RE: The Hackable Tablet: RaspiTab

shabaz — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:03:06 GMT

This could be sold better. As a tablet, it is underpowered, bulky and running a non-tablet OS (Raspbian).

It is hackable, then until it has a use it is a hackable platform (for want of a better name), not a tablet. It currently does not have a real use if they label it a tablet but it doesn't perform that task well.

There must be many uses for this (i.e. it is portable, all-in-one, touchscreen... attributes for many uses), but why not target the market(s) for those types of use? If there is a "hackable tablet market", this does not meet that for the reasons mentioned.

They keep mentioning "it's up to you" in the text, but possibly that's not good enough, some may feel it shows they have no clear idea of the uses (although they may have, it is not apparent to the reader).

Also some tricks have been missed; e.g. CM can accept two cameras, so two could be included (or space for two), for 3D capture, which would have maybe opened up some new uses for it.

Also, under the main features, it says "G-sensor, accelerometer, GPS, GSM, RFID etc. It's your choice!" which is misleading (not intentionally I expect) - maybe makes people wonder (or at least I did), are any of these included?

Finally, as you may know, RPF is releasing a LCD panel (no fixed date from what I can tell) - probably anyone interested in the hackable aspect alone may be interested.

That of course makes it hard for raspitab to sell on the hackable aspect alone, when the LCD is a main feature - not saying it is their fault. So they really need to make good use of the capacitive touch aspect - maybe hard with Raspbian since it is not touch-oriented maybe? (I could be wrong).

Main features include:

• Open and hackable! – ALL SW code is OPEN SOURCE

• Raspian OS (or what you like to install)

• Easy 4 screw opening to access internal hardware.

• 2 Internal USB ports (one taken up by removable USB WiFi module) – for Bluetooth, Memory stick, 4G data dongle etc.

• Pin Header with I/O for expansion of small HW solutions made by your self

• G-sensor, accelerometer, GPS, GSM, RFID etc. – ITS UP TO YOU!!!

• 7” TFT screen with capacitive touch

• 5.0 megapixels camera – the well-known camera for Raspberry PI

• 2 external USB ports

• 2 stereo loudspeakers 1 Watt

• Jack connector for external loudspeaker and microphone

• Micro USB for normal charging

• 3400 mAh battery LION – +8 Hours use

• Has a LED lighting which show battery level

• Power management IC (hackable)

• Low power (uses under 15W of power during use, less than 1W during standby).

• Comes with loos WiFi USB dongle

(Also, in the text above (I made the line bold), it ought to be mentioned that the LCD used is 800x480 resolution which is very low). According to the KS page:

• 7” TFT-display (800x480) with capacitive-touch