TechCrunch has a prototype of their tablet PC featuring a touchscreen, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, a camera and a four cell battery running on a stripped down version of Linux. Well, actually they're running the prototype on full-fledged Linux, but they promise better performance once they strip out all the extra stuff.
According to TechCrunch:
The device has a 12-inch touchscreen with a 4:3 aspect ratio (which is ideal for web browsing in my opinion). It is powered with a Via Nano processor, which has performed at par with the Intel Atom in our testing. 1 GB of ram (its more than we need) and a 4 GB flash drive to store the OS and browser and any cache. Resolution is 1024×768, which means the vast majority of websites are viewed in full width without scrolling.
So what's missing from this Techcrunch tablet gadget? Well, how bout a PCMCIA slot for inserting an EVDO/3G/4G card. Forget Wi-Fi - that's so 2005. We need to be able to roam and happily surf the web when outside earshot of a Wi-Fi access point. Although it does have a USB port, so maybe it will support USB-based EVDO/3G/4G dongles. PCMCIA is pretty large come to think of it, taking up a lot of internal space. A touch screen tablet optimized for web surfing needs to be as thin and as light as possible.
It should also support Skype, including Skype videoconferencing using the embedded camera. Maybe it will and maybe it won't, but surprisingly no mention of Skype in the article. It should also support some SIP softphone client for those that like to BYOVA (Bring Your Own VoIP Access).What else would you like to see?
Technorati
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Digg
twitter
If you want to hit a sub 200-300$ price point (as is the goal) forget Skype, and the other things you want. Browser based VoIP is the best you are going to get.
Linux already supports a full-fledged Skype client. It's only hard drive space - so why not at least make it available on this tablet? Browser-based VoIP clients are OK, but Skype is still the dominant player, especially if you IM/VoIP your buddy list a lot. Skype just has much more traction still than other VoIP clients.
I assume TechCrunch isn't "locking" the device, so maybe Skype will at least be user-installable - as will other Linux apps.
It would be a nice to have, hard drive is irrelevant, it's processor power you have to worry about. Skype is a bit of a resource hog - on a VIA chipset, you might get away with 1 voice call, but forget video.
The Asus Skype Video Phone (uses the linux version) is retailing for over 315$ US and it is a 1 trick pony.
You can't get the hardware and processor power needed to run Skype in its full glory with a touchscreen tablet and keep your retail sub 2-300.
PS - isn't captcha enough security for a blog posting? the double verification (click link) is a bit irritating.
The Via Nano processor goes as high as 1.8Ghz with a 800FSB. Seems pretty peppy to me. The TechCrunch Touchpad was designed for video (Hulu, Youtube, etc.) so it already is going to have to do some CPU intensive video codec rendering.
As for the captcha + email. Actually the captcha lets you post anonymous comments without signing in. The email you got was to "subscribe" to this entry so you are notified of new comments. It's double-opt-in to prevent pranksters.
Though I need to move the checkbox next to the 'comments?" word to make it clearer. For some reason it refuses to put them both on the same line.