Well, there was a press release from VW about they working with microsoft on having an integrated PC in the car. Remember that 7″ screen, touch enabled, Windows Powered, running GPS…? (come on, that has to be the UMPC - microsoft/intel just found a name for it)
Soon there would be more UMPCs made just for your car. Take a look at this post at [NaviGadget]
There were a lot of us who were excited about the UMPC /Origami thing, but hold on! There is a great article at Carrypad which talks about an Alternative - yes an alternative that has pretty much the same thing as UMPC and the best part -it’s already in the market for almost the same price!
Yes we are talking about the JVC XP741 - James Kendrick has a great review of the product [click here], It’s surprising everything we heard about the UMPC device already seem to exist, except for the Touch Pack and the touch screen.
Processor: Pentium-M ULV 1.1Ghz (same as origami spec)
Chipset: Intel 855 GME (same as Origami spec)
8.9″ screen (outside Origami spec - but see overall dimensions below!!!)
40GB Hard drive - Check!
256MB memory (expandable to 768) - Check!
Wifi 802.11b/g - Check!
Weight - 900g (1000g with battery) - check!
1024×600 resolution - better than origami
Price: Euro1000 - check!What it lacks - Touch screen, touch pack and bluetooth. It also only has XP and obviously not tablet edition.
But wait - look at the dimensions of this thing.
Samsung Q1 ‘Origami’ 228 x 25 x 140 mm 7″ screen
JVC XP741: 225 x 29,5 x 152 mm 8.9″ screenIt’s got an 8.9″ screen and the overall dimensions are same as that of Samsung Q1!! It also has a pc-card slot and flexible battery options. For an extra 200grams or so you can clip on the supplied extra battery and get a confirmed 5 hours life. 5 hours! Linux is known to run on it and in my opinion it even looks cooler than any Origami to date. If I was in the market for an Origami-like device, I’d buy this with a bluetooth dongle and be very happy…
Read the full Article [click here] via Carrypad blog.
That’s the educators take on this.
David Whyley - ICT Consultant Headteacher, handheld learning guru and key figure in Wolverhampton’s Learning2Go initiative, the largest handheld computer pilot currently in Europe, takes a trip over to CeBIT to meet Microsoft’s Origami first hand to see what all the hype is about and assess it’s possibilities for use in Schools….
The device will certainly be of interest to all of us I am sure. It is basically a tablet PC with a really cool user interface. It can be operated by pen like a tablet and also has a really nice on-screen keypad which you operate with both hands like those ergonomic keyboards of a few years ago…
From the press release of Franklin Covey, it looks like their popular product for the Tablet PCs “PlanPlus” will now be supported in UMPCs too
“FranklinCovey’s PlanPlus for Windows XP 5.0 was created with the company’s development partner Agilix Labs. The application is a full featured planning system designed to bring the experience of using the FranklinCovey Planning System to desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs and now the Ultra Mobile PC. The application allows the user to utilize FranklinCovey’s planning methodology in one complete system. The software incorporates a calendar, contacts, and task management with enhanced features for daily and weekly planning, note-taking and organization within the layout and familiarity of a paper planning system. … “
Read the full news at [MobileTech Review]
Why not, with so much of potential in the market, it is very easy for dell to come up with one such product with various configurations and BEAT those markets out there with super low prices. Sure they might have a Samsung screen, an Intel chipset and processors in a neat casing from DELL,. it would not take long…
Go ahead let us know that you think about it, and do send us stuff like this
