A Wider Net

One of the devices from CES that I’ve found myself thinking about often is the Pepper Pad. This Linux-based tablet is in a word, loaded. It’s bright touch/stylus screen is large enough for browsing and watching movies without all the bulk of most laptops or tablet PC’s. A 20G hard drive is adequate for a decent amount of movies and music, and it’s WiFi connection allows viewing of media stored elsewhere. Add to that a VGA camera, bluetooth, dual infrared, USB, and a few other bells and whistles and you have a mighty entertainment and browsing device.

You may have noticed that, unlike other tablets, this device has a split thumb board in the upper corners, plus a scroll wheel, and a 5-way directional pad. All this tactile control input at your thumbtips makes this device extremely versatile for browsing and email. It’s also splash-resistant and fairly light at 2.2 lbs.

From a marketing perspective, this makes an interesting portable kiosk or presentation device. You can hand this to someone and, after they get over the coolness of the thing, they can watch a short presentation, fill out a survey, or play a learning game. While not as light and portable as a PocketPC device or even a UMPC device, the larger screen and easier text entry may make this a superior choice for data entry or media viewing. It’s battery life is limited, however, to less than three hours, which may affect it’s usefulness in mobile applications. It’s worth considering in a lobby to fill out forms and watch informational videos, and it’s worth considering at an exhibit where it can sit on a charger between users.

Edit: I changed the above text to reflect the fact that the camera is, in fact, VGA resolution - not 2 Megapixel.