Samsung has announced the Q1 Ultra, the next version of its Ultra Mobile PC, and this one actually looks real good. The two biggest problems with previous UMPCs have been minimized. Battery life is now up to 4.5 hours, and prices start as $800. That’s amazing, and makes for a UMPC that might finally be worth buying. Plus, it looks a lot better.
Some of what you get:
- Just 1.5 pounts
- New Intel Ultra Mobile Processor at 600 and 800 MHz
- 1 gigabye of fast DDR2 RAM
- 4.5 hour integrated Lithium Ion prismatic batteries
- 802.11 b/g wifi
- Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
- Optional 3.5G HSDPA cellular network modem
- Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows XP Tablet supported
- 300 pixel webcam
- 1.3 megapixel digital camera
- dual array microphone
- 7 inch WSVGA LC screen, with a 1024×600 resolution
- A keyboard, split on both sides of the screen
- Optional docking station with 3 USB ports, extra battery charger, audio out, microphone port
- Optional GPS receiver
- Optional 6-cell battery and 8-cell PowerBank
- Optional external dual-layer DVD RW drive
I don’t like the processor speed, but otherwise it sounds great. Find it on clearance in a bunch of months, or a nice coupon, and it’ll be well worth the money spent.
(via Engadget)
May 8th, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
UMPC/Origami |
no comments
The Origami team announced that, with the release of Origami Experience for Windows Vista, the entire team (minus one guy) is moving, intact, onto a new, non-UMPC project. Considering that the team has done an amazing job creating a touch interface for Windows, there is only one logical conclusion: They are either working on a Zune phone or Windows Mobile.
The fact is, Apple isn’t going to be the only country stepping it up in how media players work on mobile phones, and Microsoft knows it either brings its A-game, or admits defeat. My daily MP3 player is a Windows Mobile phone, and I use it out of convenience, nothing else. Windows Mobile is a disaster for media, compared to what little we’ve seen of the iPhone, difficult to control, crashing during other applications, losing its place if you turn off the screen, and an overhaul is in order.
The word about the Zune phone is that it is real, and it does not run Windows Mobile. If that is the real deal, then it is possible the Origami team is handling that, but I doubt it, since the Zune team probably wouldn’t work well by dumping other teams on them. The most likely thing is that the Origmai team is doing what it does best: Designing slick, fast, fun and easy interfaces to work on top of Windows operating systems, and an Origami-like shell for Windows Mobile would render the iPhone largely irrelevant for its price.
I hope to god they are working on media features for WinMobile, something iPhone-like. There are two kinds of Windows Mobile users, business users and consumer users, and Microsoft has completely ignored the second category. They need to play hardball before Apple gets a huge foothold in the category.
(via Mary Jo)
February 6th, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Zune, UMPC/Origami, Windows Mobile, Windows Media, Tablet PC, General |
3 comments
JKOnTheRun’s latest video features the great new Origami Experience software, the new program launcher/manager for Ultra Mobile PCs that will ship with UMPCs running Windows Vista. Based on what we see in the video, Microsoft has done a great job with version 2 of the UMPC, with a cool looking, versatile, feature-rich and simple application, making it a hell of a lot easier to do stuff on a UMPC.
In fact, the interface should remind you of something you’d expect from another company, one known for its cool Mac OS and iPhone interfaces. Microsoft is doing a lot of the same things Apple is doing with the iPhone, including the idea that everything should work without a stylus, just a tap of the finger. If someone can release a UMPC for the same price as the iPhone, coupled with this amazing new interface, I won’t be crushing on that iPhone any more.
As usual, my biggest problem will be looking at the UMPC. Last year, I wanted, badly, to see what the UMPC experience was like. Naturally, I couldn’t find one anywhere, making the purchasing decision a hell of a lot harder than necessary. In fact, the first UMPC I found in the wild was in a duty-free shop in London. Worse, I have yet to find a standard Tablet PC in a single store that I could demo; all the display units in New York are apparently cracked and have their stylus stolen.
Microsoft needs to open a store, in order that people can see their products as they were meant to. The fact that I’ve had such a hard time is a travesty, and has got to be hurting Microsoft in the fight against Apple. Who do I have to bribe to demo a frickin’ Tablet?
January 23rd, 2007
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
UMPC/Origami, Tablet PC, Vista, Windows, General |
no comments
