09Jan2007
Sure, you must read about it. So what is the impact of iPhone on UMPCs? It’s been 10 months since the announcement of the UMPCs and yes its still young. The products we’ve seen so far has not been the ones we were all expecting for the price. With the things you can do with iPhone (though it runs on OS X) it’s not going to affect the UMPCs directly — unless apple comes out with its own ultra portable multi-touch macbook.
For sure this device will have a great impact on Zune, Microsoft Smartphones, Nokia Internet Tablet and similar products. Not to mention the Walkman Phones lineup from Sony Ericsson. Let’s compare the Apple iPhone with Samsung Blackjack and Sony Ericsson W950i (not for the US markets yet)
Continue reading ‘iPhone: deets and comparison’
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08Jan2007
Posted by Joe
in General.
It’s surprising that Averatec has not yet announced the AHI yet, This would compete well with the Sony UX series (form factor, if not for the config) and the Medion RIM 1000 for the built in keyboard.
We were hoping to see this as one of the announcements at CES today, May be sooner, after all that’s the reason that CES runs for days together. We’re waiting, still waiting and waiting….
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08Jan2007
Microsoft today announced the Origami Experience, yes a replacement for the existing Touchpack(only on Vista though)
The purpose of Origami Experience™ is to deliver a great device-like media interface on your UMPC. It also allows you to quickly access other applications on your UMPC such as Windows Switcher, Mobility Center, Wireless Connectivity and all your installed programs.
You’ll notice the User Interface (UI) is arranged with Music, Videos, Pictures and Programs. Since the launch of the first UMPC devices we’ve learned that people love using their UMPCs for web browsing and media playback. Fortunately the web browsing experience is pretty good on these already, in part thanks to IE 7. We felt to really create a great media experience though we should write an interface that has been completely designed from the UMPC and touch displays. As you can see in the screenshot above, all of the buttons are easily targeted with your finger.
The Origami team says it would be available for download on Jan 30, May be because that’s when Medion UMPC will be out.
Microsoft announces Origami Experience™ [origami project]
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08Jan2007
We’ve heard about this device, but never thought it would be made available to the public this soon. the first to sport a full keyboard. Over at CES the company has made the awaited announcement on their availability-January 30.
This device will have the latest improvements from Microsoft on their touchpack. It sports a 6.5-inch touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, onboard GPS, DVB-T tuner and webcam.
Medion UMPC confirmed, coming January 30 [via engadget]
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05Jan2007
Posted by Joe
in Asus and Reviews.
If you still looking for varied reviews of the Asus R2H, head over to Brighthand, They have the detailed review of the Asus R2H UMPC. Here is the final verdict from them
Conclusion
The Asus R2H is a device, like other UMPCs, has a bit of an identity crisis. It certainly can’t replace a laptop or desktop as an everyday PC, but it’s too large to replace a PDA.
If you have specific needs and you know the R2 might fit those needs given its feature set, I can’t say it’s not worth trying the R2 out. The cool factor is high for having GPS, a web camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth all crammed into this pretty looking device.
I’ll definitely say it’s been a fun toy to play with. But I can’t shake that feeling that it is a bit of a toy and not much more than that. If Asus had of put in something better than the atrocious Celeron M 800MHz processor it’s a device I would have wanted to play with a bit longer, but alas they did not.
The cost of the device at around $1,000 makes this device worth recommending to curious geeks with a bit of disposable cash to spare, but outside of that the audience is limited.
Pros
- Nice looking with solid build
- Integrated GPS and mapping software
- Lots of ports available for such a small device
- Nice bright screen, great for showing pictures
- Very usable buttons that are nicely placed and thoughtful
- Built-in microphone and camera makes Skype or video chat easy
Cons
- Overall performance is horrible due to slow Celeron M processor, especially slow when in battery mode
- Kind of heavy and chunky for a UMPC
- Some included software is badly implemented and buggy, or just shouldn’t be there at all
- Hard to use the device with native screen resolution because some windows don’t fit on screen properly
- GPS was very finicky to get working.
They also have some more details and test results that has not appeared anywhere else - head over here to read more [Brighthand]
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