A closer look at the hardware

Ok, time for a little more focused view of the hardware.
appearance and feel

Frankly this is a nicer looking device than I had expected. Yes, it is as plain as the pictures you’ve likely seen, but at the same time it’s a pretty sleek device. It’s black, has what I believe they’re calling a rubberized finish, and looks like there’s really no way to get inside to take a look at its guts. With a 12.1 inch screen, this seems to be the size of a standard netbook.

input

On the left side there’s a monitor out, which I’ll likely be using to output to a tube TV. Nothing on the back except for the hinge that holds the monitor in place. On the right side there is the power jack, a USB port, and a headphone jack. I’ve read that the USB port isn’t for user devices. I’ll get around to trying that out at some point, but given the purpose of this device, I’m sure that’s accurate. The headphone jack does what it should. It pumps out sound to headphones. Simple, everything you need with this device, and no clutter.

keyboard

The keyboard has been modified from what you’re used to seeing to a keyboard that is very close to ideal for the Cr-48. The function keys have been replaced with control and navigation keys. Starting from the left, and one key to the right of esc, it has a back arrow button that takes you to the previous page, a forward arrow button that takes you to the next page, assuming there is one. A reload button to reload the current page. The next button, a full screen button, is really kind of cool. Just like a full screen browser, it takes your desktop to the full monitor size, and hides the navigation buttons. There is a screen switching button that gives the impression of switching desktops. This one comes in to play when you choose to open a link in a new window, essentially opening a new desktop. This button switches, in sequence, between the various open windows. The next buttons, decrease and increase the screen brightness, mute and decrease and increase the volume. Cool control keys, and done well. There are, however, problems with this keyboard. Now I am willing to admit that this may be my own issue, but there are some missing keys that I really think should be here. Considering the nature of this device, I believe there should be a button to open a new tab, and a button to open a new window. As it is, to open a new tab you have to ctrl-t or right-click and choose new tab. To open a new window, the only option I’ve so far found is to right-click and choose open in new window. For a browser, no big deal. For a browser based OS, it’s something that I think should be there. Other missing keys that I keep missing are Home and End keys that I frequently use for navigation, and a delete key. Sure, It’s a minor thing to have to move the cursor ahead of something you want to delete and backspace, but I’m used to doing it the opposite way and it throws me off when using this. I also use Home and End a great deal, and I miss those as well.

touchpad

On the bright side, the touchpad is big, responsive, and has a cool “right-click” feature where you put two fingers on the touchpad and click it. Works well, and I think it’s pretty neat. The placement, however, is terrible. I tend to drag my thumbs when typing which means that I frequently find myself typing in unexpected locations across the screen. Of course, if I had to design this, I’m not sure I could find a better place to put it, so I guess this is really a complaint about netbooks and laptops with touchpads in general.

battery

I don’t really know yet. The only thing I have to compare it to so far is my laptop experience, and really, I’m happy if I get two hours out of one of those. Based on the drain I’ve seen so far, I expect good things.

camera/mic/speakers

These work pretty well. In good light the camera does what it should. It shows a live video of me, and does it reasonably well. It isn’t very tolerant of low light, so if it’s going to be used, use it under lights. The mic is sensitive enough for video and audio calls over google voice, and the speakers are netbook speakers. These features work, they’re nothing spectacular, and they get the job done.
That’s really about it. It’s a nice looking, sleek netbook. Easy to carry around, seems pretty good on the battery, but it’s just a netbook. If you’ve seen one, you’ve probably seen this one. the only thing that really stands out is the keyboard which I think needs work. I feel like they need to find a middle ground between the custom google keyboard and a few of the more standard keys.
Now that I’ve bored you to death, check back. This is bound to get more interesting as I actually use it.

Update
Of course I haven't read too much on the hardware specs. I figured a netbook, hardware is hardware, it's the software that I want to play with. Well, browsing the web I noticed something on the side of the cr-48. I pressed on it. It's an SD card slot, and based on some reading, it seems it can be made to work. Cool.