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Where Are the Cheap, Wireless Webpads? 12

Posted by Cliff from the same-place-where-the-hovercars-went dept.
IceFox asks: "Webpad terminals... Over the past two months I have been searching the web, from company to company looking for a cheap webpad. All the way back in 1999 there were promises of webpads. They were almost always terminals. Other then a touchscreen, slow 66mhz cpu, and a wireless card there was not much else in the machines. And they were going to retail for about 400-600 dollars. But where are they now?" <SARCASM>You know, we were supposed to have hovercars by now, too, and I haven't seen any of those flying around, either.</SARCASM> Sometimes the market works a little slower than we'd like. I think the market is currently more enamoured with the sexy new wearables market and the handheld market more than they are worried about webpads. Still, if anyone knows how much longer the wait will be, some updates would be appreciated.

"They are nowhere to be seen. Everywhere you look you see full webpad computers for $4k. Yah right I am going to pay that for a bad laptop. Why are companies making these huge items? Did I miss the anouncement that thin small webpads would not be the thing? Is it that the $400 webpad in 1999 can now be made in $200 and there is no profit? How can that be? There is no compatition so you would have all the profit! Does anyone out there know of a company that is selling right now wireless touch screen computers that have just enough to run as a terminal? I see all the time companies that will see you the mini computer with everything on it. Rip out the hard drive, parallel port, serial, ide controls, ps2, audio. Leave only the bare minimum. Ok maybe there isn't a company out there left doing this, but does anyone know of someone who is selling the parts that I can build such a thing? I can find touchpads here, small lcds there and small computers over there, but never can they all go together. I would love to have a terminal webpad in my living room. Load linux on it and use it to do anything and everything."
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Where Are the Cheap, Wireless Webpads? More

Where Are the Cheap, Wireless Webpads?

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  • Re:Mmmm... TabletPC! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    > Bill Gates has you're gadget in mind! It's called TabledPC.

    I think my current PC is Tabled, it sits on top of my desk. ;)

  • Don't get me started... (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02, 2001 @05:29AM (#114894)
    A few years back I started my search for the elusive webpad when reading about the mythical Qubit [qubit.net] wireless webpad, but release was always 'next quarter' away. Ever the consumer, I wanted one NOW! So I started looking at what was currently available, only to find that apart from tablet computers from Fujitsu [fujitsupc.com], Mitsubishi [mitsubishi-mobile.com], or Aqcess [qbenet.com] there wasn't anything out.

    The news of the Transmeta chips stirred up more speculation in the 'coming soon' market of pads (FIC Aqua [fica.com]). And it seems like there's always a new one shown at Comdex, but afterward they disappear faster than a virgin on prom night. The Norwegian company Screen Media touted a produkt called FreePad [spekter.no] which sounded good to me, but I guess the name loses something in the translation. As for a cheap wireless pad... well we all saw how long 3com's ergoAudrey lasted.

    Recently there was word of the Honeywell WebPad [honeywell.com], but as for the inexpensive pad... I continue to hope, dream, and become more cynical by the day.

  • There are multiple reason why we don't have 'web pads'.

    Battery life

    Size/weight

    Durability

    Cost

    etc
    For instance, no one wants a web pad that only lasts 4 hours on one charge, yet that's the average life of a laptop with more room for batteries. The web pad is large and ungainly - try spending more than 15 minutes writing on a legal notepad on your lap while staring at the notepad in your lap. Neck hurts, wrist hurts, etc. It's very bad ergonomically, and these things are too heavy to be held up while in use (like a pda). You hold even a 5 pound weight a foot from your face for more than a few minutes and you'll see what I mean.

    Of course, the casing would have to be made of an extremely stiff, non-brittle, easily manufactured, and light material to have a good chance of protecting the LCD from the abuse of regular use, and even then users would expect the warranty to cover things like broken LCDs (Well, it's a pad, so I can just throw it in my backpack like a pad, and it shouldn't break, right?).

    Then you have the cost. A web pad will, for at least the first 5 generations of web pads, cost significantly more than a laptop of similar power, and the laptop is still more flexible in what you can do with it.

    Then you have the form factor. While the thought of a web pad is cool, how useful would it really be? It can essentially do two things for you, display information, and collect information (notes, planning, etc). These objectives are met fairly handily by laptops and PDAs, or desktops and PDAs. Until the 'killer app' for web pads comes out, they really aren't going to have a warm reception. About the best (and most useful) design I ever saw was an IBM laptop where the screen could completely flip over and cover the keyboard with the screen out and be used as a web pad.

    When (if) oled displays become long lasting and large enough, then you'll see web pads everywhere. Until then...

    -Adam
    This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.

  • You could always retrofit a Palm (or other small,light, usefull handheld) with a larger screen and stronger battery. Technically that would solve your problem and cost about the price you are looking for, but I doubt anyone would buy one. Unless. . . [insert your killer app here]

  • current events (Score:4)

    by joq ( 63625 ) on Monday July 02, 2001 @03:43AM (#114898) Homepage Journal
    All those companies are on FuckedCompany.com now thats why you don't see them anymore. Seriously though, when things come out and are touted as `the next best thing`, especially in tech, don't expect it to last too long. Sometimes things go well but many, rather the majority of the times, things go bonkers for typical reasons.

    Did you know that most of the write ups you see in magazines, and online sites were because the company who's being written up has a marketing department to overhype things? Well my guess is things were extremely overhyped, or it wasn't feasible for a company to spend to create something no one would buy.

    Same thing happen with DLT (Digital Linear Tapes) once upon a while ago. It's no big secret that the next best thing is likely going to be the next big bust, especially with todays economy.
  • The Viewsonic SuperPDA was announced recently; at $1000 at least it's cheaper than most of the other tablets mentioned in this thread.

  • a few more tablets (available now) (Score:4)

    by Helix150 ( 177049 ) on Monday July 02, 2001 @12:52PM (#114900)
    most are $1k+, but some good looking WinCE based ones.

    A list of Tablets [mobileplanet.com]

    Also check out this thing [mobileplanet.com], Its WinCE with a generic clamshell, but has two fold points instead of one. This means you can put on a small plastic keyboard cover, flip the display all the way around and use it like a tablet. Also, theres a small CMOS camera in the middle part so you can take pics.
  • While at the Transmeta's booth at PC Expo last week, there were a couple of companies showing off webpads using Transmeta's chips. Though it's not the $500 device you're looking for, they're aiming for around $1500 street - much better than the clunky $4000 devices we've seen in the past. You might want to see if Transmeta could hook you up with some companies - I can't remember who they were right now (Fujitsu? Casio?).

    Another problem is that these webpads haven't been marketed for home/desktop computing users. The intended market is industrial/health care/"vertical" markets. The goal is to have 1000 doctors walking around the hospital with a webpad, wirelessly networked an able to pull up all sort of info on patients, etc., etc.

    Anyway, it seems to me that we're just about ready for these things to come of age. Aside from significant strides being made with low power technology, the two factors pushing this forward: 802.11b becoming ubiquitous (and is currently being built-in to these webpads) and LCD being cheaper than ever.

  • Well, the Netpliance iOpener looks quite a bit like what you want, unless you need serious portability. The form factor is essentially that of a tablet, after removing the table stand. It can be hacked to support most of the popular x86 operating systems. Add an input device, and you'll be set. They can be found on most of the auction sites between $100 and $150. Go to Linux-Hacker.net [linux-hacker.net] for more information.

    There is the IBM Thinkpad 730t, but you're back to the slow processors.

    Ricoh put out a similar machine, but it has a color display and internal CD-ROM.

    Symbol Technologies make pen based terminals for industrial applications. If you want to see one, go to Home Depot. They use them extensively. The newer Wal-Mart stores are using different units in their Auto Centers for taking orders.

    QBE [qbenet.com] is making modern tablets, but they are a bit more expensive. It looks like they're cheaper on eBay [ebay.com].

    And just to expand on what's already been said, what's wrong with the Pocket PC [pocketpc.com] systems? I think that's where the promises for tablet computers ended up. For that matter, the earlier Windows CE palmtops are pretty nice. You can also get 802.11b cards for your system. Use that with VNC for Windows CE [cam-orl.co.uk] to control a real machine running a VNC server elsewhere.

  • The "next big thing" problem isn't the issue with these devices. The issue is that the companies that are producing them don't seem to want to sell to the end-user. They only want OEM deals. So the chain would work like this, where OEM-->Distributor-->reseller would be Manufacturer-->Teleco-->end-user/reseller. They are only interested in the big buck, not the long haul. Webpads are a good idea and will work longterm, but some company needs to have the will to stick it out and take the bullet initially. With OSes like Beos and Qnx able to be run on them, not to mention the Linux route then there should be a bright future for them. It could be a huge market. No home needs to have a PC just to browse the web and send mail or maybe listen to a few audio/video streams. If they could get a teleco to bundle one with broadband access and get the revenue stream going on an equipment rental basis then there should be a few shekels to be made somewhere...
  • Bill Gates has you're gadget in mind! It's called TabledPC.

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