This is a fairly wide-ranging overview of mobile Internet devices where I’ve taken my thoughts and my notes and formed them into a report. I’ve done it mainly for my own benefit because, I’m someone that has to write things down in black and white before I can develop a complete picture but I hope you get something out of it too! Feedback is more than welcome. Part 2 is also availble. ———————————————————————————- A mobile phone is a small, efficient comm’s device that can be carried 24/7. Its comes in […]

This is great. I’ve just sold the Nokia E90 and bang! up pops a rather significant firmware release that completely fixes the slow GPS lock issue and has the potential to speed it up significantly. I’ve been chatting to a few E90 owners and sure enough, the new firmware (7.40.1.2) has fixed the GPS slow-lock problem. There’s also some rumors that the FPU has been enabled which could speed up browser rendering times. Steve Litchfield has some more details news on the firmware upgrade on All About Symbian. Thanks to […]

The £350 UMPC that PC-World UK advertised for the shocking price of £600 has now come down in price. Its now being offered at £500. Only 42% more than the price shown at Packard Bell’s site. A bargain!

No link to PCWorld here but if you insist on going to PCworld’s website, check out UltraMobileLife or the original source, Pocket-Lint for the direct links.

There’s nothing better than a good podcast after you wake up to get you thinking in. Well, that and a nice cuppa cha! Reggie Suplido from InternetTabletTalk.com, Jonathan Greene from maemoapps.com and Daniel Gentleman (Thoughtfix) from TabletBlog, all N810 owners/testers have put their N810 thoughts together on target markets, applications, mapping and a whole load of interesting Internet tablet topics. Its an hour long but chock-full of good stuff. Access the podcast here. View details of all Ultra Mobile devices in the ultra mobile PC product database. From N800 to […]

Here’s one for all you US/Canada-based truckers out there! Gotta copy on that good buddy?

The Audiovox Anywhere will serve as a navigation device in the daytime and, when you’ve parked up for the evening you can use it as your Internet-connected PC and media player. The Audiovox Anywhere is "…the only Ultra Mobile PC product that gives the user GPS navigation, Bluetooth and Windows, in a package smaller than a conventional laptop." Say Audiovox. Its a debatable claim but we’ll let it go.

From a technical angle, its a VIA C7-M based UMPC with full navigation suite and car mount and it retails for $1500. I hope Audiovox don’t try and market it alongside $300 dedicated navigation units or the Nokia N810 because they are going to have a hard time explaining why it costs 5 times as much! Like I said, its probably one for truckers, coach drivers and taxis.

The companies product web page is here but the detail tabs don’t seem to work for me. More technical specs and links for this item are in the UMPCPortal product page for the Uren, which is the same device under a different brand. See you on the flip-side. I’m gone.

There’s nothing better than a good podcast after you wake up to get you thinking in. Well, that and a nice cuppa cha!

Reggie Suplido from InternetTabletTalk.com, Jonathan Greene from maemoapps.com and Daniel Gentleman (Thoughtfix) from TabletBlog, all N810 owners/testers have put their N810 thoughts together on target markets, applications, mapping and a whole load of interesting Internet tablet topics. Its an hour long but chock-full of good stuff.

Access the podcast here.

You’ll often hear me talking about ‘wifi-on browsing time’ when I talk about battery life on UMPCs. Its a reference point I use because its 1) a common scenario and 2) A fairly heavy drain on battery life. In some cases the Wifi accounts for 20% of the battery drain. For example, the Vye V37 that I recently tested is a 2-hour device with the Wifi on but goes to 2.5 hours with WiFi off.

Atheros obviously know about this problem

and have just released the AR6002 to address it. Its a low-power Wifi chip that uses, and I find this very cool indeed, near-zero power on standby which means you can leave it on all the time. Due for early 2008, it brings the sub-4W umpc closer to reality.

More details at LinuxDevices

It looks like versions of the Arima ULV650 (OEM) are filtering through to markets now (wow, that took some time) and the pricing has changed somewhat since I was first introduced to the idea of paying 1000 Euro for it. (Medion appear to have given up with their RIM 1000 version)

The AHTEC Tiny is selling for 699 Euro which, I have to say, isn’t that bad although when you’ve added sales tax, it brings it up to 800 Euro which takes some of the shine off. If it’s the same device as I’ve tested, the keyboard and built quality isn’t top notch but you’re getting a 4-hour 1.2Ghz (up from the original 1Ghz) VIA-C7-based UMPC with what looks like GPS and TV modules included. It has only got 768MB of RAM so I expect its running Windows XP as opposed to Vista which is a bonus in my book. The device isn’t available at present but they say (in translation) that it’s expected soon.

Another version of this device, the Gigabyte U60, is marked up as being available on the 11th November at Expansys. This one is only showing as a 1Ghz version and the price is somewhat higher but they do appear to have a range of accessories including an 84 Euro docking station. I’m wondering what Arima have been doing all this time as I tested a production sample of the Medion version back in May and according to a previous news item, the Gigabyte U62 should be shipping by now.

I’ll see what I can find out.

Via