It's called the "LookClub," and it's a not a PC, but it's not a PDA either. I guess that makes it close to a Sony AirBoard? Although not really.
It does, however, use Linux, and is suprisingly affordable. But don't expect to be able to get your hands o­n o­ne soon - NEC will o­nly produce 4,000 of these this year.
More information and an image of the device inside.

NEC Personal Products Corporation announced the "Contents Browser LookClub series," an information terminal with LCD screen and CD-ROM drive, o­n the 30th. The price is 68,250 yen (with tax).

Rather than urgently selling the product at a number of storefronts, NEC is focusing o­n direct sales to different groups. Also, it will not be available for purchase o­n NEC's direct sale website, "NEC Direct." The company plans o­n producing 4,000 units in the initial year, and will begin shipment in the latter part of June.

The LookClub series was designed with an emphasis o­n "seeing," "reading," and "hearing." According to the NEC Personal Products DMS Division's Group Manager, Yoshihiro Yamamura, it considered "to belong to neither PC nor PDA genres; this product is a new genre. It cannot edit and treat files like a PC, but it is suitable for reading images and other files. This is a bit like how the 'play-only' Walkman was introduced into a radio-cassette market requiring recording functions of all its products."

The first generation "LookPal" will have an 8.4" LCD display, and an internal CD-ROM drive. It also uses a touch panel screen, making for easy opening of images and other files.

So that the device is easy for those who have never used a touch-based PC before to understand, 4 icons (such as internet, etc.) will be displayed when the device is powered o­n. And for those that do not like double clicking, the operations are easily controlled by pushing for under o­ne second. A software keyboard will also be used for input as necessary. The soft keyboard can be arranged in either QWERTY or 50-sound styles.

The device uses the same browser that is currently used in the "Sigmarion" PDA also from NEC - this browser is from England's Picsel Technologies. Rather than having to install an application to read each different type of file, the browser can read 20 file types such as HTML, PDF, JPEG, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

The operating system used is Linux. NEC has explained that "We were originally looking at TRON, but due to some problems with using the CD-ROM, we went with Linux." And about using Windows, "Apart from the cost being high, we wanted the ability to save the state of the device to memory immediately before powering off - and be able to resume work in that same position when the device is power o­n again. But since operating the device in this fashion made freezes very likely, we let Windows go."

An Intel PXA255 400MHz processor is used as the CPU. The unit has 64MB of memory.

The external dimensions are 243 x 161 x 34mm (W x D x H). When including the battery, it weighs 1.1kg. The battery lasts about 2 hours.

Negotiations with various municipalities are already going o­n - a CD-ROM loaded with various languages is prepared, and the device is loaned to tourists, who then go see the local sites. It is supposed to be a sort of travel guide that speaks the language of the tourists from around the world. Also, besides being usable to connect to the city government for business support tools, it could be used for individual users mutually sharing digital camera images, or accessing recipes from a CD-ROM while in the kitchen.

NEC plans a second generation "LookLet" - with a 4.7" LCD screen, and a "LookRex" - with a 12.1" LCD screen within the year. It is expected that both of these products will more or less have the same options as the LookPal.

Meanwhile, for investment into the LookPal, "LookMaker" from Sony PCL is currently being developed for creation of contents for the device, and will be available for sale.



Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/0330/nec.htm

Press Release:
http://www.necp.co.jp/release/2004/0330.html