Craig Pringle is testing a Fujitsu P1610. No, this isn’t a new version, its the ‘old’ P1610 that he’s decided to trial-swap with a friend for his his Q1P. This could be an interesting one to watch as the P1610 is, rightly so, a very popular size and form factor. Its got a touch-typing capable keyboard, nice large screen and resolution and a quality build. Its expensive (watch out for RAM upgrade costs too!) but the form factor and size could be perfect for people looking for a ‘pro’ Ultra Mobile convertible notebook. It also comes with HSDPA built-in. Will Craig give up his Q1 for a P1610?

More info on the Fujitsu P1610 here.

I’m not sure if its quite right to be excited about a Beta launch or if, in fact, beta is the new ‘full-release’ but whatever, Canola2 Beta is being launched today at 10pm Brazilian time. Unfortunately, I’ll be in bed as it will be 0200 here but I’m sure Thoughtfix and others will be jumping on it within minutes of its release and I’ll be checking it out as soon as my eyes open in the morning!

As well as a slick interface, Canola2 will bring some extra media features to the Nokia Internet Tablets:

• UPnP media browsing – Browse shared media on yout local network
• Podcast tracking and download
• Photocast – Track and view Flickr and other photo feeds
• Plugin support / Open development support.

As for media support, I’m reading that its going to improve the range of media types that are supported. For more discussion on the Canola2 beta, there’s a nice big forum thread over at InternetTabletTalk.

As you may have seen, I’m testing a Nokia N810 right now. Its an amazing bit of hardware and it sits right on the border where Intel, VIA and ARM are patrolling to stop devices entering their respective sectors! I think the uPOP u48S might have just succeeded in crossing the line though. Look at this thing! The uPOP media player is a 4.8" 800×480 resolution device running WinCE5.0 and overlay software. It has a 30 (or 60GB) hard drive, slider keyboard and sub 400gm weight. There’s no word on […]

Fun, pocketable, good looking, easy to use. I’m loving the N810 so far. Really loving it. Its such a…..gadget! The unboxing was great, the device feels good, the slider works smoothly, the metal finish looks and feels good. Nice to see a car holder in the package, multi-lingual instructions. GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi. SIP phone calls worked on second attempt at configuration (incoming too.) I’m very excited about the N810! But there’s a long way to go in my testing. I can already see that web browsing is much much slower […]

Saying negative things about Apple products on a blog is always a risky business but what the hell, its always worth a good discussion so I’m going to give you my ‘first hands on’ thoughts on the iPhone. Specifically, I’m going to ignore the phone and media component and just talk about the browser. There’s a couple of video’s below too, that show my first ever hands-on and a speed-test scenario with a UMPC. To start with, let me say that the iPhone is probably the best consumer mobile Internet […]

In my daily trawl of the Austrian/German price comparison site, Geihzals.at (not de!) the other day, I saw that one retailer was offering the R2H for 599 Euros. That offer is gone now but others retailers have dropped the price well below the 800 Euros mark which indicates some re-pricing by the distributor. Asus have dropped the R2H completely from their global website so it looks like we won’t see much more of the R2H (watch out for bargains on Woot!)  The reason is that the R2E is coming. ASUS are launching a brand new shiny 2nd-gen UMPC.

Or are they? Lets take a close look at this because either a cheeky marketing manager somewhere is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with a ‘new’ specification or the specifications themselves are wrong.

In Italy, where the R2E launched back in Oct, you can find the R2E-BH030E model, with HSDPA, for 1100 Euro. It’s looking like a pretty good deal. Possibly the cheapest HSDPA-capable PC in the world.  But if we look at the German specs, the R2E-BH035E is being sold for a similar price without HSDPA. What! You’re getting a slower processor, a slower operating system only a small bump in memory, maybe some battery life improvements, a rumoured improvement on the GPS and an extra, high capacity battery. Is that really worth a price bump of 50% from 800 to 1200 Euros? I think not. Something is wrong here and if its a marketing play, i’ll do my best to highlight it because hiking-up the price from 800 to 1200 Euros for no good reason is just not cricket.

Check back for more info as I’ve got queries out with my contacts. In the meantime, take a look at the specs and keep fingers crossed for better battery life, LED backlighting, improved GPS and HSDPA!

Update: We’ve put together a preview of the Cloudbook based on our experience with the EU version of this device that should be useful to those considering it.

So, after all that waiting it seems that Everex are going to release both version of the Nanobook reference platform. The one with the modules and the one without – the same model that Packard Bell are using. Yup, the one that I bought and reviewed last month! First of all, here’s the news from LinuxDevices. Linuxdevices? Yes, LINUXDevices because it looks like they will release at least one of them with the gOS (not google!) Linux OS installed.

I’m sure we’re going to hear within days (keep an Eye on VIA-related blogs – UltraMobileLife and BrownKnows) about the final specs but one thing seems certain, the Cloudbook will launch on 15th Jan at a $400 price point. That’s extremely competitive and obviously aimed right into Eee PC territory.

LinuxDevices are also reporting on a rumoured ‘Developer’ version with touchscreen and ‘some kind of expansion interface for modules that will include a webcam, cordless Skype phone, and retro LCD alarm clock module.’ which can only be the Nanobook we’ve seen before, also being launched by TGIC Digital in Korea.

As for the base ‘Cloudbook’ I can offer a whole gallery of images on it and if you want to know how it runs using XP, check out the

hands on and video review of the Packard Bell Easynote XS20 which is based on the same hardware.

Source: LinuxDevices.

I’m sure many people will know already but I feel I should pay some respects here. Marc Orchant died yesterday afternoon. The news is at the top of Techmeme. (I just went there to find out if there was any big news breaking and didnt have to use the scrollbar to find out this sad news.) He was a well-loved tech blogger and tablet PC user.

The sad news was reported by his close friend and colleague – Oliver Starr.

Out of respect for a fellow blogger I list links to so some of his work here. Its about the best thing I can do to highlight some of his good work. I’ve also made the headline positive for Google memory purposes.

Marc’s blog on Zdnet. ‘Office Evolution.’

The ‘All UMPC’ podcast that he made with James Kendrick soon after the Origami launch in 2006. I’m listening to it now.

I love this post. His last on Blognation just 10 days ago where he says good-bye to Facebook and clears out his profile. Facebook says ‘You have no friends’ Marc says ‘Wrong! I still have all my friends.’ Absolutely spot-on Marc.