E-Lead Noahpad UMPC video demo and photos

Jenn K. Lee January 08, 2008 Linux, UMPC

E-Lead Electronic has three colors of the upcoming Noahpad UMPC on display at its booth this week. Only one of the units is actually functional; all the rest are non-working dummy models. A company spokesperson let me film him giving us a quick demo of the 7.6" x 5.6" x 1.1" clamshell. Check out the video and a round of pictures below.

In addition to the unusual backwards typing style, I found it puzzling that the hinge doesn’t allow the display to transition from flipped over to notebook mode. You’ll see in the video that in order to get the Noahpad back to its standard position, it has to be fully closed and then reopened. Strange.

What follows are some shots of E-Lead’s booth at the Sands Expo and some close-ups and alternate views of the device itself.

For more information, including specs, please read my previous posts:

About the Author

Jenn K. Lee is the founder of Pocketables. She loves gadgets the way most women love shoes and purses. The pieces in her tech wardrobe that go with everything are currently the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Sony Tablet P, and Nexus 7, but there are still a couple of vintage UMPCs/MIDs in the back of her closet.

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http://www.micropctalk.com Benz145

Don’t they even test these things before they start making units? It looks like it is really hard to control and would still be even after a long time of getting used to it. While the concept is interesting we clearly don’t have the means to make use of it yet.

When using the keyboard in “behind the screen mode” can you see which key your finger is resting on before you click it because the touchpad/keyboard can sense your finger? This seems like a horribly inefficient way to operate a UMPC. Did you get any hands on use?
http://blog.boiledfrog.us Caimlas

How unfortunate – this device looks awesome and just what I’m after for my next portable device – right size, right battery life, right screen size/proportion – to the exception of the keyboard! These companies need to know they don’t need to re-implement the wheel every single time they make one of these small devices and, instead of figuring a new, novel way to make a small keyboard usable, they need to figure out how to make the small devices capable of using a larger, integrated keyboard.

The NEC MobilePro 780 and 790, and the Psion 5 series were, I think, as close to ideal in that regard – and their popularity showed it.

What a company needs to do is integrate a “fold out” keyboard of sturdy design and normal proportions and key layout into one of these UMPC devices, even if it makes it thicker. The thickness isn’t so much the issue, I don’t think, or the size during use, as the use overall size. This Noahpad is already about as big as a normal novel, just thinner – make it as thick as a 500-page paperback, with a little “pocket” for the fold-out keyboard, and it’d sell like hotcakes, I’d think.