The End Of The CrunchPad

Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by jsz0 on Monday November 30, 2009 @01:46PM (#968393)

From the start the promise of building a large touchscreen tablet for $300 was simply impossible. Either they were naive or dishonest. The 12" LCD touch panel alone is likely $200-$300 in bulk or even more. How can you price a product at retail below the cost of an individual component? As the price crept up to $400, then $500 and probably more realistically $800-$1k I think Mr. Arrington needed an end game that didn't make him look dishonest or naive. An IP dispute solves that problem nicely. Of course he could be telling the truth but based on the pricing fib/naivety I'm skeptical.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by elai on Monday November 30, 2009 @02:14PM (#968448)

I've seen large "touch panel" layer parts for various devices for well under $100 and 1080p 22" TN LCD screens with built in speakers for $100-$150, so a 12" touchscreen panel would likely be nowhere near $200.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by jsz0 on Monday November 30, 2009 @04:03PM (#968673)

In what type of volume?

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by nl on Monday November 30, 2009 @07:08PM (#968979)

Here's a 15" panel at $97 for a single order: http://wholesale.alibaba.com/product-gs/261192316-15inch-SAW...

Note that this a touch panel not the LCD, but they do work perfectly well

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by krschultz on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @12:53AM (#969317)

You're comparing apples to oranges.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by vidarh on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @06:35AM (#969577)

I was involved in a similar project ten years ago. At the time we had no problems getting to ca. $500 with a 10.9" LCD/touch combo, obviously otherwise with very modest specs (a NS x86 clone, 32MB RAM, 16MB flash) but enough to get Opera running on a stripped down Linux with a number of other apps. Sourcing a reasonably priced touch screen was definitively not what killed that project.

I'd be very surprised if $300 would've been impossible today, even with a larger screen, though of course that depends on the rest of the specs. Especially given the specs of my new $500 laptop. Sure, it lacks a touch layer, but its also spec'ed far higher than you'd need for a pad like this.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by nl on Monday November 30, 2009 @07:01PM (#968970)

Here's a 7" tablet for under $274 at retail: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.31523

A 12" device for $300 might be hard, but under $500 is doable for sure (even with a capacitive touchscreen).

(Edit: another version, without Android support for $211: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27441)

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by potatolicious on Monday November 30, 2009 @09:13PM (#969107)

That's not a capacitive screen. Apple has effectively banished all other (mobile) touch technologies - capacitive is the only one that doesn't royally suck as far as user experience goes.

A 12" capacitive touch layer... think at least $250 at volume.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by nl on Monday November 30, 2009 @11:41PM (#969243)

I'm not sure resistive screens "royally" suck. They aren't as good as capacitive, but Nokia still uses them. Maybe only "suck"?

The pricing isn't clear. http://utouch.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-209605425/capa... has a range - I'd guess $250 might be about right.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by potatolicious on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @12:58AM (#969321)

Resistive is what was common before capacitive came along - I'm sure we've all played with them extensively at some point. Take my Garmin GPS for example, it's got a resistive screen that, coming from a daily iPhone user, just doesn't work. I have to practically stab it with a fingertip to get it to register, and even then it's pretty consistently wrong, and will often think I'm tapping the button next to it.

Argh.

The iPhone set the bar - and manufacturers have responded. I doubt you will find a single manufacturer now who is trying to peddle resistive touchscreen phones in their new products. Nokia, Moto, HTC, etc, appear to only have capacitive touchscreens on the roadmap - for good reason.

Most tablet PCs are feeling incredibly dated for the same reason - IMHO the next product to enter this field will need capacitive sensing, or die.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by nl on Monday November 30, 2009 @07:13PM (#968983)

12" touchscreen monitor for $249 for a single piece: http://wholesale.alibaba.com/product-gs/263506741-12-Inch-To...

That'll be under $200 in bulk, and as a screen (not a complete monitor).

Based on those prices, $400 for the complete device might be possible.

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Re:The End Of The CrunchPad by DanBlake on Monday November 30, 2009 @06:05PM (#968892)

Its called pre-installed software, search engines and default services. Its worth alot- Both in "revenue now" and recurring revenue.

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