Clarion just 'unveiled' their version of the Car PC.

Summary 64MB of memory, 8MB of video ram, 7" touchpanel display, but... It's running WinCE on a 166MHz strongarm, so it is probably going to be slow as molasses even with the additional memory. Estimated retail pricetag of $2730.

The empeg was better that that years ago, faster CPU, smarter software so that it doesn't even need 64MB (I guess a riocar with 64MB would just preload the next hour of mp3's in memory

Some of the connectivity options look interesting, a pc-card slot and it can be a USB host for devices, and ofcourse the larger screen..

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,106046,00.asp

If the piccies are anything to go by, it looks quite impressive, if you've got a double-din slot...

Couldn't tell if it had a hard disk or not...

I wonder if an empeg could be rigged to display on a screen like that? Upgrade the ram and you're all set.

Bah! All that and no DVD???? Yup... our empegs are still better!!!

Yuk. Yeah what size harddrive does this Clarion have? To me that is the big factor. I love the empeg because I can upgrade its size with ease and it runs soo smooth. The large screen is about all I like about the clarion but can you pull the clarion in and out with ease and use it in the house/office too?

-Calvin

Empeg or nothing

Considering Dolby Digital and DTS are listed as standards, I'd say the slot on the front is a DVD drive...

I personally cannot stand touchscreens. I've owned a few and their common flaw is lack of tactile feedback and texture. They force you to look at them in order for your finger to touch the correct part of the screen. No, I'll stick to a button setup I'm use to until someone builds a product as capable (or better) and simple to use as the Empeg. Anyone can throw money at a design and glue on enough buttons to even satisfy my 3 year old's craving for pushing them, but few can build something that works elegantly with just four buttons and a rotary encoder.

(and once more, the hat's off)....

That's just bad UI design - the developers design the interface as if they were sat in front of a regular screen and using a mouse. And UI design there isn't particulary good either. It doesn't help that most touchscreen drivers for most OS's basically convert the touchscreen input into mouse input - hence relying on the UI elements provided for mice.

If you wanted to design a sight-'free' touchscreen interface (or for that matter, sight-'free' mouse-driven interface, then you'd only use 5 zones/buttons per screen - the four corners and the middle. If you really need more buttons for some screens then add the middle of the 4 screen edges as zones.

As for feedback, it's possible to use other non-tactile feedback - an audible click, flash the screen bright for brief moment so that your peripheral vision picks it up, or use obviously different color schemes for different functions for the same reason.

Don't blame the touchscreen itself - assuming that it works of course. It's going to take a few years before UI designers 'Get It' on a wide scale, much as it took a while before mouse UI's got useful. (And Micro$oft still don't have that right). One thing that could be done to the touchscreen is to add a tactile dot marker at the corners and middle point of each edge to help 'blind' fingers locate them.

Agreed with munkworks, I've never used anything as elegant as the UI on the empeg. Four buttons and a rotary encoder? I've had the thing for a month and I only need the 4 buttons. (assuming 1.03) EQ? Down, Left, Down, Left, Down. Info from Line to Full (or whatever)? D, R, R, D, R, D. Visual SoundFlag to Visual SpectroFlip? Haha, I won't type out the commands, but you get the idea.

Yes, hats off for the ergonomic, efficient design of the empeg UI. Most frequently used options nearest the root option, four tone (right?) audio feedback so very little visual is required, and everything done with four buttons. No, other designers just don't "get it."

I've been thinking that should be a slogan for the empeg. "Empeg, do you GET it?" Rings true on SO many levels.

I've been thinking that should be a slogan for the empeg. "Empeg, do you GET it?" Rings true on SO many levels.


"Empeg, will you GET it?" might've been even better.

Down, Left, Down, Left, Down. Info from Line to Full (or whatever)? D, R, R, D, R, D. Visual SoundFlag to Visual SpectroFlip?

Flashbacks of the Rubik's Cube solution at this point...

Yeah... There's a fine line between switching visuals and getting an extra 30 lives in Contra.

I'd also like to point out that even at full price, the most expensive empeg was way cheaper than that. Hell, you could have bought 2.5 of the 12GB players for that MSRP.

If /. people like that thing, I'll get all their addresses and pull a Jay & Silent Bob.

There's a fine line between switching visuals and getting an extra 30 lives in Contra

Sorry this post sat for 8 days without anyone giving you kudos. Damn, that was funny.

Yeah, that was damn funny, but I'm too newbie to know if it's bad etiquite to reply with "HAHA, that's funny, ROTFLMAFAO" Hahaha.

Yes, props. If only the empeg had a B, A, Select, and Start!!! I'm sure we could get the Emulation scene to port Nesticle to the StrongArm.

Sorry this post sat for 8 days without anyone giving you kudos. Damn, that was funny.

No need to apologize. I wasn't fishing for kudos, I was really just amusing myself on a boring day at work.