when Bill promised this we were expecting it. When samsung launched their Q1 for ~$1400 all of us were kind of worried if it is ever going to come down. Got this from UMPC buzz, Telecoms Korea states Samsung has not decided on a model name yet but Samsung will produce a VIA-Based UMPC (Subscription).
This is the perfect move for Samsung and it is believed to be around $700 (wow, now they are talking)
We’ve seen tones of comparisons and tests with intel and via processors, now VIA seems to take center stage, yes VIA arena has published a detailed test result of this. (wait! The site is VIA’s own site) But the test has in-depth test results that you’d surely be interested in
Carrypad goes further to give us the results in simple words. They have a lot more information on CPU comparisons and power utilization for the UMPCs.
UMPCs - 4 hours at minimum load.
By using a VIA C7, the results show 7.31 hours of min power draw testing with a battery twice the size of an Origami battery. The maths are quite easy there because the CPU clockrate has a minimal effect on battery power at idle or low-load operations.UMPCs - under 2 hours at full-load.
The full-load VIA example is just as interesting. The laptop tested gives 3.2 hours using a 48W battery. If you take into account the smaller disk drive, small screen and lower clock processor of an Origami CPU, I think you’ll see about 55-60% of that figure for your VIA-based UMPC. That equates to about 1.8 hours under full-load. Using a Celeron, that figure will be about 1.3 hours.UMPC’s - 2.5 hour films.
In the real world, watching a film for example, you’ll be making sure that your films are under 2.5 hours long with a VIA-based UMPC. If you’re a Celeron user, I hope you’re a cartoon fan!Remember that the VIA processors have lower processing performance than Pentiums but for the average user, the C7-M ULV looks like the best choice for UMPC’s
Source [carrypad blog]
More and more software makers are making softwares customized to fit the UMPC platform, Schedule It UK states it will have full support for the UMPC platform (even if not you could install it on a UMPC) but making it to work just the way wanted needs some customization.
ScheduleIt is an application designed to help individuals or businesses to plan any type of resource, task or event. It enables users to view, in a number of unique layouts, planned events with its associated expenses, documents, contacts or equipment.
The scheduling and planning of resources and/or events is an aspect of all businesses today. Having the information available to everybody, either local or remote, can be essential and when this information is available it must be easy to interpret. ScheduleIt has provided all these benefits to individuals and businesses for many years and is now celebrating the major release of version 3.5 with enhanced remote synchronization and full UMPC support.
ScheduleIt gives users a set of visual tools for displaying the information, all tailored to suit many different individual and business models. Views range from single day, resource, weekly, monthly, yearly and include schedule and Gantt style layouts [...]
Source [eWorldWire] | Read on
Just a few days after the release of the bootcamp from apple, Lora {looks like its loren} (whatisnew.com) has installed the Tablet OS on the iMac and has a neat posting from there.
Actually, the installation process is very similar to that described in the Boot Camp documentation. There are two exceptions, however. For instance, I used a Tablet PC OS Windows XP disc and not the standard Windows XP CD. Apple indicates that Boot Camp does not support this permutation of the OS–if I understand correctly, it’s because the Tablet OS comes on two discs and at install time there is no way to eject a CD and swap to disc two. This problem can be avoided, however, by creating a DVD image that contains all the necessary files (all the files from the Tablet OS disc one and two). I used Nero to burn a bootable DVD from the Tablet PC OS files included in my MSDN subscription. Then when Boot Camp reaches the step where I need to insert a Windows XP install disc in the “CD” drive, I use the DVD instead.
Oh boy, when will apple let us install the intel based Mac OS X on our UMPCs? Well apple does not yet have a tablet version (who knows what’s happening behind the screens) but it would surely be fun to play on an UMPC with Mac OS. Any takers…?
Stuff magazine has an interesting article about the prototypes that fujitsu has come up with, These are different from the ones that we saw before
This UMPC would apparently be about the size of a CD case, and features a fold-out keypad – origami, folding, get it? – for easy web surfing and typing.
This sounds like a much more appealing user interface to us than using a stylus for all our computer work, a route chosen by Samsung and Asus’ first efforts. Like most impossibly clean-cut, minimalist concept designs, it also looks cooler than a polar bear’s bits, but we won’t get too excited until we’ve at least seen a prototype.
Fujitsu’s design team have also been having vodka-and-Red Bull fuelled brainstorming sessions on mobile phones too. The so-called ‘slider’ (below first) looks like a fine web-browsing smartphone, with built-in GPS judging by the maps on the screen.
The multi-slider (below second) is even more ingenious, with a virtual keypad that can slide in four different directions – boring old up, down, left and right we’re afraid – and display the appropriate keys to your chosen function.
Unfortunately, Fujitsu is just playing with us for the moment. There are no imminent real world versions of the designs, but if we keep asking in a whiny annoying voice, it might listen to us and make them one day.
Source [Stuff Magazine]
