10-21-2005, 08:00 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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A Quick Look at Intel's Ruby Prototype Handheld PC
"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."
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.
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10-21-2005, 08:03 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 127
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I'm definitely digging it. To bad it so far out. It would make a lot of things I do easier.
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10-21-2005, 08:03 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 349
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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.
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10-21-2005, 08:51 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,108
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Raphael143
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.
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I don't think it could be 640 x 480--XP doesn't support anything less than 800 x 600.
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10-21-2005, 08:58 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 49
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Does anyone have the actual dimensions?
It doesn't look that big and it will prolly come down in size.
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10-21-2005, 09:00 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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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:
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10-21-2005, 09:01 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 794
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ADBrown
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Raphael143
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.
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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?
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10-21-2005, 09:04 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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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.
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10-21-2005, 09:16 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 221
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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. 
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10-21-2005, 09:51 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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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.
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Linear Mode
