Origami on the move
Following on from news of Microsoft's mysterious Origami website, there has been plenty of speculation doing the rounds across technology and gaming websites World-wide.
Microsoft have always been excellent at creating hype around their products (ourcolony.net, ilovebees.com and origenxbox360.com immediately spring to mind), the second part of the paper folding mystery has now been revealed.
Week 2's flash animation shows various environments, including a city,a mountain range ,a tube and a car and states that, whatever the device may be, it can be found or used in all of these places.
Back in 2001 National Semi-conductor revealed a concept prototype device called Origami which boasted eight functions:
A digital camera
Video camcorder
Smartphone
MP3 player
PDA
Internet access and Internet picture frame
Email access
Video conferencing
According to this video,that claims to show an advertisement of the portable device, the handheld, which initially looks like a souped up Etch-A-Sketch, will include GPS-based navigation, and potentially all of the above functions.
Some sites have hinted that the device could also include VoIP phoning and Portable Media Center capabilities. Whatever it is, it appears that it will be a more sophisticated version of the original Origami concept.
A Microsoft representative has revealed via his blog that "it would be a fairly low-cost portable device." If the new device contains all of these functions , would it be low cost? and how exactly is this device going to change our lives?
Further details are revealed on the 9th March.
Visit the Origami project website here
Update
Microsoft have commented on the video: "While Origami is a concept we've been working on with partners, the video you have seen is a year old and represents our initial exploration into this form factor, including possible uses and scenarios. However, we are excited to share more details about the evolution of the Origami concept with you in the coming weeks."
