UMPC watch list – Summer 2006.

The summer of Ultra-Mobile PC’s is hotting up despite the rain continuing to fall here in Cologne, Germany. Just what we need for the World Cup starting in just over a week! Having put the new portal live, its time to re-visit some of the rumours and teasers in the ultra mobile PC world and get my RSS filters set up! Here’s the watch-list and some highly accurate guesswork (!) on the details.

New Nokia Internet Tablet.
This is the device that really could stir things up in the ultra mobile PC market. Nokia have actually spoken in public about this too so its highly likely to make it to market. I’m not sure how close it will be in specification to their communicator products but one assumes that if they dont put any 2G, GPRS or UMTS capability into it, it won’t cut across the current communicator sales and they can get creative with keybaords, a bigger screen and a keyboard. Probability: 90%
Our guess on specs: Late summer release. $550. Slightly bigger screen. Better processor. Linux based. Keyboard.

Samsung Q1 with VIA processor.
This one is strictly a rumor (that no-one has formally denied yet!) I really cant imagine Intel (or Microsoft) letting Samsung simply drop a VIA onto the same ultra mobile PC motherboard and letting them compete head to head. No-one, even Samsung, is going to benefit from that. Its possible Samsung could remove some of the interfaces (VGA, Ethernet) and make a stripped down 20GB version I guess. We’ll have to wait and see.
Probability 25%
Our guess on specs: Late summer release. $750. Via processor. Reduced Q1 specs.

Averatek AHI.
We havent heard any more about this since I4U carried the (now removed) news. Its an interesting product but I hope the design matures a bit from the ‘UMPC-R-US’ looks that it has in the preview images. Status: Rumor. Probability: 60%. Known specs are in the product portal.

Founder Mininote.
This one is acttually available in China now according to a forum post. It’s rumored not to be a Microsoft ultra mobile PC but who cares, if its a an Ultra-Mobile PC, its a UMPC. Right?
Probability (outside China) 80%. Specs are already in the product portal.

Pepperpad plus.
The word is that there will be a Pepperpad plus and we hear on the grapevine that there may be an announcement due soon. The report seems to be reliable and if so, it will be the first AMD ultra mobile PC device on the market. Probability: 100%
Our guess on release date: Early Autumn. Journal entry. Product specs.

Flybook V33i.
This has already been confirmed. Availability is imminent. The V33 is a Fujitsu P1510-like convertable device with Pentium-M and GPRS-EDGE connectivity. The price looks like it’s over 2000 Euro.
Probability:100%

DualCor cPC
Ho hum. I really don’t know if i’m excited about this device or not. It seems to be trying to achieve too much. It looks like it will make it to market though. Another 3 months is the rumour.
Probability: 90%

Asus R2H
Another Origami-based ultra mobile PC looks likely with the Asus R2H. Its been held back for tweaking we understand but looks like it will be with us in the 3rd quarter. (Jul-Sept) Probability: 100%

Price wars.
Everyone can look forward to the results of more competition and market maturity as people start to learn and understand more about ultra mobile PC mobility. Better products and prices!

Finally, keep an eye on Carrypad. The journal RSS feed is available here.

Steve / Chippy.