Nokia Europe is now showing a carrying case for the N800. No price. No availability info and no keyboard. Shame. I’d like to see an Orgamiser case with integrated keybard just like the Q1. Via Internet Tablet Talk.   Technorati tags: n800, case, nokia View details of all Ultra Mobile devices in the ultra mobile PC product database. From N800 to Flybook V5, its all there!

Jenn at Pocketables was kind enough to email me to let me know about new Sony UX ultra mobile devices that have been announced in Japan. The updates include Vista installations, rotating and flash hard drives and a metallic blue model which looks even nicer that the black ones. I expect these will replace the XP-based models in the range for the Japanese market. The top end device, the UX91NS, uses the 1.3Ghz Intel Core Solo (not Core 2 Solo ULV CPUs that I was talking about yesterday) and includes 32Gb flash drive, […]

Hugo at Ubertablet blog has another great set of videos. This time he explains why he chose the Q1 as his main PC. You’ll see good tips on programmable buttons, a detailed overview of the organiser pack and a cellular data connectivity demo. I agree, its a nice solution. Accessories are very very important and the Q1 is one of the few choices of ultra mobile PC with an relatively easily available accessory range. If the Q1 had a mouse pointer button and a docking station I would probably buy a Q1B. Unfortunately it […]

I respect Rob Enderle’s experience in product development and marketing but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with him does it. This article that compares the iPhone launch to the Origami launch is something I don’t agree with. The title has a question mark in it for a start (always a bad sign,) and the content is just too fuzzy. ‘Link bait’ comes to mind when I look at it. Rob says that iPhone is “the Origami done right?” and he goes one to talk about what appears to be marketing/PR related […]

[Correction: This story turned out to be wrong. The M520 and M530 are laptop/notebook CPUs and while they are low power parts, they are not the Ultra Low Voltage parts needed for UMPCs. ULV Core 2 Solo and Celeron 65nm CPUs are due in Q3 2007. My apologies. Steve.]

While Santa Rosa and Steeley platforms/processors are still a long way off, there are new CPU’s being launched within weeks that could bring UMPC’s up to 1.7Ghz. The new breed of Core 2 Solo based ultra low voltage (ULV) CPUs are imminent and the first, a 1.6Ghz Celeron, are due for launch in January. Following up in Q2/Q3 will be a 1.7Ghz part and full-flavour Core 2 Solo processors supporting ViiV and 64bit processing. Ultra Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processor are also planned.

“It looks to me like we’ll see a 1.7Ghz UMPC before long. CeBit (March) is my prediction for this. I’m sure the mainstream press and PR agencies will love it as it represents a huge increase on that highly abused specification. This could help perception of UMPCs performance in the market. “

There’s a possible problem with the integrated GPU though. The new Santa Rosa GMA X3000 GPU looks like it won’t have any partner ULV CPU until late in 2007. The only graphics improvements we’ll see in 2007 could be through discreet mobile GPU solutions. How will this effect UMPC solutions on both Intel and VIA platforms?

“The Intel UMPCs will remain fairly high-end devices with VIA focusing on the lower-end of the market with smaller consumer umpcs…”

The full report on Intel’s ultra-mobile CPUs and how it might effect the development of UMPCs in 2007 is available at Carrypad.

VIA must be pleased with the C7-M right now. The UMPC product bracket seems to be filling up with C7-based devices faster than you can say ‘Santa Rosa’ and with the John CoreFusion package (system-on-chip) still to be introduced, they have another ultra mobile trick up their sleeve that could take things much further for them.

But what about Intel? Where are the new ultra low voltage (ULV) processors from them? Whats the latest on Santa Rosa? Steeley? What is 2007 gong to bring and how might it affect the design of new UMPC products?

I counted 8 new UMPCs over the last week. That’s not bad is it. Sony UX 380P Premium. SSD version of the existing UX. Samsung Q1P-SSD. SSD version of the existing Q1P OQO Model 02. New high-end ultra mobile PC Medion MD RIm 1000. New consumer ultra mobile PC Tablet Kiosk ‘rugged’ EO v7112XT / VX3. New industrial ultra mobile PC Flybook V5. New high-end ultra mobile PC Amtek T770. New UMPC. Details not yet clear. Nokia N800. Maemo/Linux Internet Tablet. So the final score is: VIA 4 : Intel […]

This is from DigiTimes.

Initially, the UMPCs are likely to be available at around US$800, with the price expected to go down to or even below US$700 by the end of 2007, said other company sources.

It looks like it will go head to head with the ASUS R2H and be marketed as a consumer product.

Arima are expected to ship to Medion in Q1 as expected. From other news we’ve heard, that will mean Medion Germany (HQ) where sales will start first and I expect this will start a few weeks later. They will need to test and build stock before putting it online.

Its still not clear what the Medion UMPC package will include. If the Dock is included then this is a very very significant advance in the UMPC market.

Other Medion UMPC news links.

Source: Digitimes news.