By The WePad will be released this summer (in Europe at least), and its specs are looking quite nice. 1.66 GHz processor, front-facing camera, USB (not one, but two ports!), MicroSD, and many more goodies all bundled in a slick package. Now we have a video showcasing its interface, including its gridded homescreen. Looks like you can also connect a mouse via USB if you’d prefer not to grease up that nice piece of glass with your fingers.
Side Note: As some commenters point out, and I wondered myself, why use a mouse to demo a touchscreen device? The best answer I can think of is this video was meant to showoff the interface, and they simply didn’t want their hands blocking the view of the screen. At least I hope this is the case, and that their reasoning isn’t a bit more dubious, say something more along the lines of a poorly functioning touchscreen.
[via CrunchGear]
Why would the start the demo with the mouse? Honestly, we’re all excited about a touch interface, and their first demo is with a mouse?! Also, this isn’t even running Android. It’s a mock up running on top of Windows 7.
Every time a company releases crap like this, Steve Job’s sinister laugh gets a little louder.
Did I miss the specs on the screen? He’s using his fingernail to use it, especially to scroll. That means a resistive screen, not capacitive :(
Multitouch? Pinch and zoom?
What the hell is with the mouse? I think were in the stage where the everyday person is giddy about touch screens so the mouse demo is kinda silly. Its not about who can make a “sleek Tablet” like Apple but a Tablet that works well. I can have a Ferrari body but have a 1 liter engine from a Geo Metro well then the car sucks. Who would want that?
So far it looks good but I’d like to see more of the UI in the video.
Also I think Brenton is right, that doesn’t look like Android to me.
what a piece of crap
While it looks like it will be quite customizable and functional people will twist that and say its complicated compared to the do nothing iPad. And the biggest knock will be that the all important animations arent as smooth lol.
yea, thats definatly a resistive touch screen. hes using his nails all the time. If thats android, thats really heavily modded. EHHHH.. you had me at the processor.. and lost me at the screen.. LOL
I must be really “old school”, but I can not figure out the whole tablet excitement. What about this machine is advantageous WITHOUT a keyboard? I mean, imagine this exact unit, but this time attach a keyboard whose secondary function is to be the protective cover for this very nice touch screen. Have the keyboard able to flip all the way around (360 degrees) so it still functions as a tablet when you don’t want the keyboard. No super-snazzy, easy-to-break swivel hinge, just a straightforward wrap around system (that turns off the keyboard once it’s past 180 degrees).
Please, help me see why a tablet, any tablet, is “better”. Or is it really just because Steve told everyone tablets are “the latest thing?”
The UI looks really messy and cluttered… I thought that this was going to be a good product but it’s rubbish.
The USB port is on the wrong side, if your right handed. I think showing off it has a USB port is good but agree with the others. use the screen as it was intended to.
The WePad is supposeded to run a Linux OS, developed by the Company 4tiitoo. It’s planned to integrate Android Apps as well. The demo you see in that video, was running under Windows 7. Neofonie, the company behind WePad, presented the device on a conference. The touchscreen is simply not functional and they wouldn’t anyone use it.
I keep watching WePad videos and wonder if that really is Android. It doesn’t look like android, it has UI elements that are not in the Android core.
Did none of you guys, author included, watch the whole video? Seriously, at about the half-way mark he pulls out a second tablet, exact same interface, and begins using it with his hand. Everything looks smooth and fluid.
Geoff I noticed this too. Any bets the first one (with rounded corners) is what the device will actually be, but for some reason the touch screen doesn’t work yet. The second one (with squared off corners) was probably an earlier version with a working touch screen. This is probably why they switched back to the rounded one to show off the form factor.
They probably used the mouse to show that you can do it and half way through he uses his finger for the touchscreen.
@Geoff
Yes I did watch the whole video, and saw him use the larger model with the touchscreen. However I disagree that “everything looks smooth and fluid” as it seemed a bit unresponsive on more than one occasion as he flips through pictures. The larger one is most likely a prototype unit.
@twrock – I’m generally with you. Tablets in this form factor don’t seem useful at all to me….just cool. Well somewhat useful in a more business oriented setting if used like your paper notepad. But in the way they are being pushed I don’t see it. The 5 or 6 inch form factors that also act as phones will be the sweet spot and I’ve been saying it for over a year now. The screen is large enough for anyone to use the onscreen keyboard but small enough to do it with your thumbs. Its also small enough to be ultra portable but big enough to enjoy video. The HTC Evo and Dell Mini 5 are close to getting it right. They need to market them in that way.
@Kevin Krause
Ummm… what about it wasn’t smooth or fluid. Granted the device wasn’t showcasing all the pointless swishes and swooshes people have come to rely upon because of Apple’s devices, but aside from that it ran fine. I just re-watched the video and didn’t notice any slowdowns at all.
In fact, the very picture gallery you mentioned is probably the most fluid of the bunch. He selects a photo and then glides through the rest. There’s not single hiccup there.
@Geoff
Ah my mistake, and please, call me Kevin. Upon a second watch I realize he meant to jog the photos back and forth. In my original viewing I thought he had attempted to move the picture forward but it had stuck and shot back to the previous picture. In that case, yes it does look very fluid. I am looking forward to this, but am waiting on a public release to pass a final judgment. Too many unanswered questions about it right now.
I can see them as a dashboard, so that you can mount it on a wall in your kitchen and use it as your calendar, news outlet, weather forecast, traffic checker, recipe catalog, todo list, grocery list, video phone, charging station etc.
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Then make it detachable for relaxing and reading news or book, playing a game, or doing a quick search. It would all be right there at your finger-tips in the most popular room of the house and it wouldn’t take up any counter space.
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Right now I have a google calendar and a dry erase board. Wouldn’t it be nice to put something in my calendar at work and let my wife see it on the wall at home… immediately.
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I do the same thing with my grocery list. Check the fridge, we’re out of something, it goes on a dry-erase board. Contrast that with adding the grocery on “remember the milk” and immediately syncing with my phone/mobile grocery list.
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Same thing with todo list.
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Son’s baseball schedule
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Think of all the papers and calendars and other shit you have hanging on your fridge, or somewhere in your kitchen. Now imagine them in your wepad.
As far as switching from one tablet to the other when changing from using a mouse to touch screen, I’m thinking it may be because it does not change well if you disconnect the mouse and revert to touch screen; or else the first one did not have a functioning touch screen.
Overall, depends on the price. If it is a relatively low cost then it may be worth it for a novelty, or a younger user who is mainly browsing, etc, and not as worried about doing a lot.
@ Cpt Mike: I agree. That’s the same kind of use scenario I envision w/ these type devices. They’re living room / kitchen devices for instant-on quick info retrieval. While I’m not interested in the iPad, I could be interested in a Win7 or Android tablet, because they would allow much greater functionality – but it would have to be pretty cheap for me to justify a 4th device (already have a desktop, laptop & Droid).
@ Everyone: The WePad runs a custom Linux OS that is also capable of running Android apps. All the info is right here: http://wepad.mobi/en
1st 2 paragraphs on their site are jabs at Apple. I love the 1984 reference:
“Some people seem to think life is all about the I, and the Me, Me, Me.
We beg to differ. To us, the power of many beats the power of one. That’s why we came up with the WePad: It’s the smarter solution for enjoying the Internet your way. Why? Because when you’re locked in, you get the Internet their way. It’s the opposite of free. Being told what you can see, what you can buy, and all the things you can not do – somehow, that just seems so 1984.”
Specs: http://www.neofonie.de/files/product_specifications_WePad_1004014.pdf
Press conf (in Deutsch): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj6AWVg0axE
wouldn’t be surprised if that was not the final product, but one of the alpha versions(notice he specifically grabbed a differently designed tablet for touch?)
my bet was they where using the rounded model as cheap testing unit for some features, and to spend as little as possible on test units they left out the touch screen.
also, i’ve heard of capacitive-resistive screens(screens that are both) being worked on, wouldn’t it be possible the wepad has something like that?
or, because it’s a test unit they didn’t add a capacitive screen yet.
Good start