Hasta La Gadget!

I agree with designer Tariq Krim that we’ve yet to see an OS interface perfectly implemented to a netbook’s uniquely small hardware. Hence Jolicloud, and judging from this UI shot, he’s on to something.

Yes, this is what our netbooks need: clear, big app icons (big enough to be touchable) on scrollable page a la the iPhone OS, an easy installer interface for quickly adding more, constant access to a universal search bar, all presented in a clean, clear and colorful design scheme.

Jolicloud isn’t out yet, but you can track its progress here: [Jolicloud, Jolicloud Flickr Stream via Crunch Gear and BBG]

Netbooks have captured the hearts of consumers and are driving PC sales during a lean economy. But could the boom in these inexpensive, tiny notebooks be a sign of a much more dangerous trend?

Cheap netbooks could end up killing PC innovation and turn off many consumers, argues Rahul Sood, chief technology officer for HP’s Voodoo Business Unit on his blog.

"Consumer expectations are very high and when a
product they perceive is a fully functional notebook doesn’t perform as
well, they could set themselves up
for disappointment," says Sood on his blog. "It’s a vicious cycle."

Netbooks started out being designed as companion devices to larger notebooks or desktops. But with their full-featured operating systems and software, consumers are increasingly considering inexpensive netbooks as their primary computing device.

Soaring demand and falling prices (an average netbook sells for $400) is likely to make it tougher for computer manufacturers to offer better quality products, says Sood.

"Assuming you get caught in this cycle, how do you
differentiate the higher performance machines from the netbook equipped
systems," he says. Its one reason that Apple may be holding out from selling netbooks in a bid to avoid cannibalization of sales of its higher priced notebooks, suggests Sood.

Some companies seem to realize this. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month Sony launched a $900 8-inch laptop that it prefers to call a sub-notebook rather than a netbook.

Sood suggest companies look towards designing a netbook with software that makes it into an "awesome supplement rather than a
ho-hum replacement." If Microsoft doesn’t take up this gauntlet, can anyone else?

Photo: Asus S6F vs. Eee 1000h (Adriaan Bloem/Flickr)

Netbooks may be the fastest-growing niche in the computer spectrum but Apple, in its infinite wisdom, still appears to be in no hurry to come up with one that meets its exacting standards.

"We’ve
got some ideas, but right now we think the products there are inferior and will not
provide the experience to customers that they’re happy with," Tim
Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer and acting CEO, said during the company’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday.

The issues, from Apple’s perspective? Low-powered CPUs, cramped
keyboards and small displays are not enough to satisfy customers. And — oh yeah — netbooks
are "principally based on hardware," Cook said, while repeatedly stressing on the call that Apple believes "software is the key
ingredient."

This may just be a phase in the company’s familiar "we’ll-do-it-when-we’re-good-and-ready-or-not" approach to product development (and it is hard to argue with success). But the economic downturn is driving sales of netbooks — inexpensive, low-powered, miniature
notebooks — through the roof. Powered by Intel Atom processors, netbooks usually measure 8
to 10 inches in screen size, and pricing on average hovers around $300 to $500. Despite frustratingly small keyboards, trackpads and screens consumers are consumers don’t seem to mind the compromise in these tough economic times.

Evidence that the netbook price point can be found in Apple’s own earnings report. On the call Apple announced it sold a record number of iPods in the quarter: 22.7 million. With iPods priced no higher than $400, it’s clear that this cost sweet spot is attractive to consumers.

And this seems to be the start of a significant upward trajectory for the category: ABI Research forecasts that manufacturers will ship 200 million ultramobile devices, including netbooks, by 2013 — which is about the same
anticipated size as the entire laptop market worldwide. And analysts
predict the netbook market will grow at least 100 percent in 2009.

Though Apple is stalling on offering netbooks, that doesn’t mean they’re ruling out the idea entirely. Cook’s
statements suggest Apple could be devising a product that fits into the
netbook category, and a new software platform will blow away operating
systems that current netbooks are running. We’ve seen all this before with [pick an Apple consumer product], including pre-release disbelief about slow-walking the process from journalists, pundits and the geeky chattering class.

In an October 2008 conference call, CEO Steve Jobs said Apple could not
produce a notebook in the netbook price range that wasn’t a "piece of
junk." However, similar to Cook’s statement Wednesday, Jobs did say Apple has "interesting ideas" if the netbook category evolves.

See Also:

• Puny, Trendy Netbooks Are Growing Up to Suit Business Users
• Cheap, Easy-to-Mod NetBooks Are a Hacker’s Paradise
• Five Things That Netbooks Need Now
• Analysis: ARM Chips Could Appear in Apple Netbooks, Tablets

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com

A new Sony VAIO laptop has been spotted in an FCC patent application this week that some are suggesting might finally be the cheap Sony PC that competes with netbooks.

We don’t think it’s happening, but we’d love to be wrong.

The so-called VAIO GS found at the FCC site has a 12.1-inch display and all the port trimmings: WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, and VGA out. But it’s the battery position and the weight that is getting the most attention. Just like Lenovo’s Ideapad S10 and some of the other netbooks, this prototype has a hole in the backside of its chassis for quick battery swapping. And the patent says the full frame weighs only 2 lbs., perfect for a carry-on device.

But a week after launching the $900 VAIO Lifestyle PC at CES, labeled as the ‘world’s lightest 8-inch notebook,’ Sony would have little incentive to create a laptop with a larger screen at a cheaper price. Even if it doesn’t appear to have any of the cool design elements of the Lifestyle PC, Sony executives should know that the economy is forcing people to choose useful functions over style. It’s like everyone is resigned to date Ugly Betty for the next two years.

I recently thought that offering a simple, super light, almost regular-sized laptop like this one for a bottom-level price (sub $400) would be a great strategy for some company. After all, not everyone wants 8-inch screens or needs ‘instant-on’ capabilities.

But it would have a negative effect on a large company’s overall laptop line and would show people they don’t have to buy a new lappie in the $800-1200 range they’ve so become used to.  For that reason, we’ll continue to see the very cheapest of the netbooks offer the most simple of features inside tiny screen real estate.

I’ve had plenty of time to spend with Sony’s bite-sized Vaio P, and now it’s time to deliver a verdict on whether or not the 1.4-pound device really performs as advertised.

Sony’s Vaio P managed to generate some buzz at CES, largely based around its minuscule footprint, 1.4-pound weight and ultra-wide LCD screen. Sony aggressively marketed this device as not being a netbook, but rather as a full-functioning laptop. They even went as far as to install Windows Vista Home Basic on the Vaio P despite an Atom processor, and gave it the 1600×768 resolution. This left two big questions to be answered: Is it suitable for real everyday use? And does it transcend the netbook category and enter the realm of media notebook?

If “everyday use” means some light multitasking focused around the internet, then you may be using the Vaio P with regularity. But assuming media notebook status entails watching HD Youtube vids while working in Photoshop, the answer to the second question is a definitive “no.” On the other hand, any way you slice and dice it, the Vaio P is a netbook. I came into to this review with modest expectations, and tested it as such. I didn’t beat the hell out of it by trying to install Adobe Premiere or play Crysis on the thing. But seeing as Sony was talking a big game, I tried to do more than browse pages, listen to music and check email.

The review unit I tested had a 1.33 GHz Z520 Atom Processor, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD and Intel integrated graphics designed for MIDs. So I decided I would try to run three to five apps at any one time, essentials like SlingPlayer, Pidgin, Skype, VLC, iTunes and Gimp. Meanwhile, I’d have Firefox open, running Google Docs, Flickr and Youtube.

For the most part, this machine ran speedily, handling Pidgin and many-tabbed Firefox along with other apps. I wouldn’t consider the Vaio P as fast as a standard laptop in a similar scenario, but it definitely feels faster than most netbooks. Resident netbook expert Mark Wilson also noted that in the short time he spent playing with the Vaio P, it felt two or three times faster running Vista than other netbooks running Vista.

I suppose it’s no huge shock, but trying to play most video on the Vaio P was pretty rough. It could handle anything in the resolution ballpark of 320×240 without failure, but 640×480 fullscreen video would lag and 1280×720 video (from vids created on my Kodak Zi6 and from YouTube) would freeze within a few frames. Locally stored, non-HD DivX movies either ran in slow-mo or lost every third frame. The moral of the story: If Sony is going to be adamant about their product not being a netbook, adequate video playback is a must.

As far as battery life goes, if you’re web browsing over wi-fi while listening to music and messaging you should get 2-3 hours out of the battery. I kept the brightness at 3/4 and had the power management set to “Vaio Optimized,” and found the results to be acceptable, if average for these kinds of machines.

Sony also includes a Linux-based instant-on interface that uses the PS3-like Xross Media Bar UI but its implementation is a mixed bag. The raw functionality and design of the software is decent, allowing you to access music, photos, movies, messaging software and a custom version of Firefox. But some of the visual design and nuanced functionality are lacking to the point where you’d rather just launch Vista.

The fonts and backgrounds, specifically, make the instant-on XMB environment look cheap and dated. It’s also an issue in the web browser, which uses a totally different set of fonts that border on repulsive. (Sadly, the browser makes Gizmodo look particularly bad.) Also strange is that the Pidgin messaging app in this Linux UI lets you sign into Gchat or MSN Messenger, but not AIM. Maybe this is a remnant of Sony’s long-standing bad relationship with AOL and AIM.

My final complaint with regard to the instant-on OS is that switching between keyboard and cursor-based navigation is done in a half-baked way that makes it all feel unfinished. Going from the XMB to the music player, for example, requires you to use the nub to control the play/pause/skip functionality, and that isn’t easy. If we can’t get keyboard control in these menus, then how about some dedicated media-playback buttons? It’s not like this machine is a testament to minimalism or anything.

As for the hardware itself, it’s got the build quality you expect from a premium-priced Sony product. It never feels like it’s going to break or loosen up, and it’s clear some time and effort was put into the design. And for its size, it feels neither too heavy nor too light, and really lives up to its claims of portability.

One gripe I do have, however, is with the keyboard and mouse layout. The key size and general spacing isn’t really the issue, as I’ve used much smaller and much worse before, but the lack of space between the space bar and the mouse buttons is really problematic. I typed this entire review on the Vaio P, and one problem I kept running into is that every time I went to hit the space bar, I accidentally tapped the mouse button. It’s so sensitive it would register a click without being fully pressed. So every 90 seconds or so, the cursor moved from where I’m typing to wherever my mouse pointer was and totally derailed whatever I was typing. Annoying.

To those who are wary of the lack of trackpad, and the return of the old Thinkpad-style nub, truth is a trackpad is more effective, but the shrinkage achieved by its omission is worth it. Considering the sleek and slim measurements of the Vaio P, I have no problem plugging in a mouse if I need more precise control.

As for my final verdict, the Vaio P is an undeniably attractive, fun, exciting gadget on design alone, but I’m not quite sure it lives up to its marketing hype or its $900 starting price—ours as tested was actually $1200. The Sony Vaio P works well as a machine for the living room or kitchen, and for style reasons fits well in those environments and is easily stashed. But it won’t replace your workhorse laptop, not even on a part time basis, due to graphical limitations, an inability to run resource-heavy apps and that damned issue with the keyboard and mouse. [Vaio P on Giz]