Not at 3GSM, but wishing it was, the new NeoNode 2 is being talked about as yet another iPhone Clone. The difference this time though, is that the NeoNode 2 shares more than just a touchscreen with the iPhone - it also employs a similar gesture controlled user interface. By waving your fingers over the touchscreen in certain magical combinations, you can control the icons and menus - just like on an iPhone!
Apparently, the NeoNode 2 has been in development for some time (indeed, rumours persist that it's still in development, and will never make it out of beta!), and follows on from the similar-but-still-born NeoNode 1.
Not great in the features-department, it's the gesture-based interface and 3" screen that mark this little gadget out from the crowd (hmmmm, where've I heard that before?!). Whether we'll ever see it released or not is open to question - and quite how well it'll succeed if it it ever is released is another question altogether!
The Neonode N2, being shown at 3GSM, is a tiny, light phone with an innovative gesture-based touch screen. Not only can you click on buttons with your fingers, you can sweep your fingers over the screen to open and close menus -- it's quite slick. There's also a 5-way cursor toggle below the screen, but you don't use it.
The N2's touch-screen abilities even surpass what we've heard of the iPhone in that it has haptic touchscreen dialing. Like the iPhone, the N2 has a virtual keypad to dial on. But this keypad bites back - when you press a "button," the phone vibrates a bit to give you the feeling that you pressed it.
The iPhone runs some variant of Mac OS X, but the N2 runs Windows CE 5.0. Not Windows Mobile, mind you, but a customized version of mobile Windows with Neonode's own user interface. That means it supports Windows Media audio and video, and ActiveSync for connecting to PCs, but doesn't run standard Windows Mobile third-party applications.
And the iPhone's storage is fixed at 4 or 8 GB, but the N2 is expandable -- with a mini-SDHC card slot under its back cover, it can take flash cards up to 32 gigabytes. (8-GB cards were announced here at the show.)
Of course, not all of the tiny N2's specs beat the iPhone's. The 2-megapixel camera is just like Apple's. The slow GPRS Internet connection is much pokier than the iPhones zippy EDGE and Wi-Fi, and the 2-inch 176x220 pixel screen withers when compared to the iPhone's huge, 3.5-inch, 320x240 panel. Then again, that's what you get in 47 x 77 x 14.7 mm and only 70 grams.
1 comment:
It really drives me angry! Can't you check history before writing your article. Neonode is THE first to do this style of touch Screen. IPhone copied much from this original Swedish phone! Neonone existed much before IPhone was a project!
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