fluppeteer
Distinguished
- Jul 6, 2006
- 15
- 0
- 18,560
I liked the 5mx when I first saw it - I knew several people who had them.
Lest we look at it with rose-tinted spectacles, though...
1) The screen was awful. Thinking about a replacement, are we after
something that's easy to use outside (transflective), or the best
overall picture quality (probably backlit)?
2) The keyboard, although the slide design was genius, wasn't
perfect. The way you hit your thumb on the case every time you
tried to use the space bar, for example. I think we could grow it
slightly (so long as it's still pocketable). FWIW, I couldn't use the
5mx keyboard properly, it was slightly too small. I *do* use a
Libretto 70CT all the time (still) - there's not much in it.
3) EPOC32 is actually not that bad an OS, as evidenced by the
ubiquity of Symbian. I have to admit that a device like this would
be much more tempting as a "real" PC, though - it's much easier
to do it with an ARM (see Nokia's 9000 series), but there's really
no PC of this size out there. Would it be the ideal PDA? No. Would
it be very useful? If cheap enough, I'd buy one.
My thoughts...
a) The 7.2" 1280x768 screen on the Toshiba Libretto U100/U105 is
very nice. You can always up the "dpi" setting in Windows. Bear
in mind that many apps can't handle screens that are any smaller
than this - go for 800x480 or similar, and there'll be problems with
too much being unusable.
b) The hard icons are pointless - fill the lid with the LCD as much as
possible. Some PDA application could overlay it when not doing
generic Windows stuff.
c) Since there's no room for a trackpad (although a trackpoint has
its merits), I'm resigned to the touch screen. Agreed that if it can
be made to rotate, table-style, that would be a bonus - but that
may not play with the sliding keyboard. I'd seriously consider a
scroll wheel and possibly some custom buttons on the side of the
case - they make a massive difference to the usability of the
P800/900 series of Sony Ericsson phones. Otherwise your hand
is in the way of the screen. Mind you, a trackpad on the back of
the screen might work.
d) Agreed with a low voltage Core chip - and underclock it as much
as possible (certainly no fans). It can run faster when docked.
If power can be kept low enough, charge it over USB (at least on
an overnight trickle charge). Power consumption is *much* higher
than even old ARMs, so you'll never get much life out of anything
that size. Problem is, XP struggles on anything slower; Vista will
be even worse (although it might solve the scaling issue). Linux
is fine on my P120MMX Libretto, but I wouldn't say no to being able
to dual-boot. Recent attempts at dual-chip devices (ARM + Pentium)
are interesting for PDAs, but are probably too complicated here.
VIA chips are interesting, but actually aren't incredibly low power
in comparison with a low-clocked Core, and can't be sped up when
running from mains. No attempt at clever graphics is going to work
in this form factor, but XP doesn't really need it for basic running.
e) Go with mini-USB (possibly OTG, with mass storage so you can
sync without powering up).
f) Doubt you'll ever get it to go with AA batteries - not enough
capacity. Li-ion is the way, however nice the idea of buying
replacements in an emergency might be.
g) 802.11 is a massive usability benefit, although not turned on for
long if you like battery life. Bluetooth gives you the possibility of
cell phone modems, external keyboards and mice, etc. Big big
win.
h) VGA (probably via a break-out) is useful, although there are
CF-card and USB VGA adaptors. Go HDMI 1.3 mini-connector
if you're feeling posh. Video playback's going to be a bit
limited, though. A real VGA adaptor is always useful - you
never have the break-out cable with you when you want to
show someone something. DVI would be nicer, but that would
take up half the side of the device!
i) Even if the device isn't a couple of mm bigger, I'd love to see a
slightly bigger keyboard. The butterfly design from the 701C
Thinkpad might be a useful starting point. Keep the stability of
the 5mx design, though.
j) Keep the compact flash slot. You can get all kinds of adaptors,
including SD card readers. (Also including 802.11, but that's
probably useful enough to integrate.) Cardbus is probably too big,
and ExpressCard still too rare.
k) Much as I'd love solid state, it's still pretty expensive. I'd either
go for a 1.8" drive (where?) or stick to low capacity - even 8GB
is probably plenty for this kind of device. You can always add a
big CF card for more, or run an external USB drive. Solid state
has the benefit that it's easier to build into the case shape.
l) 512MB as a minimum. I'm wary of cost, though. 1GB would be
nicer, but this is never going to be a high-end PC, and would
be pretty poor as any kind of primary machine. My Libretto
is fine with 32MB and a big swap file, mainly because I don't
try to run XP on it.
m) 1" is possibly too thick. My Libretto is about that, and it's not
pocketable. Shave it down a bit and the other dimensions don't
matter quite so much. The Libretto has a full 9mm HDD and a
PC-card slot, so I'm sure things can be shrunk.
n) I think £4-500 would work (so yes, $1000). £300 more so, and
depending on the keyboard I might even be tempted at that point
(so long as I can dual-boot into Linux). This is a gadget/second PC,
so it's not what people will put the big spend into.
I'd also like IrDA, but that's because some of us are still stuck in
the stone age.
Interesting idea. I'll give it some more thought over the weekend.
Btw, people are aware of what Psion did with CE with the Netbook,
yes? Very nice devices for web surfing.
--
Fluppeteer
Lest we look at it with rose-tinted spectacles, though...
1) The screen was awful. Thinking about a replacement, are we after
something that's easy to use outside (transflective), or the best
overall picture quality (probably backlit)?
2) The keyboard, although the slide design was genius, wasn't
perfect. The way you hit your thumb on the case every time you
tried to use the space bar, for example. I think we could grow it
slightly (so long as it's still pocketable). FWIW, I couldn't use the
5mx keyboard properly, it was slightly too small. I *do* use a
Libretto 70CT all the time (still) - there's not much in it.
3) EPOC32 is actually not that bad an OS, as evidenced by the
ubiquity of Symbian. I have to admit that a device like this would
be much more tempting as a "real" PC, though - it's much easier
to do it with an ARM (see Nokia's 9000 series), but there's really
no PC of this size out there. Would it be the ideal PDA? No. Would
it be very useful? If cheap enough, I'd buy one.
My thoughts...
a) The 7.2" 1280x768 screen on the Toshiba Libretto U100/U105 is
very nice. You can always up the "dpi" setting in Windows. Bear
in mind that many apps can't handle screens that are any smaller
than this - go for 800x480 or similar, and there'll be problems with
too much being unusable.
b) The hard icons are pointless - fill the lid with the LCD as much as
possible. Some PDA application could overlay it when not doing
generic Windows stuff.
c) Since there's no room for a trackpad (although a trackpoint has
its merits), I'm resigned to the touch screen. Agreed that if it can
be made to rotate, table-style, that would be a bonus - but that
may not play with the sliding keyboard. I'd seriously consider a
scroll wheel and possibly some custom buttons on the side of the
case - they make a massive difference to the usability of the
P800/900 series of Sony Ericsson phones. Otherwise your hand
is in the way of the screen. Mind you, a trackpad on the back of
the screen might work.
d) Agreed with a low voltage Core chip - and underclock it as much
as possible (certainly no fans). It can run faster when docked.
If power can be kept low enough, charge it over USB (at least on
an overnight trickle charge). Power consumption is *much* higher
than even old ARMs, so you'll never get much life out of anything
that size. Problem is, XP struggles on anything slower; Vista will
be even worse (although it might solve the scaling issue). Linux
is fine on my P120MMX Libretto, but I wouldn't say no to being able
to dual-boot. Recent attempts at dual-chip devices (ARM + Pentium)
are interesting for PDAs, but are probably too complicated here.
VIA chips are interesting, but actually aren't incredibly low power
in comparison with a low-clocked Core, and can't be sped up when
running from mains. No attempt at clever graphics is going to work
in this form factor, but XP doesn't really need it for basic running.
e) Go with mini-USB (possibly OTG, with mass storage so you can
sync without powering up).
f) Doubt you'll ever get it to go with AA batteries - not enough
capacity. Li-ion is the way, however nice the idea of buying
replacements in an emergency might be.
g) 802.11 is a massive usability benefit, although not turned on for
long if you like battery life. Bluetooth gives you the possibility of
cell phone modems, external keyboards and mice, etc. Big big
win.
h) VGA (probably via a break-out) is useful, although there are
CF-card and USB VGA adaptors. Go HDMI 1.3 mini-connector
if you're feeling posh. Video playback's going to be a bit
limited, though. A real VGA adaptor is always useful - you
never have the break-out cable with you when you want to
show someone something. DVI would be nicer, but that would
take up half the side of the device!
i) Even if the device isn't a couple of mm bigger, I'd love to see a
slightly bigger keyboard. The butterfly design from the 701C
Thinkpad might be a useful starting point. Keep the stability of
the 5mx design, though.
j) Keep the compact flash slot. You can get all kinds of adaptors,
including SD card readers. (Also including 802.11, but that's
probably useful enough to integrate.) Cardbus is probably too big,
and ExpressCard still too rare.
k) Much as I'd love solid state, it's still pretty expensive. I'd either
go for a 1.8" drive (where?) or stick to low capacity - even 8GB
is probably plenty for this kind of device. You can always add a
big CF card for more, or run an external USB drive. Solid state
has the benefit that it's easier to build into the case shape.
l) 512MB as a minimum. I'm wary of cost, though. 1GB would be
nicer, but this is never going to be a high-end PC, and would
be pretty poor as any kind of primary machine. My Libretto
is fine with 32MB and a big swap file, mainly because I don't
try to run XP on it.
m) 1" is possibly too thick. My Libretto is about that, and it's not
pocketable. Shave it down a bit and the other dimensions don't
matter quite so much. The Libretto has a full 9mm HDD and a
PC-card slot, so I'm sure things can be shrunk.
n) I think £4-500 would work (so yes, $1000). £300 more so, and
depending on the keyboard I might even be tempted at that point
(so long as I can dual-boot into Linux). This is a gadget/second PC,
so it's not what people will put the big spend into.
I'd also like IrDA, but that's because some of us are still stuck in
the stone age.
Interesting idea. I'll give it some more thought over the weekend.
Btw, people are aware of what Psion did with CE with the Netbook,
yes? Very nice devices for web surfing.
--
Fluppeteer
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