Can Notion Ink’s Adam elevate the tablet to a new generation?

November 24, 2010 By Rob Enderle

Rather than merely copying Apple, Notion Ink’s Adam blazes new trails with innovative features like a hybrid Pixel Qui screen, high-power GPU and swiveling camera, which may make it the first second-gen tablet.

Of all the tablets out there, the only one that really interests me is the Notion Ink Adam, largely because, on specs, it represents a better picture of where this form factor is going. This week, Notion’s website went up, and a countdown to ordering began. I doubt it is going to make it to Christmas for most of us, but to me, on paper, it is a better iPad alternative than anything currently out there. It could cause people to hold off buying anything else, even if it doesn’t sell, and you may want to look at it and decide whether you should wait or not.

Let’s talk about that today.

First-generation tablets

The iPad has, so far, easily set the bar with regard to first-generation tablets, with the Samsung Galaxy Tablet jumping to second place with a reported 600,000 sold. But both products are constrained by laptop display technology, which limits their usefulness. What I’m talking about are the TFT screens, which tend to glare out if used in bright direct light. In addition, the biggest power hog in this current generation is generally the screen, giving the class a double whammy of issues. E-Ink, which is what the Kindle and e-book readers use, sucks for Web browsing and has frame rates measured in single digits per second. This means E-Ink won’t work for anything that has to move, and doesn’t yet do color in a production product.

The one thing that is likely to be fixed before we call this product mature is that screen. The Notion Ink Adam, which uses a unique Pixel Qi screen, may be the first product that represents the next generation of tablets. And it has a number of other next-gen features, too.

Is Notion Ink’s Adam the first second-generation tablet?

As we’ve learned from the iPad, tablets are consumption devices, which means they need an unusually strong graphics engine. The Adam uses the Nvidia Tegra 250, which currently excels at this and should outperform most current-generation products.

The Adam also has a 3.2-megapixel swivel camera, which anticipates the second-generation iPad getting either a swivel, or two fixed cameras. On a device like this, a swivel camera should be better if you are video conferencing and want to switch views easily. Even if the second-generation iPad doesn’t go this route, I expect following versions will, as Sony, when it created a similar product a few years back, found swivel to be more user friendly.

MicroSD card support should be in most tablets, with the possible exception of the iPad (because Apple likes to upsell higher capacity products, which have higher margins). This is how users will increase capacity, and retailers will reduce the number of SKUs they have to shelve holding down inventory cost.

Because tablets are used for media consumption, and because they will likely be connected to TVs at least some of the time, an HDMI port would seem to be an obvious addition as people don’t like to carry docking stations or dongles.

The Notion Ink has all of these, or will have when and if it ships, and on top, the keystone hybrid indoor-outdoor Pixel Qui screen. The whole assembly argues for a second generation product.

3G or 4G? A crinkle in connectivity

What isn’t yet clear is whether second-generation tablets will be 3G or 4G offerings. These devices are data hungry, and will want as much bandwidth as they likely can get. Initially, the Adam is 3G only. However, my general advice with tablets and notebooks is to use them on Wi-Fi networks and pick up a 3G or 4G access point like the Sprint Overdrive mobile hotspot, so you can use one plan for the laptop and tablet. I don’t think this is a major issue, but for those who want this built in, it could be a problem.

A hardware heavyweight

About 50 percent of what makes the iPad great are the services that stand behind it, and I’m only talking about hardware with the Notion Ink Adam. What will make or break this product is what stands behind it, and we know very little about that yet. However, I do think this product will be closer to what the second- or third-generation tablets will look like, and you may want to hold off on the current generation if you find something compelling, and are willing to wait. In any case, it is always great to see companies that don’t just copy the leaders, but attempt to go out and create something different. That is how Apple has generally been successful itself, and it often amazes me how many firms attempt to copy Apple’s products poorly, rather than copying Apple’s creative approach to the problem.

For those of you in the States, here is hoping you have a wonderful holiday weekend and that whichever tablet you buy, you find it amazing.

Showing 26 comments

Alchemy at 7:39pm 9th December 2010 They don't have any demo videos on their website. Why is that?
John at 8:03am 9th December 2010 lets be honest here. anyone who buys a tab without waiting for honeycomb is shooting themselves in the foot. These tabs coming out will almost surely not be upgraded when it comes out, and will not get access to the market. look at the Motorola tab Andy Rubin had on Monday. That is what you should be waiting for.
@JeffwithDT at 2:25pm 28th November 2010 I read part of the article..then thought "...I'd rather get an iPad." (2.0)
1. Jason at 10:28am 6th December 2010 lol... That is the biggest problem with a lot of Apple fans... You read part of the article, got lazy and went back to something 'familiar' regardless of how foolish that decision may be. No further research to make yourself an educated consumer at all. You just saw something shiny and cosmetically appealing to the eye regardless of function or value.
2. Jason at 2:21pm 7th December 2010 @JeffwithDT : I read all of your posting and thought, "What a dork!".
3. Mahesh at 2:07pm 8th December 2010 Keep on waiting for iPad 10xxx.0.
elmelao at 9:15pm 26th November 2010 Nice comments. I can't Waite to buy an Adam.
Greg at 3:43pm 26th November 2010 Rob, Good write up. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these!
1. Abhi at 2:00am 27th November 2010 omg greg. u r everywhere.
2. Bryan at 5:39pm 4th December 2010 Where do you not write??? I think I have seen you on every blog where the Adam shows it self.
gecko at 2:08pm 26th November 2010 pixel-qui = pixel-who? (the screen is a Pixel Qi, pronounced "Piksel Chee" because a Q is pronounced CH in Chinese, or would be if they used the Roman alphabet, but they don't, oh never mind)
guest at 6:49am 26th November 2010 The unibomber was right. Technology rules us...not the other way around. Everyone should kill themselves now.
E. de Klerk at 1:18pm 24th November 2010 Very nice writeup but sadly one huge mistake in fact checking here. I am extremely sorry to see the picture called Notion-Ink-Adam-5.jpg because it is NOT a good representation of how the interface is going to be at ALL. That picture is a very very early mockup where some graphic artist stole a picture from a custom skin (the skin is called Enigma) which was made by an artist on DeviantArt for the windows skinning program Rainmeter and pasted it on the Adam enclosure. Check the skin picture here: http://kaelri.deviantart.com/art/Enigma-103823591 Please remove that pictures. Accurate interface pictures can be had by going to the fanforum or the original notionink.com site.
1. elmelao at 9:21pm 26th November 2010 Agree with E. de Klerk. A more up to date picture is needed.
tarun at 9:36am 24th November 2010 nice to hear innovations springing up again from india...after a milennium of decline!!
1. Daphn at 8:00am 25th November 2010 Not to fight, but really, a billion voters in a working democracy with growth rates outpacing China? An expulsion of a colonial power without slaughtering half the people? The development of a social change model that every activist, organization, social group, religion and political party in the world seeks to understand and emulate? A multiethnic culture creating common goals among multiple religions, languages, cultures and education? The extension of middleclass life to a hundred million while the west shrinks their own middle class? The creation of the modern Indian democracy is 60 years old, and they have been aiming economic growth at import substitution and creaing local demand, not export. An export led growth policy would have made more people outside India aware of its potential long ago, but the policy they used avoiding an export lead growth plan, benefited and benefits Indians. Good for them. And now, good for us all.
swooop5511 at 9:20am 24th November 2010 Great write up
Raj at 8:58am 24th November 2010 Whether we agree or not every tablet is going to be compared to iPad (the best available with its own flaws). Adam is for sure going to stand out of the crowd. Adam would take a quite chunk of GalaxyTab and other Android tablets compared to iPad. Apple customers are highly loyal, they would buy even Steve's hanky sold with a Apple logo. That's the trust Apple has built. I hope Adam would build its reputation the same way Apple does. I have been awaiting Adam for long and now getting impatient as its near shipping. Love you Adam.
1. Jai - - - at 1:25am 7th December 2010 Yes absolutely right......on the REPO BUILD UP. And the way team Notion Ink seems to be going about their job before the official launch in Jan 2011, I think they are a force to recon with. Eventually what I am waiting for is the hidden rabbit in their hat which will come out after the Adam. Now that the rest of the competition knows to a certain extent what Adam is all about, they are surely gearing up for a tough fight in round 2. Here is where Notion Ink should surprise everyone ONCE AGAIN. My best wishes for the entire team. Jai - - -
adam at 4:25am 24th November 2010 Stop comparing the adam to the ipad, the ipad is a turd on the side of the road compared to the adam.
1. webba at 7:05am 24th November 2010 As a fan of the adam why would comparisons that make it look good be something you want to avoid?
  1. adam at 5:44pm 27th November 2010 why would you compare a bar of gold to a pile of poo?
jessie at 3:54am 24th November 2010 Glad to see a well written and unbiased article! The swivel camera is patented by notion ink, so don't expect that to come with ipad or any other tablet.
1. David at 1:24pm 8th December 2010 Theres always 70 ways around any patent, so don't be surprised when you see knockoffs showing up a few months down the line ;)
JonathanCR at 2:26am 24th November 2010 I agree that there is a lot to like in the originality of this product. It is almost funny to see each new tablet coming out looking like a copy of the iPad - same black border, same array of icons on the background, same minimalist button design. The problem with making something like that is that Apple's design is, as a general rule, almost perfect. If you're going to make something similar, it's almost bound to be less good. At the moment, the tablet world looks like it consists of the iPad, plus various poor man's iPads that just don't seem quite as good overall. The Adam is, at least, trying to be different. It looks different, and in some ways may be nicer to use - we know that iPads can be a bit awkward to hold, but the rounded side of the Adam could be quite pleasant to hold like a book. The UI looks like it's going to be more original too. Will it match the expectations it's been building over the past year? Impossible to tell. But I do think, as things currently stand, that anyone wanting a tablet in the near future should at least be considering it. I don't know whether I want one, but I do hope it does well and injects a bit of variety and innovation into the market.
1. Richard Hauser at 8:10am 24th November 2010 Now that I have used the iPad and now the Samsung, it is even clearer how flawed the iPad is. Just liked the form-over-function iPhone4, the iPad was the best not by design but by it's lack of competition. Not that it didn't get many things right, but it was just forced into too many compromises by it's designers need for beauty and their desire to get it out first. The compromises are many but I'll list the most annoying ones: 1. Weight and moment arm. From the first time you pick it up you'll know you are not holding this to read one handed. I'm hoping the NI puts the battery in the thick edge. 2. Size: Unless you have very large hands, the iPad is to large to use while standing, you have to put it down. At that point netbooks are better. That is why all the fanboys are moving on to the Macbook Air. 3. Keyboard: No excuse for not showing case or offering options like Swipe which would make one handed usage usable. 4. Computer dependance: Want to replace your laptop with an iPad? Sorry, you can't. The iPad is a computer accesory as it relies on it for many of it's basic tasks like downloading content. The NI Adam will not be an iPad killer, it will be a netbook killer. The iPad will just be another casualty alone the way. PS Written while standing using a Samsung Galaxy Tab.