Looking for a second-hand UMPC? There’s quite a lot for sale in the forums classified section right now. Take a browse through. You’ll find everything from an Everun to a P1610. Is everyone buying HTC Shifts I wonder? Here’s a selection of the latest.

I’ve haven’t done a very good job of keeping up with the Eee PC news this week. Sorry everyone. It’s been a bit crazy here what with the S37 and OQO reviews and then the Easynote XS turning up (more about that later.) I’ve even got an Archos 605 on the way now. Somebody STOP me!

This evening I’ve had a chance to sit down and read through some of the early Eee PC reviews that are coming out. Is the battery life really 3.5 hours? How bright is the screen? What’s the keyboard like? These are questions I have in my mind. Of course, I’ve bought one to test but its always a worthwhile exercise to see what other people are writing. Especially as I’ve got an estimated 3 weeks wait until it gets here. [If anyone knows of a way to get one quicker, please let me know.]

The 4G is the one that seems to be shipping at the moment in the US (and likely to be the one first to ship in other parts of the world.) and here’s a run-through of significant comments by reviewers. If you know of any other full reviews, please let me know and I’ll add them to the Eeepc link database.

Someone has just sent me an email asking me if I get paid for doing reviews on UMPCPortal.

I was surprised to get the question to be honest and it made me wonder how many other people might think the same. I’ve never been paid to do a review on UMPCPortal. In fact in many cases I actually put  money forward to buy a device so that I can review it.

For example, tomorrow I will be handing over 600 Euros for one of only ten Packard-Bell Easynote XS UMPC’s that turned up in Holland this week. I’ll be driving up to the Dutch border, meeting DaveW, a member in the forums here, in a car park and exchanging cash for the hardware. Hopefully we’ll have time for a coffee and a chat before the Politie nab us.

Nope, there’s no paid-for reviews here. But thanks for the question Mr C.

P.S. I’ll be online from about 2200 CET tomorrow (Sat) in the UMPCPortal ‘studio‘ where I’ll be unboxing and abusing all 1.2Ghz of the poor victim. Feel free to join into the chat session. Last weeks was fun…despite getting caught with a UMPC on my belt!

This might be of interest to some UMPCPortal visitors. I’ve just finished a two-part article on where I think mobile Internet devices are going to fit into the UMPC and smartphone market. I’ve thrown away the Intel definition of ‘MID’ and taken it from a wider angle…

“From a technical angle there’s nothing much new there and although we could argue about x86 and RISC processors, benchmark scores and battery capacity until we’re blue in the face there really is no fixed technical specification. The ‘complete product’ is far more important to consumers than a list of specs.”

“Mobile Internet Devices are all about ‘consumerising’ computers and smartphones and using the Internet connected browser/application to ‘facilitise’ exciting and compelling ‘features.’ Hardware manufacturers have a lot to gain along with large customer-base Internet sites and Internet advertising agencies. The market has already started but 2008-2010 should see the results of a huge amount of development work that is already going on in the background.”

Mobile Internet devices. What and Why? Pt1 of 2.

Mobile Internet devices. What and Why? Pt.2 of 2

I have a feeling that this title is going to be used again and again so I’ve numbered it! James Kendrick reports on a new set of Terms and Conditions that Verizon has just put out for its EVDO unlimited data customers. The plan includes 5GB of data but the original plan included some very tight rules. From ArsTechnica: the EVDO service is “unlimited” only for certain things. Those things are spelled out in the user agreement, and include “(i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access […]

James Kendrick has had a very good stab at identifying some common types of mobile device users over at jkOnTheRun today. He lists 6-types of user that he has refined through his experience with mobile devices and the large mobile user-base he has come into contact with over the years. He has the Email consumer, the Information consumer, the Information creator, the Professional information creator, the Professional mobile worker and the Professional writer. James has matched some device categories to the users too.

I would add ‘mobile media creators’ into the list. I tend to agree with Richard Brown when he talks about the new-wave of mobile media creators and editors that take images, audio and video and process them on the spot to capture a moment. What did I call it before..ah yes, ‘On-The-Spot Creativity.’ There’s aren’t many people that do it though and most attempts, including my Solar UMPC tour, are just tests and demonstrations of the capability but we are definitely starting to see moblogging and similar media creativity taking off. I would also change the ‘Email consumer’ to ‘Internet consumer’ in-order to include the growing use in mobile Internet activity which includes presence, messaging, browsing, geo-info and very importantly, searching. For me, this is one of the most exciting areas as it includes mobile Internet devices.

What I don’t see are many mentions of UMPCs, which begs the question – What sort of user uses a UMPC?

Camelback mountain, nearly as big as the tallest mountain in England, sits in the middle of a city in the middle of the desert. How on earth did that get there? Strange but fun. Thoughtfix took advantage of it the other day and put his mobile blogging kit to the test. The result is really good. I should know, I tried a similar thing at -5 degrees with a Kohjinsha SA1.

Blogger’s page worked perfectly, as did YouTube. I wasn’t able to Shozu upload the video as it was 13 megs and Shozu caps off at 10. I copied the video to the N810 and then uploaded it. It went across the Bluetooth link twice. I wish I could have avoided that, but I wasn’t able to use the Bluetooth phone browser as a source on the YouTube upload page. The upload was the longest wait (I didn’t time it) but at that point in the hike I NEEDED the break.

Its an interesting two-device combination. A smartphone and a MID. Both based on ARM architecture. Thoughtfix is planning to use it for reporting on-the-go at CES. Now that could be a lot harder than camelback. Both on the kit and on the legs!

Thoughtfix: Hike up Camelback

In part 1 of this overview of my thoughts about the mobile Internet device market, I talked about what a MID is in technical terms and what it is to end-users. The mid is the ‘complete Internet device product’  that’s going to enable mobile Internet features through the Internet connected browser facility. Lets take a look at it from the other side now. A good concept is worth nothing if it’s of no value to the manufacturer or reseller. Advantages for the manufacturer. For OEMs and resellers the mobile Internet […]