eHomeUpgrade on FacebookeHomeUpgrade on FriendFeedeHomeUpgrade on TwittereHomeUpgrade on YouTubeSubscribe via E-mailSubscribe via RSS

TechCrunch Shows Off Working (Internally Designed) Web Tablet Prototype

By Alexander Grundner | January 19th, 2009 comments icon View Comments


[VIDEO]

It’s hard to believe that it was just about 7 months ago that Michael Arrington at TechCrunch proclaimed he wanted to see a no nonsense $200 “Touch” Web Tablet produced that booted directly to a browser and allowed him to check and respond to email, surf the web, watch flash-based video, and make VoIP calls (with video). The idea here was not to beg a popular CE manufacture to develop one (and wait see), but to create a device internally with the help of a dedicated team and input from the public. Well, folks… it looks like the CrunchPad, as it’s called internally, is seeing the light of day.

Prototype Highlights: 12-inch (1024×768) screen, 4GB flash drive, USB port, VGA out (don’t know why), Wi-Fi, bezel placed webcam, 4 cell battery (with 2+ hour battery life), VIA Nano processor, streamlined Ubuntu OS, custom Webkit browser, dimensions: 12.5″ x 9.7″ x 1.3″.

[VIDEO]

What’s next: Michael thinks – based on the positive response and interest by investors – that it might be time to spin off the product away from the blog and setup an actual company lead by former Alta Vista founder/CTO, Louise Monier. I guess it’s now our turn to wait and see. Hopefully, if they decide to go to market, we’ll see a sexier, thinner version closer to the original 3D computer generated mockups shown in the original post.


Filed in: Portable Media Players  Tags: , ,


____________
Alexander Grundner is the Editor & Publisher of eHomeUpgrade. He has been following "Digital Home" developments since 2003. You can catch his daily tech musings on Twitter: @agrundner.
[Subscribe via RSS 2.0 | Follow us on Twitter]


  • Paul M
    maybe you were thinking that this was going to be use for mobile porn, hence the CrotchTablet
    :-)
  • Fixed. That's so funny (at first I didn't know what you were referring to). I totally skipped the "n" in all instances of "crunch" in this post. FYI, Michael Arrington, in the TechCrunch post, does refer to the device as the "CrunchPad Prototype B" -- but I wouldn't be surprised if it's known by different names at this stage.
  • Paul M
    crutch tablet? crotch tablet? techcruch? techcrotch?

    get it right, it's the CRUNCH TABLET from TECHCRUNCH.

    sheesh!
blog comments powered by Disqus