There's lot of talk of people moving away from laptops and full computers, and just buying a tablet instead. If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine.
This concept in principle allows you to have a tablet, which is relatively cheap and can be used on the sofa and in bed, but retain the option of adding a keyboard, and/or using desktop applications on occasion, when you might need them. The drawback is that you lose access to Android/iOS native apps, and also that ARM processors are slow.
I would say it's not a million miles behind Chromebooks or Android tablets (given that Chromebooks are quite limited, and Android tablet apps don't have a great reputation). If ARM processors take a step forward over the next year or two, companies continue to develop for the mobile web rather than shift towards native apps, and Linux userspace software stacks (and developers) become more tolerant of touch, something like this could be a serious competitor.
> If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine.
Will this tablet do all that? The video part is what I'd be most worried about. Netflix will probably be there, but what about Hulu, HBO, and other popular services?
For anyone under the age of fifteen, there's a moderate likelihood that touch devices -- in the form of mobile phones -- have been their primary computing devices literally their entire lives.
Someday soon there's going to be a generation of young programmers who are simply more at home on a touchscreen than a laptop. If the Linux world doesn't have devices and a usable UI for them, it might lose them altogether.
This concept in principle allows you to have a tablet, which is relatively cheap and can be used on the sofa and in bed, but retain the option of adding a keyboard, and/or using desktop applications on occasion, when you might need them. The drawback is that you lose access to Android/iOS native apps, and also that ARM processors are slow.
I would say it's not a million miles behind Chromebooks or Android tablets (given that Chromebooks are quite limited, and Android tablet apps don't have a great reputation). If ARM processors take a step forward over the next year or two, companies continue to develop for the mobile web rather than shift towards native apps, and Linux userspace software stacks (and developers) become more tolerant of touch, something like this could be a serious competitor.