Our pals over at Laptop got their mitts on the CloudBook and they’ve run into two major problems. I guess it’s three, but they’re only reporting on two. They can’t even get it past the start screen right now is what I’m being told. LMAO. Here are the other two things they’ve run into.
* The pointing device: The touchpad is a tiny stretch of plastic in the most awkward place you can possibly imagine, on the right above the keyboard. The left and right mouse buttons are on the left side above the keyboard, forcing you to use two hands to navigate and click.
* The initial setup: We selected our language without a problem but we can’t get past the screen where you select a city, because there’s no OK button when you go to select your timezone. If you close or minimize the timezone selection window, you get a blank desktop with no icons and no way to do anything. Not a good start.
CloudBook Unboxing and Very First Impressions [Laptop]
Update: Check out the mini-review here. Looks like the CloudBook falls short compared to the Eee PC.
The mouse placement is not a bug, it’s a feature: the trackpad and mouse buttons are placed so that the device can be held like a gaming controller while web browsing. Presumably an external wireless mouse would be preferred when sitting and typing. (You can’t type while holding any laptop with both hands, either.)
The config screen problem seems a bit more severe.
Yeah, I messed around with one at CES and I thought the touchpad placement was actually kind of cool, and the thing really is small enough that you would want to hold it like that.
But the crippling initial setup bug? Really, now.
Bug? Feature? eeePC!
whew, that’s a relief. it must be a global os bug as i had it happen to me when i was [trying] to run it on my test laptop, it just wouldn’t go any further than that either. at least it’s nice to know i’m not totally retarded…
Bug? Please! Old Lappies used to have the trackball (yes, that old) there or to the side of the screen…
Also, multimedia keyboards for your livingroom used to have that there too…
I would say, ok, yes, it is rather small… but how hard would it be to get a cordless mouse (the last time i bought a laptop for the office, the place where i bought it gave me one for free as a reward for my shopping!!!). And if batteries are a concern, there are some rather useful and pretty well corded mouses for your laptops (available wherever!)…
The next button should be a tab or two away (geez i know this should have been solved but if you cannot figure it out then you should expel yourself from computation immediately).