The Asus Eee and Wireless Email

From Asus Eee News, Mods and Hacks -

ccording to Om Malik, he checks his email on his iPhone-Nokia E61i-Blackberry while in the bathroom, crossing the street and during dinner at a busy restaurant. And he is not alone in his email obsession.

An AOL survey shows that checking email on the portable devices has doubled since 2004. Americans who carry a mobile email device have some really strange addictions:

* 59% are checking email in bed
* 53% in the bathroom
* 37% are checking email while they drive.
* 43% check their email first thing in the morning.
* 40% have checked their email in the middle of the night.
* 83% have checked their email while on vacation.
* An average email user checks mail about five times a day.

With so many users requiring just about 24/7 access to email wherever they are, it is little wonder the global market for wireless email is projected by Palo Alto-based research firm The Radicati Group to grow from US$6 billion in 2007 to nearly US$25 billion in 2011.

To date, the dominant player in wireless email has been RIM, whose Blackberry was the first device to enable users to check their email effortlessly while mobile. Their handsets resemble mobile phones and PDAs and are just as easy to use. However the service is not free and is often bundled with mobile phone service operators' subscriptions.

While the Blackberry supports email attachments, viewing these can be a pain with the limited small screen. Editing, if possible, is even more tedious.

Now here comes the Asus Eee. It is actually small and light enough to toss into large ladies' bags, trendy messenger bags, or students' backpacks. Meaning it is likely to be carried around by users. Well, not exactly the way they would bring a mobile phone along without thinking twice. But at a price point that is actually cheaper than most smartphones, chances are if the user usually totes a bag, the Asus Eee will be inside.

While the Asus Eee, with its projected 15 second boot-up time, does not offer the always-on convenience of the Blackberry, coupled with Wifi, it clearly can be used to do email. So what if I have to wait a few seconds longer to access my email? If I have a few minutes to kill and I have access to free WiFi, the extra seconds won't hurt. Moreover, the Asus Eee might even have a hibernate mode that will reduce the boot-up time even further.

Of course, the Asus Eee obviously does not provide as smooth a user experience for email as the Blackberry does. But it clearly provides a very interesting alternative - and a free one at that. It even allows for more efficient viewing and editing of attachments.

With services like Mobigram and Muztah popping up that offer free international text messaging on mobile phones/handsets via WiFi, 3G and GPRS, suddenly international communications have become extremely affordable - as in free (well assuming the WiFi service used is free). Use the mobile phone to text short messages via Mobigram or Muztah, use the Asus Eee for longer email messages, especially those with attachments. Of course, for some users, the Asus Eee can arguably replace mobile phones, what with its ability to do IM and VoIP. But that's for another post.

Asus and Intel slaughters OLPC with Eee-ase

From Asus Eee News, Mods, and Hacks -

Over at ZDnet, George Ou seems to have whipped up a storm after comparing the Negroponte's OLPC to the Asus Eee. As the title implies, Ou thinks the latter will beat the digital hell out of the OLPC. Based on the comments, he is being criticized for making conclusive statements without actually test driving both units. Following is part of his review:

ASUS and Intel have created an alternative for Negroponte’s OLPC called the “Eee PC”. The difference is that the ASUS Eee PC is actually something that looks usable and perhaps even desirable for everyday use as a super cheap UMPC.

The ASUS Eee will cost a mere $199 whereas the so-called $100 OLPC costs $175. Given the fact that Eee can run Linux or Windows XP and it can boot off NAND flash memory in a mere 15 seconds, the Eee slaughters the OLPC with ease.

The OLPC was originally slated to be the $100 PC but the actual production cost is somewhere around $175. I had a chance to get a test drive of the OLPC at the CTIA wireless conference and it was probably the worst computing experience I’ve had in a long time. The rubberized keyboard was virtually stuck to the surface with almost zero tactile feedback and the Operating System of the OLPC spends a painful 2-3 minutes to boot. Even launching a new application seems to take an eternity.

The user interface of the OLPC doesn’t even feel worth of a cheap fisher price toy. If I were to rank it, it would be somewhere above DOS and far below Apple’s Lisa. I can’t wait to test drive the Eee PC.

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Well, we will see if Ou is proven right once Asus starts selling the Eee. Personally I think he is. Actually I am an avid fan of Negroponte, having read and re-read his The Architecture Machine and the Soft Architecture Machines upon which the OLPC's Sugar OS seems to be loosely based. In fact, I apply a lot of the principles in designing UIs for our mobile apps.

However, in sheer practicality, if I need to procure units for our educational outreach program, I would opt for the Asus Eee. Why? It is more versatile. Since it supports Windows XP and comes bundled ready to use with Xandros and OpenOffice, adults can also use it as well. Somehow I just can't picture teaching adult public school teachers website design while they labor on colorful, toy looking OLPCs.

Granted, the OLPC's OS might be more appropriate for children. But that is just UI software that can be developed for the Eee. Where OLPC will have an advantage is in areas where electricity is not available. But it also follows that if electricity is not available, chances are the infrastructure for Internet access will likely be not available as well. These days, no computer-oriented educational program would be complete without the Internet. Thus, the effectiveness of such programs in remote areas is at best questionable.

ASUS Eee PC Hands On Preview

Just read a review of the Asus Eee PC 701. If Asus can really deliver this unit with all the specs and at the announced price levels, my gut feel is that this will transform the UMPC/Intel Classmate PC segment into a major platform. We can expect similar products to be introduced in the coming months. As for the Eee, expect a lot of mods and innovative apps within six months of introduction.

Following are photos from HotHardware


Being a UMPC cum Intel Classmate PC product, by default, the Eee's main competition is Negroponte's OLPC, which originally aimed to bring to market a laptop priced at $100 for children in developing countries. However, after much delays and a price increase to the $170 range, the OLPC has yet to be delivered. In the interim, the Eee might actually become available in two months.

The Eee is running a version of Intel’s 910 mobile chipset, it uses a 900MHz Intel Dothan based Pentium M CPU, and comes with 512MB of DDR2 memory, full 802.11g wireless capability, and a flash-based hard drive. There will be at least two different models of the Eee, with the $199 version using a 4GB flash drive and the $299 version using a 8GB drive.

Although 4GB of storage is extremely small when you consider desktops these days ship with 750GB drives on the notebooks with 200 GB drives, the 4GB flash drive keeps costs very low, and cheap external storage can very easily be added to the Eee PC.



One of the first things that you notice about the ASUS Eee PC 701 is the fact that it is so light. The Eee PC weighs in at only .89 kilograms or around 2 pounds. The keyboard is slightly crammed and smaller than most notebook keyboards due to the smaller form factor. It very closely resembles the size of the keyboard used in the Dell Inspiron 710, which makes it ideal for emails, web surfing, or short papers, but could become a nuisance when writing for extended periods of time and for those that are used to full-sized notebook and desktop keyboards.

On the Eee PC’s left side panel, the notebook has two USB 2.0 ports, an audio and microphone port, a 10/100 Ethernet port, and a 56K phone modem port.



The right side panel of the Eee PC 701 has two more USB 2.0 ports (that is a total of four USB ports!), a VGA output, and even a flash card reader. The notebook uses a 4 cell battery that gives it just around 3 hours of battery life when it is on the move. As you may have noticed, there are no optical drives included with the Eee PC, and there is no room to add any to the notebook itself, so any DVD burners will have to be installed externally through one of the USB ports.

Heat wise, the Eee PC 701 feels a bit warm to the touch. It was however very quiet and the lack of spinning hard and optical drives made for a near silent experience.

The following is part of the review from HotHardware:

The ASUS Eee PC: First Look at Linux

Due to the fact the ASUS Eee PC 701 is aimed at booth computer novices and experts alike, there are two basic GUI designs included with its built-in Linux operating system. The first of which is called “Easy”, which as you might guess, is targeted at first time, or novice computer users.



In Easy mode, there are six tabs: Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings, and Favorites. Each of these tabs has icons that can link to a website, file, or application on the Eee. The internet tab has a few interesting links, one to web storage, one to Wikipedia, and even one to Skype. The Eee PC 701 will likely have Skype pre-installed, and coupled with the notebook’s onboard webcam and microphone, will open up VOIP communications to an entire new set of users.



The Work tab opens up 15 different applications, ranging from standard Office-type software to a dictionary. The documents, spreadsheets, and presentations icons all lead to their respective applications in the free, open source office software suite Open Office. The Eee PC even comes with its own Anti-Virus software and in the learn section, has a typing and a painting program. Asus plans to include more open source education-related software when the Eee PC hits the market later this year, but didn’t give any more information on specific titles.



According to ASUS representatives, Standard mode was made to be “Windows-like” and looks and feels just like a typical Windows OS. The Windows Start button is replaced by a Launch icon, and navigating through files and applications is just like Windows. Even the minimize, maximize, and close buttons in the top right of each application window on the Eee PC 701 look identical to that of the Windows XP Silver style theme we run on our own standard notebooks. It seems as though ASUS is trying to bring as much “Windows-like” functionality to the Eee as they possibly can. With Windows in mind, ASUS has said that the Eee has already been tested to work on Windows XP, but to keep costs down it will not come pre-installed on the Eee.



The ASUS Eee PC is expected to be available, worldwide, in full production quantities by this fall. It is rumored to have a street date of mid-August, and will likely be one of the hottest selling computers in recent history, come the holiday shopping season.

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From the looks of it, the Eee PC will function much like a web appliance. Guess we better start thinking of appropriate apps to develop from this perspective.

Asus EEE being advertised now!

From Philippine-based on-line retailer PC Corner's website -



"EeePC 701 Specification:

Display：7in.
CPU & Chipset: Intel® mobile CPU & chipset
OS: Linux/ Microsoft® Windows® XP compatible
Communication: 10/100Mbps Ethernet; 56Kb modem
WLAN: WiFi 802.11b/g
Graphic: Intel® UMA
Memory: 512Mb, DDR2-400
Storage: 4Mb / 8Gb / 16Gb Flash
Webcam: 300Kb pixel video camera
Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC; Built-in stereo speaker; Built-in microphone Battery Life: 3hrs (4 cells: 5200mAh, 2S2P)
Dimension & Weight: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5cm, 0.89Kgs

An Easy Price to Swallow:

Shih also stated that ASUS plans to start shipping the units in July or August, with a target of selling 200,000 units this year – all under the ASUS brand. Amid gasps from the audience, the Eee PC units were revealed to come in at an extremely competitive price of around sub PhP 15K for the 7in. units, and about PhP 20K for the 10in. version.

Coming Soooonnnnnnnn...our BIG apologies for posting an item without definite date (ETA).. .just for excited seeing the specs and pricing. . .AFTER LEARNING FROM A FRIEND who just got back from the latest Taiwan Computex
storage configurations as follow:

04MB Flash----------> 13,999.00 (kinda low, but yes ! it is only 4MB... internal)
08GB Flash ----------> 15,999.00
16GB Flash ----------> 17,999.00

addendum: please wait further for actual final configuration...
official words from our local distro to come out mid June 2007..."


Huh??? I thought the 16GB Flash will go for USD300. At an exchang rate of PhP46 to USD1, it will be priced at USD391.28 - almost USD100 above the projected list price. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh! Not an easy price to swallow. Well I am still excited about the specs. But the price? Hmmm. Gotta search the net more...

Asus Eee PC 701

The initial reported specs of the Asus Eee PC701 include:

Intel Mobile CPU, 802.11b/g WiFi, Ethernet, modem, webcam, 512MB of RAM and a 4, 8 or 16GB flash drive for speedy, reliable storage, with a weight of 2 lbs.

But what got me interested was the price. At a reported USD200, it would be cheaper than a high-end Nokia phone! Or a high-end portable DVD player.

Now Engadget Chinese reportedly has managed to get its hand on a unit and has dug up a few more details on it. Windows XP has been successfully tested but the final product will likely come with Linux, with XP driver support thrown in for good measure. In addition it could eventually pack as much as 32GB of SSD storage, and possibly either an optional built-in or dongle 3G module. Asus also reiterated that seemingly too good to be true USD200 starting price, with a version for "English speaking countries" available as early as August this year.

Hmmm, this might just replace my old trusty Fujitsu P7010 as my portable surfing machine. Well, hopefully it will do more than that but at USD200, I shouldn't really be complaining, especially if it comes with a built-in 3G module. I guess we will see.