Remember the photo above from Engadget? Click that link for more of them. Well - there's now a VERY good chance that it could be an early prototype of the third Internet Tablet. So this whole post was probably wrong.
A new document was made available this morning with this little tidbit:
"Slide Closed"Mmmmmmm... Can't wait now. I will add this to my previous full analysis article.
The above image was taken from page 6 of this PDF. Note the two tables are labeled "slide open" and "slide closed."
21 comments:
Looks like 802.11b/g frequency...
What about WiMAX there?
This might be even better than we expected -- this new device is now an "internet table". Finally somewhere to rest our coffee whilst browsing the web! I hope it'll still fit in my pocket.
Blimey, you're a true Sherlock Holmes of communication commission certification, good job!
Hmmm. Not to happy about this. I'll wait to pass judgement.
I don't see myself using a slide-out keyboard (especially one as awkward as the prototype photos look), but I don't mind it being there. OTOH, I still believe having the thumbpad/menu keys on the slider instead of the device itself is a grave usability mistake. The prototype photos don't appear to have speakers either, so I'm still hoping there's some significant differences between it and the final product.
I must say I like where this is going . I just hope the third tablet it is released sooner as opposed to later.
Slight subtle thing I've just noticed: the edges of the screen are gentle slopes rather than the steep cliffs you get on the N800. This should make it a lot easier to use your fingers/fingernail (which is something I prefer to do instead of the stylus). Perhaps the touchscreen itself is also more finger-friendly.
Another notable thing: the white thing on the left of the tablet reminds me of the earpiece of a phone for some reason. Perhaps you hold this new tablet vertically to your ear during internet calls, just like you would a normal phone.
I just finished reading a blog where the CEO of OQO expressed some chagrin that Engadget gets ahold of their FCC filings and sales are frozen as people assume that a new model is ready any minute.
Therefore they mfr new models in advance of FCC approval so they can hope to get back to earning revenue fast!
Then people start to complain about "delays" because the FCC doesn't allow them to ship when they're ready. Blogs like this can have an enormous impact on business.
Wow .... Apple zigs and Nokia Zags. nice work Nokia, way to move in the opposite direction from the demand....
yeah yeah yeah its not a phone, I have N800 don't preach to me... :P
Wolfman-K, I see what you're saying but IMHO you're overestimating how much iPhone represents demand, and how much competitors should directly copy successful products. By that logic, Apple should never have launched a touchscreen phone, they should have done a RAZR clone instead.
In any case, if Nokia's internet tablets do become mainstream hits, there'd probably be several different shaped models at any one time all using a single compatible platform, like there are for the smartphones (and Nokia's smartphones are the most popular in the world right now by quite a large margin).
If they keyboard is anything like the one on the HTC Tytn, then this will be very nice. Mostly I use the small onscreen keyboard, occasionally the large one, but I hate the loss of screen real-estate with these. This was what I always hated about the Pocket PCs. The keyboard on the HTC Tytn was awesome, really nice to type on and I could get up some really good speed. It would make a huge difference for email on the n800.
But unless they beef up the processor/ram/battery as well I won't upgrade. WiMAX is pointless to me as I'm in the UK :(
If the picture is accurate then I'm extremely disappointed. I find those toy keyboards pretty much useless, but worst of all is the idea of moving the buttons and D-pad down onto the slide-out keyboard! How am I supposed to be operating the unit? Drag out that flimsy keyboard whenever I want to just page down in Opera? Putting the buttons there means that the unit can't be operated properly in its native form factor. Incredibly stupid design, if you ask me.
I would be happy with a model that is the current N800+GPS (i.e. the model that was first hinted at), ideally it could have WiMax too but as that's not ubiquitous yet it's not a big deal.
the only thing that might allow the Dpad to be moved into the slider, is that the UI and navigation/control of the software can be made intuitive enough not to use any hardware botton. Else, i too prefer the Dpad button to be place next to the screen somewhere.
but keyboard is a nice idea. only bad because i need to sell my bluetooth keyboard then ;)
Hm, so if we sum this up with the comment from Nokia that this will be a 'consumer' product we can understand why the back photos of this device say NSeries, since this is the category for multimedia - full featured - prosumer products.
Of course I prefer my N800 together with a bluetooth keyboard :D
I'm willing to bet that this is not the next Tablet.
Slide-out keyboard that ruins the whole concept and no keys on the Display frame.
Thats just too stupid for Nokia to do,
Also, wasn't this photo around much earlier?
It might be some random abandoned cell prototype.
http://maemo.org/development/sdks/api_changes_between_maemo_3_2_and_maemo_4_0.html says software can tell if the keyboard is open/closed/doesn't exist, so it seems safe to assume the next device will have a retractable keyboard.
I really hope that picture we're seeing isn't it though.
I want a glass screen or hard cover pls kthx
Just goes to show you can't please everyone.
I find the virtual keyboard difficult to use, no feedback.
The little, jab your screen with a stick keyboard is just as bad.
I welcome a slideout keyboard. Also think there should be a d-pad available without sliding out the keyboard.
The things I want more? RAM, and Firefox with Ad-block.
A sliding keyboard would be great, but I'm worried about internationalization issues... I don't have any hope that this keyboard will be available in Spanish, French or certain languages different than English... though it should be available in Finnish, anyway! :)
Infosyncworld has an article titled "10 things we know about Nokia's iPhone competitor": http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/8262.html?rfp=dta
See points #2 and 6 for some eyebrow-raising info. While I am very skeptical, it is claimed that the article is "solely based on information already available to the public". The article is from August 31st, which is quite recent considering the FCC filings.
Update:
I queried Sindre Lia (the author of the infosyncworld article) moments ago and got this reply moments later:
"Hi Dennis,
Thanks for reading infoSync World and for the heads-up. I’ve now change the text to “The technical specifications mentioned below, are solely based on technology that is already available to manufacturers.” What I was intending to say, was that the specifications mentioned below did not require years of research etc., but are already incorporated or are about to be incorporated in consumer products as we speak.
Best,
Sindre"
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