Social media applications are increasingly abstracted from their web-app roots, be it in Adobe air or an iPhone app. Devices like the Chumby have made some inroads towards completely breaking something like Facebook away from your desktop, but they haven’t been popular enough or good enough to catch on. I doubt that will change too much with the Lighthouse SQ7, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong. It’s just that incorporating voice recognition technology into your device seems like overreaching, as cool as it would be if it worked.
At any rate, it’s good to see companies still plugging away at what seems like a sort of awkward tweener device, but honestly, one I might like to have around. A combination alarm clock, social media doodad, and lightweight browser — fitting somewhere on the twisted continuum between tablet computer and digital picture frame.
At $250, it won’t break the bank, but it’s not quite low enough to encourage impulse buys, either. I have my doubts about the hardware quality, but at least it’s got something going on the inside. The 7″ 800×480 resistive touchscreen stands between you and a 667MHz ARM processor, 128MB of RAM, and a gig of storage. It runs a custom Ubuntu and has a 4500mAH battery, which is good for five hours of use (not enough, but you can plug it in). I think the hacking possibilities are pretty solid for this thing. I hope at least they’ll add a little more functionality to it. Facebook and Twitter might be the 800-pound gorillas of the social web, but that doesn’t mean they’re all there is to it. AdelaVoice and other potential device-makers take note.
The voice recognition works for the demonstrator, obviously, but the question is this: do you have to speak like a robot? – or at least have a naturally robotic air? Voice Search works pretty well in Android if you’re careful about it, but I foresee some embarrassing homonym-related faux pas. You could also use Dial2Do if you’re really interested in having voice recognition in an already-available service, but I doubt you want all your friends’ updates dictated to you.
Although I’m not convinced that this particular one is the device I’d like sitting around the house with my friends’ latest updates and my latest photos on it, it seems to be on the right track. We’ll see about giving it a spin, but if my measured recommendation has made you salivate with desire for the thing, you can pre-order one now and they’re shipping on October 7th.
[via Best Tablet Review]
So, when can I buy a crunchpad (or are they already for sale)? I’d much rather have one of those than one of these.
twiddlegame.com/
Seriously. The Crunchpad looks cooler than this thing, that’s for sure.
um… yeah…..
i think i will wait for the crunch pad. i dont think any of us will Really use voice recognition till it is voice activated….
i dream of the day…. Im walking down the street and just say outloud “iphone, whats the tech news?” and i get safari 4 esque thumbnails of the top stories.
So in all honestly… better, about equal or not as good as the CrunchPad? I’m dying to have a tablet and I just want to know if its worth waiting for the CrunchPad.
well at least you know the crunchpad is gonna look 5 times better and not have “INTERNET TABLET” in all caps along the side haha!
but seriously i dont even care about the crunchpads specs. They are building it to do exactly what its supposed to do. I have faith in these guys. All too often we fall for the old “horsepower trick” when really all that matters is how well it does its job.
Right, like you’re going to get an honest response from Devin . . . .
Oh you’d probably get some faux-honesty prefaced by “I obviously have a huge conflict of interest here”, as if that makes the conflict of interest okay.
Scripps heiress kills herself – Print is dead
So they licensed the SmartQ S7 and put voice recognition on it? It’s already available in Asia as a 7″ MID.
Pretty much yeah, with a custom Ubuntu UI.
Yes, we have relationship whereby we import SmartQ7 and install our software on the device. The real key is using server-based voice recognition to make posting to facebook/twitter or even web searches simple and quick. If you have questions or further comments, I will be happy to address them.
Oh that’s hilarious…voice recognition for social networking now? Oh man these days everyone is trying to find a nitch..
You say batman I saw vawncast
I know this is random here.
But it is just me or is yahoo.com down right now?
It’s 9:44 PM EST….
It’s a little bit expensive, but looks cool.
I think digital photo frame with social function and less than $100 would be great.
http://onioning.com/yoda
$100 is not quite reachable yet. However, I will be travelling to China (where the tablet is made) to push on price. We will do our best.
hmm.. too expensive…
expensive, tough this tablet is cool
pretty cool, but expensive $100 wud work. have a laugh at http://www.fatkidsfalling.com
It’s a SmartQ7 they’ve been hacking it for months and using it as an ebook reader over at MobileRead. There are Linux, Android, Maemo (Mer) and WInCE distros for it. And even a few dedicated websites. It’s a great device only crippled by the manufacturer’s (Smart Devices) decision to not support the built in video chip with any sort of usable driver.
Have you managed to get Android working on the Q7? I haven’t been able to find a kernel with a working Zimage and all my attempts have failed. I’ve seen someone running it from the SD card but no clue as to how he did it as it’s undocumented…
I would rather say it is speech recognition technology that this device uses. Voice recognition is related to identification/verification of a speaking person
Coo00oooll!!!
Itl looks nice. Were i can get it?
Can i get it here?
http://www.justcompareit.com?ag=3
I’m all for the latest gadgetry, and I love geeky technology, but I’m not sure that voice recognition in this case is goin to be of any use atall, it probably wont even work anyway. Think I’ll just wait for the crunchpad.
Hi Online Ed,
The voice recognition technology works very well. It is server-based, meaning that the SQ7 sends compressed audio to the server (it is not stored) and returns the transcription to the client. We use a combination of our own technology, and world-class voice recognition technology from Vlingo (see http://www.vlingo.com). The voice recognition actually adapts to your voice as you use it, without training. You are right, though. One of our company’s challenges is to get bast the bad stigma voice recognition tech has. We will work on that. I hope this comment was helpful.
I actually have a SmartQ 7 that I imported from China. For the price, its the best little e-book reader/internet tablet on the market, in my humble opinion. I’ve loaded every operating system it can handle – Mer, Android, Linux, and WinCE. I’m currently using a licensed version of WinCE 6.0 on it with a custom GUI. Let me tell you, the ebook reading is glorious. The internet surfing is pretty snappy. If I could afford to buy two more of these things and put them in storage for when this one wears out I would.
I’m curious to see the customizations that Mr. Hasset and company have done to the Linux OS. They should SERIOUSLY consider pushing the ebook functionality of the device as well. FBreader is a free application and putting in their OS GUI menu would be another selling point.
P.S. If you didn’t realize the possibilities of this device an en ebook reader, there is a whole market of people who want and LCD device to read books on. We are the same people who refuse to buy an Amazon Kindle or Sony eReader because e-Ink devices DO NOT HAVE A BACKLIGHT. Reading in dark places or in bed is a must for many of us and for that, the above two big-name products fail. Not to mention both the Kindle and Sony are way too high priced for single function devices (meaning they are aimed squarely at just reading and not surfing the net or anything else). For a far lower price, you can buy a device like this. You can even read DRMed books on it with certain ebook reading applications available for this device.
This is very helpful feedback. We will seriously consider voice-enabled FBReader in next software update. The Lighthouse SQ7 will automatically update itself (with user’s OK) over WiFi, so getting the update won’t be a hastle. Thanks again…
So by this definition *books* also fail as a medium for the printed word.
hi there…will this play FLASH websites, like Youtube?
thx kindly…
In an upcoming release, we will support Youtube, but not flash in general (until embedded devices with ARM processor are supported by Adobe).
Not initially. However, in our next software update we intend to include youtube support (but not generic flash support). It is expected in November. The SQ7 updates itself automatically (and for free) over WIFI.
Hi Chris,
great work on this OS, it reminds me very much of Jolicloud (which I run on my Acer one), both in approach and look and feel.
As the commenter below asked, do you have any intention to release the lighthouse OS either as an open source distro or as a paid distro?
We are considering releasing the software on a variety of platforms. We have not worked the model out yet (we have an actual cost of operations because our voice recognition is server based). I will keep interested parties informed as we make progress in defining this area of our business.
Ok, very cool to know. Because the voice elements are cost-centric perhaps a modularised distro where they are removed might work. That said, I am a SmartQ7 user and ultimately I want to have a go at using your OS; it is certainly better than the stock OS on the SmartQ7 (even V5 recently released) and any alternative (MER currently sucks as does Android if you can somehow get it to work!).
alphi,
If you want, send an email to support@adelavoice.com and we will notify you if we are going to release the OS platform.
Hi! I bought my Smart Q7 2 months ago, and i can tell you it is a great device, and not only for ebook reading . Your Lighthouse os seems to be a great advancment, but i think u could make money buy selling the OS firmware too, i mean there are a lot of people like me who has already bought the smartq , and not plannig to buy another one just for the new os, but it would be nice if i could buy this like i did with WinCE. So you shall find a price for it and sell it like an os, too. Hope my comment is usefull. Thx.
Chris Hassett (CEO of AdelaVoice) talked with BTR about the direction AdelaVoice is going both with the Lighthouse SQ7 and the voice recognition software. I think the article answers a lot of questions people are asking, including the future plans to sell the software itself and offer it as applications on the iPhone and Android platforms. You can read it at: http://besttabletreview.com/interview-with-adelavoice-ceo-chris-hassett-yields-more-details-about-lighthouse-sq7-social-media-tablet/
It’s rare to see a CEO respond to criticism directly the way that Chris has in the comments here. I think that speaks towards his confidence in the software and product.
Personally, I love voice recognition and wish more devices had it. The deal breaker for me is the Flash limitation. So many sites use Flash for basic functionality these days, including shopping sites for product description and images to checkout…even though it’s a terribly bad idea. How’s the java/javascript support? How does the browser differ from my pc/browser? Secondly, does the voice recognition work when I want to post on an online forum or in my Wordpress blog? Will it work in any text input box on any website?
Unforunately, flash support will have to wait until early next year, when Adobe opens up Flash10 to ARM-based devices like the SQ7. The javascript support is superb, the SQ7 uses the Arora/Webkit browser and does a great job. And yes, it will work on any text-input box on any website.
hello. what is your warranty on this?
thx
Please see our web site for the specific details regarding warrenty.
hi…you should consider having a TECH BLOGGER…or TECH MAGAZINE do a review for you, so more people will be inclined to by this
Most people won’t buy without some sort of review on the net about a product.
True, we are working on reviews right now. I will keep this blog posted.
hi Chris
what are the chances that you will put this new OS of yours…onto the faster, more powerful
SMART V7, that Smart Devices is releasing…
More powerful ARM11 processor, and twice the ram, plus HDMI out, 2GB STORAGE…as the first Smart Q7?
It is my personal opinion, that if you start putting your OS on this faster machine, you will truly hit it out of the ball park.
The chances are very good. We are porting right now. However, it is unclear when the new q7 will be commercially available. I will keep you posted.
Tazti Speech recognition has been offering a free download of voice recognition software for more than a year. And it already allows a desktop or notebook user to log into and navigate around Facebook and Myspace. It also has Voice seach of many search engines and lets a user control their itunes music player. I used it on my Samsung Q1. So what’s the big deal with this Lighthous SQ7?
Tazti Speech offers free command and control speech recognition for PCs. Command and control voice recognition is very useful in many circumstances, but is not intended for continuous text transcription. This is what the Lighthouse SQ7 allows. You can speak anything you want in any form that you want, and the SQ7 will transcribe the text. This is what is needed when you want to make a voice post on Facebook or update your twitter status. This technology is very different than Tazti Speech. I hope this helps.