In an interview with UK site TechRadar.com, Samsung R&D engineer Jeongseon Euh said the following about his company’s plans for its third-generation UMPC…

“We will refresh our design and upgrade our performance and specification. We will continue to invest in form factors. We will launch the 3^rd generation of UMPC probably early Q1 next year.”

Design and performance improvements, those are a given. The part about form factors is interesting, though, as Samsung’s current Q1 Ultra UMPC has met with lukewarm reviews concerning its form factor, especially the split keyboard. Will we see a more notebook-like design with a standard keyboard or will Samsung try something new altogether? I’m guessing we’ll see something different.

via SlashGear

The case itself consists of three layers (silicone skin, polycarbonate, and a clear membrane to keep out water and dust), weighs almost 12 ounces, and is made for the “Ultra” line of Q1 machines, so make sure yours is one of the following: Q1UP-XP, Q1U-CMXP, Q1U-SSDXP, Q1U-XP, Q1U-EL or the Q1U-ELXP.

Samsung Q1U/P Case [Otterbox.com]

The device will be available in the UK for £399 ($809.73), which is still £100 more than Asus new 8.9-inch Eee will cost. Here in the states, the new Eee will supposedly cost $500 so maybe we’ll see Samsung’s offering at $600. The forthcoming Q1 Ultra will come with a smaller hard drive and won’t feature the dual camera found on the current models.

Samsung to fight Asus Eee with new Q1 Ultra [Pocket-lint] via Ubergizmo

Hey, that’s cheap. Hurry!

This is the original Samsung Q1 UMPC with 7-inch touchscreen, XP Tablet Edition 2005, 1.7-pound weight, 1-inch thickness, 900MHz Intel Celeron Mobile ULV processor, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 2 USB ports, VGA out, and cumbersome virtual keyboard.

Yahoo! Shopping Deal of the Day via Mobility Site

Another day, another UMPC. The Samsung Q1 was the hottest thing since sliced bread about two years ago, but now that they’ve released the super Ultra version, I’m pretty sure we’re all yawning a bit. I mean they didn’t even call it the Q1. They just stuck an Ultra on there and called it a day.

It’s got a split QWERTY keyboard, thumb buttons, and a $799 price tag, so if you’re in the market for a paperweight, you know where to look.

Samsung Unveils the Q1 Ultra, the Next Stage in the Evolution of Ultra Mobile Personal Computing [Release via GottaBeMobile]

What a shock. I am stunned. The carrier with the coolest phones, most awesome rate plans, and best service ever, Sprint Nextel, posted a loss for Q1 of 2007. Well a company as awesome and rad as Sprint Nextel couldn’t have lost that much cash, right? Try $211 million. Sprint Nextel blames lackluster sales and the loss of high-quality subscribers for the loss. Word is that a lot of Nextel subscribers have been jumping ship since Sprint’s 2005 acquisition.

I’m really surprised. Sprint has amazing commercials that showcase why they’re better than the competition, right? They don’t? Oh well, at least they got the guy from “Office Space” to pitch new phones.

Sprint Nextel posts 1Q loss [Yahoo!]

According to research firm Gartner, Apple is doing better than anyone could have imagined. Thanks to the rusty launch of Windows Vista, Mac Sales have shot up almost 30% in the first quarter of 2007. Does this mean that Apple is finally swooping in and conquering 50% of the PC market? No, but it means Apple is not the same company it was 10, even 5 years ago.

This new boost in Mac sales — thanks to iPod sales — means Apple is now officially is at the top of the home PC probability matrix. We can only hope that Jobs & Co. continue to have increased sales with the launch of the iPhone and more crazy commercials that feature Justin Long bashing the PC.

Apple Mac Sales Rock Steady Despite Vista [AppleInsider]

Bad news for all you INVSTRS out there: Motorola sales are sinking and it’s not subtle. The telecom giant has posted a loss of a whopping $181 million for Q1 alone. Decreasing sales of mobile handsets contributed greatly as sales have declined 15% to only $5.4 billion.

I’m really surprised Motorola didn’t see this coming. You can only keep releasing the same slimmed down handset with a crappy UI so many times. Consumers want innovation (a la the iPhone), new technology, and exotic designs. Motorola better start making some radical changes if they hope to remain a fierce competitor in the mobile marketplace.

Motorola posts loss, sales of mobile devices slip [News.com]

Well they’re calling him Sam, but I know Beethoven when I see him. And no I’m not saying all St. Bernards look alike.

Anyway, here is the commercial for Samsung’s Q1 UMPC. Intriguing product, but I’m not sure about the commercial. What do you all think?

Slashgear got their hands on all of the fancy-pants accessories for the Samsung Q1 UMPC including a fancy keyboard that folds out of a delicate-looking faux-leather as well as an external optical drive. The overall opinion is that UMPCs are pretty cool but you might as well pick up a USB keyboard and optical drive if you’re not planning on going very portable with this thin.

Samsung Q1 UMPC and Accessories Reviewed [SlashGear]

The Q30 is a 12.1-inch laptop, and the Q1 is an UMPC with a 32GB SSD. The new Q1, compared to the old Hard Drive Q1, can boot up 25% to 50% faster, and has a 53MB/s read and 28MB/s write speed. This new drive doesn’t come cheap, as it bumped the price of the device up to £1,399, or $2,644. Would anyone really shell out almost three thousand dollars for one of these things? We don’t think so.

Samsung launches disk-free Q1/Q30 portables [CNET UK]