UMPC Site

Otto Berkes, general manager of the Mobile Platforms Division at Microsoft tells the history of UMPC in the video below and gives an idea of UMPC’s future.

via Ultranauts

Although it is not very categorized under “Pocketables” , Pocketables posted a detailed optimistic review of UX180P , actually review of it’s keyboard, screen and orientation so far.

Readability
With a native resolution of 1024 x 600, video and images are gorgeous. But on a screen of this size, don’t expect to be able to comfortably read text beyond a standard PDA-usage or paperback-reading distance (about 8 to 14 inches). If you want to use the UX as a desktop (docked and connected to a full keyboard and mouse), hook it up to an external monitor through the included port replicator or travel display/LAN adapter.

I hope they are really quick thoughts, because they don’t seem to very well thought.

Rob Bushway from Gottabemobile.com posted his ideas on UX180P after using 24 hours. He even took Boy Scouts’ thoughts. (what a mistake!) But i think as a respected Tablet user, he should have cared less for the keyboard that is approved to be hard to use, and cared much more for inking.

Touch at this resolution works, but it isn’t a good experience. Everything is too small. I use the mouse and mouse buttons all the time, rarely using the stylus or my finger. But it is nice to know that it is there if I want to.

BTW: Sony really, really messed up by not putting the Tablet PC OS on it. Should have been there from the beginning.

The keyboard is really nice ( and a must have in my opinion), but the lack of textual feed back on the keys is bothersome - the keys lay almost flat to the surface. Like others have reported, the missing right hand shift key is a big pain. For example, to type an email address, you have to hold down the shift key and the 2 at the same time to type an @. That means your right thumb has to stretch a good ways to press the 2. That said, this keyboard solution is sooo much better than the on-screen keyboard that comes with the Origamis. You can actually see where you are typing. After having used both an eo with no keyboard and ux180p with a keyboard, I’d be hard pressed to go to an origami without a keyboard again. The experience, to me, is that much better. My wife immediately took to it, there was no fumbling around with software, etc. Just type.

Origami (UMPC) is about next generation computing, inking, but from Rob’s eyes i saw UX a Blackberry running XP and naturally it doesn’t need Tablet. (UX is not an Origami, i’m aware of that)

I looked for this kind of device soo long. If you want to use PCMCIA cards (as EVDO) with your UMPC, here is the answer : 32 Bit USB to PCMCIA adapter by Elan. Kevin posted it’s review, using with an EVDO card.

Folks who use a UMPC out and about then, have to hope for WiFi hotspots or unlikely LAN ports on open networks. Most 3G cellular options today work through 32-bit PCMCIA cards, yet none of today’s UMPCs have a PC card slot that supports these cards. Some mobile computing users like me get around this by using a 3G enabled cellular phone that can be tethered to a UMPC via USB or even a slower Bluetooth connection. Are we limited to just these options? Perhaps not…John Hill over at Allegiance Technology Partners was kind enough to loan me the U132: a 32-bit USB to PCMCIA adapter made by Elan Digital Systems for a spin…

Carrypad posted a preview (feels like a pre-preview) of DualCor cPC. I’m expecting cPC reviews in a few days, but until then, you can read this.

Its the closest anyones ever come to a totally converged mobile phone and PC device and when the cellular capability is finally included, it will sell to a specific business market during the period in the next 18-24 months when x86-only devices and software are still a little too heavyweight. Highly mobile and tech-aware sales people needing to do presentations and work for extended periods in remote locations will probably be the target audience. And maybe a few UMPC bloggers!

I believe they really earned them : OQO won two awards for innovation and leadership in the last 60 days from Red Herring magazine as a winner of the annual “Red Herring 100 North America” and PC Plus Magazine as “PC Plus Performance Award”.

for more information : Yahoo Finance and OQO

cnet got their hands on an Asus R2H and they published an interesting R2H preview. Honestly, i was expecting a Q1 copy with very little make-up (GPS,camera) but apperantly there are other differences too:

The R2H uses the same size screen (7 inches) and internal components as the Q1, though it’s slightly larger.

Whereas we were fairly underwhelmed by the Samsung Q1, we’re pretty enamoured with the R2H. It has more features and though it’s slightly less portable, we think it’s much more functional. It’s not all good news though — the device has three separate ‘hold’ buttons, none of which actually work.

Still, it’s a very early engineering sample, so we expect Asus to iron out most of the wrinkles before it’s released at the end of August. The R2H should cost £799 — the same price as the Q1. Watch out for a full review in the near future. -RR

Still a very early engineering sample? Are you kidding? We saw early samples about 5 months ago.

Linda A. Epstein from TabletPc2.com reviewed Samsung Q1, without going into too much detail and keeping it long. As a Tablet user, she has a better perspective than most Q1 reviewers:

In addressing the matter of the Q1 not having an keyboard, the slate style Tablet PCs do not have an attached keyboards and its not a problem. The truth of the matter is that you have the option and ability of attaching a USB or Bluetooth keyboard to the Q1, other UMPC’s and slate style Tablet PC’s . At home I’m likely to set the Q1 on my desk and use it with a USB keyboard. When I’m out and about I’d use either the pen or the on screen keyboard for input.

Kevin wrote a long article about his thoughts on cPC. As his coblogger (if there isn’t a word as this, i have it’s Copyright!) JK, he criticizes cPC for being late (it was expected to ship in Q1) and not having wireless connectivity, but we know potential customers requested this feature. (yes, the feature of not having wireless connectivity - for security reasons) and they told that they will be including Compact Flash Wi-Fi cards.

At this point, I see the cPC as a case of much too little and way too late. Will they sell any of the devices? Sure they will once it finally gets to market. However, instead of making a big splash the mobile pond as the device seemed poised to do at the beginning of the year, I suspect we’ll barely see a ripple in the pond by the end of the year.

Engadget reviewed UX180P with a lot of photos. Not a very long or educative review, but after reading you understand why Akihabara News’ reviewer got that angry.

It’s a great piece of hardware with immaculate design, soured by mediocre software — typical Sony. The stock Windows XP Professional install is an embarrassment, loaded with enough adware and trialware to bring the already underpowered hardware to its knees — in fact, it hung the very first time we tried to shut it down. Of course, our immediate reaction was to replace it with a clean Tablet PC Edition image, but several drivers on the recovery DVDs we burned were non-functional upon installation, rendering the device crippled. We got closer by downloading drivers directly from Sony’s site, but we found that it was hanging on each and every shutdown and standby. It’s odd to us that a company with such vast resources and a keen eye for industrial design can fall so far short on the software side.