The notionink.in site is terrible, and I went into this prepared to be entirely dismissive of whatever the video contained, but I was really impressed. It looks like a legitimately cool device.
The capabilities of Google Earth and Maps would make for a killer travel guide. There's one problem, however. LCDs don't look so great outdoors in the sunlight. The transflective screen would make such a use feasible, comfortable, and possibly slick.
You also need a cellphone connection to use google maps/earth. If you're exploring a city, i think the phone form factor is more convenient. If you're out in the wilderness, you probably don't have an Internet connection.
Google Maps relies (currently) on a connection, but there are plenty of map applications for iPhone and Android that will let you pre-download maps and then track your location via GPS.
Great looking product - they'll have a hard time out-marketing Apple though. This seems like a market where second place is as good as dead.
Good luck to them.
As a side note - there's at least a billion dollars to be made by the first company that develops a fingerprint/smudge free screen - every used iphone i've seen looks gross
Also 1080p on a screen that small is v.nice. The high DPI should make for a nice ebook reader.
The iPad/iPhone is frankly too expensive in the Indian market. The market is huge though. Their price point in India should be much lower than the iPad's and that should give them an advantage.
Internationally, that's a different story altogether.
I don't see how their price point can be lower since they are using commodity components. Their contribution is the software+hardware combo.
In fact they will probably never come even close to competing on price. Hardware is a tricky game and most is sold at below production cost e.g. consoles and also I imagine the iPod. This loss is recouped through software licensing or in Apple's case the app store. This probably wont be an option for these guys since they are building on an open platform.
I'm still not sure whether i should buy a tablet or not.
But if i buy one, i will definitely wait for this one.
From my point of view it has a lot of strengths compared to the iPad. The screen in the first place.
Major Victory if the "transflective LCD" is at least partially usable in sunlight. My iPad becomes an extraordinarily effective mirror the instant the sun comes out.
now... I'd gladly pay as much as for an iPad for a device that gives me (a) the basic functionality you'd use on an iPad (web browsing, calendar, pdf viewer) but also (b) enables you to use any kind of application, including your own, without paying extra for a "developer account" or requiring to jailbreak the thing.
That said, yes they have a prototype, but are they any closer to market than the WePad (also Android)?
that sounds silly enough that they might be on to something. i had to think about that for about 30 seconds. then i realized, that is probably the name of the game in this semi-embedded/tablet space. the fact that they are so focused on that, to the detriment of making sense, is a good sign, i think.
Right. :) Basically, it sounds like they're utilizing the hardware as much as possible. '...more often [than other tablets or than would seem normal]'. I.e., more gpu or more specialized use of the hardware, less general-purpose cpu.
The interesting thing about Steve Jobs' final argument in his letter is that he fully recognizes the importance of this in the embedded space, and he gives that as a reason for avoiding middleware layers. But this is obviously a curious point, considering Flash has been ramping up towards GPU-based things since before the iPad was probably first planned.
Anyway, one can debate all one wants about the colorful histories of Apple, Adobe, and recently tablets, etc. These folks seem focused. Good luck to them all.
this is the best demo i have seen of the adam tablet,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQvefuCHZds
Im very excited, i hope it measures up to the iPad and other tablets, it seems to have some very cool features
I thought it was entertaining to see their website looking very similar to Apple's.
That said, Steve Jobs has pissed me off enough recently that I hope this gains traction.
Apple and Facebook have gotten too uppity with our rights. With all the other sh*t going on in the world at some point people will have had enough and will start pushing back on this crap.
I've been watching this device for a while, it truly is one of the most promising non-Apple tablet devices. The android jungle is being filled with creatures, and they are starting to breed :)
"I have closely observed a different kind of integrations evolving in the consumer electronics domain. Take iPad for example. Most of the people involved in its product engineering have experience in Automobile Engineering. Today you talk about extrusion, milling and drilling in the CE products! Right now, its pioneered by Apple of course! iPod was extruded. There is a lot of drilling in the aluminium Mac Air. And you will see milling as the major engineering exercise in iPad. It’s fascinating, isn’t it! There is even internal “Heat Flow” analysis which takes care that your product doesn’t get fried up!
Automobile engineering will extrude consumer electronics to such an extent, that those who have automobile product engineering will soon become the most sought after resources in CE industry. Here you talk about heat flows, CNC milling processes, extrusion, sand blasting, moving components and what not!
[...]
As more and more products will be made of metals, material and metallurgical engineering will have the most of the fun. Imaging the next generation of product made specifically to give you a 18 degree celsius feel! Imagine the body designed which change colors with external temperature! Wouldn’t it be fun that we can create a “Drum Application” where drummers can practise on the screen of Adam! The time is about to come. It’s nearer than we think. The dawn of innovation is here!"
It's a lot of bizzare wankery about manufacturing processes, with little to no actual content. Definite evidence of kool-aid drinking.
"Designed with best of the features, all necessary functionality and easy to use. Because they have a point here! To give a ‘feel’ you need to take away functionalities (the reason why there is no I/O ports in iPad). How many products were used to made of metals?"
Yeah, no i/o connectors! Like the dock connector, or the headphone jack, which aren't on the ipad at all!
Despite the great number of horror stories, India is a successful exporter of software; less so for hardware. Has any Indian startup managed to create a consumer device that is used worldwide? If not, ADAM could really be a first. An exciting prospective.
52 comments
[ 63.6 ms ] story [ 7838 ms ] threadhttp://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-adam-flash-ipad-comparis...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_tablet
"It's not a tablet or an ebook reader, it's a new species"
Is that marketing hyperbole or did I miss something fundamental about what they are doing?
If true, then it really is a new species, neither iPad nor Kindle.
Good luck to them.
As a side note - there's at least a billion dollars to be made by the first company that develops a fingerprint/smudge free screen - every used iphone i've seen looks gross
Also 1080p on a screen that small is v.nice. The high DPI should make for a nice ebook reader.
Internationally, that's a different story altogether.
In fact they will probably never come even close to competing on price. Hardware is a tricky game and most is sold at below production cost e.g. consoles and also I imagine the iPod. This loss is recouped through software licensing or in Apple's case the app store. This probably wont be an option for these guys since they are building on an open platform.
Yes, there is a working demo but until I see a release date, I won't take this product as a contender against the IPad.
Courier was a concept video, not a piece of hardware or software. It was never a working demo, or anything close to it.
That said, yes they have a prototype, but are they any closer to market than the WePad (also Android)?
that sounds silly enough that they might be on to something. i had to think about that for about 30 seconds. then i realized, that is probably the name of the game in this semi-embedded/tablet space. the fact that they are so focused on that, to the detriment of making sense, is a good sign, i think.
The interesting thing about Steve Jobs' final argument in his letter is that he fully recognizes the importance of this in the embedded space, and he gives that as a reason for avoiding middleware layers. But this is obviously a curious point, considering Flash has been ramping up towards GPU-based things since before the iPad was probably first planned.
Anyway, one can debate all one wants about the colorful histories of Apple, Adobe, and recently tablets, etc. These folks seem focused. Good luck to them all.
1) they can do it
2) the price is sub $700
If they can do that, the Slate, iPad, etc. can go home now.
What will be interesting to see is the apps. Apart from the browser what apps will the iNotion have?
The same web apps that everyone decries for not providing the rich experience of native apps?
I can't believe Apple didn't put something like this on the iPad.
That said, Steve Jobs has pissed me off enough recently that I hope this gains traction.
Apple and Facebook have gotten too uppity with our rights. With all the other sh*t going on in the world at some point people will have had enough and will start pushing back on this crap.
http://notionink.wordpress.com/
"I have closely observed a different kind of integrations evolving in the consumer electronics domain. Take iPad for example. Most of the people involved in its product engineering have experience in Automobile Engineering. Today you talk about extrusion, milling and drilling in the CE products! Right now, its pioneered by Apple of course! iPod was extruded. There is a lot of drilling in the aluminium Mac Air. And you will see milling as the major engineering exercise in iPad. It’s fascinating, isn’t it! There is even internal “Heat Flow” analysis which takes care that your product doesn’t get fried up!
Automobile engineering will extrude consumer electronics to such an extent, that those who have automobile product engineering will soon become the most sought after resources in CE industry. Here you talk about heat flows, CNC milling processes, extrusion, sand blasting, moving components and what not! [...]
As more and more products will be made of metals, material and metallurgical engineering will have the most of the fun. Imaging the next generation of product made specifically to give you a 18 degree celsius feel! Imagine the body designed which change colors with external temperature! Wouldn’t it be fun that we can create a “Drum Application” where drummers can practise on the screen of Adam! The time is about to come. It’s nearer than we think. The dawn of innovation is here!"
It's a lot of bizzare wankery about manufacturing processes, with little to no actual content. Definite evidence of kool-aid drinking.
"Designed with best of the features, all necessary functionality and easy to use. Because they have a point here! To give a ‘feel’ you need to take away functionalities (the reason why there is no I/O ports in iPad). How many products were used to made of metals?"
Yeah, no i/o connectors! Like the dock connector, or the headphone jack, which aren't on the ipad at all!