Building concept devices for CES is nothing new and in a way, is one of the easier, cheaper methods of getting some good marketing buzz going at a major consumer electronics show. You create a roughly working concept device, make it look smart, talk about some out-of-this world scenarios, create some nice videos, put the device behind plexiglass and ignore the fact that it will have serious issues in getting to market. No need to talk about pricing, support, launch date and other awkward themes!
I feel the Razer Switchblade which is targeted as a handheld gaming device, is one of those devices. I don’t want to belittle what they have done because it’s a working model and has taken a team 2 years of work but I do want to put a huge red flag up and say that this probably isn’t a product you’ll see on the market.
The Switchbalde runs Windows 7 atop an Intel Oaktrail platform, has an LCD screen behind the keys and looks nice and small. It’s about the size of a Fujitsu U820 with a larger screen. There’s a lot to like about it and because of its groundbreaking design, it deserves the CES peoples choice award it got.
However, desktop games and GMA600 graphics don’t exactly go together well. Ocosmos are in the same boat. They are looking at flexible mobile gaming (I applaud that idea) but are trying to squeeze games developed for desktops into a GPU that has the same power as a smartphone. Wouldn’t it be better to make a device that enhances mobile games instead of restricts desktop games?
Not only that but take a look at the design. How are they going to make that keyboard rugged and cheap? They aren’t.
Concepts are an important part of progressing mobile computing design so I hope we see aspects of this device reaching real products. Right now though, I can’t help thinking that it should be iOS/ARM based if it wants to target gamers, or a business focused device with a simpler keyboard for a more professional, ultra mobile PC market.
I made a short video about the Switchblade at CES and you can view it below. At the time I made the video I didn’t actually know it was a concept device so you’ll hear me talk about it being a Q2 possibility.
Razer Switchblade Gaming UMPC gets the Eyes and the Votes http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=23095
RT @umpcportal: Razer Switchblade Gaming UMPC gets the Eyes and the Votes http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=23095
Razer Switchblade Gaming UMPC gets the Eyes and the Votes: Building concept devices for CES is nothin Read more… http://bit.ly/fXxDx9
Razer Switchblade Gaming UMPC gets the Eyes and the Votes http://bit.ly/hmoBr8
My thoughts exactly, but I think you’re looking at the GMA600 a little badly. If its really as much more powerful than the GMA500 as everyone says, that it should be able to handle basic things like World of Warcraft, maybe Half-Life 2, and Quake and Goldsrce (Half-Life Engine) games easily.
Agreed, smaller device also means it can make do with lower game settings and they may be considering taking advantage of efforts from other companies to push game development for netbooks as those games will definitely run on this system and many of the games that won’t would be the type of games people would prefer to play on much larger screens anyway.
While gaming on ARM is still pretty limited, with most good games proprietary to the companies that helped develop them for specific devices, and Razer is not in the market of making or developing games to support their hardware. So makes more sense for them to develop a platform that can take advantage of existing games without running into proprietary limitations.
Not to mention the added benefit of also being basically a 7″ netbook. Extents its usefulness beyond just portable gaming.
Durability and pricing is a concern but gorilla glass is becoming more standard and plastic keys above the touch screen basically adds padding. The solution should actually be cheaper than alternatives like Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard. Not to mention the LCD for the keys doesn’t have to be a hi-res screen just to show icons for the keys. So hopefully they can keep the price from being too much higher than a regular netbook.
Problem is that, because the screen is below the keys you might not be able to see the images properly if you’re not looking at them straight on. It IS an interesting way to make a active keyboard though
Possibly, but they could fix that if the plastic keys have their own optical properties and the demonstration model seemed to have pretty good viewing angles for the keys.
Also, it’s a cool design and everything.. but what’s the point again? Like am I missing something here? Ok, its a computer with keys that change into pictures when gaming…. how does this help you game? Sure it looks cool and expensive but….
@Gearsguy – That’s like asking how a joystick helps gaming. System lets you customize the keys to fit the game you are playing. Placing keys at more comfortable positions and making them easy to see and recognize.
As for expensive, maybe. The design is a lot cheaper and easier to implement than OLED keys like the Optimus Maximus keyboard uses. It’s just more expensive than a traditional keyboard but it remains to be seen if it’ll be too unreasonably higher priced or not… And how large a production run it gets will be a major contributing factor that is still a big unknown.
Uh, the keys have borders around them, so they’re always in the same place. The only thing is that it lets you change the picture, not the position…. It may be cheaper than an OLED screen, but its still going to be hella expensive
I could say my 1000,000000000$ car is cheaper than that other 20000000000000000000000000000000000000$ car
BUT ITS STILL 1000,000000000$
@Gearsguy, yup.. You’re right, not only is it a device with TWO capacitive displays. The keyboard has to be designed right so that
– It can trigger the touchscreen.
– Excessive force doesn’t damage the touchscreen.
Unless they plan to use Gorilla glass in the bottom screen as well that is.
So… it’s a Toshiba Libretto W100 in which the lowerscreen is a fully dedicated display screen covered up with a keyboard frame?
My friends were going nuts about how cool and great this thing would be. And no one listened when I said that as someone who’s been using UMPCs for a while, this will never work the way the users want it to. :P
Don’t have to use UMPCs to know that this isn’t going to work. If the keys are replaced with game keys, where’s the keyboard go? So long, MMOs.
My UMPC point is that, look at the pieces used to build this. ATOM processor, standard Intel chipset. Which is pretty much standard fare for UMPC for a while (granted this is OakTrail) Which doesnt have enough performance for most games other people want to play.
But.. good point about not being able to play MMOs since the keyboard is gone. :P
Keyboard isn’t gone, it’s customizable and controlled through software and that means you can just switch it back if you need to type something.
The keyboard layout will actually be customized to each game that gets officially supported. Along with any other program they decide to offer custom key layout for…
http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,5084.0.html
at least the staff involved in the development have made some groundbreaking umpcs in the past.
Yeah, i just figured out that we won’t be gaining much from the keyboard because it is small…
One thing we should know about is the battery life!