

[threegee]

You can catch a brief look at the Iconia in the Apple UK marketing arm... sorry I mean BBC... current edition of 'Click'. The program has been expertly edited to show Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer taking about 0.2 seconds to hit the window close box on an Iconia he's balancing in his left hand. Conclusive proof - according to the Beeb fanboys - that Windows 7 is no good at all for touch devices.

Not once during Steve Ballmer's demo, or indeed the entire program, is the Iconia name mentioned; though by way of BBC balance the iPad is mentioned countless times.

We also learn on the program that the Apple iPad was the first Internet Tablet and now everyone is copying it. This has caused me to view my collection of Nokia Internet Tablets going back several years in an entirely new light.

If I were Ballmer I'd simply buy the Beeb and sack all the fanboys. But, maybe he's too late and the other Steve got to his cheque book first!

----

This post written on a touch-screen running W7 (and quite soon to be dual-booting Linux). Everything works just fine, though I'm convinced the BBC iPlayer isn't suitable for use on touch-screen devices! What! You can't even run BBC iPlayer on an iPad? Did you hear that on Click? Ummm, probably not.

[Andy Millne]

What! You can't even run BBC iPlayer on an iPad? Did you hear that on Click? Ummm, probably not.

Actually you can but I agree with most of what you're saying.

[threegee]

Actually you can but I agree with most of what you're saying.

Goodness you're right! Or "in theory" at least. Must have somehow missed the likely three editions of Click where this revolutionary development ("developer revolt") was proclaimed.

http://news.cnet.com...015954-264.html

Now, all the iPad needs is a battery door; a CPU several times for powerful that that weedy ARM chip; an SD slot; an open properly multi-tasking OS; and a 50% reduction in price, and I will buy one - quite probably!

[Monsta®]

You can catch a brief look at the Iconia in the Apple UK marketing arm... sorry I mean BBC... current edition of 'Click'. The program has been expertly edited to show Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer taking about 0.2 seconds to hit the window close box on an Iconia he's balancing in his left hand. Conclusive proof - according to the Beeb fanboys - that Windows 7 is no good at all for touch devices.

how can you say its windows 7 could it not be the touch devices fault i.e the touch screen its self not the o.s?

anyway bbc click are a bunch of idoits anyway what would they know! some of the rubbish they spew out is frankly laughable

[Malcolm Robinson]

At last a really useful computer.......

[threegee]

Iconia being shipped in the UK this week apparently. But at £1500 I will pass this time around! Maybe this model is targeted at people who pay £600 plus for tablets with weedy phone CPUs in them? Recon they'll be heavily discounted within months.

https://www.simplyac...ia_1037586.html

A very powerful machine, but It's overkill and far too big. Nothing bigger than a 12" screen is a portable in my book, and about 10" or 11" is ideal. Nor is the 2.5 hour battery life a serious contender when we've come to expect 7 hours plus from modern netbooks. And at almost 3 Kgs!!

When are we going to see soft-key + dual screen technology on a decent performance netbook or genuine portable?