I am semi-interested in this market. As the lazy lazy man I am, I often find myself laying around, and in odd positions that dont lend themselves to laptops. Who among you have been hanging upside down from their couch/bed/etc and not thought: "I wish I had a handheld computer to entertain me while I do this" WHO I ASK!?!
It's a tough sell now that I use my iPod touch. Of course, the obvious caveats like lack of Flash or being able to freely donwload content over the internet is there, but for just plain surfing, it works considerably well. I'd say that this is still a reasonable enough impulse buy, but I wouldn't trade my iPod for it.
I have to agree with Wilson though. At its price and size, the differences between it and a netbook can become sort of moot, at least for me. I'd have to carry something to carry it in, so I could just as well get a cheaper netbook that has an actual VGA port if I want to occasionally expand it in desktop mode.
@Kaiser-Machead: I would love to have this device but with a 10" screen/form-factor and a proportionately sized slide-out keyboard. I would pay ~$500 or a little more for that! (provided it has both a enhanced touchscreen and a tablet style digitizer)
I've never understood what "MID" stood for. Cowon and Archos make them, too, but what's a "MID"?
Anyhow, there's got to be a place for these things in the gadget pantheon. I could see them as being kind of nice for bigger-screen playback of video content, and handy for dumping photographs to when on-the-go. While Mark doesn't seem to like MIDs, and maybe that's why there are no plusses in this lightning review, but they seem to be filling a niche for people who don't want to carry a blackberryish thing around, don't do a lot of typing, and don't want the bulk of a netbook.
I'll throw the question to fellow commenters, too -- Why do companies make MIDs, and who's the target market?
@ninjagin: Mobile Internet Device, which is a more generic term than the Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer. MIDs covers everything, including devices running Linux, while UMPC is a term invented by Microsoft with a specific specification in mind that runs Windows.
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I'm not at all associated with this site, but there's some more information for those who might be interested.
[jkontherun.com]
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what's the netbook in the picture? HP 1000? The hardware looks pretty decent.
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I have to agree with Wilson though. At its price and size, the differences between it and a netbook can become sort of moot, at least for me. I'd have to carry something to carry it in, so I could just as well get a cheaper netbook that has an actual VGA port if I want to occasionally expand it in desktop mode.
That said, it's a damnably attractive gizmo.
04/24/09
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Anyhow, there's got to be a place for these things in the gadget pantheon. I could see them as being kind of nice for bigger-screen playback of video content, and handy for dumping photographs to when on-the-go. While Mark doesn't seem to like MIDs, and maybe that's why there are no plusses in this lightning review, but they seem to be filling a niche for people who don't want to carry a blackberryish thing around, don't do a lot of typing, and don't want the bulk of a netbook.
I'll throw the question to fellow commenters, too -- Why do companies make MIDs, and who's the target market?
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Like this one:[gizmodo.com]