Fujitsu’s U2010 UMPC has a swivel screen, Intel Atom processor, and most of the stuff that’s on every other UMPC except, hey, what’s this? Up to nine hours of battery life with the solid state drive option or eight hours with a standard drive? Hello, Kitty.
That 8-9 hour figure comes thanks to the U2010’s “extended” battery, which happens to be just a four-cell battery. There’s a standard baby two-cell battery that’s supposed to be good for three and a half hours if you’re not into working all the live-long day.
If you were a big fan of the U810 UMPC, then you will likely be a fan of Fujitsu’s update to it, the U820. Right now, the device is in the hands of the FCC, who is putting thought all kinds of tests to keep America safe. If it passes, we should be seeing this in stores soon, but at this time there is no official word on a release date. Read More
The Pepper Pad 3, apparently not to be confused with the already-available Pepper Pad 3, has been spotted by AVING. This new version of the…um…board-like, lap-based, net surfing apparatus will feature Intel’s Atom processor and, according to AVING, “a 7-inch wide VGA touchscreen” and a Linux-based operating system.
Here’s what appears to be a UMPC with a keyboard that doubles as a gigantic multi-touch trackpad. The screen folds all the way over, putting the device into a quasi-tablet mode as well. It’s called the NoahPad, which might have something to do with the Noah from biblical times — you know, the guy with the ark. Just guessing, since the music in the video is “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful”.
Specs include: 7-inch LCD, VIA Eden C7 chip, Ubuntu, 512MB RAM, and a 30GB hard drive. The NoahPad was discovered at the very end of last year, so you may or may not have heard about it before, but this video appears to have recently been released by the company behind the device. No word yet on pricing or availability, though.
If any of you UMPC owners out there want to load Origami Experience 2.0 now is your chance. It’s available now as a free download. A few included features are Picture Password, Weather, RSS, e-mail, calendar items and a sprinkling of media and Web goodies.
It’s recommended that your UMPC have the following specs to run smoothly.
Minimum 100 MB of available hard disk space
Minimum 1 GB of system memory
Touch panel display (required for Origami Picture Password)
And you should have the following software already installed.
Windows Internet Explorer 7. Origami Experience 2.0 requires Internet Explorer 7 for its RSS platform.
Windows Media Player 11. Origami Central requires Windows Media Player 11 in order to manage and play media.
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. The calendar tile in Origami Now works only with Office Outlook 2007 Calendar. The mail tile in Origami Now works with Office Outlook 2007 Mail and Windows Mail.
The Windows update available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406 . This update is highly recommended if you use the mail tile in Origami Now with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
Looks like this cool little thing isn’t really going to make it to market, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have one. It was created by a company called Masterimage as a proof-of-concept for a 3D screen that works without glasses. As usual, you can’t really tell whether it works, but the specs are right: 800×480 screen, a nice joystick, 60GB hard drive and half a gig of RAM, running on a VIA C7-M at 1.2GHz.
I’d imagine it’s a bit chunky and the battery life is probably around an hour or so, but still, a couple levels of Descent 3 on a stereoscopic LCD is worth any price.
Here’s yet another netbook/UMPC/mini laptop/tiny notebook/lapito contender, this one from Gigabyte. The M912 sports the usual list of features found in most other devices in its class plus a few extra niceties — 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 8.9-inch 1280×768 touchscreen that rotates up to 180 degrees, integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam, three USB ports. support for Windows XP or Linux, external optical drive option.
The swiveling touchscreen is a nice addition that helps to set this one apart from the rest of the pack (for now). There will also be your option of 120-, 160-, or 250-gigabyte 2.5-inch hard drive, so you’ll get more storage on this little guy than on most similar devices. No word on pricing yet, but it should be available some time this month after it’s been officially announced.
Heard of Ingenic Semiconductor? Us either, but they’ve apparently started shipping a new processor for UMPCs called the Jz4740. They’re appearing in 3K’s new RazorBook 400 series UMPCs and are apparently ultra low-cost and low-power. The $299 RazorBook 400 was discussed yesterday, but we didn’t have the detail we do now. The proc is new and could — in theory — run Windows. Until we get more information, though, it’s just another mystery chip doing cool stuff for cheap.
According to UMPCPortal, these may be photos of the Acer Aspire One, a tiny laptop similar to the Eee, except that the first two E’s are replaced with the letters “O” and “N” to change things up a bit. The UI looks non-Windows-y, despite early reports indicating that Acer’s entrant would run XP. The UI shown above could be media center type software, though.
“…Acer’s Mini-Note is called “Aspire One”, running Windows XP SP3 on the 8.9 screen with resolution of 1024 X 768. The ODM partner is Quanta, the main notebook ODM partner of HP, DELL and Apple. The source thinks “Aspire One” is better looking than Asus’ EEE PC, however, no photo release yet.”
I’d think the screen is actually 1024 x 600 since it looks to be widescreen format. Availability (in Europe, at least) is expected “over the next few weeks.”
To quote the lovely and vivacious Susan Powter, “Stop the insanity!” Apparently ASUS is getting set to announce a 10-inch version of the super-popular Eee subnotebook on June 3rd at Computex 2008 in Taiwan.
“ASUS is looking forward to welcoming you during Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan, for the ASUS’ 08 Computex Trilogy of launch events. We would also like to specially extend an invitation to you to attend the official global launch of the new Eee PC™ 901 and 1000 series.”
So it’s not set in stone that “1000 series” means “10-inch Eee,” but if ASUS’ naming conventions are any indication, that may be exactly what it is.
“We will refresh our design and upgrade our performance and specification. We will continue to invest in form factors. We will launch the 3rd 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.
“We have here a 1.33GHz Centrino Atom Z520 CPU (one of the first UMPCs on the market carrying it!) Windows Vista, 40GB HDD, 1GB RAM, a 5″ 1024×600 TFT touchscreen all in a compact size of 84×188x25.9mm and weighing 470g… Nearly first generation PSP size!”
They seemed to like everything except for Vista (citing that it stutters) but mentioned that the device they tested is still in Alpha, so it’s still got some work left. The reviewer was told that Windows XP running on the D4 was very fast, though.
It’ll be available next month in Japan for almost $1,300, plus a two-year Willcom service contract. Too rich for my blood, but a boy can dream.
Remember the original promise of the UMPC? We were told they’d be affordable, like in the $500 range. Then Intel’s Atom chipset was announced and we were told that it, too, would be affordable.
It’s called the U2010. You’ll get a 5.6-inch rotating screen (I’d guess it’ll be a touchscreen, too), six-row QWERTY keyboard, and Intel’s new — ahem — affordable Atom processor. It’ll also have a built-in 3.5G data connection and a GPS chip.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have all your emulators and homebrew indie games in one place? And how about on a beautiful piece of hardware designed just for that purpose? The idea is similar to the GP2X, but the feature set is a bit more next-generation: 800×480 touchscreen, dual analog sticks and an SNES-style D-pad and buttons, plus a QWERTY keyboard. It’s got nice guts, too: its processor is about Gamecube speed, and it has a separate GPU as well as Wi-Fi and SD slots for expandability. It’s supposed to be about as big as a DS.
As with the GP2X, the problem is that the software is not as easy as pie to install (I had trouble with mine) and early adopters will also find themselves out in the cold. If nobody buys, no one will develop. But if no one develops, no one will buy. It’s an ugly cycle usually broken by brand name, but in this case I think the gadget itself is cool enough to warrant a purchase. At ~$330 it’s a bit expensive, but since it basically works as a UMPC too, that’s not bad. Looks like an excellent venue for playing a little Super Metroid (or Final Fantasy 8 – yeah, you heard me). More info here.
I can’t wait until more and more of these things come out and all of a sudden you go to a baseball game and see everyone sitting in their seats half-sideways with one leg all the way outstretched so they don’t damage the huge phone in their pockets. Ha!
Anyway, that dream is coming to Japan in June thanks to Sharp and mobile carrier Willcom. The Intel Atom-based cell phone/pocket computer is called the D4 and is “the first of its kind.” It’s got a 1.33GHz processor, a 40GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, and it runs Windows Vista (slowly). Other features include a QWERTY keyboard, 5-inch 1024×600 slide-up display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroSD slot, two-megapixel camera, USB port, and TV tuner.
Dell will join the likes of Asus, HP, Acer, and whichever other computer companies jump on the tiny laptop bandwagon between now and June to offer low cost, ultraportable notebooks to the masses. Dell will be teaming up with China’s Compal Electronics “to launch low-cost notebook computers…as early as June,” according to a Compal official. June is going to be an exciting month for tiny, cheap laptops.
Dell’s apparently initially ordered up between 200,000 and 300,000 computers per month from Compal and should receive between 1 million and 2 million by year’s end.
Oh boy, I can’t wait for May and/or June. That’s when we’ll see a whole slew of new tiny notebooks, including two low-cost notebook PCs from Acer — one with an 8.9-inch screen and one with a 12.1-inch screen. The price, according to Digitimes, will top out at $450. Yum. An ultraportable notebook PC with an Intel Atom chipset and a (relatively) big screen for under $500? Yes, please. Hooray for economies of scale.
Acer is apparently gearing up to ship more than six million 8.9-inch Aspire and 12.1-inch Slim Gemstone Aspire units this year. According to Digitimes’ sources, Acer placed an order for a million 12.1-inch entry-level panels from AU Optoelectronics last month. It’s believed that the 8.9-inch models will make up the other five million-plus units that Acer’s planning to ship. Asustek is believed to be considering the 12.1-inch panels from AU Optoelectronics as well, so we may see a 12-inch Eee on the horizon.
Got a nice little package yesterday containing the HTC Shift running on the Sprint network. I’ll be putting this thing through its paces next week at CTIA and will have a full review for you in short order. It’s a pretty cool gadget so far. If you have any questions about it, let me know and I’ll try to answer them for you.
One weird quirk; it comes attached to a nice fold-over leather case but you can’t remove it. It’s stuck inside the case at all times. According to jkOnTheRun,
“It seems that the FCC required HTC to only allow the US version of the Shift to be operated while in the case. The Shift is different from other UMPCs due to the CDMA radio in combination with the SnapVUE which means that the device is always on even when it’s off and the FCC wanted the user protected from the radio and hence the attached case.”
Let’s all think back to our Econ classes to the section on economies of scale, especially as the theory pertains to purchasing production materials in bulk. That’s what Acer’s able to do thanks to its sheer size and that’s the reason that its FOB price (free on board — total cost it takes to get one unit loaded onto a boat somewhere) for its Eee competitor will fall between $250 and $300 versus Asus’ $300 to $350.
Asus has said that it won’t try to battle Acer on price. It’ll have its 8.9-inch Eee ready to go almost a month before Acer, though, so it should give it an okay head start. The average selling price for the Asus is expected to come in at around $400 to $500 (probably closer to $500), while the Acer is expected to be around $350 to $400.
Early reports have indicated that the 8.9-inch Eee will go for $500 here in the US, so if Acer were to somehow put out a comparable machine at $350, it’d really give Asus something to think about. Even $400 could cause problems — problems in a good way.
Coming to Korea in July is the MIU HDPC, which stand for Hybrid Dual Portable Computer. The “dual” part comes from the fact that it can run Linux Qplus or Windows XP/Windows CE 5.0 — which I’m going to read as Windows XP Embedded, but don’t quote me on that. She’s a brick-like beast but that just means there’s more to love.
