Wired’s top ten heartbreaking gadgets- say what?
It’s the end of the year and there is no shortage of Top Ten lists all over the web. You certainly don’t have to look very hard to find them on all the major tech web sites. Wired Magazine has published an interesting list of the Top 10 Heartbreaking Gadgets of 2007. This list looks at some gadgets, sometimes the technology behind them instead of a gadget itself, and lists the most disappointing ones, at least to the authors. Some of the gadgets they list would certainly make any disappointing gadgets list such as the Palm Foleo, a device aimed at creating a whole new genre of gadget that was such a failure Palm killed it before releasing it. But I have to admit there are some gadgets on this list that befuzzle me a great deal, not the least of which is their inclusion of the HTC Advantage. It’s no secret I am pretty taken with mine so to see Wired list it as a major disappointment I find a bit confusing.
To be fair, HTC’s ultramobile PC isn’t the worst UMPC we’ve seen allyear, but it promised so much and delivered so little that it can beconsidered nothing short of a disappointment. We expected this device– svelte and apparently fully featured — to be the one that finallybroke free of the problems that have plagued UMPCs in the past. Alas,this childish fantasy was not to be, as the Advantage choked repeatedlyin the same familiar areas. First there’s the unusable keyboard, then aform factor that’s too thick to be used as a phone, and finally a pricetag that’s far too expensive. Worse yet is a lackluster camera and lackof WPA wireless encryption. UMPCs might still be popular in Japan, buteverywhere else these tiny PCs are getting smoked by more user-friendlyconvergence devices. Anyone up for some iPhone?
UMPC? Last I checked the Advantage is a PDA, not an ultra-portable PC although in Wired’s defense this term confusion is something we’ve complained often about here on jkOnTheRun. The term is too generic and it’s not really surprising that Wired would be comparing this Windows Mobile device to other real PCs.
Check out the entire list and see if there are some devices there that you agree or disagree with. I wasn’t surprised to find "computers running Vista" on the list, after all major publications can not miss an easy opportunity to bash Vista, right? And I’m not sure I’d put the Amazon Kindle or the OLPC on a major disappointment list. Maybe this is an attempt to drum up discussion, which worked.
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i was a little peeved and surprised as well when i saw the advantage on that list.. i use mine all the time, and in many cases i take it instead of a laptop when i travel… it is a great machine!
Not surprised by inclusion of the HTC Advantage 7501. I nearly bought one on the strength of your review, but googling others suggested a lot of dissatisfaction. It may be that you have some special expertise with WM6 or gadgets in general—others seem to like the feature mix but aren’t able to use them effectively, e.g., subscription GPS, poor-performing camera, sync probs, bluetooth headset probs.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think 7501 is the most promising device for its size (which is part of the reason for the disappointment), but hoping for revision / refinement.
well i use google maps with the gps, works well; the camera is ok, but slow, i dont have any sync probs and bluetooth works well, i especially love the bluetooth stereo headphone capability.. but, that being said, it is a unique device with what is probably a unique target audience..
James, I have to agree with you on the OLPC. It may be a disappointment for those of used to better tech. But I think, after using one just a bit, that it is a great device for a child in a developing country.
I have to disagree with you about the Kindle, however. $400 for a device that makes you pay for what you’d get free on a normal PC? $400 for a device that displays text on it? I can make PDFs and put them on my Q1 fairly easily, thank you very much!
Woadan
I can connect to a WPA TKIP secured wireless network with my X7500
The inclusion of the OLPC is only showing how what’s behind the machine is completely escaping them. They have no idea what they are talking about here. They did the same thing when they pushed the “New Economy” expression more than ten years ago. They were so aggressive and defensive about it that many academics and journalists started to question the motives behind Wired’s editorial decisions.
Here’s what Wired has to say about OLPC: “Nicholas Negroponte’s do-good project to equip the world’s poor with tough, low-tech computers hasn’t quite worked out. The machine itself is a triumph: dual screen modes for working in the sun; a tough, cute body; next-gen mesh networking; and a simple, open source OS. The trouble is that it took too long, and politics set in. By the time it entered production, most of the original buyers (heads of state) had been deposed or retired, and the price crept on up. The $100 laptop became the $200 laptop, while real, full-featured PCs got cheaper. Even Intel took a crack, entering the PC market with its savvy Classmate PC. Result? Nobody really cares anymore.”
Seriously, is that a good analysis of the situation? The nasty politics surrounding the XO is coming from “grinch” companies who saw the XO as a threat to their own IT agenda for the developing nations (Hello Microsoft and Intel!) and not an intrinsic problem with the OLPC organization. The XO is being shipped out all over the world, the project is finally taking off. Wired has decided that the whole OLPC enterprise has failed and that nobody cares anymore. It has only just begun! Again, I can only question the motives behind such a drastic and biased editorial judgment.
The Advantage is a spectacular device, but I have to be honest to myself – the keyboard is kinda hard to use. I was already testing the HTC Athena (now known as the HTC Advantage) before the rumours of it came out on the web, and though I can adjust on the way I type on it, I thought an ordinary user may not find the keyboard friendly to their fingers.
It’s been months since I’ve held the Athena, but I’m still being lured to get one. Problem is I don’t think I’ll be able to utilize it since I always bring along a Kohjinsha UMPC.