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We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

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11–20 of 104 posts

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#12
post #3

Didn't the XO project give us some indication on how difficult it is to create this type of thing? And unless Arrington is ready commit to this project full-time, it is going nowhere fast. I suspect that he is using his clout to simply trying to get into the inbox of vendors. Don't get me wrong, I'd love one. I suspect Apple is working on something like this. We have the technology of Air and the technology of iPhone…

OS-less might be worth it if it allowed the thing to turn on and off in less than one second.

My Mac does wake up in about a second right now. However, I see your point and totally agree.

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#14
My two main thoughts on this are:

1. It won't cost $200. The Nokia N810 has similar specs and had a price drop to $300, so I don't see how this will happen. It might be possible to source the parts for 200, but not build it, ship it and make a profit.

2. Why not use Ubuntu MID? I have not used it, but it was made for these kind of devices. Certainly much easier and cheaper than writing custom linux/ff code. Just add Firefox with a preset homepage to the startup and you're done :)

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#15
I did a research about this subject and it could be done... even with price around 200$.

They will face two big problems: 1) touch screen - what type they would use? how it "lights"? weight? 2) battery - capacity? POSITION of battery! and few other problems such power supply (integrated?). CPU, RAM, SSD are not problems, they are cheap and really easili intergrated, OS is not problem too (already seen such devices with Linux).

And the last thing is design... lets face it. It's important how it will look and feel when carrying. And I'm not talking about catching the right size of it (in my research A4 is too big and A5 is too small).

So lets see what will happen... I offered I will try to help them, what about you?

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#16

My two main thoughts on this are: 1. It won't cost $200. The Nokia N810 has similar specs and had a price drop to $300, so I don't see how this will happen. It might be possible to source the parts for 200, but not build it, ship it and make a profit. 2. Why not use Ubuntu MID? I have not used it, but it was made for these kind of devices. Certainly much easier and cheaper than writing custom linux/ff code. Just add…

Do you think that they want to make profit? Didn't Arrington said that the whole device will be open source?

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#18
post #16

My two main thoughts on this are: 1. It won't cost $200. The Nokia N810 has similar specs and had a price drop to $300, so I don't see how this will happen. It might be possible to source the parts for 200, but not build it, ship it and make a profit. 2. Why not use Ubuntu MID? I have not used it, but it was made for these kind of devices. Certainly much easier and cheaper than writing custom linux/ff code. Just add…

Do you think that they want to make profit? Didn't Arrington said that the whole device will be open source?

Open source just means Arrington won't need to pay coders to write the software, and will get to enjoy discounts from people who have contacts to help build the hardware.

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#19
post #10

He really is just describing a Nokia N810 tablet. When a reader suggested that, Arrington replied: "yes, although we want to build it a lot cheaper and have a much bigger screen." So, he expects to replicate the N810, but with a bigger screen and better price? How is he going to beat Nokia and still make a profit?

What does TechCrunch have to do with profit? If bubble companies can build software, why not hardware?

Re: We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet. Help Us Build It.

#20
post #10

He really is just describing a Nokia N810 tablet. When a reader suggested that, Arrington replied: "yes, although we want to build it a lot cheaper and have a much bigger screen." So, he expects to replicate the N810, but with a bigger screen and better price? How is he going to beat Nokia and still make a profit?

I don't think he cares about the profit portion.
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