Quote:
|
Originally Posted by whydidnt
None of the devices we are discussing come close to matching the pocketability factor of the OQO.
Yes, they are more powerful, and look less industrial, but it's supposed to be a handheld device right? I'm supposed to want to carry it everywhere, right?
|
Uh, no.
Not necessarily.
First, handheld does not equal pocketable or even shirt-pocketable.
(How many folks stick their Franklin Planners in a pocket?)
This is an old debate round these parts going back to the original HandheldPCs va the NPC Pros: I love my Axim51V but a 3.5" screen is too small for some things and the 10" screen on a tablet is sometimes too big. There is a real need for a device bigger than an OQO and smaller than (say) a NEC VERSA Lite. Just how much of a need, Origami's success will tell us.
Second, the Origami's billing is as a lifestyle PC (remember the video and screenshoots from the Origami site) which is why the low end price point is important. OQO (and Motion Computing, with their LS800) is mining the travelling pro market which is not price sensitive. And that's great. But the low-end Origami's are intended to tackle the same niche as the Mirra remote displays; a 'round-the-house/'round-the-clock extension of your desktop PC.
This is part of the Gates Vision of each home having a server PC, a "Data Furnace" as he described it a decade ago, serving as the heart of a home network. In this mode, separate from the corporate and vertical market mode of the higher-end Origamis, the tablet serves as an extension of the home server, much as an XBOX360 serves as an extender.
That is why, above, I was wondering if the Origamis might play streaming HD video. Cause MS has been working on a software-only implementation of the Media Center Extenders to be used on remote PCs on a home network. And in that mode, streaming Music and photos is something that can be done by standard XP/Vista tools but streaming live HD requires the software extender. Which requires a bit extra CPU power. And indeed, Intel has been quoted as saying Origami needs to be built on the upcoming Conroe processor instead of the older Pentium M because of the very low power consumption and greater power. And *that* you won't see in an OQO package anytime soon. For chipset reasons if nothing else...
Which, btw, brings up the question of Vista upgrades for the earlier boxes. And the fact is that if these pads will boot Linux they sure as heck will boot Vista. So yes, upgrades will be doable. They have to.
If you're antsy, then wait til the fall until the updates ship; not that it'll make much of a difference since the Aero interface is not appropriate to this application anyway; the screen is too small and the 3d graphics would draw down the power too fast.
Vista *will* run and Vista Origamis will be built.
But Vista on Origami is worth doing for the security and the APIs, not the GUI.
Just bear in mind that Origami is a family and not all will be the same size or form factor; an Origami OQO will happen. An Origami LS-800 will happen. But not all Origamis will be pure tablets; some will have keyboards like the HPC Pros. And some will borrow from the PocketPC/SmartPhone design toolkit to create some very interesting gadgets. Me, I rather like the model in the picture atop this thread. Even more interesting, I've seen pics of bluetooth chiclet-keyboard carry cases for the Origamis.
*That* I really want to play with.
Linear Mode
