If you’re the kind of person who waits for the Chrome OS as some sort of new wave of technology, we’ve got goodies for you: Google has just introduced a tablet or two, but these are only mockups. They’re meant to show the potential of the Chrome OS, mainly its cool interface.
Coincidence with the announcement of the Apple iPad? Certainly not, so it seems that Google doesn’t want to be left behind in this duel. The images were made available by Glen Murphy, Google’s Chrome UI lead designer and the interface will apparently be available on tablets with displays ranging from 5 to 10 inches in diagonal.
The Google Tablet seems bigger than the iPad, but certainly not huge like a portable Microsoft Surface, or something. Advantages? Multitasking, for starters… and probably better specs, plus a cheaper price. Don’t forget to have a look at the video below, showing the Google tablet in action.
It was that time of the year again, last weekend in Las Vegas as CES 2010 hosted most of the cool devices we’ll be seeing on the market this year. Among others, we stumbled upon Teleepoch’s prototype phone, pictured below and packing Qualcomm’s “wearable device” WMDP chip design.
The flip phone comes with a tiny display, gesture and voice control, an accelerometer and probably a very low price tag, if it ever goes into production. You’ll scroll through its menus by tilting the phone in a certain direction, while voice control handles phone number input, quick dialling and texting.
You’ll only interact physically with the device via the hinge, so this is a pretty hands-off concept phone, a cool idea.
Just when you think that everyone’s forgotten about the Apple tablet, here it comes again, smacking us right in the head with novelty. This time, we’re dealing with a prototype of the device, or better said some very cool photo manipulation and render, done by Lucas Rosa. This “miniature laptop in tablet form” is some sort of hybrid between Microsoft Courier and a WACOM tablet.
Nintendo DS was also used as an inspiration for the device, that supports gestures, like flipping virtual pages. Also, you should know that the iSlate or Netslate (would be names for the concept) measures about 14 x 21 cm and comes with two foldable parts, connected by a flexible hinge. The tablet uses the iPhone’s OS with some features taken from the desktop Mac OS X.
Pinching gesture is also supported, plus annotations, additional layers of information and even gaming, with virtual controls on screen. The display on this tablet concept is an AMOLED, thin and energy saving, while the memory is all SSD. USB and FireWire are not included, but WiFi and Bluetooth are, as well as induction charging. Hot concept!
The rumour of the day is accompanied by a cool picture of a Mac Tablet concept, but the info is truly interesting: turns out that Apple is also readying 13 inch and 15 inch tablet versions, aside from the standard 10 inch one.
A Gizmodo source claims that prototypes of the new Apple Tablets are available right now in the Shenzuen Apple factory in China. The new tablets look like oversized iPhones made out of aluminium and some of them run OS X, according to the same source.
Apple has a special event scheduled for September, but don’t expect its tablet to be launched there… My money’s on a new iPod Touch with a camera, but we’ll have to wait and see.
We’re keen on any info regarding prototypes, patents, phone concepts and designs, but this time it’s a tragedy we’re dealing with and a quite intriguing piece of news. A 25 year old worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn (that maker of all iPhone models) has committed suicide after the iPhone 4G prototype he was looking after went missing…
I’m sure that the product was worth its value in gold, if not more and it’s hard to say if the man really committed suicide or if he was a victim of the industrial espionage or its “counter measures”. The web is abuzz with stories concerning illegal searches of the man’s apartment and even physical abuse on him, during interrogation.
Rumours seem to point towards Foxconn employee, but we’re not the one pointing fingers. Meanwhile, the Cupertino giant expresses its sadness concerning the man’s death, but we wonder what would happen if we’d post a picture of the 4G iPhone here? Would we also be found dead?
Since concept phone designers seem to be on holiday, we’ve decided to show you a bunch of mini-notebook prototypes, created by Freescale. The Smartbook concept includes 6 prototypes, modular devices based on ARM CPUs and sporting uber long battery lives.
The compact smartbooks below look great and it turns out that they’re durable and come with great functionality. I’m really impressed by the concept below, that probably packs a touchscreen, a pretty interesting keyboard and an innovative interface. Is it practical enough to make the cut?
These devices are all about productivity, so they deserve to be dubbed “workbooks”.
We usually praise the designs of folks who have just started creating concept phones, since they’re promising and they need a boost. However, we’re very harsh when it comes to official prototypes and patents belonging to major companies, like Sony Ericsson. What were they thinking when they created the concept bracelet phone below?
Described in the patent app as a “Mobile Terminal”, this handset is meant to be worn as a bracelet and may remind some of you of watch phones. It can also be used in a two hand mode, for faster typing.
Such a strange design is only meant to stay on the drawing board and SE are not crazy enough to launch such a crazy device during this recession… we hope.
Taking its inspiration from Samsung’s Flexible OLED (video below, after the images), the Wild Fold concept is basically a foldable mobile device, created by Mac Funamizu. He keeps the classic neat design, straight lines and all, that remind us of the Glassy concept phone.
As you can see, a foldable display/device is surely a more compact one and easier to carry.
I’m sure that the first prototype using this technology will be rather bulky, unlike Mac Funamizu’s thin handset, but if Sony and their hot flexible screens play a part in the release, we could see some brilliant tech.
After tob!s from Esato killed us the other day with the beautiful XPERIA X5 concept, he’s ready to do it again, with the aid of a Sony Ericsson Alicia concept. Here’s the W707, in its electronic flesh, not really a concept but rather a prototype of the device with some Photoshop magic on it.
After seeing the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 also known as the Tube in The Dark Knight movie, it’s time for another pic of the future Nokia hit. This time, we get to check out its interface, which is really disappointing, even for a prototype.
Yes, it’s fairly basic and yes it does leave enough room for chubby fingers to press, but still, this is Nokia we’re talking about people… and the Symbian touch OS.
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