Smart Book

This concept is genius in my opinion--there are times when a tablet will work and other times for when a netbook will work. These types of devices will either have a constant ui across the board or when you go into tablet mode you may go into a iapple, android, xpud ui type of interface which could make the tablet much easier to use and should make things interesting.

They fancy the omap3/A8 too :)

There are a couple out by other companies. Just saw one yesterday at Radio Shack but they only run Android. The one I saw was running 2.2. Cellphone with a netbook like dock.

It's just as good to simply sync data there's no real need to physically connect the machines. A dock is just another piece of (usually proprietary) technology to sell you.

> It's just as good to simply sync data...

The eventual goal is to replace your desktop PC completely and only have the mobile device. The dock allows you to connect it to your normal interface equipment (keyboard, mouse, monitor, and network). When that happens, there won't be anything to sync to.

But the "docking station" will have just as much cost associated with it as your current desktop machine does... And on top of that, when your mobile device dies (or gets broken/stolen/what-have-you), now you have no computer...

I love gadgets and probably have more OF them than most of you (short list: N900, Asus 702 netbook, Viliv S5, Gigabyte M912m convertible, Pepper Pad 3, Nationite Midnite web tablet with a second one on the way, laptop, 3 HTPCs, desktop machine, 2 Archos 604 WiFis, 2 neuros OSDs, Micasaverde Vera & a server)... but I see no need for a docking station. I think that they are big wastes... Important stuff from one to the other machine is just my gmail account or a USB connection/flash drive away.

> But the "docking station" will have just as much cost associated with it as your current desktop machine does...

It shouldn't, but I will grant that it might, especially if they remain non-standardized.

> And on top of that, when your mobile device dies ... you have no computer...

And when my computer dies I have no computer. What's the difference, save that a mobile device may be more likely to break?

Quoting:But the "docking station" will have just as much cost associated with it as your current desktop machine does...

I beg to differ, the docking station is sold for $100! Now, do you buy a desktop for $100?

Actually, the AI docking station is just a keyboard + battery with custom design.

> Now, do you buy a desktop for $100?

Actually, yes. :) But that's another discussion.

@ hkwint:

You're not buying a desktop machine for $100, you're buying a port replicator for $100... & then, many times you'll need a keyboard, mouse, monitor & cables. And yes, mobiles are MUCH more likely to break.

I was talking about the AI 'docking station' (the keyboard) because after all this thread was about AI, I suppose we had a miscommunication.

The AI tablet is $299, the 'netbook' (with keyboard) is $399, so yeah, you're buying the docking station (keyboard + battery) for $100.

Of course, if you buy at Apple [he] co you will be 'ripped of', err, I mean adding to their fat bonuses and yachts. Not that I mind[/he] many of those yachts are build 50km from my home (Steven Spielberg's is), so it's good for our local economy.

> And yes, mobiles are MUCH more likely to break.

The fact that mobile devices of past and recent vintage are more likely to break than desktops can't be generalized to the fact that all mobile devices always will be. :)

There's no inherent reason a mobile device couldn't be as durable as a desktop. But if you can get the price down to a low enough level, there's also no reason to make them that durable. Instead, you just replace it when it breaks, the way you do any disposable item.

What is the financial incentive to make a (powerful) mobile device durable? Sell once,... that's it... No repeat customers. You better capture the market with a device like that.

hmm, so I have to lug around a phone and a keyboard/monitor rig for a gimped half baked semi functional laptop experiance? Explain to me why I dont carry a fully functional laptop and just use the phone for tethering?

@ azerthoth:

That's kinda my point too. As convertibles go I kinda have my eye on the Dell Inspiron Duo... But you have an excellent point in terms of why would I want a tablet that does netbook, but really doesn't do either as well as it could (bulk & weight vs just using a USB or bluetooth keyboard/mouse)...

My alternative is a Chinese Tenq P07 type device. I just have to figure out which have capacitive touchscreen drivers. I'm even considering making myself into an e-tailer & reselling "the right one" with my user interface tweaks, in a pre-installed Ubuntu remix. I'm just leery as to which ones will have working touchsceens w/ either Lucid LTS or Natty.

This device would be replacing my Gigabyte M912m as my primary work note-taking device. I love my M912m, but it's heavy & a tad uncomfortable to use. I'd go Android, but I need Xournal, Open/LibreOffice, PDFsam, PDFshuffler & a few other apps.

This type of device (I call it Hybrid PC [HPC]) is a major threat to MS market share. I wonder how they are going to react to it.

Considering the ways MS keeps accumulating code into Windows core, I doubt that Win 8 and beyond can be made modular and flexible enough to be used on such devices.

I saw the Always Innovating device,... But, my big problem with it is that it's an ARM-based device, not an x86 device. So, any full Linux distro that runs on it would be a recompiled version that lacks any of the x86 specific apps. If this thing was an Atom, AMD or VIA C7-m (or VIA nano), I might consider it.

JaseP: Nice one pushing the Intel party-line, think they should hire you!

Joking aside, of course you're right, but if everybody thought like that, Linux would have never been born. Because after all, Linux lacks a recompiled version of the Windows specific apps, doesn't it? Ubuntu's ARM team is working pretty hard to resolve those issues.

Moreover, do people miss x86 apps on their Android phones? Probably they don't. So if enough developers start making programs for these kind of devices, the problem's gone.

It's the codecs & stuff... Also, for a machine that has the ability to scale up like that you want the power & flexibility of full productivity apps. I have nothing against ARM per se, I have a number of ARM devices (favorite being my N900). Linux, on the other hand was not created as a replacement for M$ on the desktop but as an alternative for Minix/Unix. It just evolved into a very scalable platform.

But I understand what you mean in terms of taking risks & challenging the status quo. The SmartBook is a cool concept. But it's a little rough around the edges, hardware-wise (You have to open the tablet dock, exposing the motherboard, to marry the hand-held to the tablet). And an Android, Chrome, Ubuntu-ARM implementation doesn't have advantages very far beyond Android alone. Oh,... I miss desktop apps on my Android device. Android's browsing & note-taking capabilities are lackluster.

Quoting:But, my big problem with it is that it's an ARM-based device,...

....It's the codecs & stuff...

This is one of the very first few employing this concept, give it time and it will spread. Cost will come down, configurations with different CPUs will be available, and localized CPU in each detachable could be utilized for better performance and redundancy.

Imagine, think out of the box.

Indeed, codecs are a real issue.

These days, those codecs are embedded in the hardware itself. However, drivers to 'video accelerators' are often proprietary. I think TI's IVA-HD solution is pretty 'open', using standardized xDM and xDAIS "API interfaces", though I don't know that much about this topic. But I did read in Ubuntu's ARM IRC channel proprietary drivers is a real problem. Something like the situation with Ati / nVidia ten years ago. But then worse, because Ati / nVidia are only two companies, and SoC makers there are many.

I hope Ubuntu - together with help from TI maybe? - will be able to solve these problems. If they do and TI is helping them, I think we should vote with our wallet, like in the old (WiFi?) days when hardware support for Linux was not a given.

Hoping for future progress means it's not viable now. I've been an early adopter a few too many times & gotten burned.