First Impressions
After I took the machine out of the box but before I turned it on, the first thing I noticed was that it is nice and rubbery all over, much more so than other non-skid treatments that I’ve seen. The tethered stylus is very nice to hold and is the size of a large pencil, not a tiny Palm-like stylus. The stylus also has a somewhat triangular cross-section for ease of holding. The machine has two headphone jacks, which are really helpful for sharing a computer experience with others. The keyboard seemed a nice size. The machine still seemed a bit heavy for holding like a tablet for very long. It is about as heavy as a (high school) textbook. The helpful handle retracts to be flush with the body. In general, it is a medium-sized netbook, a bit bigger than my Dell Mini 9.
When I went to turn it on for the first time, it took me a while to find the power button. It was hidden among all the gray. I like a power button to stand out, to look like nothing else. The one good thing about the power button, though, is that you really have to press it to get it to take. There is no pressing that button by accident. This is probably a good feature for children.
It wasn’t long before I also learned that while the very rubbery outside is great for gripping, it also grips dust easily, and it’s hard to clean off without something damp.
Flippity Flip-ability
The Classmate PC can be used in a conventional clamshell orientation, or the screen can flip 180 degrees around and then close in a tablet configuration, screen up. This allows you to hold it like a clipboard, prop it up or put on a table or on your lap. It’s very versatile. Because of this tablet option, it was necessary to include an accelerometer so the screen will automatically change orientation as needed. This change isn’t quick and visual like on the iPod Touch, however. The screen shuts off and then back on in the other orientation. After using the iPod Touch, this feels very twitchy. You can lock the orientation, though, if you need it to stay put. Also, while the screen has useful dimensions in landscape mode, when you switch to portrait mode, it seems overly narrow. That’s obviously a function of being a small machine, but it took some getting used to.
Stylus
The more I used the stylus, the more I liked it, and the more I liked the tether. You never had to worry about where the stylus was, you just follow the tether down and grab it. Plus the tether is long enough for you to easily reach all parts of the screen with comfort. The stylus is large, great for kid hands and grown up hands alike.
Display
The disply is a resistive one, so you have to use pressure on it. If the stylus isn’t handy, you can also use your fingernail or even your knuckle. The stylus does a pretty good job, but be sure to calibrate it. Some of the items in the Start menu are very small and it is easy to hit the wrong one.
The Classmate PC is designed to allow users to write directly on the screen. Many applications have handwriting input as an option, and you can then use the included OCR to turn the writing into text. This is a great trick that does work most of the time, but if you aren’t pressing hard enough, sometimes the screen loses contact with the stylus, affecting what you are doing. Even with a perfectly clean screen. If you write too fast, also, the display doesn’t pick up on all of your stroke. You have to write and draw too slowly for this to be useful most of the time. I don’t know about you, but when I took notes in school I wrote very fast and quite illegibly. This kind of writing would be difficult for the OCR to convert correctly.
