Ok.
The keyboard is proprietary (or so they say). So you wouldn't be able to hook up a Logitech keyboard and mouse to the Phantom. In the same respect you wouldn't be able to hook up the Phantom keyboard to a computer. The keyboard itself feels very good, and actually felt comfortable to use with it in your lap. The mouse is optical with a middle scroll button. Very standard, but it felt better than it looked if that means anything.
Video: DVI out, VGA out, Component, and S-Video. The screen resolution in the one game I played was adjustable, so this leads me to believe you can play whatever your TV will support. This may change so don't hold me to it.
Audio: Regular RCA, Analog Surround, and Digital Optical output. I wasn't able to test the surround sound unfortunately.
There are ethernet and two usb ports on the back. I'm not sure if the USB ports will be there on the final product as this was a prototype. The quality of the product (workmanship) was very good. The unit and the keyboard and mouse all felt very good to hold. I would hope that was the case considering it was hand built, but it is a good start. It's about the size of an XBOX and perhaps a tiny bit larger. They do think it will decrease in size considerably. ~20%.
A lot of the people who worked on the original XBOX are supposedly working on this unit, as well as a bunch of guys that created DirectX.
Unfortunately, the internet connection in the store stops any downloads over a certain size so I couldn't load any games. I was going to try Thief. They ran UT 2004 at CES and you can connect with any PC server which is a very good thing. They say it will also support MMORPG's which is also good. (I expected these things, but you never know...)
The controls work like any PC, so there is nothing special there. The wireless solution for the keyboard and mouse would be very good though.
Serious Gaming: There MAY be some neat things in store ever if you are a serious gamer. I really can't say too much, but I was impressed at what MIGHT be in the works. The biggest thing I tried to convince them to do was have an unlimited service, where you pay a monthly fee and you can play any game you want. Think about it (the following is not fact but what i want to see!!!!)....say $100 bucks a month, but you can play any game you want at any time. That's two games a month or maybe less considering games have recenlty came out at $55. For the same amount of money you can play as many games as possible. Not a bad deal in my opinion if you were going to pay that much anyway. Or perhaps have a lifetime fee like TiVO does, where you pay up front, then you have free games for the life of the console.
Families: This is where the biggest market is in my opinion. You can let your kids have tons of edutainment titles when they are young. Then you can play your own games when they go to bed. Best yet, it's in the living room not the your office. Also, you can set up accounts where the kids can only play certain things and have no "purchasing" power. That way you give them what you want them to have. And you also do not need to run out and find certain titles or rent games for you kids. In addition, there should be message boards and a messenging service (Like AIM - my sister is addicted to AIM like all middle/high school girls).
All in all I was impressed. It's not perfect by any means, but it fits a new niche market that has the ability to grow if done correctly. I can answer any other questions you might have.
