The TOUCH BOOK or Netbook reloaded :)

I am very, very tempted... Think about it, an e-reader, netbook, navigation system, game console all in one, with a battery to last a full day at the office. What do you guys reckon, is it worth organising a group buy? :)

This month Always Innovating, a tiny company based in Menlo Park, California, will launch the Touch Book-a strange looking tablet & netbook, all in one. It starts at $299 tablet only, $399 including the keyboard that has an additional battery built in. Prices are in US$, you're looking at about $500 in our money for the lot, with free shipping at this stage.

http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/style...mg-resized.png Reduced: 59% of original size [ 650 x 445 ] - Click to view full image
https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/images/gallery_11.png http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/style...mg-resized.png Reduced: 59% of original size [ 650 x 445 ] - Click to view full image
https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/images/gallery_13.png

http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/style...mg-resized.png Reduced: 59% of original size [ 650 x 445 ] - Click to view full image
https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/images/gallery_15.png

Hardware specifications:
* Texas Instruments OMAP3530 with Micron 256MB (RAM) + 256MB (NAND) Memory
* 8.9 inches 1024x600 A+ screen
* Main storage: 8GB SD card — we decided to change from Micro SD to standard SD, so that you can easily upgrade it
* Internal USB wifi 802.11 b/g/n powered by a Ralink 3070 chipset
* Internal USB bluetooth class 2.1
* FCC, CE, UL-certified, 5V, 3.5A power adapter
* 8.9 inches pressure sensitive touch screen
* US Qwerty 24cm-large keyboard — around 95% of the size of a standard keyboard
* Cirque Touchpad
* Two Owolff high-quality internal stereo speakers
* 3D accelerometer
* Two internal batteries 6000 and 12000 mAh — it can be replaced with a screw driver
* 7 USB ports: three external, four internal, three of them may be reserved for wifi, bluetooth and keyboard
* Bi-color silver/black case — see photos — with a beautiful dark-red back cover (we decided to go only for red for the first batch as it really jumps out, you won't regret it).
* Secured attachment system of tablet into keyboard
* Independent magnet system for the tablet — we don't want your Touch Book to un-magnetize all your credit cards while carrying it in your bag!

It gets even better when they talk about software:

"In July, the default beta Touch Book OS will include:

* Linux 2.6.29 with all the required drivers
* Xfce 4.4 desktop environment
* A unique 3D interface for starting applications with your finger
* Firefox 3.0 and Fennec beta 2
* Youtube and daily motion support
* A video and music player
* Abiword and Gnumeric
* A PDF reader, evince
* A chat manager, Pidgin
* Mypaint 5.1
* An e-book reader, Fbreader
* A printer manager, Cups
* All usual accessories (zip, picture viewer, dictionary...)
* Support for most standard USB accessories
* Java support

The software roadmap towards release 1.0 will include the following:

* Upgrade to the latest of all the applications already mentioned
* Skype compatible application
* OpenOffice 3.1
* A full Adobe Flash solution
* Recognition of the Touch Book by iTunes to synchronize your music and video
* A Google-maps-based application with GPS support (GPS USB not included)
* Some 3D accelerometer-based iPhone games

Also, we will also offer or give strong support for a Google Android image."