Dissappointing Origami

Another week is passing by, and thousands of new Origami stories have emerged on the Web. Unfortunately they all point to a failure. I mean, may be not a spectacular failure, since people (myself included) may consider buying the device, but we really should not expect a breakthrough. It looks like Origami devices will be just a little scaled - down Tablet PCs, with standard Tablet PC (Windows XP) operating system and stylus - operated induction - based touch screens. This design results in several drawbacks:

1. The battery life will be far well below mass market expectations. My bet is typical 3 hours, may be up to five, which is still not enough. To carry a device like that with me, I would expect 10 hours minimum. This just ain't gonna happen...

2. Origami will not replace your iPod or a music phone. Probably it is going to be too complicated to operate and have too short battery life.

3. Stylus required. Induction based touch screen requires a special stylus to operate it. I still hope Apple's upcoming video iPod will be operated simply by a finger. What is more - there is a chance the Origami will be just another handheld device without a scroll wheel. This just drives me nuts. Every, every computer mouse has a scroll wheel. And almost none of the notebooks and tablets and pocket PCs (with a notable exception of Sony Ericsson P800/P900 series smartphones) have scroll wheels. Why? Because the most often we scroll the pages, that have difficulties fitting on smaller screens, and the device designers just want to make our lives difficult and annoying. I WANT A SCROLL WHEEL WITH A CLICK (probably nobody will listen anyway...).

4. Startup time. This will be the most important factor. Will it be instant? (using Intel Robson Cache technology?) Will my calendar alarms wake the device (yes please!)? And will they drain the batteries when not cleared, as it STILL happens with Pocket PCs with 5 versions of the operating system behind (please do something about it!) ?

Is there a place for a device like that? May be as an electronic reader, but for that the specs are simply not there - too much weight and too short battery life. For road warriors a two - piece setup will prevail. A typical, fast and comfortable notebook machine plus a converged smartphone for playing music, taking pictures, email/instant messaging and simple web browsing. And the Origami will be just what the name implies - an artistic, sophisticated, detailed and useless gadget.