Rumors Of Low-End Pocket Loox Surface

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1264' target='_blank'>http://www.firstloox.org/forums/sho...=&threadid=1264</a><br /><br /></div>Duncan, over at PocketLoox, has some interesting information on what might be Fujitsu-Siemens' next Pocket PC.<br /><br />"Back in September 2003 we posted news of a planned future Loox going by the development name of Barnabas - intended to run (or at least be capable of running - depending on Microsoft's timetable) the next Pocket PC OS (code-named Magneto) and use the next generation Intel processor - Bulverde. Our information at that time was that this new Loox would be intended for release around May 2004. Now - from an anonymous source - comes news of another planned May 2004 release from Fujitsu-Siemens - this time a Pocket Loox aimed at the 'lower' end market."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040115-PocketLoox4xx.jpg" /><br /><br />Looks suspiciously like the <a href="http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prodDetail.jsp?comm=CS&plin=Toshiba%20Pocket%20PC&pfam=Toshiba%20Pocket%20PC%20e400%20Series&poid=263418&Adoid=539592">Toshiba e400</a> to me. Interesting stuff!

[David Prahl]

Looks suspiciously like the Toshiba e400 (http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prodDetail.jsp?comm=CS&plin=Toshiba%20Pocket%20PC&pfam=Toshiba%20Pocket%20PC%20e400%20Series&poid=263418&Adoid=539592) to me. Interesting stuff!

I couldn't agree more! Hard to believe a new design like the Toshiba e405/e805 is already being copied.

[Janak Parekh]

I couldn't agree more! Hard to believe a new design like the Toshiba e405/e805 is already being copied.
Perhaps it's a common OEM?

--janak

[maximus]

Perhaps they came from the same plant somewhere in taiwan...

[Thinkingmandavid]

I love Fujitsu laptops and had thought about getting a LOOX at some point in time.
I personally do not like the idea of it looking like the Toshiba e405/805 because it looses its individuality. I was hoping the new LOOX would be a sexier machine than the boxy looking style that they chose. The previous model had more curves and you set it a part from other ppc's.
If it is just like the Toshiba I do not think I will be buying it. Hopefully they will rethink and then release it in different hardware, at least something original.

[JustinGTP]

What if it is a Photoshop fake?

It is pretty easy changing the colour to green and getting the Futijusui logo on there.

-Justin.

[maximus]

That's why the subject of the thread mentioned the word 'rumors' ....

[juni]

I love Fujitsu laptops and had thought about getting a LOOX at some point in time.

I know, their laptops are great. But my experience with the Loox was awful - slow and buggy. I haven't tried the new ones and I switched to HP as soon as I could (the 2210 is a wonderful device :) ). My advice: stay away from the Loox.

[Duncan]

While it does look similar to the e400 if you compare them they are noticeabley different - so certainly it isn't a photoshopped e400 (!). The similarities are enough to suggest that it could be the same OEM as behind the e400 though... :)

Of course this remains in the realm of rumour until officially confirmed - even with a picture...! :)

[Sparky]

looks more like an 800 than a 400 based on the size of the screen.

[JustinGTP]

While it does look similar to the e400 if you compare them they are noticeabley different - so certainly it isn't a photoshopped e400 (!). The similarities are enough to suggest that it could be the same OEM as behind the e400 though... :)

Of course this remains in the realm of rumour until officially confirmed - even with a picture...! :)

How can you say it looks noticeably different? Thats the point of Photoshop, you make it look noticeably different so that you can trick people. Look below, here is my version called: Pocket Loox2

http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/ppcc/loox.jpg

Lol, I did the above in less than 5 minutes.

-Justin.

[schaea]

Looks can be decieving...I agree with Honda on this one. It seems just too easy to have been able to copy it and change it around in Photoshop. I'll wait until I see the real thing and then believe it.

Andrew.

[Duncan]

How can you say it looks noticeably different?

Because, unlike your effort, the picture I recieved has a very different cursor pad and power button from the e400 and e800 (and a different shape for that matter!). Thus noticeably different. Your contention that It is pretty easy changing the colour to green and getting the Futijusui logo on there is of course correct (as you have proved. My point is that this would not have created the look of the 'Loox 4xx' picture that I was sent. Perhaps next time you could actually take a look at the picture and actaully compare before being so unjustifiably smug?! :)

I'm not discounting the possibility that this is faked by someone (though I have no reason to doubt the source either) - I'm pretty certain it isn't mind. If it is faked it is, however, a cleverer fake than you give credit for - you would need to ask where, for example, DID that button/cursor arrangement come from - 'cos it ain't from the e400/800!

[Duncan]

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040115-PocketLoox4xx.jpg

[Duncan]

http://www.expansys.com/i/b/b108333.jpg

[ctmagnus]

Ok, the first person to do one of these in Barbie&lt;sup>TM&lt;/sup> pink gets...




I have no idea. And it has to say Look in the top right, instead of Loox. ;)

[Jeff Rutledge]

Ok, the first person to do one of these in Barbie&lt;sup>TM&lt;/sup> pink gets...




I have no idea. And it has to say Look in the top right, instead of Loox. ;)

We'd need to see the matching "Hot Wheels" model too though... 8)

[JustinGTP]

Duncan,

I realize that it may not be a fake - but, where do you think most graphics and such come from? You can totally recreate and make up a button configuration for the loox. It is possible, everything has to be made up.

It would be nice if it were real, I like the colours. Other than that, I'll wait untill I actually see it.

-Justin.

[Duncan]

I realize that it may not be a fake - but, where do you think most graphics and such come from? You can totally recreate and make up a button configuration for the loox. It is possible, everything has to be made up.
Indeed - but I was, in the main, contesting your suggestion that it could be simply an e400/e800 with a minor changes. Of course it could, in theory, be an original Photoshop fake but

1) If someone wanted to fake a Pocket PC it wouldn't be a low end model from an EMEA manufacturer - it would be a VGA iPAQ 7550 or something like that!

2) To produce this Loox 4xx picture would require a lot of effort to get it looking that realistic - including designing realistic buttons/cursor.

All in all I very much doubt it is faked!

[JustinGTP]

Well - remember the movie for the latest HP with the flipout keyboard - it has been out for a long time and yet nothing.

I understand that you run a Pocket Loox site and that you are all for the Loox, but, that image of how cool the loox is should not fog up your sense of reality. You don't know if it is real and so you shouldnt say that it is going to be. Its hypothetical until it comes out, and so is everything else in that matter.

And you also have to see that people do spend time creating that, people spend time hacking into major banks and creating viruses and then send them through huge emails. My point is, people have time!

Yes it could be a fake or it could be real. Who knows, as I said earlier, Ill wait and see.

-Justin.

[Duncan]

You don't know if it is real and so you shouldnt say that it is going to be.
Which is exactly the stance I take on it! Perhaps you missed me saying (further up) we should take it as rumour for the time being?

Oh and -
that image of how cool the loox is should not fog up your sense of reality.
Please don't be so patronising. I have good reason for believing it is probably genuine but have allowed all along that it could be otherwise. I don't need someone telling me I have no sense of reality! :roll:

[JustinGTP]

Seems like we are on the same wave length now - bring on the loox!

[Duncan]

bring on the loox!

It's 'Barnabas' - the planned high-end Loox featuring the Bulverde processor and (probably) VGA that I'm looking forward to...

[Thinkingmandavid]

I just do not like the idea of it looking like the toshiba. :evil:
I want it to have individuality! I just do not see the sense in anyone getting this device if they can get a hp 1945, it would be the better deal.
If FUjitsu is coming out with a 'lower' model then they should seriously consider one that stands out among all ppc's in that range and towards teh 2215. Actually the 2215 is cheaper than the new loox!!
Justin, since you made that you forgot to give it a bigger screen :)

[theone3]

Meh..

It looks completely different to me.. Power button in a different place, not rounded, less space on each side of the screen, speaker, colours, grooves, size, everything.. The only thing that's the same is the new button arrangement, which I personally prefer..

Saying it looks the same as a e400 is like saying it looks the same as a TT3 (minus the os).