New Cellphone Sized "Computer" Takes Aim at Sub-Notebooks

IMOVIO has launched a new cellphone-sized computer that is aimed at something similar to the subnotebook market. While it doesn't have 3G of its own, it does have a QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, and a $175 price point. "It can connect to the Internet using a standard Wi-Fi connection, or it can use your cell phone's mobile broadband connection via Bluetooth. The company is currently pitching it to mobile network operators and retail stores. It's being compared to the ill-fated Palm Foleo. But the comparison doesn't work because the Foleo was Palm-phone only, didn't fit in a pocket and cost well over three times the price of the iKIT.

Hasn't this been done before?

[Darundal]

How is this not a PDA minus the PIM apps?

Nokia

[rlp]

Nokia has a line of small devices that do the same thing. The 770 (which I use) and 800 have on-screen keyboards, the 810 has a slide-down keyboard. The access the internet via WiFi or a bluetooth connection on a phone.

Re:Screen pixels?

[BUL2294]

Someone posted on the original article's forum that it's 320x240. Unfortunately, in this day and age, that resolution borders on useless. Sure, for 80x25 text or for an old VGA 320x200 DOS game it would be cool. But to do anything of recent vintage, you'll end up having to pan-and-scan in zoom mode to see a webpage. Hell, I don't like browsing on my Toshiba Libretto 110CT--and that's 800x480... (And my complaints are with the screen resolution, not speed--Firefox 3 runs acceptably on it).

Re:infuriating

[east coast]

Let me ask: Why should it matter where we buy it from? If anything you would think the manufacturers would find accessories of this nature to have high profit margins compared to their phones. I know I'd buy into it.

Tandy PC-5

[bigattichouse]

I still have my old tandy with whopping 4k of ram somewhere: http://www.trs-80.com/images/computer-pc5x300.gif [trs-80.com] Boy I miss that thing. I remember writing little programs for my physics class. It was also handy to write out equations "long hand" to make sure I entered them properly. If I buy a cell-palm-top, am I just trying to relive junior high? Maybe I won't get beat up so much this time.

It's like they jumped into a time machine...

[sootman]

... and went back to 2003! [mobilemag.com] Twice! [tomsguide.com]

Dell Axim X51V had all this a couple years ago

[Toll_Free]

My Dell Axim X51V has the same thing. It can do VGA, with the proper cable, has Bluetooth, WiFi and most everything else this thing has.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Dell-Axim-X51v.htm [mobiletechreview.com]

It has a 16 meg RAM video system in it (not bad for a PDA, and it does VGA on screen as well as using the external VGA to monitor cable), although it costs 50 or so dollars (USD) more to get the VGA output on your monitor, it's still relatively cheap. (http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Axim-X51v-Presentation-Cable/dp/B000FFYALU)

Add a bluetooth keyboard, and you have pretty much anything and everything you need, unless you HAVE to run linux to be cool (or insert reasoning here, I don't bash OS's, they ALL have their place.)

At least, it does everything I need... Found an upgrade to 6.1 windows, and it works great for me.

Of course, YMMV, someone else will say it's crap, etc., etc., etc.... But the bottom line is, it works, and has been out for YEARS. Not to mention, it runs at > 500 megahertz.

Why does it seem any palm sized device that runs linux is behind the times... Either an old kernel, or a newer kernel, but they are playing ketchup (pun intended) with what's already out there? I mean, seriously now.... Can someone answer that question?
--Toll_Free

Re:PDA Specs

[mollymoo]

Those specs are very similar to the Gumstix [gumstix.com] Verdex, which runs 2.6 just fine.

exactly

[zogger]

I want one that snaps into a netbook sized device (giving you a bigger battery, a bigger screen and keyboard and perhaps some more flash memory), or a laptop (ability to access optical drives, longer battery life, etc), or expand that laptop like it is a dock to make it a desktop with full sized monitor and keyboard and good mouse. The same basic unit, but highly modular. A very portable computer that functions as a cellphone, or "other" depending on what is is snapped into to and what accessories are then present. *That* would be a slick little gadget, and once it was attached to another thing, you'd have two or even three screens!

Naw, EEE PCs are the coolest thing ever...

[Joce640k]

I tried one the other day, it even ran my 3D editor perfectly at speeds which would put one of those old SGI boxes to shame. It has VGA output for big-screen presentations and would have saved me a lot of shoulder ache from lugging a laptop around last month. I'm getting one as soon as I've got a few hundred bucks to spare.

The ONLY thing I can see that this thing has got going for it is the WIFI. With some custom applets it could do all sorts of cool things wirelessly.

Then again, so could an Eee PC...

Re:infuriating

[smithmc]

It's infuriating. I already have a computer the size of a cell phone. It's called a "cell phone". Damn it, why can't I plug it into a TV or monitor, and plug a mouse and keyboard into it and use the damned thing like a computer?

I am so waiting for something like that to happen. I think of it more as a pocket-size computer "core" (not sure exactly what it contains - CPU, RAM, SSD, what else? NIC? Video?) that you carry around and can plug into various "carriers" that embody the I/O, display, etc. You might have a small, smartphone-sized carrier for true mobility, a larger one that would be basically a notebook PC minus its motherboard, maybe even a set-top box for when you want to browse in front of your big-screen TV, etc. I think that would be way cool.