Snave, the Kohji fan that seems to have all the contacts, has got the new SA1F00V and has posted some first thoughts. What are the two things that would improve the Kohji? Touchscreen and better keyboard right?

Now to the question you are all probably asking, “what about the keyboard?” Well we have all read the reviews on previous models, and how bad they keyboard on these are, well….

It looks like they’ve got both of those angles covered on the new device. A good device made even better.

Check out the report at My Kohjinsha. Post 1. Post 2.

Well sort-of, although I guess that if Clearview can call their uber-PMP a UMPC, there’s nothing stopping anyone else.

Jkk has been testing the new VT700 rugged UMPC from Coxion in Finland. This is the same company that had the WebBook and is planning a WebBook 3G (due anytime now according to the website) which is similar in features to the Kohjinsha SA1 and the ASUS T83 that everyone likes. The VT700 is a rugged WindowsCE-based device though and is for in-vehicle use and rugged environments.

The VT700 whilst designed to be predominantly vehicle mounted, utilises an innovative quick-release mechanism allowing the user to detach it from the vehicle and switch smoothly and easily to a portable mode of operation.

I’m still undecided about CE-based browsers. I need to do some more tests with Opera 9 too see how much of my online life will be affected. One thing I am decided about though is car mounts. We need more of them!

Availability is ‘NOW’ and price is unknown. Coxion are industry sales focused so I guess pricing depends on how big your truck-roll is!

PDF spec sheet is available. Video below shows the interesting quick-release mount system and some on-screen action.

All via jkkMobile.

If you’re registered on the portal, take a look at this page.

The Medion UMPC has just arrived and the plan is to do a live unboxing with IRC chat (embedded and live now) this evening (German time 22:00 – New York 16:00) If you have questions either leave them on the IRC channel (#umpc-live @ IRC.wyldryde.org or use the embedded client on the page.) or for a more permanent method, use the forum thread that’s running.

Update: I’ve just been informed that its a pre-production device. Its done-the-rounds so to speak so I’ve agreed to check it over before a live ‘unboxing.’ Its a slight misunderstanding from my side as I thought this was the production version. But never mind. Interactive session will still happen as planned.

Update 2: Samsung Q1 HSDPA will be with me tomorrow. Unboxing and live Q&A planned for Sat 5th May

Update3: I heard that the T770 will also be with me tomorrow. Live Unboxing and live Q&A planned for Sat 5th too.

Its possible that there will be more UMPC’s this weekend. As you see on the page, I have the Q1b HSDPA and the Amtek T770 on their way. After the live session, I’ll do a second unboxing for video and post it tomorrow.

Not registered? Register here. (Registration is there to keep numbers down, if the page gets linked and everyone browses through, the video feed could suffer.)

Clearview have revealed details of a new UMPC that’s going to confuse a lot of people. The X43 specification list is pure UMPC as far as any normal customer is concerned.

4.3″ touchscreen, Wifi, Bluetooth, Windows operating system, 20GB drive, 620Mhz processor, built-in cam, GPS and even an FM radio. Its even got 6 hours battery life. Its likely to have a competitive price too. On first glance, it looks like a very nice UMPC.

What customers won’t see is that its not quite the full-spec PC that it alludes to be. Its running Windows CE on a MIPS media processor and that brings a whole set of issues to the table. The first, and most important is the browser. Its Windows Explorer, but not as we know it Jim.

The Internet explorer under Windows CE is limited to simple browsing, plugin choice won’t be as wide as on IE7 or Firefox and the processor in this device could have problems with today’s media-heavy web. Opera 9 will help but there are still going to be limitations. The other problem with WinCE is that you simply can’t install Windows XP software.  You are limited to CE-only software. And that doesn’t include Windows Mobile applications. The choice is going to be limited. No Paintshop, Livewriter, Trillian. Skype isn’t supported either.

Having said that, if this device is priced at the low end (which I suspect it is – say $500?) then its going to be an interesting device. There’s no HSDPA as on the Cowon Q5 (as Jenn mentioned over at Pocketables) but there’s Bluetooth and USB. I assume that connectivity via mobile phone is possible and that would enable some nice on-the-go connectivity. These uber-PMPs could really clash with Intels MIDs (consumer UMPCs) and if the prices stay on the low side, they might have the consumer-important price advantage.

Keep an eye on HPCFactor who broke this news about the specifications. They are running a competition to name the X43 and are obviously in close contact with the company.

Its a bit sad that someone who’s using Windows on multiple leading-edge devices every day can’t get to grips with Vista but I’m afraid that’s how it is. I have a Q1P in front of me with Vista and XP on it and after a week of messing around and getting frustrated I’ve changed the default boot back to Windows XP. I can’t find any compelling reasons to use Windows Vista at all. Nothing that will justify the re-learn time and the time needed to make Vista efficient. Its costing 30 minutes of battery life at the moment which is something I am not will to accept. As for the Buzz, well, how about Bzzzzzzzzt!

I asked Matt Propst what his top three reasons for wanting to use Vista on a UMPC where. He had some trouble as you can see here. Can anyone give me a reason to move to Vista before I’m forced by a man with a shovel? I don’t use handwriting so don’t tell me that its better because it has a zero-weighting in my book. I rarely use video other than streaming from websites and I’ve already tried pen flicks. It doesn’t work very well does it. Or do I need to spend MORE time learning it?

Origami Experience is nice and makes me feel good so that’s one thing I would put on the list. Look and feel would be nice but its a short-lived buzz that I can do without.

At the end of the day, I still feel that even Windows XP with its Gigabyte-class footprint and complex UI is already too much for the average UMPC user. Windows Mobile is too little and CE isn’t flexible enough so what are we left with? Nothing that’s really optimised. Just like there’s space in the market between smartphones and notebooks, there’s a gap in the market for a new mobile operating system. Could Midinux fill the gap or do we need Windows Vista Mobile?

Or have you got three good reasons why Vista is good enough?

A few weeks ago I delved into details about the battery life on the Intel McCaslin (UMP 2007) platform and revealed that its not a major step forward. Its all good steady progress but nothing that’s going to amaze anyone. Franks (AKA Ctitanic) has just done a similar job and revealed some details about the performance of the McCaslin platform.

He’s taken a Q1 Ultra benchmark that I found yesterday and has run three other UMPCs through the same test to give us a comparison. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that a Pentium-M clocked at 20% less than normal and having 1/4 of the L2 cache is not a high-end performer but somehow, it is still an eye opening result. Everyone that’s used the Q1 Ultra has been positive about the performance and this reflects the fact that how a PC feels is unrelated to its performance statistics. Take the Kohjinsha SA1 – its one of the most useable UMPCs I ever had but the processor specifications on it were almost embarrassing.

Frank rounds up with a nice summary.

I can conclude that the overall performance of the Q1U will be about the same or a little bit better in a few tasks than the one we see in current Q1 and Q1p. The Q1U is not that fast ultra powerful machine that many have imagined. And I do not think that this was the idea behind the Q1U design.

Check out Franks findings at his UltraMobilePCTips website.

I’m just reading through a review of the Nokia E90 over at Mobile-Review.com. As usual they have covered every angle and there are some great pics.

Nokia E90 at Mobile-Review

I do like the E90 but as I’ve mentioned before, it doesn’t fit well in my three device strategy. To me, a user of full featured UMPCs, the uber-smartphone is just lacking in software that I would expect in a productivity device. [especially at that price – ed] I wouldn’t be able to fire up LiveWriter, Paint Shop Pro or any of my other productivity applications. I guess this is a similar feeling to those that use Word and PowerPoint as their productivity app’s. If they were to try and use the E90 they would be having to re-learn new ways of doing things which is not only slow and annoying but if you finally get up to speed with the new app’s you then find yourself making mistakes or slowing down on the full-featured application you use on your desk! Being less efficient at using media or leisure applications isn’t really a problem but when it comes to productivity, and that’s exactly where this device is targeted, efficiency is at the top of the list. I guess that’s why you don’t see Linux on ‘business’ UMPCs

But I digress, I’m sure there are many people out there that have much more patience and capacity for learning multiple applications and operating systems than I do and these Ultra Mobile devices will could fulfil a good role in their lives.

A couple of negative points to highlight:

…the keys are more protruding, just as big, but have no feedback, which doesn’t let you feel every key-press and makes you always look at the display to figure out whether you actually pushed the desired button.

It a shame, though, as it doesn’t have A2DP, which means that the E90 can’t beam sound to a wireless headset.

And a couple of positive points.

Speaking of the [display] picture quality – it is as close to perfect as a display could ever get, with saturated colors and sharp details. Video may be watched in full-screen mode (16:9), more importantly, in most cases you won’t even have to re-convert it

For its potential target audience, Nokia E90 is a very balanced and reasonably priced solution. It has no counterparts that have made it to the market,

On the video performance, this news bodes well for N800 users as it uses the same processor and proves that the N800 is capable of better video performance than is currently available. Overall, its a very good review and one of those ‘must read’ items.

Availability in Europe is unknown. The best info I have heard is ‘late summer’ but that was from a high-street shop assistant.
Amazon.de have it on their lists though and there’s a rather scary price attached to it…. €1339. Q1 Ultra HSDPA anyone?

Mobile-Review E90 review.

Nokia E90 Specifications and links.

Pepper have released a new version of the Pepper software with some important upgrades. There’s a new PDF viewer application, enhancements to the remote control applications which include macro support, support for taking videos with the web cam, a better download manager in the browser, email from journal support and, one that I find very nice, remote desktop support. I used the native rdesktop application a lot on the PP3 and found it a nice way to get access to app’s and features that I needed from my normal desktop.

Unfortunately the new 3.2 version of the Pepper software hasn’t got the Skype software in it that was promised back in Jan and there are still three other features that really have to be added to the Pad as soon as possible.

• Bluetooth DUN Support
• UPnP support for video and audio sharing
• CIF/SMB/Windows share discovery and support

I’ve heard a number of times that these features are on the Pepper to-do list and Pepper have also told me that there’s a second, bigger, software release planned for later this year. I hope that these features will be rolled up into the this release.

PeperPad3 device specifications, images and links