Ultramobile Lifestyle PCs announced by Microsoft
Rob Bushway is attending the Partner briefing hosted by Microsoft, a meeting where MS is sharing information about upcoming products in the Mobile PC (and Tablet PC) arena with OEM partners and developers. There is exciting news coming out of this meeting about "Mobile Lifestyle PCs" that will be pen enabled, have long battery life, and cost around $500. From CutMeLoose:
The ideal Lifestyle Ultra-Mobile PCs will be:
- wearable
- all day battery life (12 hr on-time)
- $500 msrp
- always on
- connection through 3G
- instant use
- 10"
- Pen based
- full windows based
This sounds a lot like the Mini-Tablet PC I have been wishing for and it could also be a PDA replacement. Woot!
That's what I'm waiting for. Star Trek, here we come.
Posted by: Rick Lobrecht | February 01, 2006 at 03:50 PM
How do you wear a Tablet with a 10" screen? I carry mine (10" screen, 12-hour battery, and instant-on using standby, BTW) in a padded ultra-slim sling pack, which is close but still not "worn".
Posted by: Mark Sumimoto (Sumocat) | February 01, 2006 at 08:46 PM
More important than 10" to me: 1024x768 so I can run apps that insist on this resolution.
I agree with sumocat though, 10" isn't wearable. The wearable I carry with me is my Sony eBook reader (Japanese model). It's 6" screen barely fits into my pants pocket (custom tailored in ShenZhen) and Eddie Bauer jacket's inner pocket. And with Energizer e2 lithium AAA's it definitely runs longer than 12 hours. :-)
Posted by: Scotty | February 02, 2006 at 01:30 AM
10" doesn't refer to the size of the screen, but to the distance the UI's usable at (for example, MCE is a 10' UI...usable at 10'). Screens will likely be more like 6" or 7".
Posted by: Bob B | February 02, 2006 at 01:40 PM