Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:00a.m.
By Liz Quilty
Okay we're all into great gadgets right? Check this one out! Always Innovating has released what is called a Touch Book. It's part Tablet, part Netbook.
It has a working accelerometer and a finger-friendly Linux user interface; it’s pretty much a mini tablet with a keyboard attachment. The hardware and Software are both fully open source, it runs a custom version of Linux as its interface called Touch OS.
The coolest thing about it is that it slips in and out of the keyboard attachment (if you buy one) which makes it useable as a NetBook style computer or Tablet.
As for Tech Specs - here we go. It has 7 USB sockets (3 internal and 4 external).
They are of the mind that you don’t want things hanging out so they make it easy to pop off a panel and plug USB devices in easily.
No stylus comes with it, however you are welcome to use one. The screen is 8.9'' and has a resolution of 1024 x 600. It can play HD video up to 720p. Battery life is interesting, there are 2 batteries, one in the screen, and one in the keyboard.
This means it can go 3-5 hours by itself or up to 10 hours with keyboard attached.
The storage is an 8GB SD card, easily upgradeable. They originally used Micro SD cards, however they found SD were cheaper and easier to get larger sizes, so switched.
For networking they come standard with 802.11n WIFI. The CPU is a 600 MHz TI OMAP3 processor (based on ARM) which doesn’t make me think its going to be overly useful for any major media or processing. However it will work fine for Email, Internet, etc. The 256MB RAM really doesn’t make it look good however, and doesn’t look good for upgrading either.
There is an independent magnet system which apparently must have some sort of control to turn on and off, this means you can make dinner and watch movies whilst its stuck to the fridge - watch it in action here.
Personally I find the magnet thing kind of pointless and waste of space. If you really get into the guy with the weird accent here’s another video demonstrating its awesomeness
Since it’s running Linux I presume you can compile NavIT for it and use it nicely in the cat with a GPS, as well as a full on entertainment unit for the kids.
Overall, I would say it’s a great gadget, and for the cost of $300USD not too shabby.
I would have liked to see more CPU power and RAM really, however the ability to run some iPhone applications is a bonus.
Some reviews suggest the monitor is too heavy, and it tends to tip of you lean it back at all when attached to the keyboard.
Always Innovating say you are welcome to install Android, Windows, or anything on it you want, however I don’t believe they would run as nicely as they could considering the specs. End result is, great gimmick, but I don’t think I would buy it.