On the Possible Handtop Paradigm Shift 188
captainJam writes "Handtops.com has a piece
about the effects of handtops (text
version) such as the OQO,
FlipStart and others
on the computing experience. With a physical size that's slightly larger than
a PDA, a handtop has the power of a standard ultra-portable laptop - 1GHz, 256-512MB
RAM, USB, FireWire, etc. These factors, coupled with a dock (plug in a monitor,
keyboard and mouse) allow one to imagine a world where maybe they won't need a
desktop, or laptop, or mp3 player, video jukebox, digicam, etc. Maybe one day
companies might even be willing to pay for part of your handtop, knowing that
they would have to invest less in upgrading? It's not all rosy, the devices are
still under $2000 and aren't due out until later this fall (OQO) or
Q1-2 2005 (FlipStart), but this is an important shift worth letting the mind ponder." Of course, the OQO has been in development for a while, now.
Input (Score:3, Interesting)
Most Companies Will Not 'Go-Halfsies' (Score:5, Interesting)
Most companies want their information/apps locked into their computers - some even to the point of assigning a company laptop to perform off-site work.
For small/medium companies with less sensitive data protection needs, it could help some of their bottom line. But employee expenses will be their major reduction focus.
No, it's not time.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Tiny screen plus uber small keybaord? No tnx. If i have the realestate, I rather have my 18" or however wide keyboard it is + a 19" monitor. For travelling, I rather have something big enough but not outweigh an every-day text book plus wide enough that I'm not squinting and can see my screen, w/o carrying around a full sized monitor.
Heat (Score:2, Interesting)
goggles to eliminate the lcd screen (Score:3, Interesting)
I want the big screen, but I don't want to carry it around
Why companies should pay for a 'handtop' (Score:3, Interesting)
$1700.00 - IBM Thinkpad T41
$150.00 - Port replicator
$80.00 - Extra battery
$200.00 - Motorola T720/T730 Cell phone
$350.00 - Palm or Sony PDA
$800.00 - Software... PDA sync software add-ons, cell phone addy book sync software, etc.
-------
$3300.00 approx
Compared to the OQO alternative:
$2000.00 - OQO
$200.00 - Cell phone with bluetooth and GPRS for all-time internet access
--------
$2200.00 approx + added productivity capabilities.
So... in the near future it would seem we could save $1000.00 per user and get increased productivity. Not much justifying and convincing to do it would seem...
Re:Input (Score:5, Interesting)
not something I'm interested in (Score:4, Interesting)
Multifunctional devices are all dandy but I don't see how they could compete with devices designed for one thing only. Sure, things develop and multifunctional devices get better people might say but so does the single purpose device. There are mp3 players you connect to your mobile phone but will they ever get as good or compete with say, the iPod?
Will the camera in most mobile phones ever get as good as a good digital camera? I doubt it.
It's just too expensive and difficult to bring the best of everything into a device of this kind. You compromise and hope that someone REALLY NEEDS all these things in small package enough to be willing to pay alot of money for it. I certainly won't.
Portable hard disk (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a 15" PowerBook. It's a good size. A little small, but definitely usable. I dock it to a keyboard, mouse and monitor when at work. This suits me perfectly.
Given that I walk wherever possible (any journey under a couple of miles, which includes my trip to work), with this laptop, and weight isn't a big issue, why would I want something smaller and less powerful?
Re:Input (Score:4, Interesting)
Phones have the entire alphabet and extra characters mapped to 10 buttons and I personally hate putting in SMS messages with them. But there is no arguing that once you are proficient at it you can put them in quite fast. Though nowhere near as proficiently as if that person had the same capability with a full sized keyboard.
What I think might help is if there was a standardized mini keyboard with multifunction keys that can represent a number of characters, similar to what a standard keyboard does but with a alot of thought put into efficient and fast typing with fewer keys. That way there are fewer keys required and they could be bigger for those big fingered folk. And since it would be a standardized layout there would be more chance of the design, catching on. Though the current situation of the patent world would proabably put the kibosh on that wishful thinking.
However I have no illusion on a fantasy like this happening anytime soon, or if its even practical.
Simple pocket space. (Score:3, Interesting)
With travel time that is just a little bit to much for my Nomad Zen. So I got two Mp3 player, an iGb-100 (small 1.5gb player from iRiver) in my pockter and the Zen on my belt. I got my wallet of course. Usually some small change and other stuff and my phone. Keys and the job alone adds one for the locker and one tag for signing in and out. A knife and pen. Maybe a roll of drop (candy).
In short I need a belt just to keep my damn pants from sliding down.
I could of course bring a book to read in the breaks or a GBA.
Can you imagine the bulge in my pockets? I don't care about my looks and work in place where people don't care either but in a suit this doesn't look good.
So yeah I see some sense in these multi-capabilty devices. They are not for me as the phone-mp3-game don't have the storage to play music for 8+ hours or the battery life.
No the camera in a phone or pda will never be as good as a dedicated camera. But if you need/want to make photo and send it with your camera then I wish you luck with your external camera, good luck in finding a way to connect the two, in getting the phone to regonize the camera, in making sure the phone messaging format can be used with your camera's storage format. Etc etc etc.
You are walking around with two devices, the guy with the cameraphone with 1. Add an mp3 player and you got 3, the guy with the supergadget still got 1. Add a game platform and you got 4 devices, the guy with supergadget still got one. Add a PDA function and you got 5 devices. The guy with the supergadget only 1.
Sure you will beat him in functionality but he doesn't look like a geek.
I think this is totally the future (Score:2, Interesting)
Imagine carrying around this thing and it will have all your stuff on it. You get up and go to work, you toss this thing in your suit case. You get in the car and your computer's stereo starts reading your mp3s via wireless. Get to the office, toss the thing on the desk, and via wireless it's already talking to your monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers.
Get home, you toss this thing on it's recharge station, and you can start puterizing from home.
Going on a bike ride? Toss this thing in your backpack, and start listening to your mp3s via wireless headphones.
Or if you go on vacation, and you start snapping off photos with your digital camera, this computer could be automatically uploading the photos to the internet for your family to see. (hopefully you're not taking photos of yourself and some women of the night)
I think this will totally be the future, but not yet.
-asoap
Yes, I definitely am looking forward to this... (Score:4, Interesting)
Around 900 g, about the size of VHS tape, a keyboard that I can comfortably touchtype with (and I think my hands are pretty normal). This is a great device - it runs Linux, has a 20 GB harddisk and is fast enough to watch movies on its 16:9 display.
I did own a normal 3 kg laptop some years ago and I'm not looking back. I don't own a car and travel by bike and bus - everything more than 1 kg is an annoyance then.
Yes, I'd love to own an even smaller device. I once bought the Zaurus in the hopes of having a PDA-sized Linux computer, but without a harddisk and without the possibility of connecting an external keyboard, it wasn't worth using and collects dust as one of the most expensive toys I ever bought.
I'm looking forward to a PDA-sized x86 computer with a harddisk, a decent display and good battery time. I also need connectors for an external display, keyboard and (if possible) TV. Count me in as one of their first customers.
Of course, (Score:3, Interesting)