Ocosmos OCS1: Oak Trail Gaming Tablet Impressions
by Vivek Gowri on September 15, 2010 1:14 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
We managed to catch up with Ocosmos, the people behind the OCS1 gaming tablet from Douglas Davis’ keynote this morning, and got some more information regarding the intruiging new tablet. As we noted before, it’s running Windows 7, Intel’s Oak Trail platform, two D-pads, and a screen that slides up to reveal a physical keyboard.
We can now flesh out the specs further, with the data sheet showing a 4.8” capacitive touch screen with WSVGA resolution (248 pixels per inch!), a 1.5GHz Atom Oak Trail with GMA 600, a 32GB SSD built in with expandable memory, integrated GPS, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, 3 megapixel rear camera, and a micro-HDMI support.
But the best part about it, other than the awesome form factor and specs for such a small device, is the gaming aspect. The D-pads slide and click in eight directions, can be used and pressed down like analog sticks, and act as the mouse throughout Windows. There are right and left triggers on the top of the device. It’s like a PSP computer, with a real keyboard.
It’s got a pretty hefty feel, which is expected since it’s stuffed an entire Windows system into a 4.8” device form factor, and it fits nicely in your hand. The rear of the device is shaped such that the device is easy to hold when gaming and won’t tire out one’s hands. Unfortunately, due to the early Oak Trail silicon, the prototype was a barely functioning unit that made for a good industrial design/mechanical engineering sample, but things like the touchscreen and d-pads were not working. So the Ocosmos team has a bit of work ahead of them, but the OCS1 isn’t slated to ship until early next year, and we eagerly await the day we can get our hands on a finished product.
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BPB - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
I can see myself owning this if they get it working well.IntelUser2000 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Oak Trail is a early 2011 part. I have doubts on the device in terms of battery life though. Windows based UMPCs have a limit on how much low you can get.I think it'll be a 4 hour battery life looking at the size.
IntelUser2000 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
I always miss something in my comments. In forums, the EDIT button saves me but not here!Another doubt is the price. That doesn't look cheap at all. It does look pretty good though. If they price it at $500 it could be popular. Do it Ocosmos!
vol7ron - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
I guess we have different price concepts.I can see myself owning one at $299 or under, where that would be the intro price. Falling to $250 after a decent shelf-life.
Pros:
- form factor
- design
- dpad
Possible Cons:
- 32GB vs 64+
- camera quality (rear should be 5MP+, front should be 3MP)
- GPS accuracy (?)
- screen quality (?) [new iPhone screen is what every device should be]
- speaker quality
The thing that I'm really looking for is a smartdevice that has a decent GPS antenna. The radio on these things are week and the accuracy is not good enough. I want an application that will order a pizza and have it delivered to youuu, whether you're in a park or down an alley, so long as you don't move your relative location in an hour. -- Same for finding friends. If I'm at a concert I want to be able to find someone, not know they're at a concert and can be in a sea of 1,000 people.
Other things I'd like future devices to have:
- pico projector
IntelUser2000 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Even Netbooks that are designed from the ground up to be cheap barely meets your standards.32GB SSD probably costs $150 by itself.
vol7ron - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
I agree netbooks aren't up to spec, but there's also a larger cost with netbooks; especially given larger parts (cost of materials).You're making two mistakes:
1) Cost != Price
2) You can't take the retail value of one piece, bundling causes parts to be cheaper when sold as a set, the markup would be on the whole product, not the retail value of each diode.
bji - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Devices like this always fail. You cannot compete with commodity devices for which the main draw is the ubiquity, and thus software support, of the platform, with a device that has better hardware specs. The market is not there for devices like this. The vast majority of people want to know that they are buying into a platform with market support (even if they don't consciously realize that - to them it's just about buying "the cool device that everyone else is buying"), which devices like this do not and never will have.Off the top of my head I can think of a few devices that were produced out of the exact same business logic and that failed:
- Tapwave (Palm competitor)
- Palm Pre (iPhone competitor)
- That new Microsoft "social" cell phone, whatever it was called (iPhone competitor)
There are hundreds, if not thousands, more, that others could name as well.
This device will fail - if it ever actually gets sold in the market in the first place, that is. So we can add a new one to the list:
- Ocosmos OCS1 (iPad competitor)
Ryanman - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
How is there not software support?!? It's running Windows 7 with an x86 processor.... you can't get more "ubiquitous" than that. Sure some games and programs might need a couple tweaks for the use of thumbsticks, but your point is pretty invalid.The "social" cell phone was called the kin and it failed because it not only required a data plan while being crippled, but also ran $200 for something whose hardware only just began to compete with the iPhone's. The advertising campaigns were pretty damn stupid as well, in my opinion.
Saying that this is a competitor to the iPad is incorrect as well. Sure as hell seems to be a PSP competitor instead. the iPad is the perfectly awkward size where it's impossible to carry around, this device would fit in a large pocket (abiet just barely).
kmmatney - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
The problem is that this will cost much more than a PSP. It will be priced more like the iPad, or maybe even higher. It will also have to compete against the iPod touch (you can say that it is not a gaming device, but many kids I know who have touches use it just for entertainment and games, and not much else). I'm not convinced yet that Windows 7 is the way to go for a device like this.I really can't see this being a mainstream success...
fteoath64 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Agreed that Win7 OS is the wrong choice for it. Maybe Intel's MeeGo might be a better offering but drop the QT layer ... Need a lean and mean OS like the PSP and NDS platforms. They need to create development environment in PC and Mac to get the games churning out quick.Well, making it dual boot to Win7 might be a good thing but not being used as primary OS for games.