Steve Paine, our friendly moderator known as chippy, has written an excellent report comparing the Intel and VIA chipsets that are vying for Ultra-Mobile PC supremecy. Intel checks in with the Pentium-M and Celeron-M low-voltage CPU’s while VIA steps up with the C7-M ultra-low-voltage (ulv) CPUs.

[b]The 1st-Gen UMPC/Origami devices have already chosen sides:[/b]
In Intel’s corner: Asus R2H, Founder Mininote, Samsung Q1, ECS H70
In VIA’s corner: PaceBlade SmartCaddie, TabletKiosk V-700

Please check out the [url=http://blog.carrypad.com/2006/03/origami-cpu-overview.html]whole article on Steve’s ‘Time for the Carrypad?’ blog[/url].

[b]Here are some interesting excerpts:[/b]

…The Celeron-M devices are Pentium-M devices with a reduced L2 cache and importantly, speed-stepping removed. They are offered as a lower cost alternative to the Pentiums saving something in the region of $80 in component costs to the manufacturers…

…Via’s offering is the VN800 and VT8237 combination as its solution. It has a 400/533 or 800mhz FSB, supports 4GB of RAM and graphics is provided by the Unicrome pro graphics processor. Via also include the Via vinyl hi-def audio solution a TV encoder, hardware-assisted MPEG2 decoding and de-interlacing…

…On the face of it, VIA looks to have a strong offering for UMPC devices. With their lower power, faster speed-stepping and integrated MPEG and TV outputs theres some significant advantages. On the other hand, the Intel Pentium CPU is going to be the more powerful choice. The Celeron is going to be cheap but with its lack of speed-stepping, is going to be probably the most power-hungry of the CPU’s…

Now, we can all sit back and see who comes out on top in this battle of the chips.

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/ecs_h70.jpg[/img]

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) introduced their Ultra-Mobile Tablet PC, the H70, at CeBIT recently. I’m not sure if the device just looks identical to the [url=http://www.origamiportal.com/modules/xcgal/thumbnails.php?album=5]Founder Mininote[/url] or the actual display H70 was replaced with the Founder at some point ([url=http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/001629.html]as PC World is reporting[/url]).

Interestingly enough, in the same article ECS specialist David Chang says the H70 is not an Origami device. I’m not sure what baseline Origami specifications the H70 didn’t meet, but perhaps its not including all the Touch Pack improvements?

More details on the specs below:

Both VIA and Intel have developed ranges of ultra low-power CPU’s and some of these CPU’s are now being used in devices coming out of the Origami project. Here’s my technical overview of the CPU’s and chipsets. Intel are offering the Pentium-M and Celeron-M low-voltage CPU’s. The devices that run at the 1Ghz mark have thermal design power (TDP) requirements of 5-7 watts. TDP roughly equates to ‘maximum power needed.’ The Celeron-M devices are Pentium-M devices with a reduced L2 cache and importantly, speed-stepping removed. They are offered as a […]

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/smartcaddielady.jpg[/img]

Paceblade Japan or PBJ for short (As I like to call them) just opened a new website for it’s SmartCaddie device at http://www.smartcaddie.jp/

And like all good things UMPC the site tells us nothing except that it is To Be Continued… I thought we already knew everything about the SmartCaddie, but apparently there’s enough we don’t know to warrant a ‘to be continued’ message. (Either that, or they forgot to finish the site.)

There was also a nice little picture of the Smart Caddie included.
[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/smartcaddie2.gif[/img]

The only other bit of info they have released is a pdf news release in Japanese. Available [url=http://www.pbj-inc.co.jp/news/pdf-file/SC_NR01_K3.pdf]here[/url]. That is where the picture of the woman above came from, which clearly shows her having a better time with a SmartCaddie then she would have had otherwise.

So I can not read anything on any of these websites, so I am assuming this device is only being released in Japan as it is hard to market to Americans in Japanese and without english and anime characters.

[b]Edit 03-14-2005 11:20 AM:[/b]

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/smartcaddiebox.gif[/img]

While I was defending the fact that we really do go to the manufacturers site to find info and don’t steal stuff from other sites I went over to smartcaddie.jp and noticed they put up a new image of what I assume is the Smart Caddie box opening. wow that thing must be bright.

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/modules/xcgal/albums/userpics/FounderMiniNote.jpg[/img]

Prices for the Founder mininote seem to be up on their Chinese website.
A translation reveals the following: (From [url=http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foundertech.com%2Fproduct%2FNoteBookdetail.asp%3Fid%3D893%26root%3D13&langpair=zh-CN%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools]google translation[/url])

Mr Mininote (VUM400-410 (black)) ICP-M ULV 900M (353) /256M DDR 2/30G/802.11 USB/WINXP (H) 7999 Purchase
Mr Mininote (VUM400-400 (black)) P-M ULV 1G (723) /256M DDR 2/30G/802.11 USB/WINXP (H) 11999 Purchase
Mr Mininote (VUM400-420 (black)) P-M ULV 1G (723) /512M DDR 2/60G/802.11 USB/WIN XP (H) 12888 Purchase

The cheapest looks like a Celeron 900Mhz, 256M at the equivalent of 831 Euro ($989), A Pentium-M 1Ghz at 1250 Euro ($1488) and the same model with 512MB for 1340 Euro ($1595). Its also available in Red. Actual product prices are obviously going to be different in the rest of the world.

There have been rumors that the device has only a two hour battery life and that doesnt suprise me as the Celeron-M has no speed-stepping clock so is the most power-hungry. The Pentuim-M option looks expensive. The device comes with a keyboard (called a ‘Wimple Keyboard in the translation!!) and a 1.3Mp cam.

Some more spec info below…

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/pharosgps.jpg[/img]

[url=http://www.pharosgps.com/news/press/20060309.htm]Pharos has put out a press release on their new iGPS-500 receiver[/url], which is designed to be used with a UMPC.

The unique design of this receiver will allow you to add GPS positioning and navigation capability to your UMPC via several different methods: USB, CompactFlash, SDIO port, or Bluetooth. Additionaly, the iGPS-500 comes in at a much smaller size than traditional GPS receivers, measuring 34mm x 36mm. Furthermore, The iGPS-500 works seamlessly with Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006, AutoRoute 2006, and MapPoint software.

Still no details on the cost of the device, or how well it will integrate with certain non-specified mapping software, like Google Earth.

Thanks to marix for the news!

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/tabletkiosk/tabletkiosk_logo.gif[/img]
[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/origami/images/tabletkiosk/TabletKiosk_V700_UMPC_front.jpg[/img]

This is the fifth 1st-Gen UMPC confirmed for a 2nd-quarter launch (Most likely around the end of April). TabletKiosk will be offering this Tablet PC in both white and black. You can expect this device, the V-700, to appear on the TabletKiosk website sometime this month.

Thanks to jkOnTheRun for providing us with the following specs:

* CPU: VIA C7M 1 Ghz
* CHIPSETS: VIA Vn800, Vt8237R
* MEMORY: 1x SODIMM DDR2, 256MB – 1GB
* BIOS: Phoenix, Boot from USB, APM 1.2, ACPI BIOS
* BATTERY: 26W LiON, 2200 mAH
* HDD: 2.5″, 40 – 160 Gb
* VIDEO: VIA Vn800, 7 inch, 800×480, zoom function 800×600, 1024×600
* AUDIO: AC97 codec, integrated speaker, head phone/ stereo MIC jack (3.5mm)
* I/O DEVICES: WiFi (802.11b/g, Bluetooth, touch screen (resistive), Synaptics stick cursor
* I/O PORTS: Power, headphone/ stereo MIC combo jack, 2xUSB 2.0, stylus holder, cradle connector
* LED INDICATORS: power on, battery, HDD activity
* BUTTONS: Left side: Left/ right mouse, D-Pad (4 direction + Enter), brightness toggle, zoom function; Right side: Mouse cursor + Enter, Page Up/ Down, Setting button- TBD, Media Button, Speaker; Right edge: Headphone/Mic, Volume Up/ Down, 1xUSB, Power switch/ Key lock, SAS (C-A-D); Left edge: DC in, 1xUSB, WLAN on/off
* POWER: Mini AC Adapter, international voltage
* DIMENSIONS: 228x146x25mm (8.97×5.74×0.98in), 0.9kg (1.98 lb)
* ACCESSORIES: carry bag, external optical drive (optional), AC adapter, head phone/ mic, user’s manual, utility CDs, gift box

More details and photos below.

[img]http://origamiportal.com/origami/images/slingmobile.jpg[/img]

Hey, that title kind of rhymes doesn’t it?

OK, just a quick update about two confirmed software packages for the UMPC/Origami devices. MovieLink has partnered up with Microsoft to offer videos-on-demand to UMPC users, while Sling Media has software to allow users to watch TV on their Ultra-Mobile PC’s. More details below.