Notion Ink partners with Texas Instruments
Press Release
Notion Ink partners with Texas Instruments
21 January 2012, Bangalore
Notion Ink has partnered with Texas Instruments (TI) Incorporated for its next generation Adam II Tablets. Adam II will be using OMAP44xx processor along with other TI components like Wi-Link 7.0 and Phoenix Audio Power Amplifiers. Adam II will also leverage the power optimizations achieved using mature combination of TI’s integrated power-management IC.
Designed specifically for best Power Performance and Multi-tasking Experience, Adam II will be based on Google’s IceCream Sandwich Operating System.
The OMAP44xx platform’s smart multicore architecture pairs its main CPUs with several differentiated features including programmable accelerators, hardware composition engines and a dedicated ISP. Imagination Technologies’ super-fast PowerVR SGX5xx GPU and enhanced memory architecture add still more functionality while an OMAP-specific distributed composition architecture enables advanced image and video layering for crisp, HD visuals. These elements and more are the force behind the OMAP44xx processor’s ability to enable fast and fluid multitasking while maintaining ultra-low power consumption.
Adam II will release the world’s first Modular Based Software Architecture which will further expand the scope of application development and use nearly every single hardware feature in a “user customizable” application. Drag and drop features will enable easy application modification and Open Source Module will further expand the use cases and tablet deployment. Node operations like in Blender, and “Application Authoring Tools” are primarily aimed at non-programmers for composing applications, games and use-case flows in a drag-and-drop fashion, utilizing visual editors and behavior-based logic system.
This System will help consumers, professionals and students become productive as they will be able to use the tablet as a logic analyzer, medical imaging device, signal acquisition and processing, 3D modeling and multi-media.
For more information about TI OMAP processors, visit www.ti.com and follow this blog for Adam II.
Rohan Shravan
I would have gone with ZiiLabs ZMS-40 because then you wouldn’t be so tied in what software can be run because of the graphics. Using the Jaguar platform and the Pixel Qi display they could have made a fantastic product.
First great move on the deal with TI for the Adam 2 but I will not buy another Adam. The Adam 1 is a failure. We still do not have access to the market. I have to rely on tablet roms for a hacked way of doing it. Your internal developers, what are they doing? Tablet Roms seems to be pumping out things faster then your own stuff, you should consider hiring them full time. My battery life sucks and the wifi sucks.
I really wanted NI to succeed and it still can but not with my money.
Like a previous poster said, its embarrassing to bring out my Adam. I have a modified HC on it which makes it look nice but still doesn’t have the full functionality it should have. It still has a lot to do with software, if you can pull off this ice cream sandwich crap that would be great.
Prof PaniK
Rumor is the next version will include a time machine.
I hope you will add an infrared transmitter in the new Adam
I’m unable to understand why NI’s developers are unable to do the job at hand faster than the Tablet Roms guys. What exactly is the arrangement between you guys? These are signs customers should not take for granted. Adam 1 was a failure and if you guys cannot rectify the software issues of Adam 1 on your own, it’s aptly clear that Adam 2 will not be any different. Don’t take us for granted like you did the last time, Rohan. And do publish my comments. I’m commenting because I believe you guys have the passion and potential to bring out a good world class product. Regards.
Rohan you have not lived up to your promise and so called vision you sold us with Adam 1.
I am very much dissapointed with the performance of my unit and waiting desperately for some form of ICS to run on it so i can get rid of it even at half price and recover my loss.
My friends and close relatives are using ipad2 and other android tablet and i feel ashamed to even take out Adam in front of them.
Last few months I have been very vocal to my friends to avoid NI until they start delivering something concrete and I intend to be more vocal.
The way I see it NI and your developers are responsible for ICS for ADAM not Tablet roms , nor volunters , nor any arrangement you might have with them.
We all have been very patient with you being an indie company but its time you own up and take responsibility of delivering.
Having been a fan here, I know most of us have been unhappy about battery life of Adam. Please read the article here “http://www.talkandroid.com/reviews/apps/galaxy-nexus-rom-review-codename-android-v1-1-4/#.Txz7Q4GtjEc”.
The knowledgeable author talks about the marked improvement of battery life with “Codename Android 1.1.4″,
“Franco Kernel v 13.1 Nightlie” and “Faux123 Tuna Kernel v10″.
I am yet to try this. If any one has tried this on Adam, please share the results.
After development of the prototype please make real life trials for different networks ,different countries etc.You can load all the highest downloaded apps in the market and make trials to check battery life ,sluggishness ,incompatibility issues etc etc.I would like Adam 2 to be tested for battery life ,GPS , Wifi,OS bugs and incompatibility with apps rigorously even before giving any sort of public demos and boasting about any features.5-6 hours battery life ,inadequate Wifi reception is totally unacceptable when ultra books and ipads proving (not claiming) 6-10 hours battery.
I own a Droid Razr also and you can see a lot of people complaining about battery life ,sluggishness etc in the forums..Motorola a well established company, a legend in communication business is like this.So notion ink still in its child hood is far more better .
This is the case with transformer prime(GPS issue) ,nokia lumia (battery issue) and many products.Hastiness
in releasing products and in adequate quality checks/tests (in real life conditions not in the factory) will always give result like this.
For a typical response:
Omg
a practical response:
So?
Make my adam1 worth the money first.
Or Should i add more gas from a user view? Like omg have you looked at the corning glass future vision of transparent displays- will adam2 have that? How about the samsung oled window display like? How about dslr like camera? Lolz
Sorry for this: an eye opener read all the comments in Engadget. you need to fight that dispopularity with Something CONCRETE
Rohan
You said “Give me some time and I should be able to get what you need.” I have given you a year and 1. I still can’t use the android market. 2. My battery life is not even half of what you promised. 3. I can’t use the camera correctly. 3.Very few apps that work. 4.No SPECIAL FEATURE that you made a huge deal out of. 5.You mentioned a connection with google that never panned out. The list can go on. Most people don’t want to hack their tablet every 3 months. And when you do it’s still half baked.
Bottom line is you over promised and under delivered in a HUGE way. You have done this from the very beginning. Here is another example back in September on your blog:
Official (“update button”) Ice Cream Sandwich update in November after Google’s launch in late Oct.
It’s January and we still don’t have it.
If you want to be a legit company you can’t outsource your work out to somebody else. Imagine Motorola letting the public know that somebody else is writing the code for their device. That sounds so Mickey Mouse.
There are so many choices for tablets why would somebody purchase from a company that has not followed through on their promises? You had a golden opportunity and had me believing in this pipe dream but, your window of opportunity is very narrow now. If it was only one person upset I would discount that person but it’s many you have disappointed.
I totally agree , i have at several times been supporting the NI team for being so transparent and have been giving the benefit of the doubt.But now…. It has faltered one too many times,Trust is now a tricky thing that has to be earned for NI and Rohan.
On the sideline Rohan, it might be in your best interest to keep information broadcast at a minimum and to be honest you are pushing Adam 2 for a processor that will be probably ages behind in another 3 months and going by NI’s previous launch i think you would be looking at CES time frame 2013,which will make adam 2 ancient , though i am not a believer in chip sets as far as tablets and phones are concerned i am just bringing this up since you are posting 44xx and sounds you are pretty excited about it.
Just some of my thoughts coz i would really like to see NI succeed
Use reliance or amazon or flipkart ,so you don’t have to worry about logistics ( remember you are an engineer thats why so many people love you here ), people would be happy to even shed an extra 25 $ for the tablet rather than paying 50 $ for fedex which just does not look good.
Thin, lean,mean and cheap is what everyone wants the price point is just not there beyond the 300$ mark for tablets ( With Ipad and the cheap 100 $ chinese tablets and Aakash if you need to stand out it is going to need a lot of rethinking ) Adam 2 should NOT be just yet another tablet just for the heck of it.
from what i read the experience from Adam UI has indeed made some heads turn,get back to your drawing board and harness your engineering excellence, that is the only difference between you and the bunch of other tablets out there who are just cranking out a tablet and wont be able to do it if not for Android, your guys are a pack apart and honestly i do have a lot of respect for what you do.
From
who was an ardent fan who was disappointed
Truly said.
NI take back my paperweight adam….it reminds me everyday of a loss of trust, disillusionment of 2 years long gasbags, and my naivity and impulsiveness.
Adding more salt to the wound is that now i can buy a Samsung galaxy tab with the same price i bought Adam. So Rohan you can imagine the wtf moments i undergo. And mind you I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE TO BLAME FOR MY DECISION TO BUY ADAM. There was a trust and as a token of support and a future dream I bought it (first time i did online prebooking). Now my finger is burnt….never ever am i going to buy/prebook from a startup….not even Aakash.
YOU CAN REDEEM YOURSELF IF YOU BRING AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM FOR US PO1 USERS….BUT NOT LIKE FUSIONGARAGE, WHO FAILED SECONDLY WITH THEIR GRID TAB. There is a huge lesson here if you are willing to learn. The gridtab is going towards oblivion. Hope adam 2 doesnt end up like that.
Whether you do something concrete about the exchange program or not, its up to you. Frankly i am not bothered. But it will do a lot for those disgruntled PO1 users.
+200%. I know you can’t undo the old sales but do think of existing clients while you try to win the new ones. As without the adam1 supports their wouldn’t be this day for adam 2 to exist.
Good luck for adam2, hope this time it all goes to plan.
+100%
Hi Rohan,
This is is great news. Wish you all the best.
Can you please share some information on the screen options this time. I believe Pixel Qi already has an 1280 x 800 screen. A higher resolution full HD 1080p screen would be better though especially considering the the imminent release of iPad 3 with retina display.
I was waiting for Adam II to buy, but … WHY you use OMAP4 + old PowerVR?
[Q1 2011] OMAP4430 @ 1.0 GHz + [Q4 2007] SGX540 @ 304 MHz = Kindle Fire and RIM Playbook
[Q4 2011] OMAP4460 @ 1.5 GHz + [Q4 2007] SGX540 @ 384 MHz = Galaxy Nexus
[Q1 2012] OMAP4470 @ 1.8 GHz + [Q1 2010] SGX544 @ 384 MHz = Adam ??
Past System-on-Chip Performance (IMHO)
CPU: Exynos 4210 > Snapdragon S3 > Tegra 2 > OMAP4430
GPU: Mali-400 > Adreno 220 > Geforce ULP > PowerVR SGX 540
Future System-on-Chip Performance (Rumors)
CPU: Exynos 4412/5250 > Snapdragon S4 = Tegra 3 > OMAP4470/5430
GPU: Mali-T604 > Adreno 3xx = Kal-El+ > PowerVR SGX544
TI OMAP will still last
Texas Instruments OMAP 5/6 + Power VR Series 6 looks promising, but it will be released only at the end of the year.
What tablets to choose?
Lenovo IdeaPad S2 = Snapdragon MSM8960 S4 + 1280 х 800 display
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 = Tegra 3 + 1280 x 800 display
Lenovo IdeaPad K2 = Tegra 3 + 1920 х 1200 display
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T = Tegra 3 + 1920 х 1200 display
I wanted a tablet with a Pixel Qi, but not just a e-reader
I agree, why go with the previous generation? OMAP5 is intended for tablets. Otherwise why not go for Tegra 3 – quad core +1?
I think Transformer prime looks amazing – if they can sort out the Wifi and GPS issues.
interesting…
Nice to hear that Rohan. I’ve few suggestions
1.Don’t launch ADAM II in a hurry.
2.Sell ADAM II in retail outlets like Reliance Digital,Croma,Bestbuy.
3. Please allow customers to choose the OS to be pre-installed. Else allow users to install other Oss easily. You might be aware that Mark Shuttleworth has announced Ubuntu for Tablet pcs. Even though the final version will be out by 2014 we can expect an announcement later this year as per Jane Silber [Canonical CEO]. It would be a wise decision if NI allows installing other OSs [Ubuntu,Windows8]
All the best Rohan and Notion Ink.
Your long-term supporter
Sai Ranjan
+1 on selling in retail outlets
Best buy would never take a chance on Adam II after the problems with the adam 1,
They only carry products that have support and are likely to work and not be returned in mass.
based on what happened with adam 1, you could never convince Best Buy to take a chance on adam 2.
The adam will not be in a large retail outlet in the USA ever under the current management, it would take selling the company to someone else that has financial backing to stand behind the product.
Hi Rohan
I wonder if it’s possible for Notion Ink to enter the Windows8 market in the future too since the first Adam also focused on quite a few pro features that would be even more useful on a full desktop system rather than a mobile platform.
best
Hi Rohan, Best Wishes for Adam ll
Window 8 on ARM doesn’t have nothing to offer that Android doesn’t have and it’s a walled garden like Apple. Why would we want another Windows on anything?
before you jump into conclusions, you might wanna read other people’s comment more carefully.
i didnt even mention it had to be win8 on ARM, instead, I was suggesting more of a higher performance wintel product than just a mobile grade or a low powered ARM based device.
there are good things about those higher performance ones that emphasize more on the professional features which I was originally saying about Adam.
just one obvious example: doing professional level image making with full desktop version photoshop/sketchbook pro on a wacom panel
there are many other reasons why professional uses need a wintel device.
and these are just some thoughts, I didn’t say they SHOULD either
Thanks for the update and All the Best for the Adam II.
For the first time you are mentioning this device for medical / health professionals.
When i started to follow your blog, and did the first pre-order, I was a medical student. Now when i have become a Medical Officer, still I miss the same thing – Stylus. I tried many, but none worked perfectly to write a prescription (or taking notes).
Hope this time I get a screen on which stylus works fine.
With the Adam I reading a PDF in landscape is a much better experience than in portrait (I have the LCD screen), but the files being letter size they show more in portrait. I hope the look is the same no matter what rotation you have your screen at with Adam II. I know I moved to custom ROMs fairly early and find that the Marketplace is a mandatory addition if you ask me. I hope the Adam II will have Marketplace stock. Adam II power-wise engineering is an awesome idea. I know when I put my Adam I to sleep mode (or time does it) sometimes the system will reboot instead of awakening from sleep, now that frustrating!
“With the Adam I reading a PDF in landscape is a much better experience than in portrait (I have the LCD screen), but the files being letter size they show more in portrait. I hope the look is the same no matter what rotation you have your screen at with Adam II. ” — I don’t see how that is possible, unless the screen is square. Necessarily the portrait mode, showing the full width of the document, will show things smaller than landscape. Perhaps it will be more readable with a higher-resolution screen but it will not be the “same”.
A miscommunication has occurred here. I’m not talking about smaller or larger, I could zoom the portrait view so it was the exact same size as it would be in landscape, but the reading experience is not the same IMO. A simpler experiment could be, load up a video, watch a bit in landscape, then watch a bit on it’s side in portrait. To me in portrait there just some about it that is messed up, feels weird on the eyes. My player doesn’t automatically sense orientation, so it could be said, “who watches their TV/Movies sidesways (no one really), but we do read out PDFs that way. This is what observation I trying to relay. I don’t think it’s just me. I know some people have more sensitive eyes then others. I had a friend who couldn’t see the different between 60 HZ and 75/85 Hz on a CRT monitor and so wanted to leave it at 60 Hz because it gave his wife a headache and therefore he got more time at the computer then she did. She most likely saw the different, but didn’t have enough computer know how to explain and fix the problem. Well the problem I’m having in portrait mode is something I don’t have words for, but have noticed. I chalk it up to whatever you need to do to the crystals to get the best viewing angle out of the screen, but this has introduced new problems of which I trying to explain. I don’t want to buy an iPad3, but from the rumoured specs I would be tempted. Without the try before you buy situation with the Adam I’m hoping that my concern can be understood, either addressed or not, and that I can be informed prior to any possible future purchase (be it iPad3, Transformer Prime, Adam II or what have you).
Well, one obvious difference with portrait is the order of the subpixels is different (r,g,b vertically rather than horizontally). Another could be the viewing angle is worse. I don’t have the LCD model, but with my PQi model, I find portrait more readable with the thicker side of the adam on the left side, than on the right side. That is certainly something to do with the viewing angle, which is rather poor in the PQi model.
ps – I enjoy reading e-books (kindle etc) in portrait mode. With pdfs, most of what I read are 2-column journal articles, which are unreadable at full-width in portrait mode, and if I zoom, the scrolling is annoying. So I tend to use landscape for those.
Gotta be -
Thinner
Lighter
Better LCD screen
Better WiFi
this post came today and comments are already started pouring in fast. you know exactly how to tease the customers. i didn’t buy the adam 1 but if the price is reasonable of the adam 2 i will definitely get it.
Rohan,
For the open community model to succeed, word of mouth is very important especially earlier birds like us who had bought Adam I. Leaving behind disgruntled customers is no way forward in this model. I understand that NI cannot stuck itself to Adam I but promises for Adam I are to be fulfilled to the extent that it satisfied majority of the customers.
I wish good luck with your Adam II and I am sure it will succeed.
Great decision. Nvidia is best avoided. I expect that it will be much easier, also, to run a full-fledged Linux distro on this platform, and hope NI explores it as an option — especially if (as Rohan said elsewhere) they want this machine to be usable for real work, not for entertainment only.
Kudos to Rohan and his team.
Rohan! What could be the features of Adam-II? Will it have handwriting recognition feature to jot down?
Pentyala
Hi Rohan,
What’s the deal for Us ADAM1 users?do we get any good swap cost?
@muks24, Rohan has confirmed there will be something for us, see his response to about the 7th or 8th comment.
Unless the benefit for Adam 2 is a steep discount of 50-70% I am not in as Adam 1 is not what I expected. As a company NI(or any manufacturer) can give this benefit. So NI can count only 10% from Adam owners. My next Android tablet would be one who can promise Android’s latest release with in a month. Currently there are none.
Read as can’t offer such a steep discount. iPad 3 is rumored to have a quad core although I am not in favor of ios there will be a lot of catch up in Android to bring quad Core to market by all OEMs.
[a la Oprah] YOU get a pre-order link! And you! And you! And you!…. hahaha, no really, we get a thank you, a pat on the back, and the option to spend more money on NI
I hope this comment makes it tthrough moderation, if it does, I just want to exprss what a downer it was awakening from a dream and having to scramble around to arrive at a reality that matched the dream. Some very talented people have and continue to work in attempts to make the Adam competitive give and viable but reality is all about software and that was what I was looking for with Adam & Eve and Genesis. Good luck Tablet Roms and NI with the Adam2 software development as that is what I will be buying into.
HI Rohan,
The Wi-Link 7.0 also has fm radio in it. Will the implementation come with this enabled. One more query is there any way to enable fm radio in adam I. When is release planned for Adam II?
Regards,
Hema V R