Pepper Computer bills its unusual-looking, 2.3-pound Pepper Pad as a handheld multimedia device for playing back music and videos, displaying photos, and more for wireless broadband-enabled home users. It sounds promising, and it does some things--like its funky split keyboard--well. But in the end, the Pepper's numerous weaknesses make it difficult to recommend.
I tested a shipping version of the $850, Linux-based device, which comes with Intel's 624-MHz XScale PXA270 processor, 256MB of SDRAM, 16MB of video memory, 802.11b wireless, and a 20GB hard drive. In addition to its split keyboard--a nifty design, but it takes some practice to fully master--the unit has a navigation scroll wheel, a 4-way game direction pad, and a responsive touch screen. The unit also has a USB 1.1 port, an SD Card slot, and Bluetooth; and it comes with a spare rechargeable battery.
My dissatisfaction started soon after I powered up the Pepper Pad. From a cold boot, this "instant-on" device takes nearly 2 minutes to get up and running. You can then put the unit in a sleep mode for faster subsequent startups, but the battery continues to drain. And I was surprised by the battery's short life span: During my informal tests, the unit lasted less than 2 hours on a full charge.
The Pepper Pad's SVGA (800-by-600 resolution) LCD screen provides a bright but just less-than-crisp display of text, photos, and videos. MP3 music sounded decent from the front-mounted stereo speakers. Video playback was even, and videos saved to the hard drive played smoothly, without any fluttering.
Pepper's preloaded software includes a Mozilla-based browser, a game pack, an Internet radio player, an MP3 music player, and AOL instant messaging. You can buy Pepper-specific apps from the company's online store (but you cannot run other Linux or Windows apps).
Considering that there are more powerful (and more versatile) notebook computers available for the same or a lower price, I can't recommend this first iteration of the Pepper Pad.
Michael Lasky, special to PC World
