A Quick Look at Intel's Ruby Prototype Handheld PC

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000583064397/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000583064397/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Anyway, you probably already have a firm sense of whether or not you'd ever want to get down with a device this size, but Song says that Intel (which obviously has no plans to build the device themselves) is already seeing interest in the reference design from several manufacturers and that we should hopefully see the first devices based on the Ruby platform in a couple of years or so."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20051022-Ruby.jpg" /><br /><br />It's err... really nice, and really bulky. Despite it having an 8-hour battery life, integrated wireless, a low-voltage Pentium processor, a QWERTY keyboard, and some fancy automatic screen rotation mechanism, I can't really see myself treating this as a Pocket PC replacement. Nope, this thing isn't pocket-sized. Not one bit.

[code-frog]

I'm definitely digging it. To bad it so far out. It would make a lot of things I do easier.

[Raphael Salgado]

Either the on-screen icons are really huge, or that's a really small resolution on the display. Windows XP on 640x480 just doesn't get along in my opinion... lots of applications' and even Windows' own dialog boxes are just too oversized to be useful.

[ADBrown]

Either the on-screen icons are really huge, or that's a really small resolution on the display. Windows XP on 640x480 just doesn't get along in my opinion... lots of applications' and even Windows' own dialog boxes are just too oversized to be useful.

I don't think it could be 640 x 480--XP doesn't support anything less than 800 x 600.

[155]

Does anyone have the actual dimensions?

It doesn't look that big and it will prolly come down in size.

[bjornkeizers]

I'm hoping *someone* will finally bring out a device like this at an affordable price. I really want something like this, but it's either unavailable, or it costs about twice as much as a laptop...

Guys, *get something like this out to the consumers* I really *want to give you money* :roll:

[Typhoon]

Either the on-screen icons are really huge, or that's a really small resolution on the display. Windows XP on 640x480 just doesn't get along in my opinion... lots of applications' and even Windows' own dialog boxes are just too oversized to be useful.

I don't think it could be 640 x 480--XP doesn't support anything less than 800 x 600.

Isn't the OQO's resolution 800 x 400?

[Perry Reed]

I dunno, it looks pretty portable to me. It seems to fit in the palm of that guy's hand, which would likely make it smaller than my Jornada.

[mr_Ray]

I get the feeling that Windiws Mobile will in 5 or so years time be starting to move towards being a phone OS, with the main Windows OS moving down as low as today's PDA size devices. Another 5 and the transition will be complete.

Remember, this is just a concept device. OEMs playing around with the form factor and a few years of advance, building on the real world 'practice run' OQO, introduction and adoption of Microsoft's resolution independent interface... as much as I love my PPC I see them gradually being phased out. The draw of having a pocketable 'real' computer is going to be very very strong.


I also just realised - this is probably the only chance we have of a Pocket PC with a proper close application ability. ;)

[whydidnt]

It doesn't seem all that huge to me. IF they can get close to an instant-on experience and improve battery life this would be a great device. Heck that's whats keeping the OQO from being a great device, IMO.

Alternatively, if they would just deliver True VGA apps, a decent fully compliant Web Browser and the 40 GB drive from the iPod (for media storage) into a PPC in the HTC Universal form factor, I would care less about the Ruby as that PPC would meet all of my mobile computing needs--provided battery life is reasonable.

I agree that it's more likely we'll see a micro-sized XP or Vista PC before we see the uber PPC I describe - simply because MS, Intel and others stand to make a lot more $$ from selling full versions of the software and hardware than they ever can dream of from our mobile devices. I think we are likely to see WM continue to blend into phone devices, and the desktop OS devices shrink to what we see today in our PDA's.

[whydidnt]

Isn't the OQO's resolution 800 x 400?

It's actually 800 x 480, and works fine. They tweaked the OS so that it doesn't complain about the lower resolution. I have an old 36" monitor that is limited to 640 x 480 resolution and XP runs on it pretty good too. It just complains about low resolution every time I boot it. I had to hook the computer up to a higher res monitor when installing XP, but since then, it works fine.

[dbman]

They should remove the keyboard or have it slide out of the unit in the landscape mode only. This would make it much more portable. The way it is setup now makes no sense to me. It would mean that you would have to rotate the machine to enter a URL. Personally, I would work in landscape mode most of the time.

[Typhoon]

They should remove the keyboard or have it slide out of the unit in the landscape mode only. This would make it much more portable. The way it is setup now makes no sense to me. It would mean that you would have to rotate the machine to enter a URL. Personally, I would work in landscape mode most of the time.

lol If you take a look at the bottom of the device, behind the keyboard maybe where they are sticking the battery.

[IpaqMan2]

I get the feeling that Windiws Mobile will in 5 or so years time be starting to move towards being a phone OS, with the main Windows OS moving down as low as today's PDA size devices. Another 5 and the transition will be complete.

Remember, this is just a concept device. OEMs playing around with the form factor and a few years of advance, building on the real world 'practice run' OQO, introduction and adoption of Microsoft's resolution independent interface... as much as I love my PPC I see them gradually being phased out. The draw of having a pocketable 'real' computer is going to be very very strong.


I also just realised - this is probably the only chance we have of a Pocket PC with a proper close application ability. ;)



I agree with you here....
in the next 5 to 8 years, we will have either "pocketable" (or somewhat close to) computers running full blown desktop OS'es like in the picture and Windows Mobile platform will be little more the a super cool smartphone OS or we are going to see Windows Mobile / Windows CE become a super powerful platform that will grow beyond handheld phones and the basic PDA form factorand functions taking on real laptop and tablet mobile computing abilities with real software to take advantage of it's use (not like the crippleware we see today that still requires to be sync'ed to a desktop PC to get your data into the real world).

I believe one of the two out comes will happen. The business world is pushng harder and harder for smaller pocketable computers that can essecentially be their desktop on the go, while Windows Mobile is trying to find it's acceptance amongs mobile phones, even though Windows CE is powerful enough to be it's own desktop OS - it Just depends where Microsoft will push the future.

[Typhoon]

I guess the "DualCor" posts are jokes?

[Warwick]

I would like to see this in a HPC form factor, then I might think about trading in my J820.

[Eriq Cook]

I believe this would only appeal to specific vertical markets such as hospitals, etc (like the Handheld PCs). Nobody in the real world would buy a device like this to carry around and use regularly.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Actually, I would love a full scale OS on something this size - right now the only thing stopping me getting a Vaio U or an OQO or a Toshi Libretto is the price of these babies.

[Typhoon]

Actually, I would love a full scale OS on something this size - right now the only thing stopping me getting a Vaio U or an OQO or a Toshi Libretto is the price of these babies.

yea, it's too expensive