UMPC Site

CNET made a hilarious article about a comparison between Samsung Q1 and Apple Newton, and as you can guess, the result is even more hilarious. It is a very extensive and long article, they check their components one by one, and you can learn a lot of from it:

Unlike the Windows-based Q1, the Newton runs a rock-solid OS. Few users have seen what the Newton OS looks like when it’s crashed. Plausibly, an application could bring the system down, but it’s rare. Obviously the Newton has the advantage here because it’s dealing with a whole lot less legacy code than the Samsung.

The Newton has no known viruses, while the Q1, which runs Windows, has around 60,000. The Q1 is also susceptible to spyware, keyloggers and rogue diallers; the Newton is vulnerable to none of those things.

I see this kind of opinions everywhere and i’m very curious : Looking through UMPC perspective, would you rather take a ultra-crippled and ultra-solid OS or “endless possibilities” OS? Think of Nokia 770 or PepperPad. I guess their’s are a bit solid OSs, but they can’t even run the last version of Flash? You can’t even see some websites as they meant to be etc. And beside their OSs, they have longer battery life as an advantage too. What would you rather have?

Judie from The Gadgeteer got her engineering sample cPC from DualCor and after taking good unboxing photos, she continues posting nice photos and explanations about how cPC works. (Guessing how normal UMPC work isn’t hard, they are not very different from slate Tablets, but cPC has lots of high-tech stuff as having multiple CPUs and OSs, the syncronization of these OSs…)

Ultramobilepcs.com posted a picture of “a soon to be released Ultra Mobile PC”, without giving much details and a clear shot of it. But OrigamInfo recognized the UMPC and compared it to it’s other photos : It’s a Founder Mininote! (Daewoo Lucoms)

Linda from TabletPc2.com made a nice review of Tabletkiosk eo. Not very detailed, but can be educative for new UMPC fans.

The Pros:

Fun to use
Well placed buttons make it very easy to use
Ability to customize the configuration with larger hard drive and more ram when you order
Light weight - 2 pounds
Full Tablet PC OS
Touch Screen
Excellent Screen
Fingerprints are not a problem on the white case
Allows you the mobility to carry a full functioning computer anywhere you go without being weighed down
It fits in my purse .

The Cons:

Poor battery life
No built in stand
Single speaker
small pen is hard to hold
No PCMCIA slot for use with Cellular EDVO cards

Akihabara News published a video review of UX90PS (with Flash Drive). As you know, i don’t recommend or link something before i read or watch it, and some of you might really like this behaviour after watching the video. I didn’t count the seconds, but it says it is 14 minutes and and all this time you will only see the difference of Flash Drive’s speed difference in booting the Windows, there is nothing apart from that. Of course, most of other video reviews are like that too, but in this one i found myself telling “Kill me! Pleeeaasse!”. So, i recommend downloading over BitTorrent and fast forwarding.

Steve from Carrypad managed to get a photo of Tabletkiosk eo/ Amtek T700 port replicator.

It enables VGA-out, Ethernet and it looks like there’s a SD slot there which I assume is connected via the USB bus. Frank reported yesterday that the port replicator also has 2 USB ports. If this doesn’t cost too much it will make a nice portable solution. As yet, there is no release date available.

Hugo from UberTablet made a really nice two part comparison of Tabletkiosk eo and Samsung Q1 in the videos below. He has found both sides’ advantages, and in the verdict, he recommends Q1 as a multimedia machine and eo as a productivity tool, i believe especially because eo has a better inking capability.

Video 1 : Ergonomics
Ports, buttons and stands
The XYZ Factor (chapter 1)

Video 2 : Touchscreen weight (pressure sensitivity) and DialKeys
The XYZ Factor (chapter 2)
The speakers
The Pen – ouch!
Interpolation of pixels
The verdict

Custom UX90s wtih 16 GB Flash drives are now available at GeekStuff4U. With the lowest configuration, it’s price isn’t very far from UX180P ($1899) : Just $2092.85. Of course you lose some stuff for that price : Cradle, Windows XP Pro and Core Solo. Instead you get Linux and Celeron M.

Lisa G from MobileTechReview reviewed UX180P here. It is not a spectacular review, but a good one if you think of buying and learning the components with a little detail.

I have the Samsung Q1 UMPC. I like it. I have the Sony UX180P. I like it too. I will not tell you one is strictly better than another because their intended usage scenarios are different and because there’s a big price gap too. It’s hard to fault the UMPC for not having “cool feature x” found on the Sony because it costs $700 less after all. The UMPC makes a great web tablet, ebook reader, multimedia companion and works as a somewhat sluggish regular notebook. Good enough for the web, MS Office work and a little Photoshop. It’s easy on the eyes compared to the Sony since it has a 800 x 480 pixel 7 inch display. Icons aren’t as tiny; when watching videos, characters in large-cast scenes are bigger and text is larger. Though Microsoft was criticized for setting the UMPC’s specs at 800 x 480 resolution, I think that it’s a good compromise: most folks can actually see and use the display, even those over 40 . It’s a mass market product with mass-market feature promotion— watch videos, listen to MP3s, surf the web, draw, use real Windows and do it without breaking the bank (though UMPCs are still too expensive for mass-market penetration).

Daewoo Lucoms released Solo M1 in Korea after waiting for months. It has the same (good) form factor as the other UMPCs and same specifications as Samsung Q1 : 900MHz Intel Celeron ULV processor, 7-inch touchscreen, 512MB of RAM, and of course, Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system and the option of a built-in GPS receiver and/or DMB tuner. It’s price tag isn’t very different from Q1 either : 1050$. (in won)