UltraMobilePCs.com New Archive

November 2007

November 5, 2007

Sony VAIO UX490 UMPC Now Available
Tablet PC Reviews

Sony has updated their VAIO UX UMPC device with the new VAIO UX490. The VAIO UX490 has two updates: it now has an Intel Core 2 Solo processor (instead of Core Solo) and a 48GB flash hard drive instead of the previous 32GB drive. The outside look remains the same.

The VAIO UX490 runs on Windows Vista Business. It is touchscreen and stylus sensitive, but does not have active pen input. Wacom tablet style input just doesn't make sense for this small a device. What it does have is a lot of features for a device that weighs 1.2lbs and can (just about) fit in your pocket. Following are the full specs of the VAIO UX490:

• 4.5-inch LCD touch screen display with hidden keyboard
• 1.2GHz Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core 2 Solo U2200 processor
• 48GB flash drive
• 1GB RAM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) using AT&T Edge, Bluetooth connectivity
• Ports: 1 USB port, 1 Ethernet port, microphone in, audio out
• Weight: 1.2lbs
• Size: 1.5 inches, 5.91 inches, 3.74 inches
• Bluetooth GPS Receiver included
• Extra extended life battery bundled

The Origami Experience: Windows Vista and the Ultra-Mobile PC
winsupersite.com

Almost two years ago, Microsoft launched a bizarre viral marketing campaign for something called Origami, which was later revealed to be part of the Ultra-Mobile PC, or UMPC, initiative. UMPCs are basically touch screen-capable ultra-small form factor mobile computers, sort of sub-sub-notebooks that eschew traditional keyboards and pointing devices in favor of a smaller, highly-portable form factor. If you've ever seen the original OQO device, which was sort of a proto-UMPC, you get the idea: It's larger than a PDA but smaller than the smallest slate Tablet PC.

What Microsoft was doing with the UMPC at a software level, however, was interesting. The company had created a touch-enabled software front-end to XP called the Origami Experience and had configured XP to be optimized for both the capabilities and limitations of the devices at the time. This provided customers with the familiar Windows user experience but also some unique capabilities that were specific to the UMPC platform. Think of it this way: Microsoft was pushing an ultra-mobile touch user interface years before Apple entered the market with the iPhone.

OQO model e2 'ultra-mobile PC': Up close and personal
Crave, UK

Over the last few days we've spent most of our time giving chocolates to costumed children, playing with minor explosives and getting all friendly with the OQO model e2. Eagle-eyed readers will notice similarities to the model 2 we reviewed earlier this year, but there are some notable improvements.

First off, the e2 has a 1.6GHz CPU or the old 1.5GHz part. There's also the option of a 120GB hard drive, plus Vista Ultimate, Business or plain old Windows XP. The extending wireless antenna on the model 2 has been scrapped altogether, but you still get built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The rest is identical to the old model, which has positive and negative implications. The sliding screen looks amazing, but is practically unusable outdoors; the keyboard is functional, but only if your hands aren't too big or too small; and it's still ludicrously expensive at £1,151.

November 6, 2007

umpcs With Keyboards - oems Are Just Listening and That is a Great ...
Gotta Be Mobile

Bjorn, of UltraMobileLife.com, points out that contrary to what James Kendrick thinks, that slate UMPCs are not dead. As examples, he points to the Amtek T770, a second generation UMPC, as well as the Samsung Q1 Ultra. Why are we seeing more keyboards integrated in to UMPCs then?

What we are seeing in the marketplace are manufacturers who are quickly adapting their designs to the market's desire. As a perfect example of this, take a look at the Q1 Ultra. I hate to disagree with my good friend, James, but that is a slate UMPC. It just has a keyboard integrated into its slate design. Is that a bad thing? No, it is a great thing. It shows that the manufacturers are listening and adapting, and that the consumer can still enjoy a slate design and take advantage of tactile-based keyboard. The slate UMPC is not dead - it is just adapting / evolving. As James correctly points out, the UMPC form factor is changing. If it were not doing that, we'd be in trouble. I think we need to get passed the idea that any keyboard integrated into slate style computer is a bad thing. If manufacturers can do it with an intelligent design, so be it. Let the market speak.

People want choice in how they use their computers. The fact that the market is adapting by largely keeping with a slate design and integrating a keyboard is a great thing, in my opinion. For example, I love using my OQO Model 02 in slate mode to take some handwritten notes or browse the web, but without that integrated thumb keyboard with a slide up screen, I wouldn't have purchased it. I've got the best of all worlds. Along those lines, the large number of convertible UMPCs we are seeing enter the space is also a good thing, and is keeping in step with what we have seen playout in the Tablet PC space. No surprises there. In my opinion, the beauty of the UMPC is in its small form factor and its flexibility in use: touch, slate mode, keyboard ( slide-up, split, convertible), etc. Having a market of just slate based / keyboard-less UMPCs would be disastrous and spell failure. 

The fact is people like keyboards, and I think UMPCs in large numbers will continue to sport some type of integrated keyboard on in to the future.  That is a good thing for the consumer and the technology space we all love. Bring on the innovative designs!

UMPC’s: is limited processing power an issue?
Product Reviews

Many more of us are now replacing our much loved laptops for the new UMPC’s, but what worries me is that these ultra mobile PC’s have limited processing power and that is what has held me off from purchasing one. The thing is some of these UMPC’s are now coming with solid-state disc storage which does help the computer access information faster.

It just seems that we get so far with technology in a laptop decide that they are still too big so we go smaller, so we now have the much smaller UMPC but the downside is they are slower, so the industry have to work hard at getting faster speeds out of these. But give it 6 months to a year and they will be as quick as some standard laptops.

November 9, 2007

Internet TV in your UMPC
Mobility Site

JLC’s Internet TV is a little program which keep a list of almost all the TV channels currently available on Internet. And you know how many channels are right now available? More than 2000. From the list you can select the channel that you want to watch, do a double click on top of the channel name and start streaming it in your UMPC. That simple.

JLC’s Internet TV is a free program for watching and browsing thousands of tv channels available online. There are about 2000 channels available at the moment, and users are able to submit, rate and flag channels

November 11, 2007

MiniMage Reviews the Fujitsu U810
Gotta Be Mobile

The Fujitsu U810 (or U1010 depending on your location), also affectionately known around here as The StormTrooper, continues to excite quite a few mobile warriors with its potential. Hugo did an InkShow awhile back and there have been numerous reviews of this published. MiniMage has joined the ranks of those impressed with this small Ultra-Mobile PC and published a review of it on TabletPC Buzz. Here’s an excerpt:

While it's not the speediest portable I've encountered, I found the U810 to be quite capable of assisting me with both work and play. I stayed primarily in OneNote, Outlook and Internet Explorer (always using multiple tabs), and they worked well, as long as I didn't try to have four or five applications running at one time.

Read the entire review here.

November 12, 2007

Hands-on with the World's Smallest Tablets
Yahoo!

Tablet PCs have a reputation for being stodgy, enterprise-class tools that are only of any use in warehouses and factory floors. Wipe your mind of such thoughts and check out Fujitsu's LifeBook U810, which, at 1.6 pounds and sized to fit in a coat pocket, is easily the smallest tablet PC in the world.

I've been using the U810 for a few days now and am overall impressed. It's an instant head-turner, so tiny most people don't realize it's a computer at all. But this is no PDA, it's a Vista PC, complete with 5.6-inch tablet screen that you can draw on with the included stylus, plus Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a fingerprint reader, CF and SD card slots, and a full QWERTY keyboard, if handwriting's not your bag.

The $1,099 U810 makes its mark as a spare, fun, and/or ocassional PC: Using the pointing stick (located in the far upper-right corner of the base; buttons are at the top left) takes a fair amount of practice, and touch-typing is largely impossible. You'll soon probably learn that thumb-typing is the way to go when using the tablet display isn't an option. With about 3 1/2 hours of battery life (when running full-out), the U810 is something you can tote around all day and not worry about it croaking on you. It's also plenty rugged: Just toss it in your backpack, and hit the road.

Review: Fujitsu U810 UMPC
Geek.com

In case you are not familiar with the U810, it is a convertible UMPC based around a 5.6″ WSVGA touch-sensitive display. The design makes it look more like a small tablet PC than a typical UMPC and it is a far departure from the slate style used on the Samsung Q1 Ultra. The U810 has a 56-key QWERTY keyboard placed as it would normally be on a notebook and that is hidden when the device is in tablet mode. It weighs in at 1.56lbs and is about 6.75″ x 6″ x 1″ with the battery installed.

As far as the specifications are concerned, expect to see a relatively standard UMPC build: Intel A110 processor, 1GB DDR2 400MHz SDRAM, 945GU Express Chipset, Atheros Super AG Wireless LAN ( 802.11a/b/g), and integrated Bluetooth. The system runs Windows Vista Business or Vista Home Premium but according to Fujitsu it will be available in XP Tablet Edition 2005 as well.

November 15, 2007

GBM inkshow: OQO Model 02 Tablet PC SSD vs HDD
Gotta Be Mobile

Solid State Drives (SSD) are the future of mobile computing, and if my experience with the SSD based OQO Model 02 is any indication, the future is a fast one.

In this InkShow, I run a series of tests comparing a Model 02 1.6 ghz SSD to a Model 02 1.5 ghz HDD .  The speed differences really show themselves on bootup and application start-up. My own battery experiences indicate about 45 minute to an hour improvement over the HDD based Model 02. FYI: I did try using Battery Eater, but ran into problems with the application. 

My thanks to Eddie VanDerbeck for sending me his Model 02 to do comparison testing with.

• Download the high-res InkShow here ( 192mb, wmv format)
• Visit OQO
• Visit ProClipUSA

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/Fujitsu-U810.htm
mobiletech

The Fujitsu U810, a just barely touch-typeable belly-top computer.

Specs and the Basics

The Fujitsu U810, the US cousin to the Japanese U1010, attempts to bridge the gap between couch-top casual and real workhorse. It sells for $999 with Windows Vista Home Premium (Vista Business with XP Pro Tablet Edition 2005 in the box) will set you back $100 more) and uses the Intel A110 800MHz processor like other recent UMPCs, but it has a significantly higher resolution display and a mini-notebook design for more serious productivity. In fact Fujitsu avoids the UMPC moniker and calls it the "U810 Mini-Notebook".

Battery Life, Thumb's Up

Obviously, the larger battery increases bulk and makes for an odd appendage hanging off the rear. The good part is that the battery makes an excellent grab handle when in tablet mode. And I'll take the hump any day when it means long runtimes. Unlike most UMPCs and micro-PCs that last 2 hours on a charge, the Fujitsu U810 managed 5 hours with WiFi and Bluetooth on (WiFi was active but Bluetooth wasn't) and display brightness set to the middle. That's very impressive and is certainly in the ballpark we'd hoped for when UMPCs first came out. We charged the notebook at noon of day 1, and used it on and off during the day and allowing it to sleep when not in use. We did not shut it down overnight but instead let power management take care of things. When we put it to sleep it had 70% charge. When we woke it up the following morning it had 60% charge. We continued to use it throughout the day lightly and didn't need to charge it until 8pm. Obviously if you're going to watch a 2 hour movie or install beefy applications over the Net of from a CD, the battery won't hold out for 2 days. But if you're going to use it to check email throughout the day, view or edit a few MS Office documents and surf the web for an hour a 2 per day, it should last more than a day.

November 19, 2007

Top 5 UltraMobile PCs -EO v7110 from Tablet Kiosk at the top
Ducknet

The number one choice in the UMPC category is the EO v7110 from Tablet Kiosk...look around the site under tablet pcs and you can find additional information here or visit the Tablet Kiosk web site. Visit our story from earlier this year with one of my clients, Dr. Rubin using the EO to keep track of all his patients charts on the unit...BD 

If you don’t know what UMPC means, it’s time you got an update. Could this be the start of computing 3.0? No way to tell, this gear is too new to call in terms of overall popularity and sales trends. It could be the Betamax of computing, but could easily wind up being a serious contender for your PC dollars. In case you’re living in a cave in Tora Bora at present, UMPC stands for UltraMobile PC. 

TabletKiosk presents the EO UMPC v7110 tablet PC. This under-a-grand model has a one-gig VIA C7-M low voltage processor, up to a gig of memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Windows XP. If you have never used a tablet PC before, brace yourself for a the learning curve, don’t panic, and remember that it’s made for productivity AND portatbility. This ain’t made to replace your desktop, but it will serve you well on the road once you get used to the lack of a keyboard.

Fujitsu U810 Review
Mobility Site

What did I like from the Fujitsu U810?

I liked the screen, it was brighter than the one in the oldest generation of UMPC. To have a SD card reader is a big plus too. The inclusion of a finger reader could be a very good security  feature for some. The fact that the device is a convertible that could be used in Tablet PC mode is something that in my opinion saves some of the inefficiencies in the keyboard.

November 20, 2007

Asus R50A UMPC - Sports a GPS
SlashGear

This new UMPC from Asus is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. the R50A integrates all of the mobile technology you could ever need into one tiny ultra-portable. Plus it’s from Asus, who can’t seem to produce anything but amazing products right now.

This little PC is packed full of mobile computing goodness. From 3g/3.5g wireless, to GPS, you can do access your data worldwide, and never get lost. The 3G/3.5G is pretty impressive, but we’ll see how that affects the battery life of the device. The R50A also has a TV tuner built in so you can catch your favorite terrestrial television networks.

This could be a mobile power user’s dream come true. We’ll have to wait and see if it lives up to the Asus name, or if it’s just another novelty like most other UMPCs. No pricing info is available yet. The R50a should be available some time early next year

November 21, 2007

oqo's Railway Rollout Marks New Era for umpcs
InformationWeek

Aiming to supply its track inspectors with a mobile handheld device that would make their job easier and more efficient, major East Coast railway company CSX Transportation chose not a conventional PDA, like a Palm device, or a ruggedized smartphone like a Symbol MC50.

Instead, CSX went with relatively unheralded devices from OQO, a San Francisco-based vendor of ultra-mobile PCs that is attempting to revolutionize the mobile device market.

Rather than beefing up smartphones that run mobile operating systems like BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Symbian until they resemble notebook computers in power and performance, OQO has bet on its ability to shrink actual notebooks until they fit into a shirt pocket. The OQO runs Windows XP or Windows Vista and is able to handle full enterprise applications rather than "mobilized" versions of desktop apps. The OQO 02 is slightly larger than a 3-inch by 5-inch index card and is 1 inch deep, meaning it fits comfortably into a jeans back pocket or the inside jacket pocket of a sports coat. It has a 5-inch screen that slides up to reveal a full thumb-keyboard.

Gigabyte's second-generation UMPC
Cnet Asia

Though better known for making mainboards than consumer electronics, Gigabyte's first foray into the UMPC market--the U60--was surprisingly competent and incorporated a few innovative features such as split keyboard and GPS/TV tuner expansion slots.

Engadget spotted the next revision in the form of the Gigabyte M704. Though the link they provided was supposed to point to the M704 product specification on Gigabyte's Web site, the last time we checked the Web page was not available. Fortunately, we have captured a screen shot of the product page.

This time, the changes are mostly cosmetic, though the VIA processor is bumped up to 1.2GHz and the screen is given a 7-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel treatment. The latter upgrade is particularly interesting, as it means that the user would no longer have to scroll sideways on some Web sites designed for viewing in 1,024-pixel resolution. Despite the larger display and faster processor, the battery life remains similar to the U60 at around 3 hours. However, that is rather mediocre considering models like the Everun and Kohjinsha SA1 can go on for a couple more hours. Other features include:

November 22, 2007

November 23, 2007

This holiday season give the gift of ultra mobile computing with Samsung’s Q1 Ultra. As a valued Samsung customer, this INSTANT REBATE is only available from Nov 23 to Nov 26.

All your favorite PC applications, music and videos — on the go with:

November 27, 2007

The TabletPc2.com

Fifth Annual Holiday Gift Guide

The 2007 List for Santa

Steatite - World's first rugged ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC)
Electropages

To provide the Switchback PC in Europe, Steatite partners with Roper Mobile Technology. Steatite, a leading provider of rugged mobile computing products, announces its partnership with Roper Mobile Technology to bring the SwitchBack PC to the European market. Developed by Roper Mobile Technology, the SwitchBack is the world's first rugged UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer) specially designed for use in harsh military and industrial environments, says the company.

Packard Bell joins the UMPC fight
cnet

If people are wondering whether the UMPC concept will catch on, the growing list of manufacturers pumping out ultra-mobile devices should silence the critics. Packard Bell is the latest to produce a 7-inch portable--christened the EasyNote XS20

Available at the upcoming SITEX show in Singapore, it will have to contend with the ASUS Eee PC which will be making a maiden appearance at the same time. At S$1,298 (US$853.95), it is twice as costly as its ASUS rival. So the EasyNote XS20 will have to rely on its impressive hardware to make a good showing.

For now, the X20 will be available only in Singapore for S$1,298 (US$853.95).