Tablet Wars: Google Strikes Back!

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Google shoots a warning shot across Apple's bow in retaliation for Apple's release of the iPad.

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Google is trying to one-up Apple, showing off designs for a new tablet computer based on its Chrome operating system that would be a direct rival to the iPad.

Just weeks after launching its own iPhone competitor in the US, the Nexus One, Google might soon extend its competition with Apple further as it seeks to push its search and other products on to as many devices as possible.

Google's user interface designer, Glen Murphy, published mock-ups of a Google tablet on the search giant's Chromium.org website, along with a video of how users would interact with the device.

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/computers/google-tablet-to-give-apple-a-touch-of-its-own-medicine-20100203-nc8u.html

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Type: Discussion • Score: 11 • Views: 10,944 • Replies: 17

[+3] - roger - 02/03/2010Once they get the technology down, maybe they'll add a convenient little handle, and maybe a cover to protect the keyboard and screen. In fact, I don't see any big hurdles in using the inside of...

@tsarstepan,

Interesting!

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Once they get the technology down, maybe they'll add a convenient little handle, and maybe a cover to protect the keyboard and screen. In fact, I don't see any big hurdles in using the inside of the cover to house the screen. That way, it could be bigger and allow more space for the keyboard.

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@tsarstepan,

Looks cool.

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@tsarstepan,

Competition is good.

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@tsarstepan,

The keyboard is only QWERT, it isnt QWERTY. I gotta have a QWERTY keyboard. COurse having a place in the middle to keep my sardine sammich is a good feature.

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@roger,

Quote:

Once they get the technology down, maybe they'll add a convenient little handle, and maybe a cover to protect the keyboard and screen. In fact, I don't see any big hurdles in using the inside of the cover to house the screen. That way, it could be bigger and allow more space for the keyboard.

http://cdn-sitelife.ehow.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/1/1/21d0657c-6852-4e84-b15c-a5cb4c94d707.Medium.jpg

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@farmerman,

farmerman... the keyboard is pretty flexible. It appears to take on a half dozen configurations.

http://images.theage.com.au/2010/02/03/1089017/googletablet1-600x400.jpg

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

For daily web browsing and basic Emailing, I prefer virtual keyboards to physical keyboards. Basically this is because I prefer devices with no moving parts to break and no crevices for stuff to fall into. Also, virtual keyboards can be resized and reshaped per the users desires (if the software allows it).

When I really need to crank out lots of words, then I definitely prefer a physical keyboard so I can touchtype at full speed. But most of my computer use doesn't require that much typing, so the virtual keyboard is preferable in many cases.

If Google produces this device, I hope they do it on a Linux Kernel, not a MicroSoft base. It should be much faster and more stable on Linux.

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@rosborne979,

It's going to run on the Chromium OS (which I do believe is a Linux variation).

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

It's going to run on the Chromium OS (which I do believe is a Linux variation).

Good. Sounds like a nice system. It'll be interesting to see if the user interface is as elegant as Apple's.

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@rosborne979,

Their user interface is boot to Chrome. Nothing else, just a browser. Tablet makes perfect sense for that kind of thin client.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Their user interface is boot to Chrome. Nothing else, just a browser. Tablet makes perfect sense for that kind of thin client.

By "User Interface" I was thinking more along the lines of "pinch" to change size, double tap to zoom into text, tap the title-bar to return to the top, inertial sensitivity, double-finger touch, etc... all the things that make the iPod such a pleasure to work with.

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@rosborne979,

Ahh, sounds like you are mostly (I know you mention more, but that is the only real missing piece from the iphone imitations, they do the physics simulations ok and touch is just touch) talking about what Apple calls, and has trademarked, "multi touch" interfaces. That is something that Apple seems to have successfully gotten Google to omit from their US Android devices but their Android OS supports all that and the actual invention of that kind of input came decades ago so there is nothing other than Apple patent/trademark trolling that is preventing them from doing so right now in the US.

But some other companies with larger mobile patent portfolios (like Palm) have implemented it in the US (see Palm Pre) so I'm hoping Apple doesn't get their way and that we see more of it on more devices.

Edit: Nick just told me that Google released the support for multitouch on Android. Looks like it just happened. Here is an article talking about no multi touch in America and here is another from yesterday talking about how they enabled the support and the conflict with Apple.

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@Robert Gentel,

I like the Multi-Touch interface a lot. I also like the general "feel" of the iPod. I have a strong personal preference for solid state devices because I have never liked moving parts. My preference is to maximize the viewing area on a device and have that viewing area double as the interface for physical interaction.

I've also heard rumors of "rear-touch" interface design so that you move the visuals in front by touching/dragging along the back of the device. When holding the device, such an interface might be far more comfortable than reaching around to touch the face of the device. Not sure... I would have to try it.

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@rosborne979,

I'm waiting for the real paradigm-shifting device to come out:

-fold-able or roll-able e-paper. The day I can unroll a viewing screen from the arm of my jacket is the day I am one happy man.

-REAL heads-up googles. The Ipod has enough power to drive one of these things really. I've been doing some interesting work on an Augmented reality product using some of these (which are too big and clunky) and it's crazy stuff.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

I'm waiting for the real paradigm-shifting device to come out:

-fold-able or roll-able e-paper. The day I can unroll a viewing screen from the arm of my jacket is the day I am one happy man.

Well yes, I'm wanting that too. But it's not all about the interface. It's also about "The Cloud", and I will be happy to play around with the transitional devices before we get to ePaper Smile

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Quote:

Kmart tablet probably as bad as it sounds
by Donald Bell

When I heard that Kmart is selling a $149 Android tablet with a 7-inch screen, I have to admit that I blew it off with a condescending snicker. No matter how you run the math, there's simply no way to turn a $149 price tag into a satisfying tablet experience--at least not yet. Logic may have gotten the better of me, though, because the demand for this Augen brand Android tablet is apparently so great, that Kmart is already issuing rain checks. In my ivory CNET tower, I forgot to calculate for the effects of a cheap price, Android fever, and blind optimism.

For the rest of the article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20011864-1.html

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Tablet Wars: Google Strikes Back!

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