Intel/Microsoft's Origami - WTF????
 

Well, Intel and Microsoft have finally unvelied Origami, a graphical shell to XP running on Intels new Ultra Mobile PC form:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03..._umpc_clunker/

Apparentlly, we need this to get the "full web". IMO, all we need to get the full web is a larger format Axim or iPAQ (or just the Nokia tablet device) with a higher resolution display; not something this big with a hard disk and two hour battery life. What were Microsoft and Intel thinking??????

I'd buy it (if the price is right). I've been waiting for a device like this for ages.

I guess if you needed full PC functionality without having to cart a laptop around, this would be alright. Personally, I'm lucky enough never to need this unless travelling for my employer and the iPAQ has been perfect for my vacations.

I'd quite like to get hold of the Nokia device for surfiing anywhere in the home though...

I had a similar reaction this morning....why do I need this?
I think it does round out an interesting market for tablet based handhelds. For instance, I'd love to have one at home to control my multimedia and whole house audio, etc...but at $800 or so, I'd rather have the Nokia 770...I think.

I'm relitivly unimpressed....which is good since I've been moving away from windows to OS X.

Totally agree with you. If I'm traveling and don't need the full power of a laptop, this is an interesting product. Hopefully, they'll be able to get longer battery life soon. For an ultra-mobile device, 2-3 hours isn't much.

reminds me of a Newton (with a few incremental improvements).

did Moore's Law die or something?

all I gotta say is, it better play the slingplayer!

Eeeeeuw... You want mine? The 770 is a total waste of money. It is amazing how Nokia/Maemo were able to take Linux and mess it up so badly.

The 770 is like any other Linux box; you need to hack you way into getting it to do what you want. Limited applications and very unreliable. Real shame.

This is what all the fuss was about? Seems like the worst of all worlds to me. It's an impressive feat to create a device that combines underpowered-ness with short battery life, and is too large to be truly ultramobile, but not big enough to have reasonable input methods. Meh.

A thread was posted on this in Omni a while back. It seems that Microsoft touted this as their answer to the PSP. Now, I love ultrasmall notebooks and such and will get one, but an answer to the PSP? No way, not unless they do some severe OS slimming and customize it for the hardware.

Price will be from $599 to $999 depending on configuration. I'm really interested in getting one, although I may wait one generation to see how it evolves. For my use (SSH, Firefox, Outlook/Office, Trillian, emacs, Eclipse, and the occasional game) it's plenty powerful. It's bigger than a PDA, but that's a good thing when you want the screen real estate, while being smaller (more portable) and cheaper than a laptop.

And for all the "limited hardware" complaints I've been seeing on various forums, it's an UPGRADE from my current laptop (and ancient Sony Vaio R505 -- 750MHz Pentium III, maxed out at 384MB of RAM, and a meager 1-2 hours of battery life...)

I'm willing to bet the initial pricing will be higher. If I had to bet; I'd bet $1199.

I suspect it will take anywhere from 2-3 years till the $599 price point is reached.

me
 

i'll take that bet!

Me too.

I can see it as a good fit for field sales and service personnel to name two potential target markets.

Ditto. I've been waiting for a usable UMPC for a long time as well. The technology now approaches my definition of "usable".

Didn't something else just like this, but at a $2000 price tag, just get released?

That would probably be the OQO, been out for around a year now, and I am pretty sure they are crapping themselves right now...

sony
 

sony has a device for 2 years already on the japanese market.
i think it is a vaio.

its small and its a full windows xp pc.

if it wasnt that expensive i would buy it too.

dp

there you go
 

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGN-U50/

dp

here is an auction in japan

http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h34457962

its sold since 2004..

dp

It was actually out in the US market as well, but they pulled it after just a few months. I had the "pleasure" of having one on review for a week, and hated it. There really is a limit as to how small you can go. Same reasons I disliked the OQO. Given the poor sales figures the VGN-U750P had I am not suprised they stopped selling them. It was just another Aibo, Qualia, "Bean" product gone bad in typical Sony style...

For some reason "BOB 2006" pops into my head.

*ROFLMAO* I'm very curious to see how many people will remember.

Remember it? I still have it here. Every now and then I'll run it just for giggles.

I really did suck beyond anything they had ever made.

Boy this sounds like a real winner. Laptop-like battery life and $1200.

umm would someone enlighten me as to what "bob 2006" is? I googled it, wikipedia'd it, google imaged it... no love :(

It was a joke. "Bob" was Microsofts idea of a new OS back in 1995

http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html

It was one of their biggest flops ever, even worse than WindowsME and wasn't on the market for long (if at all actually).

The reference to "BOB 2006" is a joke, as some think Origami will be the next big flop...

MS Bob was a Windows "UI overlay" application for newbies that Gates' wife Melinda was the stepmother of in the mid-90s.

"Bob" led you, and himself, nowhere quickly.

Yeah, a real disappointment. Price is wrong, features are wrong and battery life is wrong.

So many wrongs can't be good...

Could it get any worse for them?

Damn right is can! :D

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech...7503911780.htm

Poor guy. There's nothing more embarrasing then having a product fail in some spectacular way while doing a demo. I've been there.

There is something more embarassing; when you don't have anyone around to help fix it :)

Been there, done that. :D

so tru
 

:D

Not exactly an auspicious beginning! Note to Samsung, Microsoft Kr and Intel Kr... there's only one Steve Jobs for a reason.