Yes, Carrypad wasn’t a product of the iPad boom. It started on paper in late 2005 as my phone contract renewal time was approaching. I had a boring job and I spent quite a few hours thinking about what I really needed. I was already using Internet data over GPRS on a daily basis and was wanting more. More screen, more flexibility, more battery life and more processing power. There wasn’t a phone on the market that could satisfy my requirements. Convergence wasn’t happening.
The first line of my first Carrypad blog entry:
The simple fact is that you’ll never get everything on one device. It wont happen until we evolve better eyes and smaller fingers.
I’m still no fan of all-in-one convergence.
My first posts were written in Open Office and transferred as a set of 11 posts covering the convergeable technologies, device categories, physical constraints and other aspects of hendheld mobile computing including the hardware and software specifications of a Carrypad which are interesting to read today. My favourite post, and one that I’m very proud of, is the one titled – “New Locations and a New Device. inch
There’s the third device requirement popping out now – Sofa, Bed, Car.
I tell you – this is mini-tablet/micro laptop territory. The product group with no definition. We need a new definition here:
sofapod, stylepod, stylepad, lifepad, lifepod, midipod, midipad, intermidi. Mmm. Those names are all to obvious. Lets try Carrypad. Yeah we’ll call it the carry-pad.
And at that point in writing the draft posts I registered the domain and set up the blog. The Carrypad Journal went live 5 years ago today.
I wasn’t the only one thinking about this category though. There were other bloggers around and, unknown to me, a project within Microsoft called Origami was about to go public. The Origami team, led by Otto Berkes, had been tasked with putting forward requirements for the next generation of personal computer. They came up with a social, location-focused sharing device proposal and a demonstrator called Haiku. [See this article for a retrospective.] It was so ahead of its time that it beat technology by about 4 years. When Microsoft tried to implement it they had no operating system, no processing platform efficient enough or powerful enough and radio technology was too power-heavy. The mobile devices Origami UMPCs were dismissed as ugly, useless ‘tweeners.’ Many, many journalists missed the point of the project, called it a complete failure and ignored the space. What actually happened is that Microsoft hit the nail on the head with the project and should have kept it secret for another 4 years while they developed a matching operating system. They still haven’t done it even today, 5 years later. Instead, others have stepped in and are making a success of it.
Other significant mentions need to go to Pepper Computing Their PepperPad was a concept that was also far too ahead of technology. Nokia had the Linux-based 770 too. They recently lost their way with that one!
Despite the negative press that the sector was getting, I carried on blogging and found a niche, a big niche of pro-mobile passionate users that enabled me to leave my job and go ‘pro.’ These users and fans still exist today and not just in vertical markets for transport, health, ‘blue-light’ and other industries. You’ll find them over at UMPCPortal which was the detour I made with Carrypad to keep up with the buzz of the UMPC. I’ve learnt a lot from these people over the years and despite falling viewer and story numbers there, find it difficult to focus completely on the consumer tablets without going back to UMPCPortal for a ‘pro’ chat every now and again.
I would have gone bust in 2008 had it not been for the netbook though. Thankfully, the wave of real sales, millions of sales, helped advertising revenues and propped me up. It also helped that many netbooks were being called UMPCs in Asia. 2008 was a big year for traffic.
Late in 2009 it was obvious that the market was starting to change. More and more ARM-based products were reaching the market in tablets, phones were becoming super-phones and Android was taking off as the slim, consumer internet/sharing operating system I had been looking for in 2006. I started populating Carrypad again with stories about the Nokia N900, Dell Streak and Motorola Droid. On the 1st Dec 2009, Carrypad re-launched. Just 30 days later, Apple announced an event for the 26th Jan and it turned out to be the iPad. Carrypad was back on its original track but not for long…
Two days before the first person started queuing for the iPad my wife gave birth to my Son Nicklas and my world was turned upside down. I wanted to write 24/7 about tablets and consumer tech. I wanted to go to every meeting and event possible. I had more plans than ever for Carrypad. I also wanted to spend time with my family. It was a hard time trying to get the balance right and the last year has been the toughest yet as I try to balance my passion for ‘Carrypads’ and give time to my Family. Funnily enough, the products I cover have helped and there’s one product that, more than any other, tells me that I was right. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is the Carrypad!
I won’t dwell on how much I’ve used it over the last 4 months but if you pay attention to other mobile bloggers, you’ll also hear them praise it too. Yes, there’s a space for 10 inch in the home but no other device has ever been more personal to me than the Galaxy Tab. It’s hard to imagine how it could be improved! [Although I have tried]
So that’s where I am now. I’m at a point where family life is getting easier to cope with, where I’ve got a device that satisfies my original requirements and where I need to start thinking about the next big thing. I’ve got the wrist in my head right now but disruptive technologies like foldable screens, solar power, voice control and superphones will all put a spin on it. I’m also looking closely at operating systems that could potentialy span the fun, app-centric and location-aware mobile space to the pro-focused desktop space.
Independent blogging is getting hard though and it’s tough to see a future where I can continue as I have done over the last 5 years. Twitter has cheapened the process of cross-linking and getting friendly traffic, large blog organisations are increasingly working inside their own walls and spammers and content copying add another challenge. The plan right now is to put more effort into my white-labeled product database on which I can build a blog that doesn’t rely on advertsing. I want create a new forum on Carrypad and will continue to arrange unique content through my contacts. Running two websites (actually three or more if you include my minor projects) is also inefficient and so it’s likely that I will combine the two soon, maybe under a new, generic name which would release the domain Carrypad.com for a sale. To be honest, now that the ‘pad’ market has taken off, I don’t want to be confined by it. The market will evolve and so must I. Where could we be in another 5 years?
Thank You
Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the success of my web projects over the last 5 year. From Paceblade for trusting me with my first review device through VIA Technologies who sponsored my solarumpc tour. Thanks to Jeff Moriarty for reaching out when he worked at Intel. That relationship continues today.
And thanks to the readers. Thanks to the people that correct my terrible spelling. Thanks to the people that challenge my opinion. Thanks to the people that add knowledge and thanks to the people that help others via comments and forum posts. Thanks to other tech bloggers that have been so helpful, generous and friendly.
Most of all thanks to my Wife for putting up with my long and unpredictable working pattern and supporting my pro-blogging career. One day, my love, I promise I’ll earn some money ;-)
Happy birthday Steve :) Has been great to see Carrypad go from strength to strength, and while I think you’re right that the next five years will be (very) different to the last, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Good content is a great place to start, and you have plenty of that!
Happy Birthday CarryPad, here is to 5 very wonderful years.
Steve, I really enjoy the podcasts and the interaction between you, JKK, and Sascha.
Keep up the good work and in a couple of years your son will work along side of you.
Regards Robert from Montreal Canada
Yup. He’s in training. Thxs for feedback.
Happy birthday, and thank you so much for an excellent blog.
One of the high points in my view was the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Tab and you and JKK’s 3 hour long live walk through. That was very cool.
Best wished from Kasper in Denmark
Many thanks. Great to have feedback about the live sessions. We enjoy them!
heh, maybe i’ll get myself a 7″ tablet/pad of some kind, now that this noteslate seems to hit squarely into what i was planning to use a larger one for, reading PDF version of textbooks (they have a bad habit of being A4 or letter size, making smaller screens problematic).
Still, i kinda like the looks of the galaxy wifi, tho unsure about what size to get…
Happy B-Day, and keep entertaining and informing us for a long while!
Congrats on the milestone! And thanks for the trip down memory lane. :)
Congrats, Steve – it’s been a fun, wild ride so far in this space and I almost hope we never get to the final destination because the journey is just too enjoyable! :)
Its a lot of fun but I hope it doesn’t speed up any more. Products will be end of life before we’ve bough them!
Hi Chippy, congrats and thanks for your work on the UMPC Front and the live events covering new gadgets. Perhaps meet you again at IFA this year? My personal sweet spot ist in the 5″ to 7″ Range, too. Waiting for a DualCore successor to Dell Streak and Galaxy Tab.
So maybe take a look at the Acer iconia a100? Thanks for the feedback!
It’s been an incredible ride, as someone who’s been following mobile tech since the Fujitsu P/Sony T days. It’s funny how all of us knew, even back then, that this is what the future of tech was going to be. That’s why it’s a little cheapening to see the mainstream consumers hopping on the bandwagon now, even the more mainstream tech press like Leo LaPorte (and others) who hop on every trend once a device comes out but never had the “vision” to see where the future is going beforehand. But ultimately I’ve learned we need them as we the enthusiasts cannot support the market alone.
Hopefully you don’t go anywhere, even though I don’t always agree with everything you say. Overall, your mobile tech knowledge is unmatched by anyone. I believe many consider you to be the leader of the ultra mobile movement, even amongst other bloggers. If we had a president, I have no doubt you would be it.
You need an easier way to donate, or maybe a store of some kind, or maybe for Joanna to do the right thing & get Engadget too take you under their wing. Why in the world Joshua Topolsky as not taken you in & made you a senior mobile editor is beyond me. No offense to the Engadget team, overall they are fantastic, but they’re mobile team is pretty terrible. Josh needs to learn you cannot shoehorn regular editors into mobile editors, you need true mobile-minded people from the start. So far my money is still on the best trio going of Chippy/JKK/Sascha.
CarryPad is a “fantastic” (Sascha accent) name, why change it? It’s perfectly generic & descriptive all at the sametime.
dunno, could it have something to do with Engadget being USA based, and Chippy and the rest being Europe based?
nope, they have many oversea’s editors
Not sure I want to work for Engadget now that everyone is leaving ;-)
Actually i think i’m happier being independant.
Thanks so much for the feedback though. It gives me great enthusiasm to continue.
Chippy.
Congrats!!!!!
Soooooo,,,,,, if anyone gives you a difficult time today, would we be guilty of child abuse, or is 5 years a long time in bloging and the constructive criticism can be considered helping an old man across a busy intersection?
It helps. I’m old enough to take it! Please fire away.
Congratulations Chippy!
I’ve loved the various videos and reviews you’ve done. You’ve influenced one of my most recent purchases (my Galaxy Tab) which has become my most used and appreciated gadgets. Best of luck with the future and keep the entries coming!
Hopefully manufacturers Will keep the 7″ form factor coming with some newer and improved hardware for you to cover! :)
You do a very good job. Thank you for your posts. I hope you can carry(pad) on for another 5 years. Happy birthday.
Happy birthday Carrypad, and thanks for your work, I enjoy following your posts, podcasts and videos.
Hope you’ll be able to continue for many more years.
AUGURI Carrypad,great job…
Congrats, had no idea Carrypad was being run concurrently with umpcportal for so long.
Happy birthday Carrypad, and congratulations to you Steve.
I’ve been following your work for years, and I must say that your articles are amongst the richest that can be found online.
This is definitely my favorite tech-blog, so keep up the great work :)
I like that word – ‘richest’. Thats what I aim for.
Thx!
Happy birthday! :)
Great Job Chippy and best of luck!
I most appreciated the Galaxy Tab “discovery”. Regarding that, here is an unsuall question:
Have you dropped it ever to the floor or other tough surface, and if so from which height? My point is that I am reading roumors that it never scretches but can crack easily when dropped. What do you think about that? Is that just missinformation or does the gorilla glass toughness ends when falling?…
I have dropped it twice with no damage but liek anything that is hardened, it can become brittle. A point of shock could smash the glass but in my tests with gorilla glass and a sharp pointy thing, I couldn’t smash it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxj6gRYwS0
Thanks for the feedback! Can you tell what was the height it fall off and to what surface?
Table height on to carpet and wooden floor.
Hello,
This news is great . I bookmark you :-p
Cordialement