Friday, March 23, 2007

HTC X7500

Everybody is reporting on this thing today. Pretty good, but the more things like it that come out the more obvious it becomes that "ultra-portable computers" are going through.... what is the opposite of growing pains? Shrinking pangs? It's too small to be as useful as a laptop and too big to be as portable as a PDA phone



(and this one doesn't even run the full version of Windows as the very neat OQO 2 does)


How about a form factor design that allows the screen to fold in half (on a hinge that will minimize the "join" when open) as well as the keyboard, so when closed it is one-fourth the area of the opened device?

It has been proven that people will buy a PDA phone that is MUCH larger than a just-a-phone because then they don't have to carry two devices. If we take that as a size goal (~ 6" x 3" x 1" when closed) the above design, when opened, would result in a mini-laptop computer with a screen area of 6"x6" and a keyboard that is 12"x3" (or 12"x6" if it can be made thin enough for an extra fold). The folding would be arranged in such a way that one of the two screen panels would face outwards when closed and then function as a traditional PDA.

I'm telling you, there's gold here.

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