T3’s Future Tech Attempts the Best Netpad
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I’m sure you remember T3’s 01:Phone…the one that they dreamed up, then got serious about and actually started to turn into a physical reality? While we (outside of Australia) still wait for the day that the 01:Phone is available to the general public, T3 is now hard at work on another piece of future tech. Appropriate, considering they’ve now launched an entire Future Tech web site.
The netpad / tablet, cooked up with design firm The Alloy (also behind the concept-to-reality transformation of the 01:Phone) and manufacturer Medion, will have some pretty cool features if and when it sees the light of day. It makes extensive use of touch-enabled OLED displays that provide context-driven controls for things like turning BlueTooth on or off, toggling WiFi, setting volume and more. Placed in easily accessible locations, these OLED control strips solve a number of problems at once, not the least of which are button clutter and what I like to call “Dark Side Control Confusion”…that phenomenon where you can’t find the control you’re looking for on the side or back of a device because everything’s black and marked with embossed black lettering (ugh).
Other nifty features are a thin, metal keyboard that retracts, use of carbon fiber for parts of the case, and a protective screen cover that doubles as a stand to orient the netpad in a more vertical, TV- and computer monitor-like position.
Kudos once again to our pals at T3 across the pond for going above and beyond the typical “Here’s what we like and don’t like in this product genre” and actually trying to raise the bar yet again.
In the mean time, T3, we’re still waiting to try out that 01:Phone!
November 18th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
I bet the carbon fiber makes for a lighter but more durable laptop. I’m wondering though, how tactile the keyboard is and if it would be a little kludge. and if it’s laying flat on it’s back, where do peripherals plug in? i didn’t see anything on either side. i dig the touch screen stuff on the sides, but are the buttons functional when the top is down?
cool future tech
November 20th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hey Strich,
First off, has anybody ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Jack Bauer? It’s uncanny..
Anyway, I know what you mean about the keyboard. It looks like it would feel like typing on a pop-o-matic heh.
Some of the buttons are in fact functional when the top is down. I’m assuming that these are things like media controls, probably e-mail indicators, etc.
What’s neat, too, is that while T3’s exercise with the 01:Phone was more an exercise than anything else, they actually do have plans to manufacture and bring the netpad to market.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
By the way, I just found out that T3’s netpad has the following connections:
4x USB
Audio out
DVI
It also looks like you can configure those side strip displays to show things like Facebook / Twitter updates, etc. when the cover is on & closed.