07-30-2008, 11:00 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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TechCrunch's Michael Arrington Wants a $200 Web Tablet
"I'm tired of waiting - I want a dead simple and dirt cheap touch screen web tablet to surf the web. Nothing fancy like the Dell latitude XT, which costs $2,500. Just a Macbook Air-thin touch screen machine that runs Firefox and possibly Skype on top of a Linux kernel. It doesn't exist today, and as far as we can tell no one is creating one. So let's design it, build a few and then open source the specs so anyone can create them. Here's the basic idea: The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox." 
Now this is something I'd pay $200 for! I'm baffled why someone hasn't created something like this already, but I was equally baffled as to why it took until last year for someone to build an affordable, small Web-focused computer like the Asus Eee PC. I've a firm believer in the concept of a low-cost, thin and light computer in every room - something that acts as a portal to your information. If this product materializes, it's a small step in the right direction. What would you like to see on this? I'd want to see an embedded version of VLC Media Player so it could handle all manner of video and audio files. A USB port would allow for a nice 8 GB USB flash drive for playing back video files off of, and I'd like to see it have an SD card slot for photo and video viewing (or more storage). What would you like to see this product have? Would you buy one for $200? $300?
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07-30-2008, 11:34 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 471
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The closet thing around at the moment is probably the Nokia N800/N810. I have no idea how much they cost these days but I assume it's more than $200.
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07-30-2008, 12:19 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 518
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Not clear as to how LARGE this $200 miracle is supposed to be - PDA Sized (like an iPhone) or Tablet sized (like the Dell mentioned) - ??
Difficult to imagine getting a larger unit to market for only $200; difficult to imagine a pda sized unit making much of a splash.
Tablet systems have been trotted out several times now and have never seemed to gain much traction outside a few specialized markets. Would a 'tablet' WITHOUT storage or processing capability be likely to catch on? Would we then need to carry a phone, a pda / notebook, AND a web-serving device???
Looks cool in the pix, but with limited functionality would expect a limited market...
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07-30-2008, 12:47 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 918
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I think the apparent popularity of netbooks and the explosion of iPhones does show that the market might be ready to accept tablets, however, even assuming that at the $200 price point, no profit is made, I find that such a device could exist still hard to swallow.
The device would certainly help fit into the same market as the netbooks we're seeing and for consumer needs, it would certainly fit the bill with a few exceptions since a large amount of consumers have no greater use than webmail, surfing and light document editing. However, CPU, battery and screen would be what I'd see as the most expensive components which have this minimum barrier to be considered acceptable. If we could drop the considerations of YouTube (or at least optimize it somehow) and flash games, everything else might fall into place.
I'm like Jason. I would love to have several panels throughout the house to use for surfing, but my greater goal would be to also help with home automation. At $200, I'd be very interested, but I think it's still a few more years away.
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07-30-2008, 01:00 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 454
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I wanted something like this, too, so I bought the HTC Shift. But it cost �750, not $200.
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07-30-2008, 01:12 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 541
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I would love to have something like this and I too don't understand why no one tried to built it.
But...
Nokia 800 is allready around $200, so if you want small PDA sized device, it's allmost there.
Also Asus EEE is very close to this mark and you can get touch panel addon on e-bay for $50, so if Asus would add touch screen and discard the keyboard on their 2G or 4G EEE I guess they could come really close to the desired price point - it wouldn't be "Air thin", but I guess it would do the trick.
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07-30-2008, 02:29 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,887
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The reason nobody's built one is:
1- They can't. Not to those specs. It is simply unrealistic. Never mind the "free software", the hardware can't be built for that price even with China prison labor.
2- The products that come closest (Nokia tablet, etc) haven't sold particularly well.
First off, the hardware expectations are out of sync with the reality of this decade. Maybe in another 5 years you could build a linux computer running an ARM or ATOM CPU and a browser-capable screen but not today. And not running Firefox. Opera mini maybe. Safari, possible. Even IE. But not Firefox; that hasn't been vetted on anything but full laptop/desktop hardware. And a touchscreen big enough for that screen? What planet is he living on?
Look at what is in fact practical:
1- Start with the cheapest Eee PC Surf; $299 with a 7"wVGA screen, 512MB RAM and 2GB SSD. Throw away the keyboard and go for a full slate layout. Savings? maybe a buck or two from the hinge and keyboard. And you need that to get in a clickable Trackpoint nipple joystick controller to match up with an onscreen keyboard. But forget about going ultra-thin or adding a touch screen.
2- The OLPC meets the requirements on Price but with 256MB RAM, a 433MHZ Geode CPU and 1GB flash storage its pretty lean even for a Linux laptop. And it weighs over 3 pounds and comes in at about an inch and a half. No touchscreen, either.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), Laptop: A learning tool created expressly for the children in developing nations
3- Amazon Kindle/Sony Reader, etc.
If you don't mind grayscale and a static display the screen is perfect. Most ereaders run either Linux or WinCE and most are well under an inch thick. No touchscreens, except the iREX but the cheapest in that family runs $699. Most spec out with 200-400MHz ARM CPUs (we're all familiar with those from the PDA/smartphone world, right?) 64MB RAM, 256MB Flash ROM storage, and run $299-399.
MobileRead Wiki - E-book Reader Matrix
Mind you, I'd love a toy like that.
At *double* that $200. But its not doable, more's the pity.
If it were, don't you think Apple would be selling one for $699?
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07-30-2008, 02:55 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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Why go for the Dell Lat XT for simple Web browsing? You can get a HP TC1100 for fifth(!) the price and man, it IS a great tablet! I simply love it!
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07-30-2008, 03:10 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,887
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Menneisyys
You can get a HP TC1100 for fifth(!) the price and man, it IS a great tablet! I simply love it!
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I have the older TC1000 and I love the form factor.
Since the TC1100, HP tablets have gone steadily backwards on usability with each succesive generation...
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07-30-2008, 04:59 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 46
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Quote:
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The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox.
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Not USB, Bluetooth. Then you can use something like a stowaway keyboard, or a full size Bluetooth keyboard, and a mouse and whatever else.
I have an OLPC, and if the CPU was about twice as fast, the RAM doubled (or better yet, quadrupled), and had Bluetooth so I could use a real keyboard, then it would be a really good machine.
I like the idea of a cheap websurfing machine. A 7-8" 1024x768 or better resolution screen is a MUST. For my purposes, besides FireFox, it needs a terminal. Given that, it would become my primary machine.
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