Here is a device I wish some company would try to recreate. In many ways, this device was the zenith for Sony Clie’s and even for Palm devices in general. As you can tell from the picture, the device was shaped like a miniature tablet PC, with a relatively spacious thumb keyboard and a 3.25″ screen that could flip and fold over it. Therefore, it could be used in both tablet mode and mini-laptop mode. The UX50 had both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Wi-Fi alone makes it useful, even today, more than 5 years after it first came out. A quick look on eBay reveals that used UX50’s still go for well over $100, if not $200.
The closest things to a Clie UX50 today are the Sony Mylo and Apple iPod touch. These come close to replicating the UX50 because they both have Wi-Fi, but the Mylo is missing a touchscreen and the iPod touch is missing a physical keyboard. Additionally, the Clie had the benefit of all the third-party applications available for the Palm platform. The Mylo uses a proprietary Linux operating system and the iTunes App Store still has a ways to go before it can match the size of the Palm program library.
Lenovo IdeaPad U8
So what would a real modern day UX50 be like? I imagine a 4″ mini-laptop with a convertible tablet touchscreen. It would most likely run an Intel Atom Z series processor (codenamed Silverthorne); these chips are meant for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) or devices even smaller than netbooks. An example of a MID is the Lenovo IdeaPad U8, which unfortunately is only sold in Asia. Back to my modern UX50 though: It would most likely have at least 4GB of flash storage, an expansion slot (either SD or Memory Stick), 512MB-1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a really long battery life. The operating system would probably be Linux (Ubuntu has a Mobile and Embedded Edition) or a stripped down version of Windows XP.
Such a device would be like a netbook, but half the size. It the price of such a device could be kept low enough ($200-$400), then Intel just might achieve its goal of making MIDs the next frontier of mobile development.
Technology companies have dreamed of the “fourth screen” for years. Some device that is not a PC, TV, or cellphone, but instead of replacing those devices works alongside all three of them. Palm tried it and failed very publicly with its Foleo, and all the netbook manufacturers are try to do it now. But maybe companies need to aim a little smaller and build a device similar to the Sony Clie UX50. Something so portable, people would carry it with them everywhere. I, personally, would love to have such a device.
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