I’ve checked out the manufacturers website now and scraped as much info as I can.
Here’s the low down on the hardware specs.
Its a low-end Geode LX800 based device running XP with a 40GB drive (80 for the ‘Office’ version.) and 512MB memory. It has a 7″ 800×480 LED back-lit convertible screen, weighs 960g and has Bluetooth, Wifi and card readers included. There’s a VGA and Ethernet connection, stereo speakers and mouse mouse pointer on the screen frame. That makes it the first convertible device with a mouse pointer on the screen frame and makes me wonder whether its a touch-screen device. There’s no indication that it has a touchscreen panel at all. However, for browsing in two-handed mode (bed, sofa etc.) a pointer stick is much more useful than a touch screen.
Battery life is a claimed 5hours with a 28W/hr battery. It appears to be a little on the high side. Mind you, I wouldn’t be too unhappy if it ‘only’ reached 4 hours battery life. Its also fanless. That makes a lot difference in bed. Trust me. I was in lying in bed installing Skype on the Pepperpad last night and its was very relaxing to have a few downbeat vibes playing rather than the noise of a fan.
A couple of notes about the LX800. Firstly, don’t expect to be loading Vista on it. There’s no 3D graphics support to speak of. Google Earth and iTunes won’t even run. Video shouldn’t be a problem as it should run up to a respectable 2Mbps on a Divx or WMV9 file.
I really like the look of the SA1 specifications. Overall its got just the kind of low-end spec that I think is right for your average ‘thin’ mobile computing user. (See why I think ‘low-end’ is important here.) It looks OK, if a little clumsy in its lines and the really nice thing about it is that its priced at around 600 Euro. ($720)
Unfortunately, this is a Japan-only device. All eyes to Dynamism.com!
Check out the nice flash demo here.
Product data sheet (Carrypad)
Steve /Chippy
I just read the article. It sounds like this device may have some potential.
Actually Steve, the Panasonic “WordsGear” (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuptINVBFMkkBbUZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2cjgwcmJxBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANNMDAyXzk0/SIG=120a1k5f2/EXP=1162970824/**http%3a//www.dynamism.com/wordsgear/main.shtml) also has a navigation device on the screen frame. I haven’t been able to get a lot of information about the WordsGear–it’s clearly not a UMPC, and the Dynamism folks don’t have any more information than is posted on their site–but it could be an interesting device for reading eBooks and watching movies in bed or on the couch. I am hoping to get the specs from Dynamism later in the month when they become available.
Doug
Oh, one other thing: 960 grams seems darn heavey to me; much too heavy for one-handed, laying in the bed navigation.
Doug
He is tactile or not tacile ???
Jeff: He? He who? The Wordsgear, you mean? Or the Kohjinsha SA1F00A?
If you are are asking about the WordsGear, then I *think* the answer is “yes.”
Doug