By now everyone has heard of the Samsung Q1 presentation disaster and things aren't looking real pretty in the land of UMPCs. It's to be expected though with such an early launch of the product. Regardless, there's still a lot of positive user reviews coming out recently.
...the Origami features an awesome touch screen. The display was sharp and everything felt quick. The handwriting recognition feature is surprisingly accurate, given my chicken scratch.
Right now I'd say we haven't even begun to see all the contenders for the first generation of UMPCs. What we have seen is a lot of UMPCs that look the same, but it seems like everyone has got this feeling deep down inside that there is really something about these devices screaming to get out.
I consider myself an ultra-mobile person as I am forced to spend over two hours of every workday of my life commuting. My non-work time is precious and there is nothing more aggravating than having to waste it getting to work. At least I live in a major city where the public transportation system (underground/busses) is great and I donÂ?t need to sit behind a car wheel cursing the snail-like pace of rush hour traffic. On top of my commute, my job requires me to do a bit of international traveling, so I am always looking for new ways to relieve transit boredom.
So when I had the opportunity to get my hands on my very own UMPC, I knew my commuting life was about to change drastically for the better. Finally I had a multimedia device that was small enough to use while standing up on a crowded train, powerful enough to use as a fully-functional PC and best of all, enough battery life to not run out while watching a movie. So in this blog I thought it might be a good idea to share some of my experiences of using my UMPC and to highlight the good, the bad and the ugly of some applications and uses I have found for the UMPC.
Being an avid reader, my commute gives me 2 whole hours to actually relax with a good book and ignore the multitude of masses making their way home. While I prefer the tactile nature and overall sensory experience of reading an actual real paper book, I hate to have to lug a big tome around with me (Robert Jordan fans can appreciate what IÂ?m saying). So I decided to ditch the paper and to try reading ebooks with my new UMPC.
A while ago Microsoft released this video to give us an idea of how the UMPC could be used. There's alot about the UMPC lifestyle, but I think they're only scratching the surface on how UMPCs are really going to be used.
When I think Ultra-Mobile I envision doing a few things: watching videos, chatting, web-browsing / blogging, and sharing content with other UMPCs. I'm curious what options are available to share content between different UMPCs.
Averatec is showing off their new UMPC-style device, the AHI, and I think it's got a lot going for it. It's got a two megapixel camera and a screen that slides up to reveal a keyboard. Whether the keyboard is comfortable to use is something that remains to be seen. It sounds like there's a good number of options availabe for the AHI including GPS, a docking station, 3G, and bluetooth. Averatec seems to have done a good job keeping the price in the USD $700-$1,000 range.
It's good to see new designs for UMPCs. I think a large part of the problem with the UMPC launch was a rather homogenous product offering by the manufacturers. As we begin to see more prototypes and actual products released UMPCs are just starting to look like they might live up to a little bit of the hype they generated. If the manufacturers can come up with some more sexy designs people will really start to consider picking up a UMPC.
