The Elonex – one for the reject pile

My colleague Will has been looking at the Elonex One.  He says

It’s being targetted as the one for education. I however am not so convinced but I’m hoping to get my hands on one to try out shortly.

It looks like a pile of pants to me, to be honest, but I should reserve judgement until I’ve seen the beast for real.  I’m always suspicious of technology specifically ‘for education’ – it’s usually overpriced and rubbish compared to the open market.  Elonex, RM and Viglen PCs all spring to mind here.

I can’t quite say what’s different compared to the Asus Eee, that means RM gets my vote here and Elonex doesn’t.  It does seem the wrong side of a significant line.  Perhaps it’s the line between value engineering and cost-cutting.

Anyway, on the more upbeat side Will mentions the new touch-screen Eee (which I think is very exciting) and remarks:

Anyhow I think that the Eee and one and other such devices are set to bring mobile computing to a much larger audience.

He’s right.  I’d say the iPod touch is another device along those lines.  As I mentioned last year, things like the Eee and the iPod touch offer a qualitatively different experience of the web, and can give you a daily vision of what the future will be like all over the place.

(And it’s so easy, too – the iPod touch is so astonishingly usable that my 18-month-old son sussed out how to unlock it.)

Author: dougclow

Data scientist, tutxor, project leader, researcher, analyst, teacher, developer, educational technologist, online learning expert, and manager. I particularly enjoy rapidly appraising new-to-me contexts, and mediating between highly technical specialisms and others, from ordinary users to senior management. After 20 years at the OU as an academic, I am now a self-employed consultant, building on my skills and experience in working with people, technology, data science, and artificial intelligence, in a wide range of contexts and industries.

2 thoughts on “The Elonex – one for the reject pile”

  1. Hi Doug,
    I agree with you and I’ve largely rejected the Elonex. Your point about the iPod is well made. I wonder though what novel methods of input will appear in future as that’s the nut I feel is yet to be cracked (properly) for the very small devices? – I’m not a fan of on screen keyboards on the very small devices. I like the idea of a better form of projection keyboard or possibly some electronic-paper type single polymer layer roll up keyboard.

  2. I’m sure you’re right that there’s more to be done about input devices. I’ve been a big fan of the fold-out keyboard in the past – but they’re all very device-specific. Not sure that a projection keyboard or even a thin roll-up one can ever be as good as one thick enough to give you the feel of enough key travel for touch-typing. Hey – maybe something whizzy with haptics? Always a coming-up field rather than a come-up one so far!

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