"The Origami project": MS new lifestyle portable?

Currently I don't even think this is being made to compete against the PSP due to the size. But I guess we'll see in the coming days.
 
I'm actually rolling this over in my mind and, I cant make up my mind if this thing will be succesful.

On the one hand, Tablet PC's have shown to be failures yet..

Wouldn't a mini-PC with full PC functionality be kinda awesome? The whole idea of playing Halo on Windows brings it home. You could trade videos and stuff like that.

I dont think, it'll make a good dedicated MP3 player though. That's one drawback.

I think it mainly depends how good they can make the little keyboard. Some sort of breakthrough is needed there. They need to throw a lot of resources at that.
 
Here's an MSnbc article on this. The interesting part is that these will supposedly be coming from different computer makers, and are expected to debut soon after launch.
"The early versions are expected to be available to consumers soon after its debut at CeBit, the person said.

They will be built by a variety of computer makers, this person said, and are expected to sell for between $500 and $1,000, although final prices aren't yet available.
Click to expand...
 
Here's an example:

I probably wouldn't bring a laptop over to my parents house.

But I very well MIGHT bring something like that. Then if I wanted to show my brother something, or go on the net for a few minutes, I could.

It seems sort of awesome in that respect.
 
I also think Sony is safe here.

It clearly wont compete with PSP, at least directly. PSP will end up at 99 bucks and this would be 500-800. A $99 PSP with similar graphics with be far more tempting and easy a purchase for gamers or as a electronic toy.
 
Xbot360 said:
I'm actually rolling this over in my mind and, I cant make up my mind if this thing will be succesful.

On the one hand, Tablet PC's have shown to be failures yet..

Wouldn't a mini-PC with full PC functionality be kinda awesome? The whole idea of playing Halo on Windows brings it home. You could trade videos and stuff like that.

I dont think, it'll make a good dedicated MP3 player though. That's one drawback.

I think it mainly depends how good they can make the little keyboard. Some sort of breakthrough is needed there. They need to throw a lot of resources at that.
Click to expand...

I agree - I don't see how this will fly commercially. From everything I've been hearing, the base price point will be $500, with better appointed versions available for more money, with more storage/RAM/CPU etc. But whilst I can see these flying off the shelf for use in several vertical industries such as medicine, the average Joe is unlikely to buy one just for viewing pictures, movies, etc. - *and* also carry a cell phone that will do much the same. I use a couple of different types of UMPC's in my work, an OQO and a U71P - they're very cute, and garanteed to turn heads when you pull them out, but in practise they aren't a whole lot of use because, at least in my case, my productivity at a computer is related to my ability to interact with it - i.e. keyboard and mouse. The Origami device seems mostly aimed at point-and-click use. Plus, computer technology hasn't advanced so far in the past year that you can put a full version of Vista on a low power device and expect it to run like the clappers - it ain't gonna happen. A big question in my mind will be what graphics support will it have. At a time when convergence is the trend, I don't see what mass market will support it. I suspect that it will end up being a very cool niche product until the technology comes along to enable faster mobile computing and alternative input methods (i.e. better speech recognition than is currently available).
 
Once we get a better idea of the specs we'll be able to figure out if its glorified PocketPC or a shrunken laptop. I know the video seems to focus on 'no keyboard' but it also shows people using it with a keyboard so i'm not ruling out 'laptop replacement'. I still think its largely aimed at the home office user/business owner though.
 
The main reason I want it is for taking quick notes and drawings. It would be infinitly better then just using a napkin, lol. The largest PDAs like the Axim 51v arn't terrible in this regard, but they arn't that great either. I'm somewhat undecided though. Maybe it would be better to just get the x51v for on the go, and a Toshiba Tecra M4 with the Geforce 6600 when I need more serious power. I won't get a regular laptop that's for sure, because I'm a visual person and like to draw. Then again, maybe getting a standard laptop combined with a Wacom tabet would work, although that would probably be way too bulky, but at least I could also use it with my desktop. As far as I can tell, for someone who likes to draw, but needs PIM capabilities on the go, nothing can beat a mini-tablet.
 
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I'm wondering if the mini-Xenos speculation we've been hearing in other threads is related to this Oragami project... thoughts?
 
Not if Origami is going to be available soon, even on a limited basis. A Xenos-like handheld GPU should still be many months away from release since most next generation chips have been targeting 2007/2008 and ATi hasn't even announced more than teaser information as of yet.
 
Download the otto berkes video. It's a good overview and really gets me excited. AKA I want one.

It's neat that is has USB ports to easily attach a fuill size keyboard. As well as VGA port to easily hook it to a full size monitor.
 
Other than price I don't see what the big deal is about the Ultra mobile PCs. The Fujitsu Lifebook P1510D is similar yet better.

Origami Lifebook
---------------------------
screen size 7" 9"
keyboard no yes
weight 2.5 lbs 2.1 lbs
battery life 2.5-3 hrs 2.5-3 hrs (regular battery)

Besides the fact that the Lifebook costs over $1000 I just don't see the draw.

Also, the thumb keyboard that's being shown off in pictures isn't even new. DialKeys comes loaded on Fujitsu's Lifebook.

http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P15D
 
Is there specs of these "Origami" devices?
Megaherzs, gigabytes, floatingpoints and such?
Would such a device even be capable to run Halo at an acceptable framerate?
 
pixelbox said:
uhhhhhh...PDA's fills that void. This thing is so ugly. I also reminds me of the xbox showing and from what i see it doesn't do much more than PSP.
Click to expand...

Bleh, PDA's are crap, a fully functional micro-PC has been a long time coming, and if performance targets are set low enough (IE, on par with current PDAs) it should be roughly possible to make an x86 handheld Windows XP embedded that's not much larger than a PDA.

BTW, these Origami devices are just even smaller tablet PCs, made possible by lower power parts (ultra low voltage low speed Pentium M's and flash hard drives?), though most likely lacking the pressure sensitivity of a tablet pc. Still, gates supposendly liked the tablet idea, maybe he figures it just needs a better form factor to succeed. (though in my experience, hand recognition on the tablet OS takes quite a bit of processing power, so I'm not sure if a smaller less powerful tablet will give a good user experience....doesn't that bring us back to the original tablets, which just sucked?)
 
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