Upcoming E-Lead UMPC Features… Upside Down Typing?
As the UMPC market continues to grow, manufacturers need to be innovative in order to get noticed. Is innovation for the sake of innovation the right direction to take, though? Apparently Taiwan-based E-Lead Electronic seems to think so. Known mainly for car audio / video products, E-Lead recently revealed its new Noahpad UMPC at CES, and preliminary info leaves us with little more than a big question mark. The Noahpad’s specs are respectable but the eye-catcher is supposed to be the form and keyboard. E-Lead’s freshman UMPC folds open just as many UMPCs and laptops do, but the screen continues to fold a full 180° to sit flush with the bottom of the unit. The keyboard itself consists of dual touch pads that are supposed to somehow be conducive to blind operation as the user types…upside down. Hmm. Companies invest millions of dollars in alternative input technology but it looks like E-Lead might not be one of those companies. Has the UMPC market been clamoring for a device that will force its users to relearn the age-old art of typing? The Noahpad can also be used with the screen rotated open partially (as a standard laptop screen would be) leaving very little to separate it from existing UMPC offerings. We’ll have to wait for a full hands on before we come to any concrete conclusions but as of now, the Noahpad seems like it will definitely be eligible for a "WTF were they thinking?!?" award.
You bloggers have zilch imagination and don’t put much effort into research, do you?
You could find out plenty about NoahPad if you would just check websites in its home country, where it’s been exhibited and winning awards for over a year. But why bother? Bloggers were able to stop the Foleo, so maybe you can stop NoahPad. The norm now is a smarmy remark and a soundbite that gets you linked.
There’s no doubt that this computer will fit better on an airline tray table than a traditional clamshell. It will definitely fit in better in my kitchen with this form factor. With the optional dashboard clip, it will fit better in my car than a clamshell.
The display method has obvious advantages over a touch screen. The display can be made brighter and won’t be obscured by fingers. Yet it uses fingers instead of a stylus and has multitouch, so it takes advantage of our native manual dexterity.
I’m getting to the point where the only gadget blogger I look forward to is Jenn Lee at Pocketables. If she says it sucks, I may believe it. I wouldn’t trust you to tell the time.
zorg, you really don;t understand the idea of blogs do you?
Everyone has opinions and mine is that I would not buy one. And the Foleo killed itself.
Yeah, blogs killed the foleo and tv killed the radio star and I shot the friggin sheriff
The reason the foleo didn’t make it is cause its….uh….useless!
The reason this thing won’t make it is cause noone types anymore – that’s why touch screens are so popular
Its a good idea just late in the game
Zorg, if you read the entire article maybe you would of noticed that it said, “We’ll have to wait for a full hands on before we come to any concrete conclusions”, there saying as of now from what they have heard their not impressed. Man I’ve noticed people just want to argue lately for the dumbest reasons.