I agree wholeheartedly. Build it, price it under or around $1000 and I’ll buy it a heartbeat.

I have been wanting this exact form factor since seeing the first Tablets. I am an ex-Franklin planner person who is adjusting to a PPC (Dell Axim) and most of the stuff I do could be handled by a robust PDA, but I need a screen about the size of a folded sheet of paper. I’d read a LOT more e-books.

One vertical market that would be INCREDIBLE is education. Imagine law students not having to cart rolling boxes of textbooks and having search capabilities for all their texts. Primary and secondary students without “backpack shoulder” and electronic homework submission! Textbooks that could be updated as needed, instead of when they get so outdated they HAVE to be.

Get the educational publishing industry onboard with this, and it would be the vertical market to put this over the top.

It would provide a screen large enough to actually watch video & view photos, while still being small enough to be portable. It needs to be smaller than a notebook computer, but larger than a PDA. Granted, you can not put a device the size of a DVD case in your pocket, but something doesn’t have to fit in a pocket to be portable. This device could be used in so many different situations that it would have broad appeal in the market. I only pray that Apple is working on such a device & will release it in 2004. They have an opportunity to impact the industry with the iSlate & iVideo media Store as much as the iPod & iTMS will.

iSlate

New Apple mini-tablet –> PMA (portable media appliance)

Designed not to be a creative device like a desktop or laptop, but rather a sophisticated display device that communicates seamlessly with other devices via Rendezvous & 802.11, BT, GPRS, FireWire, etc.

Device Size:
8” x 5.0” x .65” (±15oz)
± 1/2 size of a 17” PowerBook
± 2x size of a Palm T5 or an iPod
± size of a DVD movie case
small enough to hold with one hand by the bezel (.5” bezel on the sides)

Screen:
800 x 480 pixels minimum (1024 x 600 ideally)
±8” LCD (16:9 or 16:10 ratio)
± 1/2 size of 17” PowerBook screen
± 2x size of a Palm T5 screen
able to display “640 x 480 material” & DVD (720×480) quality video natively

Battery:
6-9 hour Li-Ion battery (or some new battery technology)

Storage:
1.8” 40GB or 60GB hard drive
(additional capacity can come from external devices)
256MB or 512MB RAM – fixed
SD slot (w/ adapter for xD & Smart Media)

Processor & OS ?:
Motorola 800 MHz G4 mobile w/ Mac OS X lite or
Intel 500 MHz XScale PXA270 w/ Mac OS Mobile?

Connectivity:
802.11 –> Desktop or Laptop, Stereo, Internet via Wi-Fi hotspots
Bluetooth –> Keyboard, Mouse, PDA, Wireless Headphones, Internet via GSM Phone
FireWire –> iPod, Computer, Hard Drive, DVD/CD writer, Video Camera, iSight
USB 2.0 –> Printer, PDA, Digital Still Camera
mini-DVI w/adapter for:
-> ADC & VGA for larger monitor
-> DVI for video projector or HDTV
-> S-Video for video projector or TV
-> Composite for video projector or TV
Stereo mini out
Stereo mini in
Rendezvous for seamless connectivity to other devices

Input:
Inkwell via touch screen &/or stylus
Keyboard & mouse via Bluetooth or USB
Microphone
Remote control via Bluetooth

Applications:
inkwell, iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, Safari, QuickTime, iSync, Rendezvous
Preview, Mail, iCal, Address Book, Sherlock, iChat AV
Keynote, FileMaker, Quicken, etc.

A/V Formats:
H.264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Audible, JPEG, TIFF, GIF

Accessories:
Charger, External Battery, Stand, clip for iSight, Portable folding BT keyboard, BT mouse
Headphone w/Microphone boom, quality stereo headphones

Price ??:
$699 to $999

Create a device that is bigger that the largest PDA or Archos type device, yet smaller than the average notebook or tablet computer. Imagine if you will, holding a device (about the size of a DVD case) away from you anywhere from 12″ to 18″. Obviously a 4″ screen would be inadequate, but a 7″ to 9″ diagonal widescreen would be more than acceptable. It would also need to be viewable in portrait or landscape mode. It could still be small enough to fit in a stack of books, a briefcase, a large purse, of any number of other carrying cases. It would be something that could be viewed in an office, at home, in a coffee shop, on an airplane or train, or even in the backseat of a car.

The idea is not to see how much visual information one can cram into a small space (3″ to 4″ screens) or replace existing devices like the TV or Video Projector. The idea is to create a device that is a reasonable compromise between portability & “acceptable or pleasurable” viewing for multiple applications & that also complements existing devices.

Although a 4 lb, 12″ notebook computer displays video beautifully (I use one everyday), it is too big for the situations I have described. Beyond the innumerable business applications it could fulfill, it could display video & photos on a screen that is much bigger than an Archos type device or PDA, & yet smaller than a notebook computer. It doesn’t need to carry everything all the time, so it doesn’t require a massive hard drive. The internal HD needs only to be large enough for the OS, applications & enough storage to carry material while you away from any connectivity to other devices or the internet.

From a strictly “video perspective”, a large part of its success would hinge upon Apple’s ability to distribute video clips through an online store much like iTMS. This store could provide educational content, business content, news content, & entertainment content beyond just movies. To be truly successful, it must integrate into Apple’s “Digital Lifestyle” strategy, & be truly portable (ubiquitous wireless connectivity & good battery life).

Originally Posted by: lajocaab on Feb 11, 04 | 11:05 pm

Nope. It’s close, but I agree with jk, I need more processing power. The Transmeta Crusoe 800MHz is too sluggish.

Products like this already on its way. Advueu has made a product that is almost exactely what the perfect form factor would be.
Check it out for yourself.
http://www.advueu.com/003/productitem.php?id=51

I came to the independent conclusion that I needed something more than a PDA, and almost purchased a Sony U750P. It would be more convenient to move my files (Word documents, news articles in pdfs, PowerPoint presentations, and saved TV shows from my TiVo!) to a mini Tablet PC and have them available without the need to convert them. My friends who have used the Tablet PC say there is nothing like it and love it.

I echo jk’s comments and specifications and I impatiently await either Motion Computing or TabletKiosk to come out with a mini Tablet PC soon. (see recent posts on jk’s web site). I will get in line with everyone else here to buy one right away.

See here:
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?q=tablet+PC+market+in+the+UK+is+dead&hl=en&lr=lang_en&safe=off&selm=4F41E9EC-6FC1-4141-81EF-81867C9B726C%40microsoft.com&rnum=1

http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26145&sid=3cc2ac4117c360e4b10240177c8f7fff

A new V800XPT-2 has shown up on the Advueu Technology website. Same size screen as before, just more memory and HD space.

http://www.advueu.com/003/productitem.php?id=46

This is the exact size that I would look for in a mini tablet. the SVGA screen and underpowered CPU are the main turn-offs…

There is only one thing that I did not see in your review that is mandatory for me – XBRITE style screen. Too many of these devices lack a screen that can actually be used outside that it is rediculious. The u50 by Sony is great because the XBRITE screen is visible in the car, outside, inside, upside down, etc… where my TC1000 is severly restricted because of the indoor type screen only. We are not talking about a notebook here, where 95% of your usage will be indoors, we are talking about a device that you will carry with you everywhere – a GBA / PDA / Notebook replacement – like the U50…..

exactly what I’m waiting for.
I’m actally working with paper solutions, because tablet PC are simply too big in my point of view !

Very happy to see that trend.

Marcel.

How about the GMT ACE?

http://www.gmobiletechnology.com/products.htm

I don’t sell anything on jkOTR. Sorry.

Please send tablet pc price list to me.
Thanks.

This is *exactly* the form factor I’m looking for! And have been for some time now.

Instant-on would be fantastic, but I could probably do without it as long as I accompanied my mini-tablet PC with a smartphone that held all of my PDA-type information (calendar, contacts, etc.) In fact, I’d love to use my smartphone with its high-speed, flat-rate data connection (like what I have on Sprint), as a modem for the mini-tablet when I’m not in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

James, doesn’t the Flybook fit the bill? http://www.dialogue.com.tw/english/products/flybook.htm