Update: It’s not real. It is a concept that was put on the net to gauge attention. They may be getting an investor, but as the device is a fantasy created by a designer and includes no actual product engineering, I doubt we’ll ever see it in real life. Too bad!

I’ve seen this NoteSlate thing in a few places today, and while the idea is compelling to me, I’m not convinced that this thing is actually real. I mean, the pictures are all renders, the spec sheet is a fantasy, and a quick search turns up no patents or trademarks. Is this thing just a concept masquerading as a real product? It says it’s shipping in June, so shouldn’t there at least be a video of the thing in action?

It’s not that I don’t like the idea. But it shows all the signs of being an idea rather than a real thing. A 13-inch “electronic paper alike” screen? Anti-aliasing? 150 hours of battery life while performing optical character recognition and some kind of active digitizer? $99?

I’ll be amazed and excited if this turns out to be real. But let’s be realistic. Under the tablet competition, it lists the JooJoo and the Crunchpad… and the Courier.

Yeah, I think we’re looking at a cryptogadget here.