{"id":640,"date":"2008-08-31T13:01:18","date_gmt":"2008-08-31T13:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/2008\/what-the-techcrunch-tablet-should-really-look-like\/"},"modified":"2013-08-26T18:18:42","modified_gmt":"2013-08-26T23:18:42","slug":"what-the-techcrunch-tablet-should-really-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/what-the-techcrunch-tablet-should-really-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What the TechCrunch Tablet Should Really Look Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Arrington is understandably pretty excited about how the TechCrunch Tablet<\/a> is shaping up so far<\/a>, but to use it seems they\u2019re going about it the wrong way.<\/p>\n

For a device that\u2019s supposed to do Firefox, Skype and not much more, an underpowered PC with a touchscreen isn\u2019t going to accomplish much. For one thing, Firefox is a huge performance drain and a memory hog to boot<\/a> that underpowered hardware (even on-par with an Eee) simply won\u2019t support and for another, there\u2019s no way to get PC hardware down to the sub-$200 price range.<\/p>\n

What TechCrunch wants \u2013 whether they know it or not \u2013 is an oversized PDA, not an underpowered PC. And it\u2019s not just a question of semantics, it\u2019s a question of foundations and principles \u2013 and it makes a huge difference in terms of end-user experience and the bottom line. <\/p>\n

For the functionality that TechCrunch is trying to pack into this opensource, mass-market web gadget, there\u2019s nothing that wouldn\u2019t work better, faster, and cheaper on specialized hardware rather than on generic PC components.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While the world is now in the midst of a touch-screen craze, it\u2019s important to keep in mind when and where that works. For a web browser<\/em> and a VoIP client, a touchscreen doesn\u2019t provide much added value, but it does add quite a hefty amount to the bottom line. A couple of buttons at the top\/side of the device that provide basic functionality (Go\/Dial, Stop\/End) would certainly suffice for most purposes. A thin slide-out keyboard is far-cheaper and more user-friendly<\/em> than an onscreen keyboard, and would make things like entering site addresses and using email clients and Google Docs quite enjoyable.<\/p>\n

A PDA-style ARM processor, running software compiled for the ARM platform could provide a more satisfactory end-user experience with regards to performance and<\/em> can come in smaller form-factors and\/or as embedded systems. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to bear in mind the difference between consumer electronics and a computer. Whereas Asus had to keep their Eee x86 so that it can run whatever a a PC user could demand from it, a web browsing tablet only needs to run what the manufacturer intends it to<\/em>. In hardware design, there’s a constant compromise between flexibility and complexity which is directly tied to price, size, and ease-of-use. <\/p>\n

A tablet designed to surf the web and run Skype doesn’t need<\/em> to do anything else; but it shouldn’t <\/em>do anything else if price and size are of any concern. It’s easy to get caught up imagining a device that can do anything and everything; but you can only go so far before things begin to spiral out of control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Arrington is understandably pretty excited about how the TechCrunch Tablet is shaping up so far, but to use it seems they\u2019re going about it the wrong way. For a device that\u2019s supposed to do Firefox, Skype and not much … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":505,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[679,19,680,677,678,681],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","tag-embedded-systems","tag-hardware","tag-tablet-pc","tag-techcrunch","tag-techcrunch-tablet","tag-umpc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t