I posted this on the iPronto forum, and thought I'd repeat it here since this forum has many more participants.

Fujitsu is about to release a new "purse-sized" tablet PC with an 8.9" SVGA screen. Occurs to me that it could be a fantastic remote control device with the addition of an IR radiator like the iPronto NETX and a bit of software.

The intial price for the smallest configuration is going to be around $1300. It will of course have wi-fi and all the usual laptop goodies built-in. It is powerful enough to run a full version of XP Pro. Weighs in at 1 kilo, but if the screen is detachable as it is in many tablet PCs, it should be comfortable enough for the average couch potato.

In a year or so, the street price should be well below $1000.

Does anyone know of any plans to enter the programmable remote business based on this sort of platform?

Haven't seen. Do you have a link?

There's always this:

...Although the pricing is a bit high.

Daniel, what is that? Do you have a link? Looks even smaller than the Fujitsu unit. Is it also touch-screen?

My son-in-law is developing applications for his company based around tablet PCs. I've been in tech businesses long enough to be a bit jaded about "hot" new technologies, but in this case, I am blown away with the possibilities. Pen/touch input, especially coupled with voice recognition, has endless potential. I don't know if these little PCs are fast enough to do comprehensive voice recognition, but I'll bet they are good enough to handle a few dozen voice commands for a remote control application.

I just bought a new brand-name 15" laptop at a chain retail store with most of the components the average person would need for $450 (after mail-in rebates of course). I presume that will be the eventual price of these mini tablet PCs. Add a network IR extender for $100 or so, editor and interpreter software and you'll have a great remote with lots of hard buttons if you want them. And guys like Lyndel will have the resources they need to develop a super SuperNudeList.

Wishful thinking.

It's an OQO.

http://www.oqo.com/

Very sweet looking. Battery life of 3 hours max would seem to be a minor limitation.

The OQO is a full fledged PC. It runs Windows XP (Home, Pro, or Tablet PC Edition), and has a Intel Centrino Processor in it (low power version 1.2 GHz, which is faster than it sounds).

It's been rated fairly well, and for an ultracompact pc, you can't beat it. I still prefer them with full size keyboards, that's about the only way to get a lot of work done. But this is an alternative if you need a super small PC running Windows because of a custom application.

(no I don't work for them and have no affiliation with them, I have played with one in the past and thought they were neat, but not something I would want to spend $2000 on, still rather have a sub-compact 12-14" screen notebook).

Also if you are really interested at CES this was released...

http://www.dualcor.com

Cute, but no hard buttons.

The Fuji is nice. You could probably run Nevo software on it, like the version they use for the PDA's. There are also several tablet apps with remote emulation floating around on the Win platform. Wodering if the IR is strong enough to work a theater?

Dave

I doubt that the IR radiators are as good as those you find on a Pronto. The ones they put in the PDAs are virtually worthless for a theater application. However, given wifi, the IR can be built into an extender, and doesn't have to be in the device itself. There is a guy on eBay selling iPronto wifi extenders for $40 new. I think that's the way to go.