While I was out of town Julie at the [url=http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/diary/judie]the-gadgeteer.com[/url] was able to purchase an early version of the DualCor cPc.

She put a bunch of great pictures of the device up including a comparison picture against a Fujitsu 2110 laptop, the DualCor cPC, the JasJar and an iPAQ 1945.

An interesting feature on the device is the DualCor button that allows you to switch between Windows Mobile and Windows XP. (More info on this can be found in the [url=http://www.dualcor.com/gettingstarted.pdf]DualCor Getting Started Guide[/url].

According to Julie the official release version of the cPC will include WiFi and Bluetooth built in which has been a question after a few sites said it wouldn’t.

The cPc also comes with a nice “rhinoskin” case as well. Here is a picture from [url=http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/diary/judie]the-gadgeteer.com[/url]. Looks very nice.

[img]http://www.origamiportal.com/umpc/images/dualcor_pack.jpg[/img]

Lastly she had some info on the GPRS capabilites which are not being included in the device however she did have a link to a modem that she bought to use with it which is available [url=http://www.enter.net/kart/kart.pl?action=moreinfo&sku=MDM-E0110-01&cart=weintraub]here[/url]

Nice to see some info on the device and hopefully she will be adding more information over the next coming days.

On Carrypad.com we define a UMPC as:
A highly portable computing device with 5-10″ screen, wired and wireless connectivity that is able to load and run common internet, office, media and pim applications operated through a graphical user interface.

Its not a strict definition as we cover devices with 4″ screens such as the Sharp Zaurus and the Nokia 770. There are other devices though that we’ve considered from time to time but have not put on the product portal for one reason or another. Here’s a list of the ‘almost’ UMPC’s!

Over at Origamiproject.com, Kevin J has been asking for more info about the Q1 powerbank which I didn’t even know existed. Its an external power-pack that costs nearly $250 and weighs over 500gm. Thats a lot of money and a lot of weight. The advantage is that you will probably never have to plug the Q1 directly into the mains supply again! The powerbank plugs into the power input socket on the Q1 and acts like a normal mains supply giving you 9hours of life or allowing you to charge […]

[url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6100498.html]ZDNet[/url] just ran a story about Arimasa Naitoh, who created the ThinkPad and had some exerpts from a press conference from the other day and had his thoughts on where he feels the mobile computing market is heading.

The only remark about the UMPC market in the story were:
When asked about the future prospects of Microsoft’s “Origami” mini-tablet design, Naitoh was skeptical. “I’ll have a hard time to convince myself that Origami will be a primary device,” he said.

So though he obviously believes in notebooks and small form factor devices he feels the UMPC will never take over as the main mobile PC.

I tend to agree with this. I don’t think these devices are meant to eliminate other PCs. The PDA was never meant to eliminate the notebook. Unless the UMPC can get as much power in it as a laptop can fit, it is at a disadvantage.

One of the things that you get with larger screened devices is ease of use. I can use Photoshop and development IDEs on a laptop happily, though this isn’t as easy on a 7″ screen. The UMPC has it’s place but I don’t feel it is as a primary device.

[url=http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/sony_ux_90s_shots.html]MobilityToday.com[/url] just received a Sony Vaio UX-90S from [url=http://www.dynamism.com/]Dynamism[/url].

The UX-90S is the first PC to hit the market with a flash based hard drive.

The video review of the product is located [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mej7sf4uonI]on YouTube[/url] and has some good comparisons between the UX 90s and the Vaio UX-180P. Around 9 mins into the video review there is a start up comparison and the UX-90S goes through a whole boot up and restart before the 180p is even started.

There are some great performance test results available [url=http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/sony_ux_90s_shots/3.html]here[/url].

Interestingly the new flash based Vaio doesn’t have a GSM slot like the old UX models did. I am assuming this is to keep down costs. though it does have a CF slot. Go figure. hopefully it will include Edge capabilities like the 180PS in the future as I think having built in cell abilities is a great idea.