Paul Phillips (whoever you are, thanks!) dropped me a note to let me know that the Q1 Ultra is launching this week and should have a price of $1199. The news was found tucked away in a report by the SeattlePI

Launching this week, though unavailable for testing, are its successors, the Q1 Ultra line (starting at $1,199, Samsung.com)

Arghyle reports that there’s a launch event tomorrow too. [What IS that machine on the homepage? Its awesome!]

Looks like we might get availability info very very soon and as Grimster mentioned Origamiproject, there could be news soon about re-pricing of the existing models.

In Europe, the Q1 Ultra should be available towards the end of this month and its already on pre-sale at The Tablet Store for 1200 Euro.

Samsung Q1 Ultra specifications page.

Back at CTIA OQO showed a variant of the model 02 with an integrated HSDPA modem, only proving to everyone that a variant like that is on their road map. That’s why the battery has a dent, it is to accommodate the extra space to be used up by the SIM card holder. There is no word on when that version will be up for sale.

Those that feel adventurous and don’t mind losing their warranty will be interested to know that tnkgrl has successfully replaced the EVDO card in her device with an HSDPA one. The existing HSPDA antennas appear to work fine with it. More to come as she puts a post about it up on her blog. In the meantime enjoy the pictures, and feel free to look through the ongoing thread at handtops.

It looks like there is still hope for those (read: me) who want to buy an OQO 02, but are waiting for the HSDPA option.

Kornel, a big UMPC fan that has been very active on the portal, wanted to write news and thoughts. The more the merrier I say. Follow his personal blog on the portal here. His RSS feed is here. [Steve / Chippy]

Hi.

As you can see, there is a new section on UMPC Portal called Kornel’s Blog. What’s Kornel? That’s my name, thanks for asking. I’m Polish, and even there my name is not so popular. At least most English speaking people can pronounce it – but enough about that.
Chances are you probably have seen me on the forums, during one of Steve’s web unboxings or even read one of my posts! I have written a a few in the past including the “Origami Experience on any computer” how-to.

But now I get my own section! There’s is a catch though. My posts will not be shown on the front page [Good stuff will definately get to front page – Steve] or on in the RSS feeds [fixed! Steve], which means to read my (not so professional) content you will have to bookmark this page for now. I dont know if I get to have my own so I will post about that another time. Steve will look through my content and highlight some articles to put on the main page. We’ll see what the future brings.

If you would like to contact me to say hello, ask a question about umpc or about anything gadget related, don’t hesitate to email me (By the way, I get less emails than Steve so I will answer quicker ;) ). My email is kornel@umpcportal.com. My forum nick is kornel, on some other forums I appear as kornelt. I also twitter, and have aim (k.tomasiak@mac.com) and msn (kornelt at hotmail.com).

So, I should probably post some news now shouldn’t I?

Kornel

And yes, that is me on the picture with my Fujitsu P1610.

The Q1b has finally arrived in Europe and has been lovingly nicknamed Barto, cousin of Ceegoo and Casomii (as the Celeron Q1 is marketed here) and we’ve been lucky enough to get an advanced order sent to us before the main shipments commence. Thanks to Samsung Germany and The Tablet Store for arranging this.

The Q1b is the VIA based version of the Q1 with the brighter screen and longer battery life but Barto is a little bit more than the US version of the Q1b. He’s got a 60GB HDD, 1GB or RAM and a built in HSDPA modem making it the first HSDPA-capable tablet style UMPC to ship. He’s also rumored to have stereo speakers and the CF slot which I don’t think the US version has.

The price is obviously higher than your standard Q1 which, here in Europe, is also sold with 60/1GB. You’ll currently pay a premium of around 200 Euro for this version. In the US market the VIA version is the cheapest Q1 version available and in fact on of the cheapest UMPCs there is right now.

Currently its sitting, unopened, in front of a video camera! I’m going to unbox it live very shortly (20:00 CET) and go through the differences between the Q1b and the Q1P which I also have here. There will be a Q&A chat session running at the same time so feel free to register on the portal and join in if you have queries.

Members link for video and chat.

Q1b HSDPA specifications.

Thanks to Shiretook of the Origamiproject forums, we’ve got a nice set of pictures of the ASUS R2H port bar. One year after the R2H was announced, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen an image of it. Somehow I thought it would be a unit that would dock on the side but this is fine. 

ASUS R2H Portbar. More images in the Gallery

ASUS part number in Europe is NGV1P1000 and the cheapest I’m seeing it for is 90 Euros. I see it for $90 in the U.S. too.

Many thanks to Steven for sending in these pics. Origamiproject thread for discussions is here.

TGDaily, or to be more specific, someone called Wolfgang Gruener who sounds like he hails from these parts, is after a bit of attention with his article called ‘The UMPC Dies. And nobody notices.‘

Its not worth reading to be honest. Mr Gruener doesn’t quite get that UMPCs are still seeding. He obviously thinks they should have sold millions by now but there’s likely to be a number of marketing ideas being tried out before the right balance is found. Creating a sub-segment is a good way to target a niche user set to test out a new design approach. There’s nothing really new about these MIDs. Its just the marketing that’s changing. The Vega, The PepperPad3, The Kohjinsha. All UMPCs and all targeted. Just like MIDS. I’ll give Mr Gruener credit for being able to create link bait though!

Lets move on and be positive…

Especially as this weekend could be a Triple Unboxing bonanza weekend here at UMPCportal. Oh yes. The Medion, Ghz-class and fully loaded with Vista is already on the podium and it will be closely followed by the Q1b HSDPA tomorrow morning. The Amtek T770 is starting its journey. I’m hoping it will get here tomorrow. If not, there will be a break for fresh air and HQ videos on Sunday before the unboxing and live analysis continues next week. Did someone say that UMPCs died?

Oh, I got a solar panel today and am doing some testing. Looks like it will power a UMPC OK.  Should we ask Mr Gruener if he can do that with his notebook?

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.