The Windows CE iPhone: Neonode N2
I just got an interesting E-mail from Conrad Blickenstorfer. Conrad briefly blogged here, but his well-deserved claim to fame was his superb work as Editor of Pen Computing. The magazine is no more, but Conrad still reviews products and provides commentary at www.pencomputing.com.
Conrad just posted a thorough review of the Neonode N2, comparing it to the iPhone.
Conrad wrote me in his email: “There are several interesting things about this product. No matter what Apple says, Neonode has been using the swipe-and-tap interface for several years and pioneered most of the concepts Apple now claims, albeit using their IR touchscreen instead of Apple's projected-capacitive multi-touch.
The other interesting thing, of course, is that it is technically a Windows CE 6.0 device. Their Neno interface runs on embedded WinCE, on a NeoMagic MiMagix 6+ ARM-based multimedia chip. And it runs quicker and smoother than any Windows CE/Windows Mobile device I ever used. That's likely because Neno directly interacts with embedded CE, and thus has far less overhead.â€
(Windows CE is the embedded core operating system on which Windows Mobile resides).
Be sure to check out the review and www.pencomputing.com.
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Haven't had a chance to read the full review yet (and won't tonight), but my first reaction is: wow that thing is small!
My second reaction is: wow, that thing is expensive (due in part to the dollar's horrible plight right now): it comes out to about $645 dollars...and you can't even send emails from it!?!?!
Those who read my whole (loooong) review at pencomputing.com will quickly realize both the potential and the challenges Neonode faces with the device. It must be totally vexing to them to see Apple take credit for a lot of the stuff they pioneered since 2002. On the other hand, I am not sure why they then stress tiny size, leave out WiFi, 3G and advanced multimedia.
As for email, obviously a US version must have it, and it won't be hard to add it. I think the reason why it doesn't is that Europeans use MMS instead, and that the N2 supports in most apps.
In my opinion, it'll all come down to marketing and carrier relationships. The phone IS unique, very speedy, an could almost succeed on cuteness alone, though it offers a lot more.
Neonode N2 get's a new browser
Winwap has announced that the N2 get's a new Browser next month. Here's a link to the news article: Neonode to Include WinWAP Browser in Uniquely Designed Touch Screen Phone