

WePad - obsaysditto
http://wepad.mobi/en

======
axod
I sometimes wonder if this fad of having a massive gloss mark right across
screens will pass. It's like they're trying to say "You can be absolutely sure
this will reflect everything so that you can't see _anything_ on the actual
screen".

When displayed on websites they just seem to take it to extremes. Half the
device is black and half is white? :/

Hardware looks quite sexy.

~~~
nollidge
Why is a glossy screen considered a "good thing" in the first place? Is there
_any_ situation in which a glossy screen is desirable?

~~~
axod
If you're in the right lighting conditions, blacks are far blacker, contrast
is better IMHO than a matt display. But it's a _very_ contentious issue as far
as I know.

~~~
zephjc
having had both matte and glossy macbook pros, my own observations seem to
confirm this: colors are richer and display is brighter (across the same
model) but glossy screens get smudged a LOT, and reflect just about everything

~~~
iaskwhy
That's it. If you (the common person TM) are on a shop and look at two laptops
side by side, one with a matte screen and the other with a glossy screen, I'm
pretty sure that person will be more pleased with the colors on the glossy
one.

The problems only appear when you start using it.

~~~
axod
The problems only appear when you start using it. <In bad lighting setups>

------
influx
Details:

[http://www.neofonie.de/files/product_specifications_WePad_10...](http://www.neofonie.de/files/product_specifications_WePad_1004014.pdf)

Positives: USB ports, Java, Flash, Android apps, built on Linux, Webcam

Negatives: Less battery life than iPad (6 hours vs 10 hours)

~~~
bonzoesc
Negatives: touchscreen not implemented, months or years away from sale

------
marknutter
Not too shabby, but a few things concern me:

1\. The air vent. Does this thing get hot? How necessary is the air vent? My
iPad is always cool as a cucumber, regardless of what I do on it.

2\. The size seems a bit big. Not only is the screen a tad on the large size
(or the German pillow girl a tad on the small size), but it also looks pretty
thick. The iPad is right on the edge of being to heavy, I wonder what the
weight on this thing is.

3\. How polished is this thing going to be? They have more features, ports,
etc, but that also introduces complexity. Apple had three iphones with which
to work out ui bugs, hardware problems, and other issues.

I'm excited to see how it's received, and also excited to see the upcoming
android based tablets. But I'm not holding my breath.

------
gte910h
I'm looking forward to the android tablets.

~~~
kqr2
A website completely devoted to this:

<http://www.androidtablets.net/>

~~~
Concours
is it your site? it looks nice

------
SlyShy
I think those were USB ports I saw in the back.

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gurtwo
What so hard about building these kind of devices nowadays? It seems to me
that all the components are readily available (there is no technological
breakthrough in any of them, excepted maybe the screen), and the size of it
should make it easier to pack more features or cheaper ones. Unless it's all
about the software.

------
DrSprout
I'd really like a full-size laptop with these exact specs (and a full-size
battery.) What really detracts from these things' portability is that they
basically have to be plugged in every day. It's even the same with my Droid.

------
WildUtah
Runs Android: Excellent. Runs Flash: Too Bad. A year behind the market leader:
trouble Will cost more than iPad: marketplace death

You just can't get away with charging more than Apple's offering unless you're
providing some kind of genuine innovation. This is unlikely to offer anything
iPad doesn't and even if it did, nobody would be inclined to believe it. That
means it has to be cheaper, which shouldn't be so hard with Apple's typical
margins.

~~~
cesare
Here in Europe the iPad will cost 499 Euro. So 449 is actually cheaper for us.

------
davidedicillo
I'm sure it's going to be well engineered like the iPad
[http://cdn1.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Joo-
Joo...](http://cdn1.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Joo-Joo-
FCC2-540x370.jpg)

oh wait... that was the Joojoo

<http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/dDCyRZBNfZ1FxJbI.large>

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bartl
Does this exist, or is it just a late April Fools' joke? Because it seems
awfully quick to come up with a real competitor to the iPad...

~~~
Vivtek
They were developing before the iPad came out, of course. I saw news about
them in March, anyway.

They've been marketing to newspapers in Germany, but with the advent of the
iPad it would appear they've seen a larger market. I wish they'd get more
specific, though. If they're already on the market this summer in Europe, I'm
probably going to pick one up.

~~~
Dysiode
The specs say in Germany they're going to soft-launch it in July and publicly
launch in August this year.

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zephjc
more informative: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO0XHMoylZ4>

~~~
raimondious
I know this is an early version, but why would you show people a competitor to
the iPad that doesn't include a touch interface? Maybe to show off the USB?

~~~
elblanco
It has touch. He shows it a little later in the video. One question though is
that it appears that he's doing a lot of the touch with his fingernail, which
makes me think that the sensitivity is poor.

~~~
raimondious
Agh, shamed. The description said touch was upcoming, so I didn't bother
watching the entire video.

I guess they say that because they only seem to have a rough prototype with
touch right now — the one they were using looked a lot bulkier and more
unpolished than the demo model.

~~~
elblanco
I was actually wondering why he was padding around with a mouse to start with
too.

I wonder though if it supports multi-touch? I really think that's important
for tablet computers these days. The control over the device really is so much
better.

------
ptomato
I'm looking forward to seeing if it actually exists, and if so, the price,
which I noticed they haven't announced yet.

~~~
riffraff
it's in the specs, starts at 449 with wlan, 16gb

~~~
ptomato
So about $600 at current exchange rates.

~~~
buster
but will be sold subsidized, so the price will be lower

~~~
tptacek
Wait who's subsidizing it?

~~~
buster
Afaik, the are making deals with news organizations.

------
edster
Anybody notice the picture of the woman standing up and holding the device? I
think it's the last picture in the roll. Not only does she appear somewhat
uncomfortable holding it but she is using a pillow in her right hand while
standing to kind of prop up the device. Very strange choice for a product
shot.

------
acg
I'm wondering what happens to ChromeOS long term if the future is Andriod for
portable internet devices.

~~~
warfangle
ChromeOS is for netbooks (direct hardware keyboard input, small screen) while
Android is for touch devices (android phones, tablet devices, etc).

They're similar, but for completely different markets.

~~~
ErrantX
I'd pay for a ChromeOS pad - probably a fair amount. With some UI tweaks and a
decent context-sensitive onscreen keyboard a ChromeOS pad would be stellar!

(though I am an oddity and only wanting a pad for internet use and nothing
else :))

------
mufumbo
this is great news for me. I have already a couple of android apps that i am
starting to port with the ipad with the iphone sdk, but my learn curve with
objective-c has not been the best.

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cesare
Does anybody know if the battery will be user replaceable?

------
fuxx0r
The best thing is:

At the presentation in germany they used windows mobile as operating system ;)

After 1 weeks they tell'd the truth about :P

