Thoughtfix had a rare chance to ask Samsung about UMPC issues and has posted the responses to his questions on his blog. There’s noting groundbreaking in it but it does seem to confirm a few things. One can deduce from the answers that the LED backlit screen does exist in the Q1P now. Secondly, Samsung appear to be working with Intel processors that have sub-Pentium performance.

…a new CPU from Intel that reduces its power requirements which means longer battery life. It also integrates additional circuits allowing the PCB to be smaller. The trade off however is that overall system performance goes down as compared to a current Mobile Pentium CPU.

We’re not aware of anything from Intel that is sub=Pentium performance. The Celeron perhaps? But at the end of the day that’s a Pentium device with a few features cut out. What are they talking about? Maybe they are referring to a version of Tolapai?

We have a few questions that we’d love to ask Samsung too. Like, ‘When  is the Q1B that was announced back in July 2006 going to appear in Europe?’ and  ‘Why don’t  the Q1’s have a mouse pointer’ and whats the status of HID and Vista drivers?

The  full interview is over at Thoughfixes’ blog.

Yesterday we talked about 800×480 Windows Mobile 6 solutions with the Toshiba G900 and today we see a rather interesting approach by I-Mate with its Ultimate 7150. Unfortunately its a 640×480 3.5″screen there but you can see that the design has the potential to have a wider 800×480 screen which is frustrating as the shape and design of this look very very nice indeed. Even the specs look OK for low-end portable productivity and entertainment. Here’s looking forward to a new genre of Uber-Smartphones with 5″, 800×480 screens in the clamshell form factor.

The Ultimate range of devices (others shown here) all have the same specs:

• Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• 520 MHz Marvell Bulverde processors
• VGA touch screen
• 128 MB of RAM
• 802.11 b/g/e/i Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• 2-megapixel cameras
• XGA TV video out
• USB 2.0 connections.

More I-Mate news [url=http://www.origamiportal.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=312]here.[/url]

Related item: Nokia e90 communicator.

Via Engadget and MoDaCo.

It looks like there will be a new version of the OS2007 for Nokia N800 devices in a few weeks. So says Ari Jaaksi, the head of Nokia’s open source operation. What can we expect?

• better Flash performance
• better video performance and quality
• longer usage times i.e. better power management
• fixes here and there

…hopefully! The flash issue is so so important.

But it looks like the Skype and Rhapsody support has slipped. We expected to see these in a March timeframe but they appear in the next wave ‘later this year.’

• updated browser with better WEB 2.0 support and other goodies
• improved multimedia support with more formats supported
• improved package management to better enable sw upgrading
• interesting 3rd party software such as Skype and Real Rhapsody
• more apps & stuff downloadable from http://tableteer.Nokia.com/ (can be accessed with an Internet tablet, only ….)

Ari has a few more notes about the longer term here where he even mentions WiMax! Its good to see Nokia getting into the open-source spirit with open-source plans like this.

Oh you have to laugh when someone comes out with that sort of headline.

The PocketSurfer has been around for a few years and appeared as ‘the edge’ in a previous CES showing but Datawind are now showing off a revised version of it. Its reported to have a cellular radio built in and according to the press release, they plan to offer it in the UK in the spring with Free wireless Internet access. An Interesting sales model. We’ll be looking out for specs in the net few days as people get some more info at 3GSM. Important questions are:

1) Can it handle web2.0 style web pages – A critical requirement.

2) Does it have an 800 wide screen?

If so then bring it on for a good price and it might make a nice little companion for those in-between times!

Datawind are here.

Via Engadget.

TabletKiosk are asking people to be on the lookout for some goods that were stolen from a TabletKiosk warehouse in California.

On Sunday, February 11, the TabletKiosk warehouse in Torrance, CA was robbed. The thieves stole a considerable number of Sahara Slate PCs, eo v7110s and eo v7210 units.

We are working with the police to catch the perpetrators and retrieve the stolen units and are exploring every possible avenue. This is why we are asking for assistance from the Tablet and UMPC community who often uncover significant information about Tablet PCs and UMPCs online.

The stolen units are both pre-configured and configured units as well as some customers’ personal machines.

If you find information about any eo UMPC or Sahara Slate PCs for sale which seem too good to be true, I would appreciate if you would send the information to my attention.  A reward will be provided for the person who provides us with information leading to the culprit. 

Gail Levy

TabletKiosk

Contact TabletKiosk if you see anything suspicious for sale.

The Raon Digital Vega can best be described as an ultra-small PC. Its smaller than a paperback book, weighs less than half a bag of sugar, and runs Windows XP home operating system. Yes. It’s really is an ultra small PC, with screen included!  Carrypad has had the device for nearly two weeks and put it through a heavy real-life test schedule. Read-on for a detailed review and our opinion on the device.

Run… Calc….tap tap tap  350DPI. What! Yup. 800 on a 3″ diagonal screen looks like being a very difficult to read screen That’s a little over the top considering most people get uncomfortable with a DPI over 200. But, its interesting because it proves that WM6 will run in 800×480 mode.  The E90 announced today looks like a much better option with its sub 250dpi 800 wide screen.

WM6 could really open the door for some nice Smartphone/umpc crossover devices. 800×480 is exactly what the Athena device should have been.

More on the G900 which, unfortunately, on has a PXA270 at 300Mhz, at JkOnTheRun

Canola on the 770 was quite an achievement. The N800 version looks even better. Take a look at it on this demo video that appeared on YouTube today.

Jonathan Greene, who made the Video, is part of the closed test group and he makes some notes here.

There’s still no word as to whether video performance has been improved on the N800 though. If so, this app will probably be m ost peoples replacement for at least two media apps on the N800.