Grab this
Headline Animator Edit: I want to make it clear that this is a list based around the HTC Shift customer. Its not a general list covering all UMPC customer types. Sorry I didn't make that clearer in the article below. Chippy.
Last Saturday was the point at which I'd gathered enough information about the HTC Shift to form a decision about the current state of the UMPC market. Thanks to Kaz911 we got the official specs and some new information direct from HTC. For most people it wasn't the best news though. 800x480 doesn't represent the best 7" screen resolution. The Windows Mobile component turned out to be nothing more than a modem and email client and the 2 hours battery life was quite a shocker although if the battery is small, as I suspect it is, its probably quite an efficient device. When all's said and done, the HTC shift is still a great bit of design and represents what I believe is one of the best form factors possible for mobile computing. The 800x480 screen is no worse than most UMPCs and the Windows Mobile component (or whatever they've got running on the 400Mhz Qualcomm CPU) was something that I was never really interested in. We also need to see about battery life. I would be surprised is the HTC marketing people are being cautious about the battery life claims but I guess its a remote possibility. Whichever way you cut it though, the HTC Shift doesn't look likes its going to be the de-facto leader in the UMPC market. There are, as ever, issues to consider and to weigh-up against your own requirements. What I've done here is gathered some thoughts on the top contenders for a [edit: productivity] UMPC purchase today and tried to highlight the good and bad to help you make the decision that I know you're wanting to make before Christmas closes in and the credit card fills up!
I've cut the list down to the following devices which represent the best of the UMPCs aiming at the same market as the HTC Shift. That's basically users looking for mobility, mobile connectivity, productivity and style at a competitive price. The pricing and availability is U.S. focused.
You can analyse more detailed specifications with this interactive comparison table.
For me, the HTC Shift still represents a great UMPC but with one major failure. The design and HSDPA capability are class-leading but its only good if you can handle that 2 hours battery life. Its not that the device is inefficient, its just that HTC appear to have chosen not to put a big battery in it. (I'm still waiting for confirmation on the battery capacity.) One year ago this would have been an acceptable battery life but today, when we have devices hitting the 4 hours mark and beyond, its not at all acceptable. Battery life is the number 1 complaint about UMPCs and rightly so. Even if you have the best device in the world in your hands, its worth nothing when the battery has run out. But its not just the Shift that suffers from the problem. The Fujitsu has the same issue. The OQO model 02 too. Manufacturers chose to include small batteries. A battery life issue applies to the Vye/Kohjinsha device too although in this case it looks like an inefficient design rather than a small battery. If you're prepared to take a weight and size hit, you can double the battery capacity. The Q1P, surprisingly, with its old Pentium-M isn't the worst option when it comes to battery life and the Sony UX, presumably because of its tiny screen, returns a very respectable 2.5-3hours from its Core Solo CPU. For 3hours+, and this is where my personal choices really start, there is only one solution and that's the Q1 Ultra.
Its not all about battery life though and that's why I've highlighted where I think these devices fit best. DO you need productivity, all-round usage or just pure mobility?
Devices I considered for the list but didn't quite make it for one reason or another are: Fujitsu P1610. Slightly expensive but potentially more productive than any of the devices listed above. Flybook V33i/V5 again, expensive. Similar features to the P1610. Q1b HSDPA (where available) my personal choice as a mobility device. My feeling is that a mobile device isn't mobile until its connected via a cellular data network. Battery life and price also advantages on the Q1b. Packard Bell/Everex Well priced and productive. Not leading-edge designs or features. There are other choices but I wouldn't put them in the productivity category and remember that this list is just my opinion anyway. You WILL have different weightings on the features that you require so feel free to add them in the comment below so that we can all benefit from the additional thoughts.
Did I miss anything? Was it helpful? Or has it messed up your UMPC toplist even more? ;-) Oh, speaking of toplists, I've been working in the background on a new UMPC-Toplist blog. [RSS feed] I'm trying to build up a list of top-three UMPCs for different user types and will be looking to add more expert opinions soon. Its been a slow process getting it off the ground but now that the Solar-UMPC tour is finished, I'll be working on it a bit more. Keep an eye on it for user-targeted recommendations.
Technorati Tags:
umpc,
htc shift
Headline Animator Edit: I want to make it clear that this is a list based around the HTC Shift customer. Its not a general list covering all UMPC customer types. Sorry I didn't make that clearer in the article below. Chippy.
Last Saturday was the point at which I'd gathered enough information about the HTC Shift to form a decision about the current state of the UMPC market. Thanks to Kaz911 we got the official specs and some new information direct from HTC. For most people it wasn't the best news though. 800x480 doesn't represent the best 7" screen resolution. The Windows Mobile component turned out to be nothing more than a modem and email client and the 2 hours battery life was quite a shocker although if the battery is small, as I suspect it is, its probably quite an efficient device. When all's said and done, the HTC shift is still a great bit of design and represents what I believe is one of the best form factors possible for mobile computing. The 800x480 screen is no worse than most UMPCs and the Windows Mobile component (or whatever they've got running on the 400Mhz Qualcomm CPU) was something that I was never really interested in. We also need to see about battery life. I would be surprised is the HTC marketing people are being cautious about the battery life claims but I guess its a remote possibility. Whichever way you cut it though, the HTC Shift doesn't look likes its going to be the de-facto leader in the UMPC market. There are, as ever, issues to consider and to weigh-up against your own requirements. What I've done here is gathered some thoughts on the top contenders for a [edit: productivity] UMPC purchase today and tried to highlight the good and bad to help you make the decision that I know you're wanting to make before Christmas closes in and the credit card fills up!
I've cut the list down to the following devices which represent the best of the UMPCs aiming at the same market as the HTC Shift. That's basically users looking for mobility, mobile connectivity, productivity and style at a competitive price. The pricing and availability is U.S. focused.
You can analyse more detailed specifications with this interactive comparison table.
For me, the HTC Shift still represents a great UMPC but with one major failure. The design and HSDPA capability are class-leading but its only good if you can handle that 2 hours battery life. Its not that the device is inefficient, its just that HTC appear to have chosen not to put a big battery in it. (I'm still waiting for confirmation on the battery capacity.) One year ago this would have been an acceptable battery life but today, when we have devices hitting the 4 hours mark and beyond, its not at all acceptable. Battery life is the number 1 complaint about UMPCs and rightly so. Even if you have the best device in the world in your hands, its worth nothing when the battery has run out. But its not just the Shift that suffers from the problem. The Fujitsu has the same issue. The OQO model 02 too. Manufacturers chose to include small batteries. A battery life issue applies to the Vye/Kohjinsha device too although in this case it looks like an inefficient design rather than a small battery. If you're prepared to take a weight and size hit, you can double the battery capacity. The Q1P, surprisingly, with its old Pentium-M isn't the worst option when it comes to battery life and the Sony UX, presumably because of its tiny screen, returns a very respectable 2.5-3hours from its Core Solo CPU. For 3hours+, and this is where my personal choices really start, there is only one solution and that's the Q1 Ultra.
Its not all about battery life though and that's why I've highlighted where I think these devices fit best. DO you need productivity, all-round usage or just pure mobility?
Devices I considered for the list but didn't quite make it for one reason or another are: Fujitsu P1610. Slightly expensive but potentially more productive than any of the devices listed above. Flybook V33i/V5 again, expensive. Similar features to the P1610. Q1b HSDPA (where available) my personal choice as a mobility device. My feeling is that a mobile device isn't mobile until its connected via a cellular data network. Battery life and price also advantages on the Q1b. Packard Bell/Everex Well priced and productive. Not leading-edge designs or features. There are other choices but I wouldn't put them in the productivity category and remember that this list is just my opinion anyway. You WILL have different weightings on the features that you require so feel free to add them in the comment below so that we can all benefit from the additional thoughts.
Did I miss anything? Was it helpful? Or has it messed up your UMPC toplist even more? ;-) Oh, speaking of toplists, I've been working in the background on a new UMPC-Toplist blog. [RSS feed] I'm trying to build up a list of top-three UMPCs for different user types and will be looking to add more expert opinions soon. Its been a slow process getting it off the ground but now that the Solar-UMPC tour is finished, I'll be working on it a bit more. Keep an eye on it for user-targeted recommendations.
Technorati Tags:
umpc,
htc shift
Your productivity UMPC toplist. Sept 2007.
Posted on 10 September 2007, Last updated on 22 May 2015 by Steve Paine
Edit: I want to make it clear that this is a list based around the HTC Shift customer. Its not a general list covering all ultra mobile PC customer types. Sorry I didn’t make that clearer in the article below. Chippy.
Last Saturday was the point at which I’d gathered enough information about the HTC Shift to form a decision about the current state of the ultra mobile PC market. Thanks to Kaz911 we got the official specs and some new information direct from HTC. For most people it wasn’t the best news though. 800×480 doesn’t represent the best 7″ screen resolution. The Windows Mobile component turned out to be nothing more than a modem and email client and the 2 hours battery life was quite a shocker although if the battery is small, as I suspect it is, its probably quite an efficient device. When all’s said and done, the HTC shift is still a great bit of design and represents what I believe is one of the best form factors possible for mobile computing. The 800×480 screen is no worse than most UMPCs and the Windows Mobile component (or whatever they’ve got running on the 400Mhz Qualcomm CPU) was something that I was never really interested in. We also need to see about battery life. I would be surprised is the HTC marketing people are being cautious about the battery life claims but I guess its a remote possibility. Whichever way you cut it though, the HTC Shift doesn’t look likes its going to be the de-facto leader in the ultra mobile PC market. There are, as ever, issues to consider and to weigh-up against your own requirements. What I’ve done here is gathered some thoughts on the top contenders for a [edit: productivity] ultra mobile PC purchase today and tried to highlight the good and bad to help you make the decision that I know you’re wanting to make before Christmas closes in and the credit card fills up!
I’ve cut the list down to the following devices which represent the best of the UMPCs aiming at the same market as the HTC Shift. That’s basically users looking for mobility, mobile connectivity, productivity and style at a competitive price. The pricing and availability is U.S. focused.
You can analyse more detailed specifications with this interactive comparison table.
For me, the HTC Shift still represents a great ultra mobile PC but with one major failure. The design and HSDPA capability are class-leading but its only good if you can handle that 2 hours battery life. Its not that the device is inefficient, its just that HTC appear to have chosen not to put a big battery in it. (I’m still waiting for confirmation on the battery capacity.) One year ago this would have been an acceptable battery life but today, when we have devices hitting the 4 hours mark and beyond, its not at all acceptable. Battery life is the number 1 complaint about UMPCs and rightly so. Even if you have the best device in the world in your hands, its worth nothing when the battery has run out. But its not just the Shift that suffers from the problem. The Fujitsu has the same issue. The OQO model 02 too. Manufacturers chose to include small batteries. A battery life issue applies to the Vye/Kohjinsha device too although in this case it looks like an inefficient design rather than a small battery. If you’re prepared to take a weight and size hit, you can double the battery capacity. The Q1P, surprisingly, with its old Pentium-M isn’t the worst option when it comes to battery life and the Sony UX, presumably because of its tiny screen, returns a very respectable 2.5-3hours from its Core Solo CPU. For 3hours+, and this is where my personal choices really start, there is only one solution and that’s the Q1 Ultra.
Its not all about battery life though and that’s why I’ve highlighted where I think these devices fit best. DO you need productivity, all-round usage or just pure mobility?
Devices I considered for the list but didn’t quite make it for one reason or another are: Fujitsu P1610. Slightly expensive but potentially more productive than any of the devices listed above. Flybook V33i/V5 again, expensive. Similar features to the P1610. Q1b HSDPA (where available) my personal choice as a mobility device. My feeling is that a mobile device isn’t mobile until its connected via a cellular data network. Battery life and price also advantages on the Q1b. Packard Bell/Everex Well priced and productive. Not leading-edge designs or features. There are other choices but I wouldn’t put them in the productivity category and remember that this list is just my opinion anyway. You WILL have different weightings on the features that you require so feel free to add them in the comment below so that we can all benefit from the additional thoughts.
Did I miss anything? Was it helpful? Or has it messed up your ultra mobile PC toplist even more? ;-) Oh, speaking of toplists, I’ve been working in the background on a new UMPC-Toplist blog. [RSS feed] I’m trying to build up a list of top-three UMPCs for different user types and will be looking to add more expert opinions soon. Its been a slow process getting it off the ground but now that the Solar-ultra mobile PC tour is finished, I’ll be working on it a bit more. Keep an eye on it for user-targeted recommendations.
Technorati Tags: umpc, htc shift
