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Kangal's Avatar
Posts: 1,789 | Thanked: 1,699 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#1
I see many new devices make appearances and I had this concept in mind. It is a tablet that can be converted into a Dualscreen notetaker (MS Courier) or a netbook.

Currently the niche for a device is slim, as smartphones are getting larger and smarter and notebooks are getting smaller and dumber.

There is huge competition in this area with many different solutions, ranging from iPad, netbooks, netvertibles, Windows tablets and Android tablets. And the competiton is fierce with: Eee PC, VAIO-P, ASUS EeePad, ExoPC, Malata SMB-A1011, and iPad.

I believe customers would buy one of those types of devices to fill the niche instead of multiple.

Here are the images (I cannot confirm that you can see it):

Image 1 (Original design outline)


Image 2 (Original design with keyboard accessory/dualscreen attachment)


Image 3 (New design, less appealing feel, hinges placed over the corners, dualscreen gap has narrowed down)



Well...
What do the brilliant minds of Maemo bloggers think of my tablet concept?
What are your thoughts/improvements?
Do you think the market would want a device like that?
 

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Kangal's Avatar
Posts: 1,789 | Thanked: 1,699 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#2
Just to add more specifics to this device:


1) The first big question is what will it be used for:


2) Next question is what are its features:
What does it need to have, what are things that are expected but not vital, what are things consumers look for.

3) Next big question is design:
How will you design something that does those and appeals to the market.

4) Next question is what platform will be used:
Will it be widely adopted, versatile, cross-compatible, intuitive, secure?
What OS would best suit your needs?

5) And now you worry about the processor:
The equation is Performance/(Battery x Price), now go do the maths which has the highest value for your needs?
 

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Kangal's Avatar
Posts: 1,789 | Thanked: 1,699 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#3
Now to answer those questions:

1)
It will be your home entertainment unit.
It will spend its idle time on the coffee table infront of the television in the living room.
When not used it will be an electronic picture frame
It will be:
your Family organizer/schedule
the thing you write notes in for your family (Honey food in oven etc)
for web browsing from your couch including flash
your Music/Movie player (smooth 720p flash)
your Networking device (video chat, facebook etc)
your sketchpad, notepad and Document editor
your console to play flash games and emulators
Connects to your HDTV

2)
Need:
16:9 720p screen
Touchscreen
Wifi
Front Camera (3MP)
HDMI
SD card
Loudspeakers
Microphone

Expected:
Bluetooth
Accelerometre/Gyro
infrared
internal storage
Video capture

Want:
Capacitative Multitouch
C-tylus with dedicted slot
Wireless HDMI
GPS

3)
I think it should be a 10" touchscreen.
The screen would be covered in 0.5" bezel on the horizontal ends and 1.5" bezel on the vertical ends.
The bezel is black/white, continuous (borderless) and covered in glass ... eg iPhone
The horizontal bezel has no features.
Two loudspeakers are centred on the vertical ends.
The vertical bezel should include a camera (on the top right corner), and two customizable buttons oppositely arranged (on the bottom corners), and a home button (on the top left corner).
On the bottom side of device (not bezel) in the left and right corners it should have two "laptop security holes".
On the bottom side of device the HDMI plug is centered.
On the right side of device the headset jack (top corner), AC plug (center) and USB plug (bottom corner) are present.
On the top side of device on the right corner there is a stylus slot that slides towards the right.
On the top side of device the SD slot and microphone hole are centered.
On the left side of device the Volume rocker (top corner), lock button (centre), USB plug (bottom corer) are present.
On the back panel, the battery, removable, is centered and covers a large surface

The tablet can be locked to a desk by the "laptop security holes"
The tablet can be connected to a keyboard+mouse+battery accessory.
This accessory has a swivel hinge on the base and the keyboard+mouse on the top. It attaches firmly via the "laptop security holes" and connects via a USB.
This accessory swivels to form a clamshell (ie closes) or opens up to a maximum angle to double as a kickstand (refer to the "Litl").
This accessory can be attached backwards (keyboard side down) to retain the tablet form but provide extra battery power.
Another accessory is identicle in form but it accomplishes as a dual(touch)screen to provide more screen-estate and enhance the experience by providing a new means of interaction.

4)
Darwin (OSX) is out of the question, I am not Apple, nor do I want to risk legal/Hackintosh problems
Windows 7 is the best OS available but it requires a powerful CPU, has security risks and only runs on x86 CPUs
Windows CE/Mobile/Phone are possible but not appealing OS's due to age and restrictions and the lack of versatility (contarary to x86 Wins).
Linux is great! It is safe, highly functional/adaptable, light and runs on most architectures. The problem is that it is not popular as personal computers as the others and lacks finger friendliness.
However, Android is popular and cross-compatable Linux but lacks the flexibility or compatability to its (Desktop Linux) father.
MeeGo if essentially Android (has all of its advantages) but (none of its weaknesses) is very versatile and can be compatible with Desktop Linux applications.
The clear winner is Windows for powerful device and MeeGo for weaker one.
Since MeeGo has not been officially released it is quite a significant gamble.
So infact the obvious answer is Android vs Windows.

After considering both systems I would prefer Windows 7 which is highly tuned to run quicker and has undergone an innovative custom skin surgery from the ground up.
If I cannot accomplish to get fluid/decent speed and apply a finger-biased skin, it will get the job done and have access to the largest libabry of Apps and constant support.
It is very versatile and should make the diy guys/nerds appeal to it aswell as the casual user (something they are used to/something compatable with their pre-exisisting pcs)
If MeeGo project doesn't gain speed and the adjustments to Windows 7 are inadequet, Android (pref. Froyo) would win by default.

5)
In this case, this slate should hold roughly (4-cell) 5,200mAh underestimated slightly.
I think 7hours is sufficient for mobile use.
I'm not familiar with many CPUs (mainly Intel and ARMs) but here's a sample:
5.2hrs with Intel Core i7 640-UM Dual 1.2GHz*
5.7hrs with Intel Core2Duo SU7300 Dual 1.3GHz
7.8hrs with Intel Atom N450 Solo 1.7GHz^
8.8hrs with Intel Atom Z600 Solo 1.9GHz^
9.0hrs with ARM Cortex A9 Dual 2.0GHz*
*similar performance, ^similar performance, All figures guestimated according to target device by exsisting devices or research.
 
Kangal's Avatar
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#4
After pondering for a while I've deduced the specs are:

CPU: Intel Atom N450 1.7Ghz Solo
RAM: 1 or 2GB
Memory: 128GB SSD/NAND/wateva (not enough room for HDD)
OS: Windows 7 optimized smoothly (not laggy) and made a custom UI skin on top from the ground up [switchable to original UI]
GPU: ION/Broadcomm/anything that sips battery (little) but can handle flash 720p at 60fps onscreen and external display simultaneously.

Normal battery time: 7.8hours
Normal battery time (with keyboard): 14.4hours
High-performance time (with keyboard): 8.7hours

Expected price
Device: US$550 (within iPad range)
Keyboard Accessory: $100
Dual Screen: $200 + USB flash drive with drivers and special software

This will meet all your normal computing needs plus some gaming like:
Billions of flash games, Some old but fun PC-games (Quake 3, GTA2, AgeOfMyth etc), DOSbox, N64, DSi, PSOne, SNES, GBA, Sega Genesis, C-64, Atari.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

There is also a possibility of an updated model:

CPU: Core i7 640-UM
RAM: 4GB RAM DDR3
OS: Same (maybe minus some limitation/optimization since the CPU is more capable)
GPU: ATi HD 5650 GPU (switchable)

This would be even harder to be able to fit the new CPU, GPU and the battery in. The added bonus is that you have a smooth experience and better multitasking.

Normal battery time: 5.2hours
Normal battery time (with keyboard): 9.6hours
High-performance time (with keyboard): 4.1hours

Expected price
Device: US$1,000 (within notebook range)
Keyboard Accessory: $100
Dual Screen: $200 + USB flash drive with drivers and special software


The games library includes "everything the base Atom tablet includes" plus:
Dreamcast emulator, PS2 emulator (PCSX2), Gamecube emulator (Dolfin ...poorly), Wii emulator (Dolfin ...poorly) and any PC game for Windows between Quake 3 and Current-gen games (fullspeed @ high details). Also all current-gen games like MW2, Far Cry 2, Dirt 2, Bad Company, NFShift, Crysis (>30fps @med details).
So infact, this model is a full-blown computer squished into a thoughtful tablet form!

Last edited by Kangal; 2010-06-18 at 15:10.
 
Posts: 307 | Thanked: 157 times | Joined on Jul 2009 @ Illinois, USA
#5
Interesting concepts. Are you an electrical engineer?
 
Kangal's Avatar
Posts: 1,789 | Thanked: 1,699 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#6
Nope, I'm just an electronics enthusiast (N900 FTW). I'm actually studying for Medicine, meantime I'm a recently graduated Scientist will be doing laboratory related work.
Cheers
 
Posts: 540 | Thanked: 387 times | Joined on May 2009
#7
@Kangal

I would avoid x86 arch and forget about Windows. This form factor shouldn't have the battery life of a "Desktop Replacement", that is fail. Has to be ARM and Linux (true Linux).

A couple of analog nubs would be nice or at least a proper d-pad.

The USB cable sticking out for the keyboard?? It should dock, maybe a mini or micro-usb. (have to be OTG though)

More importantly, I think you should look into the TouchBook
it's the closest design out there.

and I think it should come with 8gigs of RAM
 
Posts: 540 | Thanked: 387 times | Joined on May 2009
#8
It's not a 10" screen but this looks intriguing:
http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/...ed+Starter+Kit
 
F2thaK's Avatar
Posts: 4,365 | Thanked: 2,467 times | Joined on Jan 2010 @ Australia Mate
#9
 

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Kangal's Avatar
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#10
We always have our phones with us, so putting phone/3G would be somewhat a waist.

I see the benefits: you want to surf the net so you put you mobile's SIM in and with the 3G your good-to-go.

But if you think about it, 3G is somewhat too slow. I mean if that was the purpose, you will have only gained flash/screenestate since the 3G will be the "bottleneck" of the experience.

If you dont put a 3G in, you could still tether via Wifi/bluetooth from your device but again you would be "bottleneck" to that limited connection.

I think if you wanted to make this a mobile internet device and compact computer, you would look for more than that.

I think it would be better if you just connect via Public Wifi (which is happening throughout some cities like Taiwan/London). But what I would really aim for is WiMax/4G. It is fairly new but there has been great interest in its field and somewhere in the future I think 3G will be limited to "dumber" devices as carriers begin to support it and provide pre-paid accounts or planned connections.

----------------------------------
Edit:
I just saw those tablets. I don't feel compelled to buy either. If you are going to make a device larger you need to compensate with new features. Those tablets already have KIRF phone companions which could do what it can do. All you benefit from going big from the phone companion to that tablet is larger screen, more memory, maybe more battery life.

I was thinking of making a device which actually makes sense to upgrade from the smaller size phone and the larger netbook. It gives you that large computer feel without destroying portability and battery life. However, its to complement your dumb/smartphone but replace your netbook. In the latter device's sake (Core i7) it would replace your need for a laptop and netbook!

Last edited by Kangal; 2010-06-19 at 04:01.
 
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