Did you know that ultramobilelife.com has a Chinese version? Well, now you do! you can visit at www.ultramobilelife.com.cn, the site launched about a month ago and my colleagues over in Beijing are providing localized content for China as well as translating a few of my better posts. This is the first time I get to take content from the Chinese side and post it over on the English side, it's pretty exciting!

These images are fresh out of China. VIA held a little show in Beijing to show off many of their ultra mobile device design wins. A lot of companies were there to participate, Microsoft, Samsung, OQO, Medion, PBJ, ASUSTek, Gigabyte, Aigo, and some others. I will try to get some more information tomorrow, but I've got to run for now. I'll leave you with some more pictures.

I've put together this convenient chart comparing four different UMPCs that either are available now to the public or will be shortly. Primarily I want to compare how the VIA NanoBook fits into the lineup. I did a bit of research on the ASUS eeePC and found it should be available at a range of prices, from 200 up to 550. The Palm Foleo, while technically not a UMPC has been included because of its $600 pricetag and long battery life. The Raon Everun gets included as it does come in at $700 and has a long battery life as well.

I think it's interesting that there's such a broad range of devices available at this end of the spectrum, both x86 and RISC are represented, all three CPU companies have products out on the market, it's a really exciting time for the mobile PC user. Over the next few days, I'll do individual comparisons for each of the devices.

Oh and speaking of comparisons, MobileRead has put together this great matrix comparing ultra-cheap sub-notebooks that you should check out. MobileRead's take on the concept is that they think they would make great e-book readers. Personally, I think that there are going to be a lot of new uses for the kinds of devices as the prices come down and more and more people get their hands on them.

I snuck into the storage room, grabbed two UMPC samples and then ducked into the nearest meeting room to shoot this video. I've been staked out down the hall from the storage room for days, keeping track of when people go on break and figuring out how I could get 15 minutes alone with these two beauties. On Monday I finally did it, take a look at the VIA NanoBook and Packard Bell EasyNote XS, both based on the VIA Ultra Mobility Platform. These two UMPCs get 5 hours of battery life, weigh only 890 grams, and best of all, are expected to only set you back $599 when they go on sale in August. Packard Bell will be selling the EasyNote XS in Europe while another distributor is expected to sell their version of the VIA NanoBook in the USA.

Unfortunately, my time with these two UMPCs was short and I had to return them to their safeguarded storage room within 15 minutes. I'm looking forward to sneaking in again and taking them out for a night on the town. I don't think anyone noticed their short absence, but if the wrong people at my office find out that I snuck two UMPCs out of storage to make this video I could have some serious explaining to do. I don't think the Geek Defense will get me out of that one.

Warner Crocker has been having dreams of late, dreams of the ultimate UMPC. The one UMPC that will suit all of his needs. He dreams of a UMPC with excellent inking capabilities, long battery life, a decent keyboard, and solid performance. Waking up from his dream Warner begins pulling UMPCs out of nowhere and discusses their various strengths and weaknesses. Warner likes the keyboard and active digitizer on the OQO, but thinks that the 5" screen is too small. The R2H's touchscreen inking is the best of the bunch, but it's performance makes it unusable. This is one of the most entertaining UMPC reviews I've ever seen.