Building the Dream Google Smartbook 53
Posted
by
kdawson
from the call-it-the-ijoojoo dept.
from the call-it-the-ijoojoo dept.
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Mel Beckman conjectures on the functionality necessary to make the Google 'smartbook dream' a reality, prioritizing the features any smartphone/netbook hybrid would require to succeed. From multitouch, to SSDs, to dual-boot capabilities, the list goes beyond what early Android-based entrants have to offer but remains within the realm of possibility, especially if Google CEO Eric Schmidt's hints at a future Chrome/Android OS convergence come to pass."
Want! (Score:3, Interesting)
If I can run ssh, VNC and NX on it that is. And Firefox, Thunderbird and evince. And Cisco VPN. That's my basic set of tools.
If it's a full featured phone too I'd spend maybe $500 on it.
Re:Want! (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe you should keep an eye out for Nokia N900.
Ssh, Vnc and firefox work pretty nicely already.
Evince and vpnc (if that is ok for cisco VPN) were ported for N810 so I think those will also be available soon. Don't know what is the probability for NX or Thunderbird though.
I know what the deal-making feature is for me... (Score:2, Interesting)
As an owner of an XO-1, the thing that keeps me using my little green laptop even though it often gets mistaken for a kid's toy is battery life.
I fly to vacation travel. (I defy anybody to drive to Hawaii.) From Boston, Honolulu is at least 12 hours away. In-flight movies being what they are, I usually read a book or two. With my XO, I can listen to MP3s, keep a journal, read an eBook or play games. (Freecell and Adventure keep me amused.) I can even use my StarChart program to plan star-gazing while out there. [shameless plug]
What I can't do in the air (yet) is browse the web. Having the necessary apps stored locally is therefore a must and a device that needs "the cloud" to function is useless for air travelers. But I digress -- I was saying that battery life is the deal-maker with respect to netbooks for me.
I have two batteries for my XO. In flight, the wifi has to be turned off, which gives the XO over three hours of playing time on one battery -- more if I turn the back-light off and use the monochrome screen mode.
If the layover is sufficiently long, I can re-charge at least one battery while waiting for the flight from the west coast to the islands. Usually, I arrive after the cross-country flight with both batteries discharged, re-charge one and get most of the way to Hawaii before I'm out of power. I know of no other netbook-like device presently on the market that can do as well.
So rather than high-speed CPU, lots of storage, the ability to play HD movies or all the other features that seem to be standard in the current crop of netbooks, give me a machine that's frugal of battery, small enough to fit in coach class and equipped with enough built-in functionality to keep a man amused for six to eight hours.
"perfect" device (Score:1, Interesting)
OK - here's a starter list for my ideal device (saying this without owning a netbook, droid or iphone):
Hardware wise: :) ). :)
1. Something in the size/form factor of the Droid. Big screen, slide out keyboard, etc, but a little thinner, easy to put in a pocket. But make it "sexier" like the iPhone (but with a physical keyboard - it's not that I mind touch keyboards so much as the screen real-estate they take when they are on screen).
2. Support use of a full sized bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
3. Docking station/charger where I can drop it in and have it connected to a full sized, (at least 1280x1024 or 1366x768 res) screen, keyboard and mouse.
4. Make it at least as "capable" as a dual core atom (though the ARM, etc processors show a lot of promise as far as speed and battery life go) w/ nvidia ION graphics
5. Removable media slot - sdd cards, etc, to store docs, pics/videos, apps, etc on, read pics/video from digital cameras, etc.
6. Make it "project" video on the wall, and project a keyboard (ala the laser keyboards) on the table so I can have something like a full laptop experience without hauling around a keyboard and monitor (yeah, I'm dreaming, but these technologies do exist
7. "enough" ram to run multiple apps simultaneously ("enough" depends on the state of the os, software, etc whenever this comes out. 2-4GB would be reasonable)
8. Camera with led flash, able to take good quality pics and video (basically comparable or better than the droid at least). Ability to turn on/off the led flash to use as a flashlight as well
9. Microphone so it can record annotations, and sound with video.
10. GPS for nav software, etc.
11. Battery life? Something comparable to a good cell phone rather than a netbook/laptop (i.e. measured in days rather than hours)
12. 3G, 802.11b/g/n, bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
13. headphone and microphone jacks
Software wise: :)
1. Run some merged version of Android/Chrome OS (we are talking google here, after all)
2. Be able to run productivity apps - open office, chrome/firefox/safari/whatever, ssh/scp, VPN software to connect back to the office, etc - i.e. the kind of stuff you'd want on a netbook.
3. Google Maps nav software, of course.
4. Open platform to develop new apps (of course)
5. Voip based softphone (so I can just get a data plan and save money, vs having to have the hardware and phone plan to do "cell" calls). Would depend on data coverage (quality and scope) for success (i.e. probably have to be available on verizon)
6. Basic video conferencing
7. Multitasking - talk while surfing the web, etc.
8. Some decent games, for those boring meetings
So basically - I want a device the size of a droid/credit card, with the capabilities of a voip phone and a netbook, with some additions.
What I would want in a "Dream Google Smartbook"... (Score:3, Interesting)
a) call it what it is: a netbook ... smartbook is a pointless re-naming of the device category. Stop it.
b) TI OMAP 3xxx CPU (the 1GHz one)
c) Slate Tablet or Convertible-Tablet Netbook format -- either way, 5 way dpad and "Android Buttons" next to the screen
d) PixelQi hybrid LCD/e-paper 9" or 10" touch screen, multi-touch, 1280x720, 1280x768, or 1280x800 native resolution
e) DVI-I out, supporting 640x480, 800x480, 800x600, 1024x600, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, and 1280x1024 resolutions (the non-HD/wide screen resolutions using letter boxing to show an HD/widescreen resolution of the same width; so, a 1280x1024 monitor would show the 1280x720/1280x768/1280x800 native resolution of the device, with the black bands at the top and bottom of the screen)
f) 2-4 USB Host/OTG ports (keyboard, mouse, storage, network, etc.)
g) 1 mini-USB for charging and data sync (it's ok to ALSO have a conventional charger, this is just for opportunistic charging at any USB port that's available)
h) 3.5mm headset (bi-directional, so you can use it with VOIP/Skype/Google-Voice)
i) 1GB - 2GB RAM
j) 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB storage options
k) 1 or 2 full size SDHC slots
l) Android, with both the built-in Android browser, and the Chrome browser
m) The Android x86 and Acer port of Firefox for Android
n) Throw in a Fennec port to Android
o) 8+ hours battery life, even with Wifi and Bluetooth on
p) Wifi b/g/n
q) Full bluetooth stack (DUN, PAN, FTP, HID, BIP, A2DC, etc.)
r) PCI Express Mini card slot, for user-added 3G (or for carrier subsidized models)
s) fast-boot/splashtop optimizations for Android (perhaps some of ChromeOS'es ability to check the validity of the OS)
t) Android can easily/seamlessly hand-off to other OSes (UBuntu-ARM, Mer/Maemo, Windows CE, maybe ChromeOS if an ARM CPU is used; or Ubuntu, Windows, or any other available x86 OS (ChromeOS, etc.) if an x86 CPU is used)
The Aspire 1420P convertible tablet netbook might be a good start, if it was scaled down to 10", and changed to a ARM CPU with a PixelQi display.
I have more thoughts about it at: http://johnkzin.livejournal.com/55488.html [livejournal.com]