If you’re relatively new to the ultra mobile PC scene, the name ‘EKing’ probably doesn’t mean much to you. They arrived on the scene to rescue the failing Wibrain brand and took on production of the i1; an ugly but very productive UMPC. In the last year they’ve also been working on new devices and the S515 [specifications] is one of them. We’re not sure who’s manufacturing this as it’s also been spotted as the Digicube Z8. There’s also a hint of Viliv in the packaging and marketing but at the end of the day, it’s a new ultra mobile PC and it needs checking out.
The S515 surprised me when I first unboxed it. The black and rubberised finish, keyboard and build quality are way better than on the silver one I saw at IDF and I was very pleased to to confirm that there is a good quality mouse pad integrated into the frame. Performance with the Windows 7 build was quite impressive too. On the negative side, this is an 800×480 screen (not WSVGA as indicated on the box) which, while near perfect for web browsing and mobile video, becomes a problem when you try to run desktop operating systems on it. A 1024×600 screen would have been better. Lets hope that we can find a nice Linux-based small-screen optimised distribution that works on this Menlow platform because at 50-100 Euros, a Windows XP/7 license is going to be a significant portion of the overall cost of the S515.
[Note: EKing S515 supplied by Mobilx. Check out their web page for latest pricing]
As always, there’s a potential show-stopper. In this case, as with many other device we’ve reviewed, it’s the battery life. Is there still no global agreement that anything under 3 hours is a problem? The 2.5 working battery life of this (as I’m seeing right now) is a figure that many will balk at.
The PC-based architecture of the E-King brings the usual advantages of browser quality/choice, USB support, Windows application compatibility and processing power and for some, this is right at the top of their list. For those people, the Eking is worth looking at.
More information, specifications, gallery and links here. Stay tuned for first impressions and a review.
New article: EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/6Sz93p
EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/8x5diU
RT @chippy: New article: EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/6Sz93p
RT @chippy New article: EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/6Sz93p
battery life and 800×600 -> deal breakers for me :D
Why, would you go back to 2-3 hours, I enjoy the 6+ on the S5, Just once I would like to see a company put all the best in a device, Slider on a S5 with a good SSD and 6-8 hours of real word usage, is that too much to ask for, I would pay for a device like that.
The problem is putting the battery and the slider key board into one design. its not possible with current x86 solutions. Moorestown might enable it but only with Moblin.
The keyboard adds about 0,5cm to the thickness, that should be all.
But what is a bigger mystery to me, is why they put such a small screen to such big devices. I don’t want any buttons on the front, they can be placed on sides. The designers are wasting a lot of space IMO. Hopefuly this also changes with Moorestown. The Wistron MID prototype looks good.
I had my eye on this device, shame about the battery life, the form factor and the price are too tempting though.
RT @chippy: New article & video: EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/6Sz93p #IntelAtom
EKing S515 Tilt/Slider UMPC. Unboxing and Overview. http://bit.ly/5qQlrg
#mobile
Looks really good! Can’t wait to see more of this device!
Love the form faktor, but that battery life makes it a sure no go…
3G version is a phone? my english is no good.sorry.
Its possible that the right 3g card and software could turn this into a voice-enabled device but with 2.5hrs battery life, it will be a problem.
They should redesign it for ARM system, that would shave weight & add battery time. Sweet device & price point though.. if it had Cortex-A8 or C-A9 that is..
Just wondering how many people would take a 50% processing power hit for an extra 2rs battery and about 100gm less weight.
wasn’t this also going to be the first xp-phone? Is this one also a phone? Or just an UMPC/MID?
I agree with Patrick — put a TI OMAP 3 in it, and then put Android on it, if it’s a phone … or Ubuntu on it, if it’s not.
Would I take a 50% processing power hit, in order to extend the battery life? … an Atom at 1.2GHz with 2.5 hours vs an Atom at 600MHz with 5 hours. That’s actually a hard choice. An Atom at 600MHz sounds VERY anaemic. They’d do better with a TI OMAP 3 at 1GHz :-)
Hi Chippy
nice review, any idea if the pci express interface supports usb , e.g. for use with an intel 5350 wifi + wimax card , the wimax uses the usb interface on the pci express but it works only if the usb interface is connected to the IO hub
Great productivity devise in terms of form factor and mouse pointer. I wonder how it will compare in battery life with umid M2.
If UMID has not made too many internal changes between the M1 and the M2, the battery life of the M2 should be ~4h with wifi on or ~6h with wifi off. Maybe a little less due to the higher frequency CPU, and also to Windows 7 (?). However, much better than the Eking S515…
But I like the slide and tilt form factor.
I personally plan to downclock my cpu back to the current one when on the go, which should return the battery life to that of the m1. It’s rather simple and I believe most people would probably want it that way.
Could you try ut itunes on it? If this little thing can play itunes movies I buy it !
i would choose BENQ S6, cheaper and similar one
No offencee, but if Benq s6 is similar, my casio calculator is similar too.
Slightly off topic but someone said they are selling Benq S6’s for $150 in Blockbuster in the US right now. Anyone seen this?
best thing about this device is the rather brilliant mouse control
@Ewan http://is.gd/51Eqy
Build in fan? Thats a absolut no go! Also build quality seems to be not the best. Have fun with warrasnty issues and Eking support. Not to talk about the Battery life. I wish Viliv would come out with such a device…
How does the SSD speed looks like ?
Please, tell me which device is that one u are holding on ur profile picture.
It`s RAON EVERUN and he never changed in profile picture :)
Chippy, I was wondering, even the eking s515 with no 3g that Mobilx sells come prewired with mini pci-e slot, and antenna?
I’ve seen some video on you tube, and it looks like the phone capability is like the “classic” Everun, when using it with a voice enabled mini pci-e card…! It’d be interesting to see how “integrated” the phone capabilities will be on the XPPHONE…which by the way, it looks like it has a gazillion customizable options…if yoou have more info on the XPPHONE as well would be great! :-)
The Oqo replacement or just another deception?. It seems that battery life is poor and build quality is questionable but otherwise the device seems a fine option if you look for a pocketable and produictive device.
I have 2 questions:
1) would it be possible that instead of having a sliding battery, was a detachable one? … that may give the battery a couple of millimeters in thickness without altering the devise dimensions and maybe get another hour of juice?
2) Does the devise has a physical button for screen rotation?
Is that an HD2 in the background? SWEEEEET!
At 800X480, there is no point putting desktop OS and desktop OS CUP in it.
I install Linux Fedora 10 on a virtual machine last week. If you change to 800X480, you actually can not change the resolution back. The ok button is out of the border. This happens even on Linux. I know there are slimmer Linux disto. But why don’t I just deal with a mobile OS and mobile browser?
Maemo does an excellent job of presenting a desktop Linux (with X even) environment on a 800×480 display.
Though, they do it by completely revamping common applications around an 800×480 display. You can’t easily just “recompile and run” for some apps or dialogs. But, the point is, “desktop linux on 800×480” isn’t the problem.
The problem is “just recompiling and expecting everything to ‘just work'”.
800×480? no thanks. At that size, a 1024×600 output is a must!
I cant wait for the UMID M2 to be released already!
I don’t agree. For a 7″+ screen, yeah, 1024×600 is a must.
But at 4.1″ (in my experience), 800×480 is just about right. 1024×600 would give pixels that are WAY too small, and make some work difficult. It’s my expectation that anything up to 5″ is still going to be perfect for 800×480 or 854×480.
I’m not sure about displays in-between those two sizes, though.
Can this do games such as RuneScape and FusionFall? (Basically 3d gaming)