CrunchPad Will Be a 'Dead Simple Web Tablet' 145
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the tablets-going-crunch-is-usually-a-bad-thing dept.
from the tablets-going-crunch-is-usually-a-bad-thing dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has been talking for a year about building a touch-screen tablet for Web surfing and now it appears that the CrunchPad is close to becoming a reality. 'We're going to make some really big announcements,' said Arrington, who predicted a prototype would be ready for unveiling by the end of July. The purpose of the CrunchPad will be very simple: surfing the Web. Turn it on and up comes a browser — 'an Internet consumption device,' for reading, checking e-mail or watching video. The CrunchPad will not have a hard drive or keyboard and photos of the latest prototype show a device with a 12 inch screen. 'The screen is now flush with the case and we've decreased the overall thickness to about 18 mm,' writes Arrington. 'The case will be aluminum, which is more expensive than plastic but is sturdier and lets us shave a little more off the overall thickness of the device.' The CrunchPad boots directly into the browser with a Linux-based operating system and a WebKit-based browser. A video of an earlier CrunchPad prototype in action shows a device which, unlike the iPhone, runs flash. 'The next time we talk about the CrunchPad publicly will be at a special press and user event in July in Silicon Valley,' writes Arrington. 'We're full on. These prototypes are real.'"
Wanna sell them like hot bread ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Then please add a strong (8\10 meters) IR interface.
It can then become my universal remote AND my (potato) couch web browser.
Otherwise, I already found some solutions to browse from the couch (aka iphone)
Obligatory... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a netbook and I don't see why anyone would possibly prefer a larger screen in a format that is easier to hold to something with a keyboard.
Re:It needs some method of data entry (Score:4, Insightful)
... so you would hold some small keyboard in your hand and your other hand could be holding the tablet? Sounds horrible.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:1, Insightful)
It's not a netbook and I don't see why anyone would possibly prefer a larger screen in a format that is easier to hold to something with a keyboard.
I hope i'm missing your sarcasm. The 4th of July alcohol is getting to me.
Sony Reader [google.com]
Amazon Kindle [google.com]
TC1100 [google.com]
For certain applications, a tablet is often an ideal device for human interfacing. (for me) It's easier to curl around a tablet on a bed, in a chair, on a hammock with a tablet than a laptop. It's also more enjoyable for me to read comic books and other full screen files on my tablet (Tc1100) than on my netbook or my 17" laptop.
If it isn't expensive, the tablet format is great. My only concern with any device such as this is what's the battery life going to be like.
Web "Consumer" device (Score:5, Insightful)
Overall cool - iphone with big enough screen
But they really should focus on design of a virtual keyboard that is large and ergonomically laid out.
We have to avoid trending toward encouraging passive web surfers who are only "channel surfing"
just like the advertisers want you to.
The internet is way more interesting and useful when it is truely two-way, peer-to-peer.
Re:Obligatory... (Score:1, Insightful)
Yes, the 'larger screen in a format that is easier to hold' was supposed to be a dead giveaway to the sarcasm.
Re:It needs some method of data entry (Score:3, Insightful)
I've got a 8.9" tablet-convertible netbook installed with Windows 7.
Even with this relatively small screen, the built-in onscreen keyboard is really quite nice.
While I can't easily touch-type on it, I can definitely "hunt-and-peck" with 2 hands. On a 12" screen I should be able to use all my fingers.
In a previous video of the Crunchpad, they used some clunky looking onscreen keyboard and I hope they switch to something better (like the Win7 one).
A multi-touch screen will make it even better.
Re:It needs some method of data entry (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Will it be possible to close the browser? (Score:3, Insightful)
It runs Linux and I find it difficult to believe that they are making any serious attempt to "lock it down."
If you can't access at least a shell prompt out of the box, I'm sure someone will post a youtube how-to video within 5 minutes of release.
Re:It needs some method of data entry (Score:3, Insightful)
Put a keyboard on the back which can be folded to the front, depending on the position you can use it as a pad or a netbook.
Re:Web "Consumer" device (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, they support it poorly. Jobs has a point.
I have two ARM-based devices (Archos 605, Nokia N810) which support Flash. The worst thing is to actually go to a web page with flash crap on it, because it causes the machine to drag. Bad flash ads cause the browser to virtually lock up, and while you can play YouTube videos (Archos cheats and use their own player once it recognizes it's trying to play a FLV, while Nokia plays it by running the Flash player natively), some other sites cause it drag again - at one point the Archos only played the audio, while the Nokia virtually locked up, but you could get 1 frame every 30 seconds, and audio that plays for 2 seconds every 5. And you can't scroll, close the browser, etc., because the CPU is busy doing the flash, and there's not enough CPU time to handle the browser UI.
Effectively, you'll need a browser with a built-in FlashBlock, but unlike FlashBlock, it needs to work when the page is rendered, not when the plugin recognizes an embedded flash video in the DOM. Because it really sucks when you're surfing the web, and then hit a page with flash (ad, or other flash thing) that causes your browsing to come to a halt as the CPU is busy doing the Flash playback, instead of rendering the page or letting you do UI things like page scrolling.
I will note that both devices actually run Linux inside. Flash is cool, but really, the implementation of the browser with flash needs to be improved significantly.
Also, a 12" display, the CPU really needs at least a 2D graphics accellerator. 1024x768 is painful on a framebuffer only display.