Those keen chaps at Mobilx have come up trumps for UMPCPortal again. Not only did they ship out the Everun HSDPA kit and Novatel Ovation HSUPA modem in super-quick time but now they’re offering us all a 5% discount on products from their online shop. Bravo!

I’ve been given 50 coupons that can be redeemed for 5% discount up until the end of the year and all you need to do to get one is to log-in (registration required) to this forum thread, vote in the poll and leave a message. Don’t forget to leave a message! After 3 days or 50 responses, whichever comes first, I’ll draw a line and send the coupons out via the registered email address. The coupon code must be quoted when ordering and is redeemable on any item at Mobilx. Not just UMPCs!

Here are some the UMPC-related goodies that they have available at the moment but there are many more available.

Mobilx are based in the EU but can ship worldwide and having been at the receiving end of their service I can definitely recommend them. Many thanks to Mobilx.hu for this offer.

I really like this modular screen idea and it’s been one that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. The report talks about a combination keyboard and screen that can be combined with an iMate smartphone to provide a full-screen experience. A bit like a notebook PC without the PC. It could be super-thin, portfolio-sized and if it houses one of those fantastic 1024×600 screens from Samsung and a decent keyboard I’m sold already! Even better would be a little dock where you could fold out a keyboard and […]

Frank, AKA Ctitanic, has had a Raon Digital Everun for the last week and has been teasing us with images and videos. The full review is up now though and he seems quite impressed. Its not the device for him but I pretty much agree with him that the Everun makes a good pocket PC replacement.  He has positive comments about the build quality, screen and he, quite rightly, highlights that although it is one of the lowest performing CPU’s on the market, the complete package is surprisingly fast.

More info and links to reviews available on the Everun product page.

This is a fun read and all about mobile Internet. DannyO writes about his experiences with the Nokia N800 in his tour van. It’s smaller and lighter than any ultra mobile PC I’ve played with, which is a huge plus in my corner of our ultra cramped minivan.  The Linux based OS and all of the open source applications more than meet my addiction-like need to tinker with things.  The development efforts by third parties have made the N800 capable of most of the things for which I needed the […]

You’ve probably read about the trial that Reuters did with an N95-based kit for mobile journalists. I think CNet news were the first to post about it but the detailed info is in the Reuters MoJo (mobile journalism) page. Its a great idea.

Its not unlike my own mobile journalism kit (an early version is shown to the right) although I decided to use a UMPC as the processing engine for far, far better flexibility due to the increased processing power and application base. I was using a low-end Kohjinsha SA1 that gave me 4 hours of use. Adding a power-pack expanded that to well over 10 hours of live use.

There’s a few problems I see with this Nokia based kit. Firstly, Where’s the optical zoom? If you’re in any sort of press situation a 10x optical zoom with good optics is a must-have. Secondly, there’s no editing capability here. It’s all about sending raw video and text back to base where it can be edited up. That’s a traditional journalism process but certainly not how I work and how I think independent journalists will work in the future. I prepare rich and final-copy posts direct on the UMPC which can be sent straight to the publishing medium, not via an editor. Finally, there’s no substitute for having a PC with you, especially when its a laptop. As many of us with Q1 organiser packs have found out, a separate keyboard is a pain to use unless you have a table and when you’re out in the field, there’s rarely that facility available. The laptop PC gives you flexibility, a much more comfortable PPI (pixels per inch,) a better overview of photo image quality and access to many many options for editing text, images and video while running messaging programs, VPN software and even live streaming software. The keyboard on a PC doesn’t rely on 2 AA-type batteries either! The package is nice but my feeling is that a PC-based system is much much better for a richer delivery.

I like the look of the microphone though. I’ve tried twice to buy a decent mic but keep buying the wrong thing. This Sony ECMMS907 looks like a good tip. I think I’ll have to invest in one for next years CeBIT reporting kit. I also need a camera that will record VGA straight to MPEG-4 format on an SD card. Anyone got any tips?

VIA Pocketables

Oh we do love to play with that companies name in news headings don’t we. The opportunities are endless!!

Pepper Computer have been somewhat quiet recently. We’ve seen them showing off new user interfaces on Pepper Desktop 4 and even working with Canonical but when it comes to the Pepper Pad hardware, there has been very little official response to worried users in the Pepper forum. Many people had suspected that the company was in trouble and it appears to be true. Read on for the full story.

Staying on top of news from multiple web sites is hard work. Keeping on top of 20, 30, 50 websites requires using RSS feeds. When you’re reading 100+ feeds, you need to be using the the best tools available and using every spare moment of time. Google Reader is pretty much the tool of choice for most heavy RSS feed readers. Its fast, has keyboard controls and has a great user interface. Combine Google Reader with a handheld Internet PC and things get really interesting. You can read feeds in places you never thought it was possible. After months of pairing down my feed list I’m actually starting to add them again.

I’m using a UMPC (Suprise suprise from the editor of UMPCPortal!) which has an 800×480 4.8″ screen, weighs just 500g (just over 1lb) has a bright touch screen, 4 hours browsing battery life, ssd hard drive, auto rotation, 7.2mbps HSDPA connectivity, a 6-second start-up time and a keyboard exactly where you need it. Its the Everun of course. (I promise I will stop posting about it soon. Its beginning to sound like EverunPortal.com around here!) Here’s a quick video anyway.

This is relatively old news I’m afraid. I just didn’t get round to posting the individual items last week so here’s a round-up of the UX490 news.

Remember that the UX490 is the new core 2 solo version of the Sony UX UMPC. Don’t ask me how many versions there have been of the Sony UX because its just been impossible to keep up in the product database. Sony don’t help anyone by making the whole buying choice so difficult do they. And then, just when you think you’ve made a choice, along comes a rumor of a new device! Anyway, here’s the latest…

First-up, news from MicroPCTalk about the UX490 being available at Amazon.com for $2499. Its got the 48GB flash hard drive, the AT&T cellular option and that brand new Core 2 Solo processor at 1.2Ghz. There should be no problem getting a good, docked, desktop experience out of it.

Secondly Wired seem to be reporting that the Sony UX490 is coming to Europe. Which is strange because the source of the story doesn’t mention anything about EU. MicroPCTalk are the source again. I guess someone got their wired crossed!

You know, while I don’t like the design of the UX (screen res too high, relatively chunky device, poor keyboard) I respect the way that they are able to take notebook CPU’s and squeeze them into a UMPC form factor. I just wish they’d make a slick 7″ touchscreen TZ-style notebook. I’d be all over it!

I’ve added the UX490N to the database and I’ll be adding news into the database as and when it comes along.