The ‘Carrypad’ journal was born out of a desire for a mid-range ultra-portable PC. Something like the Psion Netbook perhaps. Or the Sharp Zaurus or the Nokia 770. We called it the Carrypad concept device and it goes something like this:
- 5-7″ 800×640 Touch Screen
- Mini Keyboard
- Wifi, BT2.0, SD slot, USB2.0
- 600mhz advanced processor
- 3 hour battery
- Min 10GB storage
- Reduced OS
- Price$600
As you can see. The spec is nothing thats going to flatten an Origami UMPC device but its what we consider to be the sweet spot in the market now that smartphones are becoming more popular and pocket PC’s become less useful.
One device that’s been in the pipeline for a while is the Clio NXT window CE device. It comes very very close to the Carrypad concept and on top of that, the award-winning design looks pretty good too.
The Clio NXT is a re-design of the original Vadem Clio by the new owners Data Evolution. Its been in developement for a very long time but the specs still look like they have a chance against today’s low-end laptops and UMPC devices if the price is right when it’s released.
Included are all the wireless connectivity options you’d expect (take note DualCor,) a keyboard (should keep newspaper reviewers happy,) a good sized screen (slightly bigger than the Carrypad target size of 5-7″) and instant-on operating. It runs Windows CE.Net 5.0 which does include native Word and Excel file support. There’s no hard disk included but as 4Gb SD cards are so cheap now, you need to think hard to find situations where you’d need more.
On the negative side we have to say that playing videos could be a problem on the
Intel PXA255 processor at 400 MHz. You’ll get a 320×240 Divx at about 800kbps running (VHS quality) but nothing more than that.
It also looks like the price won’t be right either as, having read a number of forum threads, it looks like its being aimed at ‘vertical markets.’ Target price at the moment seems to be around $1000 which won’t work in the consumer world.
Its dificult to talk negatively about such a great design but in our opinion it needs to be 20% smaller all round, have a better processor (624Mhz Xscale would be fine thanks!) and priced at the $700 mark to have a fighting chance in the current market.
Steve / Chippy.
June 15th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Actually, being 50 now, the Clio NXT’s
screen is small enough for me.
The device will be closer to a laptop than a pda, but it will maintain much of the simplicity of the pda.
I am a Clio owner from waaaaay back when the first one came out, and can tell you the device feels pretty portable.
My wife, daughter and I use our old Clio 1050 as a gamer and to write documents still. It’s six years old,
is pretty tough (I’ve dropped it twice
and it shows no wear or tear).
My Clio could be anywhere in the house at any given time. I’d still travel with it if it was up to date, but the browser is obsolete and six years ago
(when Clio 1050 came out) I don’t think
wifi had even been heard of.
I can’t wait for my Clio NXT to be shipped!
Dale
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