9. Smartbooks
Wanted: 9 products that were launched around CES 2010, were expected at CES 2011, but (mostly) got lost or canceled along the way.
In the beginning, there were desktops and laptops. But over time, we added PDAs, smartphones, UMPCs, netbooks, tablets...and smartbooks. What is a smartbook, exactly? The most basic definition a netbook-like chassis with smartphone-grade internal hardware. So instead of an Intel Atom platform with 2 GB of RAM and a 320 GB spinning hard drive, you get a 1 GHz Snapdragon or OMAP CPU coupled with 512 MB of RAM and a limited amount of flash memory.
One of the more famous smartbooks of early 2010 was the Skylight by Lenovo (pictured above). It's Linux-based Skylight OS and low-end hardware made it a very inexpensive and very light machine, with the same kind of "secondary computer" appeal that makes netbooks so attractive.
Smartbooks have yet to make any serious waves in retail. While the category seemed to be all the rage during CES 2010, it all but disappeared in 2011. The Skylight is KIA, and other products from the likes of Compaq are still up in the air. It seems as though tablets, which use much of the same hardware as smartbooks (Tegra, Snapdragon, and so on) are here to stay, which does not bode well for the former. You could call the new Motorola Atrix a smartbook when it's docked, we suppose, but the genre is about as dead as you can get.
I was waiting for the upgraded Nook color to be announced, mostly because my wife wants one.
You can explain most of these just by writing "iPad".
This Google OS story NOT true. Chrome OS was announce on July 7, 2009, less than 18 months ago. Not "years" ago. And it has always been slated for release in late 2010/early 2011: http://www.pcworld.com/article/168 [...] me_os.html
You can explain most of these just by writing "iPad".
I think that applies more to canceled products than vaporware/delayed products. The Notion Ink Adam has not changed spec-wise since its initial announcement way back when (Tegra/Windows 7 platform). The one big product I can think of that was canned dur primarily to the iPad was the Plastic Logic Que eReader. RIP...
-Devin
This Google OS story NOT true. Chrome OS was announce on July 7, 2009, less than 18 months ago. Not "years" ago. And it has always been slated for release in late 2010/early 2011: http://www.pcworld.com/article/168 [...] me_os.html
We included the bit on Chrome OS due to its tie-in with smartbook hardware. Both were highly touted at CES 2010 but nothing (Cr48 excluded) has come to market yet.
-Devin
LG LCD
I think your math might be off a little, or is that suppose to be 8.8lbs?
LG LCDI think your math might be off a little, or is that suppose to be 8.8lbs?
Hah, supposed to be under nine pounds/4 kgs. Thanks for catching that!
Well, they've done a pre-order which was sold out, and Shravan the CEO also showed a production piece to Endgadget, Crunchgear and Slashgear. So this one's definitely out of the Vaporware cat!
Cheers,
Neel
Well, they've done a pre-order which was sold out, and Shravan the CEO also showed a production piece to Endgadget, Crunchgear and Slashgear. So this one's definitely out of the Vaporware cat!Cheers,Neel
We saw the tablet at CES, but we never drop the vaporware moniker until a consumer has one in their hot little hands. Believe me when I saw I am pumped for this tablet, though.
-Devin Connors
On the Skiff eReader, how do you let another company buy-out your software, and in the end, have no product to sell? I suppose it's similar to how Nokia uses Symbian OS, and Symbian just announced they were getting out of the OS business. Seems to me Nokia should have bought-out Symbian, and if Hearst really wanted a eReader, they should have bought-out Skiff.
I suppose it's like Dell, who would go belly-up if Microsoft just instantly stopped shipping Windows one day, but we aren't talking that kind of scale here.
Shouldn't that be 2.6cm? 2.6mm sounds a bit unrealistic.
I do agree that selling the software and letting the awesome, super-thin, super-bendy hardware languish. At that point, developing new eReader software would be easier since the much-harder-to-make hardware.
-Devin Connors
Shouldn't that be 2.6cm? 2.6mm sounds a bit unrealistic.
Nope! I mean 2.6mm. 2.6cm would be over an inch thick, which nowadays is pretty hefty for an LED-LCD television.
-Devin Connors
Err...you've got spam. You gotta compliment them for their dedication.
BTW, Adam was available for pre-order as well, until, apparently, they ran out of Adams.
Any heads up about the 'mystery feature' ?
"the Kno also packs 512 MB of memory, 16 or 32 GB of storage, and Ubuntu 9.10 a an operating system."
I can see where they might've hit a couple of snags, as Karmic was not the best choice for a consumer tablet by a long shot.
I'd rather have extreme small bezel than extreme slim.
Does anyone else not give a damn about tablets?
Does anyone else not give a damn about tablets?
Pretty much anyone reading this particular website probably doesn't give a damn about tablets as a whole.
I know, for me, they're a neat concept that lacks a real distinct purpose in my life. Since I have a laptop, smartphone, iPod, and Kindle and there's not really a single thing that a tablet does significantly better, if I did get one I would probably just end up reading comics on it.
Pretty much anyone reading this particular website probably doesn't give a damn about tablets as a whole.I know, for me, they're a neat concept that lacks a real distinct purpose in my life. Since I have a laptop, smartphone, iPod, and Kindle and there's not really a single thing that a tablet does significantly better, if I did get one I would probably just end up reading comics on it.
Tablets, like any other piece of hardware, will sell to those who have a gap to fill. If you're looking for a secondary computer, a device that recently would have been a netbook, then a tablet might be a better fit for some. Or if you travel a lot and don't want to hassle with a laptop of any sort while on the plane, a tablet with some decent horsepower is going to be a great HD video player.
-Devin Connors
LG's slim display looks great.too bad they can cancelled it