Back from the UK this evening and its time to get back into journal updates. The best way to get back into it is to just dive into some of the news items I’ve picked out.
ASUS R2H
Firstly, the ASUS unboxing images. It looks great doesn’t it? The packaging and contents are well thought out. The included keyboard and stand are a real bonus. It seams to have got people more excited about the R2H then ever before!
Secondly, a comment was left on the journal here from someone that has got hold of a new ASUS in the UK with what looks like the full release spec. Apparently, the price for the Q1 has just dropped on the Tottenham Court Road by 100 pounds. As expected, the ASUS R2H and Q1b are going to re-base the price for UMPCs.
I’m in touch with ASUS’ PR company in Germany and should be getting one soon. However, they do not know when they will have demo devices.
There’s no known availability for the R2H in North America yet.
Flybook review.
Thanks for all the feedback on the Flybook review. It seems that people really love this form factor and if it wasn’t for the price, it would be outselling UMPCs I’m sure. This proves that keyboards are needed to make UMPCs attractive. I believe keyboards give people a feeling of completeness and a comfort factor that a ultra mobile PC doesn’t. Note that I didn’t say ‘people need keyboards on UMPCs.’
It turns out the Dialogue have a reseller network in Canada that is able to supply to the U.S. Dennis dropped me a line to tell me that Flybook in Ontario are the distributor and that although he is marketing into B.C. Canada, he is authorised to sell into the U.S.
If you’re in Canada or the U.S. and you’re interested in a Flybook, you can check out this dealers website.
I’ve also heard that Dynamism are looking into it but I don’t have any details.
Hugo Ortega MVP.
Well done Hugo Ortega on getting MVP status. He’s done a lot of work for the tablet and ultra mobile PC community. He deserves it.
Mobile Demand Rugged PC.
I’m debating weather to bring rugged UMPCs into the database. They are interesting but such a niche market that I’m reluctant to do it. The other thing is, they a re heavy. The MobileDemand device is 2KG which is double the recommended weight of a Microsoft UMPC. Based on the weight characteristics, I can’t really call them ultra mobile PC’s. Nice review though over at TabletPC2.com
Tablet Kiosk i7210 updates.
I’m continuing to do testing (and playing of course) of the new i7210 UMPC. So far I’ve found it to be a great device. I’m not, however, so sure about wether the Pentium-M really gives a noticeable increase in battery life (using speed step technology.) 2005 design UMPCs are all using screens that take up to 5watts and with innefficient WIFI units and 1W HDD units, the power savings just get lost.
What’s hitting me more and more about UMPCs is that not only are they your mobile PC companion, they are more than capable of being your only PC. In 18 months, when we’re looking at 1.5Ghz devices able to run Aero Glass on Vista, there could be a lot of people replacing broken notebook computers for a UMPC. And why didn’t this happen with tablet PCs you ask? Because Tablet PCs have found their niche in high-margin business sales. No one wants to upset that market now. $600 UMPCs are a different story altogether.
Battery life on the i7210 is up to 2.5 hours without WiFi and about 2 hours with WiFi (50% screen.) Bluetooth takes very little power so I’m thinking of upgrading my UMTS contract and just using my UMTS phone as a data modem and forgetting about WiFi altogether. Hotspots are expensive and insecure so I think this is a better choice anyway.
24hr battery life.
A short note to people reading reports of 24hours battery life on UMPCs. I think there’s been a translation error here. Intel have been talking about ‘all day’ battery life and at the IDF said that they would be able to achieve this by 2008. This doesn’t mean 24hr battery life, it means a working day battery life of 8 hours. 24rs would be nice but that’s not going to happen for another 4 or 5 years.
Pepperpad 3.
I’ve ordered a Pepperpad 3 and I’m hoping that this arrives in the next week. There’s not much more to say about that until it turns up.
Level-One Bluetooth keyboard.
I’m having problems with mine. The error rate is way to high and I have to type really slowly to get anything done. I’m trying to contact Level One about it but there’s not much response. All I can say is that I can’t recommend this Bluetooth keyboard at the moment.
Mo-Bits UMPCs
The Mo-Bits UMPCs are still moving through production.I have no idea who’s paying for this and who is going to brand them but at least they are still living products.
Steve /Chippy
Steve:
When you look at the pepper pad 3, could you download and try to compile some office apps, especially a PDF reader?
Yup. I
I’ll make sure I do some office work on it. I’m interested in the java based thinkfree and also trying to get some other apps compiled over time.
Steve.