Ocosmos OCS1: Oak Trail Gaming Tablet Impressions
by Vivek Gowri on September 15, 2010 1:14 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
We managed to catch up with Ocosmos, the people behind the OCS1 gaming tablet from Douglas Davis’ keynote this morning, and got some more information regarding the intruiging new tablet. As we noted before, it’s running Windows 7, Intel’s Oak Trail platform, two D-pads, and a screen that slides up to reveal a physical keyboard.
We can now flesh out the specs further, with the data sheet showing a 4.8” capacitive touch screen with WSVGA resolution (248 pixels per inch!), a 1.5GHz Atom Oak Trail with GMA 600, a 32GB SSD built in with expandable memory, integrated GPS, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, 3 megapixel rear camera, and a micro-HDMI support.
But the best part about it, other than the awesome form factor and specs for such a small device, is the gaming aspect. The D-pads slide and click in eight directions, can be used and pressed down like analog sticks, and act as the mouse throughout Windows. There are right and left triggers on the top of the device. It’s like a PSP computer, with a real keyboard.
It’s got a pretty hefty feel, which is expected since it’s stuffed an entire Windows system into a 4.8” device form factor, and it fits nicely in your hand. The rear of the device is shaped such that the device is easy to hold when gaming and won’t tire out one’s hands. Unfortunately, due to the early Oak Trail silicon, the prototype was a barely functioning unit that made for a good industrial design/mechanical engineering sample, but things like the touchscreen and d-pads were not working. So the Ocosmos team has a bit of work ahead of them, but the OCS1 isn’t slated to ship until early next year, and we eagerly await the day we can get our hands on a finished product.
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vol7ron - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I disagree. Win7 is a huge selling point to me.Personally, I never had a problem with Windows Mobile. I haven't had many PDAs but I did own a few Palms and then a few Handsprings as well as Compaq iPaq and the Dell Axim.
While there was negatives about the WM OS, I personally liked the fact that it was Windows, Start-menu driven.
I think the change that I'd make is the ability to customize/expand the Taskbar for bigger buttons (more effective touch-screen). I haven't had the chance to play with Win7 on mobile devices, perhaps that's an option. I'd put the taskbar on the right or left and make it wider.
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Thursday, 21 October 2010 at 9:48 PM
melgross - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
I can't figure out who this would sell to. It doesn't look like a very good Windows device. it doesn't look like they can really have any hope at all of getting any kind of action game on it. Little Windows software will be useful on this thing.Some may look at this and think that Win Mobile functioned, sort of, and software worked there. But that wasn't windows, despite the name, this is. They will need an entirely new group of developers to work on the small screen and the weak processing. Then what will battery life be? Not more than a few hours. Will that be acceptable for a Windows device? Would that be acceptable for a gaming device?
And what would this replace? People have smartphones, do they really NEED this? It's not like a 10" tablet which is roomier. This is smaller than the Streak. Maybe 3 hours of battery life.
B3an - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
You wont need specific games or developers for this. Any game will scale down to the res of this screen, and at that res and with low settings i can see it playing 95%+ of PC games when you consider all the older stuff that would definitely run on this too.This isn't remotely even meant to compete with a smart phone either. This has hardware dedicated to gaming, it's closest competitor is the PSP.
It's basically a PSP with way more games and abilities.
I think you've completely missed the point and have a small imagination.
JimmiG - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
I don't think that many are going to buy an expensive new device to play old games at low settings. If the *real* handheld game consoles get all the latest games (special versions optimized for those devices), while OCS1 owners are limited to older games, it's not going to be popular. It's not just about the graphics - you've already played through your old games on the PC or console. Also, it's the latest games that everyone is talking about, which is important for the younger generation.As for new games, many don't scale very well below a certain point. A new game at the lowest settings might actually look far worse than an older game at high settings, while still not running that well on modern hardware.
Guspaz - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
It might have been nice to get an impression of trying some games on this gaming device... Physical impressions aren't nearly as important as functionality and performance. Look at the PSP, after all; it's notoriously uncomfortable to play a game using the analog stick, but that hasn't stopped it from being a big success. The thing won't get very far as a gaming device if it isn't powerful enough to play any actual games.therealnickdanger - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Games:Solitaire... Spider Solitaire... Hearts... Freecell... Pinball (requires RAM upgrade).
Even if this ATOM PROCESSOR had the graphics power of the new Sandy Bridge IGP or a discrete GPU, the CPU would bottleneck, making any 3-D game made within the last 2-3 years unplayable.
However, this mind find a niche for ROM emulation... but doubtful.
therealnickdanger - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Yes, I'm replying to myself...It just occurred to me that this could be very cool to use in the event that cloud-based gaming ever actually works.
fr500 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Perfect for MAME, and 16 bit emulators, best way to replay old classics without them looking awful on a big screen LCDyannigr - Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - link
Hmmmm.... Ocosmos => "O cosmos" = "The world" in Greeklish (Greek with Latin letters)The D-pads are great idea. fr500 is right. They don't have to invest in gaming. MAME on a mobile machine is a killer and there are thousand games all ready there. Classic games with gameplay, not only graphics. Forget 3D and frames/second. It is secondary here. Gameplay is the most important feature.