UltraMobilePCs.com New Archive

August 2007

August 3, 2007

Fujitsu U1010 in the house
Gotta Be Mobile

Some of you may have heard that I am preparing to go on holiday shortly (but will continue to post on my travels) and for this reason I have been away from the blog - but it hasn't stopped me from collecting UMPC! My latest is the Fujitsu U1010 Ultra-Mobile PC and it is absolutely tiny! When the Fujitsu Guy popped round one afternoon to leave it with me I actually wasn't home; we ended up conversing and agreeing that he would leave it discreetly sitting on a stone bench out the back. When I eventually came home the first thing I did was run to the backyard and grab the device. As I turned the last corner I couldn't help but pause and laugh to myself - I could not believe that was a PC!

It was almost as though I was looking at a Google Map aerial shot of a laptop and yet as I stood there hovering over this little thing I couldn't help but wonder if I should pick it up, or give it to my 9 month old daughter to play with! Eventually I worked up the courage to grab it and as I went back inside to boot (what we now lovingly term at GBM, the Stormtrooper) I began to realize how important of a revolution this is. While the jury is still out for me I can suggest that the intentions of the U1010 are very good, I'm still not sure about the execution though.

I will be posting a GottaBeMobile InkShow before I get on a plane on the 13th of this month so please let me know if there is anything you want me to cover off. While on my travels I will continue to post so never fear!

August 4, 2007

Acturion UMPC Victum-Tablet 8 Released
TechGadgets

Acturion Datasys has announce its latest outdoor Ultra Mobile PC, dubbed Victum-Tablet 8, featuring drop, shock, vibration, high and low temperature, rain, dust and sand resistant.

Fully sealed with metal coating, the outdoor handy product provides the highest reliability in each and every situation. It also offers IP 54 (NEMA 12), the military standard MIL-STD 810-F and the international standards CE mark, FCC class B, UL and CSA compatibility.

The full-rugged UMPC delivers a 1.2 GHz Intel Low-Voltage Pentium M Processor, dual mode operation that enables the user to operate the device with finger or stylus pen or with an active digitizer pen on the sensitive touch screen. The slate-style tablet PC does not provide keyboard as it has pen based applications.

Consumers can switch to manual mode by just a click on hard key. Right side of the device carries a number pad for numerical operations. An integrated cursor key helps the user to incorporate the number pad for easy navigation in large documents. It features an 8-inch SVGA color TFT display with resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, a standard daylight readable display or optional sunlight readable display.

The features of the UMPC Victum-Tablet 8 include:

• In addition, the input ports consists of Mini-Serial-Port, RS232 with D-Sub 9 connector, 10/100/1000-Base-T-LAN RJ45 Ethernet connection, 56K-Modem RJ11and an Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 ABG 802.11a/b/g WLAN module. Furthermore, it has a PCMCIA slot type I/II with Card Bus Support and a CF Card slot that can be used with WAN 3G modules and GPS receivers for satellite navigation.

  No word on price and availability of the Acturion Victum-Tablet 8 UMPC

August 6, 2007

Tablet PC 2 Product of the Month

CardScan Executive is one of the most valuable tools any business professional can have in their office.    If your a road warrior, the CardScan scanner is small enough to take where ever you go.  Attach the CardScan scanner to your Tablet PC or UMPC at home, in an office or in a hotel room and the task of scanning in business cards becomes part of your daily routine. 

CardScan Executive is great for anyone who like to  keep there contacts up-to -date and organized but doesn't have endless amounts of time to sit and enter data by hand.   Its an enormous time saver, which means its saves money as well.  When you come home from an event with 50 - 100 new cards and you have all of them scanned and in your contact manager in less than a hour, you will wonder how you ever got along with out it!

Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC
Pocket-lint.co.uk

When it comes to the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), Samsung has really got behind the idea of what handheld computing should be.

This is the third version in less than twelve months and is a move away from the original concept. UMPC was designed to be a keyboard-less device that you access using a touchscreen and onscreen virtual keyboard.

August 7, 2007

OQO Model 02- first impression
jkontherun

My first impressions aren't very clear so far because I have spent the time since I got the unit getting my stuff working so I can do a good evaluation.  The biggest impression I have so far is how good the integrated keyboard really is.  You can type very well with the keyboard and the little track stick works as advertised.  Unfortunately this one has the dreaded "cursor drift" that a lot of tracksticks have and it's driving me crazy.  Even though the OQO has an active digitizer when the cursor is drifting the digitizer does not respond to the pen.  I haven't had time to research this to see if it's a known issue yet but popping the screen up (or down depending on the state when it starts drifting) seems to halt the drifting.  I'll have to see how this affects note-taking in ink.

August 9, 2007

GBM How-To Series # 21 : Cleaning your Tablet/UMPC Screen
Gotta Be Mobile

So, what can you safely use to clean away the combination of fingerprints and grime? Most manufacturers frown on the use of products containing ammonia and other such cleaning agents due to the fact that these chemicals can damage the screen or keys. Other purchased options are expensive and seen to never be around or are dried up when you need them. Never fear, here is a tried and proven formula for home made cleaner that's friendly to you system.

Tips, Tricks & Warnings

• Inspect the screen for any foreign matter such as sand that could damage the screen. Carefully remove with compressed air.
• If you purchase store-bought cleaning products, make sure the alcohol content is below 50 percent.
• You can also use lens cleaning paper if you have already have some to clean your glasses or camera lenses.
• Don't use Windex or other window cleaning products because those products contain mixtures that could damage the screen.
• Don’t press too hard on the screen or you could cause damage to it. Rub in a circular motion to avoid damaging a single area.
• Commercial Products like the ALLSOP  #23611  (my favorite commercial cleaning kit; small, light, gel based cleaner) or the 3M Antistatic Screen And Keyboard Cleaner Kit work very well and are small enough to carry everywhere. The private label Office Depot cd/dvd/lcd cleaning wipes will do in a pinch.

Editors Note: my favorite commercial screen cleaner is the Monster ScreenClean Display Cleaning Kit (New alcohol free formula) I use it on all the electronics on TabletPC2.com, UMPCS.com and at home

August 13, 2007

Anyway, back to business! The Fujitsu U1010 is a special machine. I blogged about it being a real kiddie pleaser and with mixed emotions I can report that I still feel the same. It is so small, so cute, and so overwhelmingly concise that it makes other UMPC almost seem featureless. The screen converts, the keyboard types (albeit better with thumbs) and the screen really does favor the pen input!

Buyer beware when it comes to this device as it is a Gedgeteer's gadget and has the ability to make a sane person crumble. Unlike the OQO with all its pretentiousness (read: $$$$) the Fujitsu U1010 is more of a must-have than a wanna-have. Without ever wanting to buy one myself I must admit that by the time I had to return the unit I was trying to look for any number of reasons to find the funds

Watch or download the High Res InkShow Video Review (39 minutes, 297MB, Windows Media streaming or direct download)

Visit the Official U1010 Homepage

August 14, 2007

Summer Ushers in Two New Fujitsu Convertibles, Proving Smaller and Lighter

Can Still Pack a Punch!

Weighing a scant 1.56 pounds with a 5.6-inch WSVGA Crystal View LED display and a newly designed, ultra slim QWERTY keyboard, the LifeBook U810 notebook is the world’s smallest tablet convertible*. Available next month, the mini-powerhouse works the way you like, regardless of the environment. As a standard notebook, it’s easy to access mail, work on presentations, or just surf the web. Twist the screen and the LifeBook U810 notebook is now a handheld Tablet PC with a touch screen for finger or pen input. The multi-function capabilities of the LifeBook U810 notebook make it ideal for watching a movie, listening to music, viewing and editing documents, surfing the Internet, or video conferencing and digital picture taking using the notebook's integrated camera. And best of all, the LifeBook U810 notebook is a full function mini notebook capable of running standard notebook applications. Once back at the office or at home, simply dock the notebook into the docking station and use an external display and keyboard to deliver a true desktop experience.

Price and Availability

The LifeBook U810 notebook, available in September 2007, is priced starting at $999(2). The LifeBook T2010 notebook, priced starting at $1,599(2) is immediately available through the Fujitsu direct sales force, website, channel partners and select retail outlets(3). Users can choose from a recommended configuration, or they can customize their system using the Fujitsu Configure To Order (CTO) program. See http://www.computers.us.fujitsu.com/store/index.shtml for further information

Mobile Handheld Wait List Manager Helps Restaurant Increase
TMC Net

When Six Feet Under installed Wait List Manager in April of 2007 on a traditional point of sale computer located by the restaurant entrance, the results were extremely positive. However, due to the fact that the restaurant is spread out over 2 levels, the popularity of the restaurant, and the volume of waiting parties being managed, it was nearly impossible for restaurant staff to add incoming parties to the wait list and call parties that were ready to be seated simultaneously from a single system. A bottle neck situation often ensued at the hostess desk.

Solution
The challenge of easily moving guests, from various areas of the restaurant, to their seats was solved by providing upstairs staff with mobile TabletKiosk eo UMPC to access the Wait List Manager from anywhere in the restaurant. Armed with an eo UMPC, Six Feet Under managers are now stationed throughout the restaurant to call guests and direct them to their tables, without returning to the hostess desk to remove them fro the wait list. During the busiest dining hours, Six Feet Under manages the crowds using the hostess computer and four eo UMPCs.

August 17, 2007

Asus Eee Could be the Cheapest UMPC Around
OhGizmo

Asus has a new line of UMPC’s that are called Eee for easy to work with, easy to learn, and easy to play. While the UMPC isn’t a new product with lots of them on the market, what is new is a UMPC that is down right affordable with versions of the Eee going for a mere $200.

Rumor has it that the cheapest version won’t be sold here in the states, but on the top end the Eee is reported to run around $400. You won’t get much in the way of performance for that amount of money with a small 7” LCD display, 512 MB of RAM, a small flash based hard drive rumored to be around 4GB and WiFi.

Asus would undoubtedly alloy users to upgrade their Eee system with more storage and perhaps more RAM as well. The notebook is planned to weigh around two pounds and be an inch thick or less. This won’t be a machine for ardent road warriors needing access to office applications, but for those who merely want to surf the net and chat, the Eee might be just the thing. Heck, bulk this think up a bit with enough RAM to run Windows decently and enough storage for Microsoft Office and I’d buy one for under $500.

August 20, 2007

UMPC Home Installation
By thoughtfix

With the first generation UMPCs over a year old and second generation models keeping us excited, it made me wonder what I want to do with my beloved TabletKiosk eo v7110 once my next UMPC arrives. Thanks to TabletKiosk's experience with enterprise verticals, I already have an answer.

The eo models have a mounting bracket option which can be used with or without a quick-release. In the above picture, I am using the Universal Mounting Plate for the eo v7110 (also available for the eo v7200 series) in conjunction with the Universal VESA Plate and a standard desk clamp VESA monitor arm. My monitor arm is rated up to 18 lbs so has no problem keeping the UMPC steady.

OQO Model 02 Ultra Mobile PC
TrustedReviews

The keys are now square-ish, so it's much easier to hit the keys in the first place, and they have more feedback to them too, so it's much easier to tell when you've actually hit a key successfully. More importantly, you can actually thumb-type quite quickly on it. It's never going to match a notebook keyboard for speed, but for writing short documents and emails it's perfect. Again, compared to the Sony UX1XN this is streets ahead, and much more convenient to enter text and web addresses than a plain tablet-based UMPC like the Ubiquio 701.

One thing it will happily cope with is video playback, and to this end, OQO have equipped the Model 02 with an HDMI port, which is sited on the device's bottom edge next to the USB 2.0 and docking ports. And though you might not think it has the credentials to be a media centre PC in its own right, especially with the limited 60GB hard disk, you could turn it into one. Buy the optional docking port, hook up an external hard disk and DVB-T tuner to that, and you could have the world's smallest media centre PC on your hands.

August 21, 2007

OQO Announces Federal Government Market Strategy and Partnerships ...
PR Newswire

OQO Inc., creator of the model 02, the world's smallest fully functional Windows Vista(TM) PC and the first ultra mobile PC with embedded 3G mobile broadband, today announced its go-to-market strategy for the federal government market. The company has hired John Inkley as director of federal sales and partnered with federal IT resellers including Telos, Emtec Federal and Government Contracting Services (GCS), Inc.

"The UMPC space continues to gain validation as customers in the private as well as public sector fully realize the benefits of the ultra mobile form factor together with the ability to run sophisticated PC-based applications," said John Inkley. "As the roles of federal employees continue to evolve, the flexibility and mobility offered by the model 02 enables the anytime/anywhere productivity they require." For more information on the OQO model 02 computer, please visit http://www.oqo.com.

August 22, 2007

Asus Eee PC to ship next month
dailytech.com

ASUS plans to begin shipment of its Internet-centric Eee PC UMPC next month, according to an ASUS representative. The company plans to ship the Eee PC to the US, Europe, China and Taiwan in various specifications. ASUS aims to ship 20,000 units in its initial shipment, but plans to top 500,000 units this year. The company predicts an increase of 3-5 million units in 2008.

ASUS previously announced the Eee PC 701 last June during Computex 2007. The small UMPC features an Intel processor and chipset with a 7-inch display, 10/100 Ethernet, 56k modem, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB DDR2-400 and an integrated webcam. The device makes use of solid-state memory with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB capacities. ASUS claims around 4 hours of battery life from a 4-cell battery with the Eee PC 701.

ASUS plans to ship four different models at $199, $239, $349 and $369 USD price points. ASUS targets the $349 variant towards mainstream markets. The $349 model will make up most of the initial shipments of the Eee PC.

Expect the ASUS Eee PC to begin shipping in the middle of September.

August 24, 2007

JK opinion- Vista will never run well on mobile devices
jkontherun

OK, never say never so maybe I'll temper that remark by saying that Vista will not run well on mobile devices in the foreseeable future.  Feel better?  I don't, because we were led to believe that Vista was going to optimize our mobile computing experience.  It's open season on Vista in the media but my focus is on the mobile device space and it's failing miserably here.  I have run Vista on more mobile devices than most folks will ever use and it does something every single day that frustrates the hell out of me.  Quite frankly the only reason I still run Vista on my mobile devices is because the new Tablet bits are better than the older XP version, but even that is not enough on some days.  And those days are occurring with greater frequency.

So how is Vista failing my mobile experience?  First and foremost in the area of performance.  I have not seen adequate performance running Vista on anything less than a Core 2 Duo processor.  Those are only available in the larger Tablets so the UMPCs and smaller Tablets are out of luck.  Vista also needs 2 GB of memory to run well* and the smaller mobile devices usually are only offered with 1 GB, which isn't enough. 

* Editors Note: I agree with JK and have said the same in all of my reviews, Vista needs a minimum of 2 gigs of Memory to run properly.

August 28, 2007

Samsung expands its Q1 Ultra line with three new UMPCs
infoSync World

Samsung is now shipping three new solid state and XP-based Ultra Mobile PCs, appealing to a broader range of users.

Samsung today announced three new additions to its Q1 Ultra family of Ultra Mobile PCs, the Q1U-SSDXP, the Q1U-ELXP and the Q1U-XP. The new Q1U-SSDXP is the first Q1 Ultra to incorporate a solid state Flash NAND hard drive instead of a traditional rotational disk drive. All three of the new models are based on the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system.

32GB NAND flash memory in the Q1U-SSDXP

Complete with a 7" wide 300 nits ultra-bright LED backlit LCD, an integrated split-QWERTY keypad and full PC compatibility, the Q1 Ultra is designed to enhance productivity, ease-of-use and portability in a range of personal and professional scenarios. With an increased battery life of up to 4.5 hours coupled with faster speeds, flexibility and mobile functionality, the Q1 Ultra provides a solution packed into an ultra small 1.5 pound package.

August 29, 2007

IT Resellers Deliver Productivity Anywhere with Tech Data US Ultra Ultra-Mobile PCs to U.S. Resellers
Business Wire

Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ:TECD) today announced it is the first IT products distributor in the U.S. to offer resellers ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) from OQO. The manufacturer has developed one of the world’s smallest, fully functional Windows Vista™ PCs and first UMPC with embedded 3G mobile broadband capabilities in a pocket-size device weighing 1 pound. It is now available to the channel through Tech Data’s Client Computing business unit.

Tech Data distributes a complete line of OQO model 02 UMPCs and accessories, providing add-on sales and margin-building opportunities for resellers. The model 02 is available pre-loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Professional. In addition to 802.11 a/b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 technology, the model 02 can be shipped with integrated support for broadband connectivity to high-speed data networks from Sprint and Verizon Wireless. The model 02 also can be docked to an external display, keyboard and mouse when used in a desktop mode.

August 30, 2007