The 'litl' webbook - brilliantly innovative or lonely pioneer?

Litl LLC's journey is underway, but I don't think they'll ever reach their desired destination.

The Webbook

Keyboard

The Webbook can be tilted more than 180 degrees

The premise of the title is that those who are brilliantly innovative, are destined to be followed. If customers adopt Litl LLC as their leader in relation to netbooks and the web, will other computer manufacturers want to compete for this role? Crunchgear.com posted a video demonstration of the Litl Webbook (the litl), carried out by Litl LLC's CEO, John Chuang (pictured). Litl LLC announced the new machine on the 4^th of November; since then, the litl seems to be an emotive subject, and I can see why: in the video, John shows the machine in operation – and the level of innovation displayed is exceptional. Litl LLC has taken a bold step in a new direction, and their interesting machine deserves the attention it's getting from the media and the public. I wanted to investigate the litl and its creator's philosophy in detail, because a machine like this warrants scrutiny.

Litl LLC's focus appears to be simplicity in interacting with the internet and a user's personal media, such as photographs and videos. They feel the way to accomplish this is to revolutionise the fundamental aspects of the personal computer: the software, the hardware and the user interface. If one wished to place the litl into an existing family of computers, then the netbook would probably accept it into its fold. However, the litl is not meant to replace our notebooks, desktops, or UMPCs. Yet it isn't designed to fill the gap left by the absence of a netbook either, it's meant to undertake the role of a netbook at home. Litl LLC's predictable enthusiasm for their new product is infectious, which is why I wanted to give their words plenty of opportunity to speak for the product in this article.

So what do Litl LLC have to say about the litl? There are aspects of the traditional PC, which Litl found to be hindering a computer user's enjoyment of web content. Litl LLC's 'design philosophy is to get all the computery stuff out of the way and let the customer’s content shine, whether it is photos or video or e-mail. The computer should never compete with the content.' They want to eliminate a user's need to undertake administration of the computer: 'we want our customers to use the computer, not take care of it...a litl...automatically handles viruses, updates, installs, plug-ins, backups, and drivers forever.' The user interface of PCs was also a target for Litl LLC's style of simplicity, continuing in the vein of automating tasks, they eliminated any computer task 'that had the word "management" next to it...File management. Gone. Windows management. Gone.'

Litl LLC could be considered strident in the presentation of their ideology, they talk of 'bewildering' settings as being in two distinct categories: those that the customer care about or those that the customer does not care about: '...we...applied two tough criteria for...settings. 1) Does the customer care? If not, 2) Do what the customer wants, don’t make the customer decide.' Their ambition included amalgamating data (such as photographs) gleaned from commonly used websites such as flickr and Shutterfly, and representing it to the user as a seamless collection of their favourite content; a system they hope to extend to more services and 'technologies of the future.'

Litl LLC have also decided which aspects of PCs are 'necessary' to bring to the attention of computer users, such as 'monitors and status indicators', which have been, for the most part, eliminated. If one used a litl, there would be no 'more working in little windows or on the edges of' one's screen, because whatever task the user does, it is deemed the user's sole focus and consequently, the whole screen is used. Ultimately, Litl LLC have removed 'unnecessary menus and icons' such as buttons to resize windows.

If I'm impressed by the product, why won't I buy one? Well, I'm not impressed by the product, I'm impressed by the concepts that underpin the litl and the boldness of the manufacturer – something that is rarely seen. I think the final product has taken large steps to simplify the PC, but have stopped with an unsatisfactory conclusion: the litl – the product itself. Litl LLC have accomplished a lot with the litl, some of which should inspire other manufacturers. However, I see Litl LLC's destination as a place to be populated by other computer manufacturers. Future computers will yield ubiquitous content, automated computer management and a viewing experience akin to the television. It is not beyond manufacturers to combine the concepts developed by Litl LLC and marry them, successfully, with a traditional PC.

A manufacterer could try to adopt the concepts behind several different platforms and provide the ultimate gadget of the future. I've often imagined owning an UMPC with sufficient processing power to complete any task, with the ability to store data, interact with other devices, automate administrative tasks and connect to a big screen, keyboard and mouse – I still can't see one that can do all these things competently at the right price, but products are getting very close to my ideal. Litl offers users simplicity, but it is deciding for the customer what a computer should be able to do, by removing the machine's flexibility. The litl uses a server-based OS, meaning Litl LLC manage all the content the user has access to, via an internet connection, and they also perform the tasks that a normal OS would. Consequently, the litl has only a 2GB flash hard drive and no optical drive, and all storage is managed by Litl LLC.

Can't a PC do what a litl does? A PC can offer us all simplicity and as many ways of doing things as there are pieces of software and hardware available. PCs can be overwhelming at times to all computer users, but their complexity is their strength – because they are almost infinitely flexible. However, I can see why something like the Litl was created, to make a relatively straightforward task: interacting with personal media and the internet, simpler and therefore easier to learn. The litl makes sharing content with other litl users easy too. Yet all this could be accomplished with software, perhaps an ambitious OS. Litl LLC didn't want to develop just an OS, they wanted to develop the hardware to go with such an innovative venture, and they are now selling it all for $699 via Amazon.com. That's far more expensive than a netbook. Here's what a customer would get if they matched Litl LLC's bravery and actually purchased a litl:

·         The ability to fold the machine about 330 degrees, so it can stand like an easel. 'Easel Mode' is designed to 'get the computer hardware out of the way so there is as little as possible between you and your content.' Apparently only 'litl customers get web pages that transform depending on interaction mode.'

·         The ability to scroll through content with a built-in wheel, akin to the mouse wheel, and select different windows (which Litl LLC call 'cards'); a similar device is found on the remote (an optional extra for $19).

·         The display has a '178 degree viewing cone' and it's 'unbelievably bright', and 'practically sunlight readable.'

·         A 'plug and play HDMI port to connect HD video and stereo audio to your TV.'

·         'Laptop Mode...We’ve eliminated the inscrutable function keys and buttons with weird symbols. We also took out the cap locks key, which everyone uses only by mistake.' I'd like to disagree with this statement: I do use the Caps Lock key from time to time. However, I do press it by accident sometimes, perhaps a less drastic solution would have been to relocate it, rather than remove it altogether?

·         'It’s very quiet. It also doesn’t get hot so you won’t burn your lap. It sports a built-in contoured handle that also houses the batteries, so the laptop feels good when you carry it around the house. It’s only 3 pounds anyway, but feels even lighter.'

·         1.6 GHz Atom processor.

·         'Our graphics chip can accelerate H.264 video and give you 720p on a large screen TV through HDMI. As drivers catch up to hardware we expect wait time to decrease.' This could explain why the litl was failing to produce an acceptable frame rate when John demonstrated the full-screen playback of a YouTube video.

·         'We have a camera, a mic, two speakers, 1 gig of ram, 2 gigs of flash (the long lasting kind), wifi/g, headphone jack, USB 2.0 and two infrared ports.'

·         'We guarantee your satisfaction 100% for two years, double the industry norm. Return it if you are ever dissatisfied.'

·         'The first web OS' - 'You’ll notice right away that you don’t need to open a browser. That’s because one is built right in. You’ll notice that a search box has replaced all file management because today we don’t drag files around as much as we search for them. Gone are menus, folders, and icons. Instead, we show you your web content neatly.'

·         'Content Ubiquity' - 'Your litl OS was built with the web in mind. And because the web can be used in many connected devices, we built it from the ground up to work with all connected devices such as computers and televisions...Synching is automatic and instantaneous. If you make a change on one machine, the others will update as well.'

·         If one of your litls accidentally breaks—no problem. All of your information is already on the other machines or on a new machine that we send to you. If someone steals one of your litls, we can cut the thief off from your private data, and often track the thief if they try to use the web.'

·         'As an owner of a litl, all your content will be synced, backed up, and available to use on any litl you own without any work on your part.'

If you've read this far, you've probably gathered that I'm not too keen on the product, but what do others think of the litl? Wired.com state that the litl is 'a cute idea but rather expensive one...an all-in-desktop for the living room might be an attractive alternative.' The Wall Street Journal note that the litl can't be used to 'upload...photos — for that,' a PC is needed. I assume that was not a concern for Litl LLC, as it was not designed to be a person's main PC.

Alexhudson.com compares the litl to the Chumby ($199) and the Joggler (£99), and is critical of the litl's lack of a touchscreen. I agree: a touchscreen would make the litl far more accessible, it's hard to believe Litl LLC's decision not to include one with the machine. Accessing 'web-cards' on screen by touch would be a very nice addition and an intuitive way to interact with web content on the litl; it would make future demonstrations of the product far more appealing. Alexhudson.com also noted that the remote uses infra-red, which as we all know with TV remotes – requires line of sight to work effectively. Another problem is that the litl is limited to the home, due to its dependence upon Wi-Fi, making a netbook a superior choice for seamless internet access at work, during journeys and then at home.

Surprisingly a fundamentally important aspect of the litl: portability and battery life, has been left out of all the discussions I've seen about the product. Alexhudson.com was the first website I saw, which raised this issue:

'Being portable and light is great if you can move it around freely. Will the battery life keep up with that? How will it work? If the litl ends up being tethered to the mains for the most part, suddenly most of the appeal I can think of has flown out of the window.'

Alexhudson.com then goes on to list reasonable alternatives to the litl, which, motivated primarly by price, are very tempting:-

·         '£250 gets a 10″ Atom-based netbook with storage built in (yes, it’s a PC)

·         £450 gets me the same netbook but with added mobile broadband, so not only can I take it everywhere around the house, I can take it around the country and still access my stuff

·         £150 buys me a Joggler, which for my money does a lot of what litl does but has a touch screen and is even more portable. It’s not as flexible or powerful I guess, but I could buy three of these for one litl and I can text mobiles directly from it.

·         £140 buys me a Chumby – less portable, less flexible, more interactive.

·         £340 wins me a Fizzbook Spin. It’s ruggedized, the screen’s more adjustable as is the webcam, it has a handle and the orientation adjustment. It also has the important touchscreen.

·         £300 also buys me various TV media centres which play photos, video, browse the web etc. Sure, it’s stuck under the TV.'

However, John Chuang (quoted in Xconomy.com) believes that consumers will choose the litl over competitors' computers because Litl LLC 'are the best value in the world, because we have things that other computers don’t have at any price. You cannot get a better screen or an easier-to-use user interface, or HDMI plug-and-play like you do here. You can’t get our ability to integrate and display all your online photos and share them and project them onto a giant TV. So we think we’re a really great value.'

However, IDC analyst David Daoud (quoted in Masshightech.com) says that consumers 'are beginning to feel familiar with this cloud computing concept... but consumers haven’t seen a product like this before, so the barriers to entry are pretty high right now.' 'If you’re going to go after mainstream computer users, it’s going to take a while to educate customers.' At first sight the litl is bewildering, yet intriguing, Litl LLC must invest a considerable amount of time educating people about their progeny, because it is quite easy to dismiss it as an overpriced netbook. However, having learned more about the litl, my conclusion is that it has an exciting role to fill, but doesn't do it as well as it should have done. Also, I can't see why anyone would buy one at that price, let alone the two or three the manufacturers envisage people buying for their home!