Gigabyte have sent us a press release detailing the launch of three ultra mobile devices that will span across the ultra mobile segment. The smallest, the MID M528 will have a 4.8″ screen, include GPS, a conferencing camera and weigh only 340 grams. No images of the device are provided with the press release I have here but I’m almost 100% certain it will be the same as the device spotted at CES. (See Pocketables for more images.) The OS is unknown at the moment.

The second, one we’ve also seen before, is the M704. There are no details in the press release but lets assume it hasn’t changed much since they leaked it a while back. [specifications]

Finally, theres an unknown ‘3C’ (insider talk for Computers/Communications/Consumer) product called the M700. Its a 7″ device with GPS and Express card slot.

“The GIGABYTE M700 is a brand new versatile 3C product with a minimalist and white stylish design in appearance. Its 7” LED backlight screen with only 650g in weight and built-in Express card slot can support 3.5G and WiMAX. The unique dual-camera design not only offers a display for video communication with friends but also allows users to share image files. Additionally, the products integrates GPS that provides an innovative operating model on the control panel and powerful multimedia functions, allowing users to enjoy a versatile array of unique features and experience the unprecedented convenience of technology.”

All three devices will be demonstrated at CeBIT next week.

M528 – What we know so far is in the database. Check out the video and note that the Gigabyte MID seems to be the same as the Aigo MID.

Info on the M704 is here.

Via: PR email.

How many marketing people does it take to launch a product name? Two, one to think of the name and one to create the countdown timer.

One week before CeBIT, Intel have launched a new blog and are teasing us with the announcement of the brand name for Silverthorne. I can think of more exciting things to count down to but as I’ll probably be in the vicinity of the people making the announcement next Monday, I’m happy to play along!

More importantly, a new blog has been launched and Josh Bancroft (Intel, Tiny Screenfuls) has kicked it of with a fresh thought about the Mobile Lifestyle, about hostage time (I won’t be talking about that in the airport waiting line) and his cargo pants! The countdown time appears in the second post. Any guesses on the brand name for the Menlow platform?

Mobiity @ Intel blog.

It was almost exactly a year ago when we heard about the Porient H9 ‘UMPC’ It was an ARM-based Linux device and didn’t exactly set the UMPC world on fire. Maybe the H12 will do better. It certainly looks better!

The only specs we have to go on at the moment are:

4.8″ TFT touch screen

GPS built-in

I guess we’re looking at a rendering here so I won’t take too much from the fact that it appears to be running Safari (I think) in a very high resolution. I will say that it looks difficult to operate though. Could it be made for a new touch-only linux distro? We’ll have to wait until 14th April to find out.

 Porient H12 UMPC

Last year was exciting, this year is going to be an absolute stonker! CeBIT-fever has already started as PR companies across the world waiting for the perfect moment to drop The Leak! It’s possible that has already happened in the UMPC world. It doesn’t matter if HP aren’t at CeBIT because they only have to drop a few carefully crafted lines of text later in the week and they’ve won the UMPC-sector CeBIT PR prize! Putting the PR moments to one side though, what have we got to look forward to from Ultra Mobile PC businesses? At the top of the list are Intel who have some of their ultra mobility team there and will surely be showing off the MIDs. They have a stand tour, keynote address and a mobility conference planned. This alone makes it very very exciting but there’s a lot more to look forward to.

UMPCPortal will be there all week from Monday to Sunday and we’ll be teaming up with the eagle-eyed video-meister himself, JKK of JKKMobile. I have finally been accepted into the German Journalist Organisation so press-day and press events won’t be out of bounds and these start on Monday. I may go to the Microsoft presentation by Steve Balmer at 10am but unless I’m sure of a decent dose of UMPC action, i’ll probably avoid the others and just join the press booth tours later in the day from Intel and Asus) On Tuesday we have press events from Intel, ASUS and AMD. On Wednesday we might listen to what Acer has to say and on Thursday, there’s an important Intel Mobility conference to attend. Kornel will arrive on Thursday and be the man on the floor until the conference finishes.

All my reporting activity will be through the front page on UMPCPortal with image uploads going into the gallery beforehand. I may live-blog from a few press conferences but I know Engadget will be there and as they are the kings of live blogging it’s probably best to keep a window open on their up-to-the-second coverage. I’ll try and pick out and expand on the UMPC and MID-focused elements. I will be twittering too but if you’re logged-in you can see this on the UMPCPortal front page (top right) Alternatively, just ‘follow’ me on twitter. It will be a very busy event and I doubt there will be a second to spare but if you do have any tips or requests, don’t hesitate to use the contact form and i’ll get instantly notified.

The Eee PC 2G Surf isn’t just a 2GB version of the 4G as some marketing might have you believe. No, its quite the cut-down, locked-down mini-laptop too. No Web-cam, soldered ram, missing applications and slower CPU! Jenn, of pink 2G valentines gift fame, has decided to return her Eee PC as a result of the differences.

10 reasons not to buy the Asus Eee PC 2G Surf

One of the cheapest UMPCs currently available is getting cheaper. According to Aving, Wibrain will be making a version of the B1H [full review] available with Ubuntu Linux….and a bold ‘don’t take me into the office’ red and black color theme.

Specifications aren’t clear but it does look like it will be available with a 1Ghz VIA C7. Prices for the western world aren’t known yet but expect a reduction on the current $699 entry price.

We’ve got a request in with Wibrain for confirmation on this and info about the Ubuntu build. Will it be Ubuntu Mobile, due to launch in April, I wonder.

More Wibrain info here.

Source (Aving)

For more information on buying a UMPC,
take a look at the UMPCPortal buyers guide.

A few weeks ago I had an email from Derrick asking for help on choosing a device. His problem is that he doesn’t have much time to research the sector but know’s what he wants. He list his requirements and summarised by saying ‘James Bond style.’ I couldn’t resist!

Great site and very informative, i wish i had time to dive into devices, especially now in this tech advancing age. I am currently looking to purchase any device that provides or at least comes close to providing the following criteria:
Note: Compact discreetly portable with the most gadgets and accessories – james bond style if you will ;-)

1. Camcorder
2. PDF Reader (mostly Adobe created)
3. videos, mp3’s, video games etc
4. Lots of memory and CPU
5. Browse internet
6. develop simple software scripts

I would like it for the following reasons (remember, it will mostly be used during travelling):

1. To read pdf documents
2. watch movies (for my kids ;-D)
3. play video games (for my kids ;-D)
4. write code (winbatch, vista cert appz etc)
5. Record video and audio eg: family videos on the fly but in good quality for at least 1+ hours, use in court etc
6. i need alot of storage space and the fastest CPU and processing i can get
7. it needs to be conveniently, discretely portable and light weight
Thus far, I have looked at the Archos 705 wifi and i am not certain it can camcord – but the accessories list for the 404 camcorder states that the helmet cam is compatible with the 705 – does this mean it takes video to???
I hope you can aid me in this search and I thank you for your time and patience.

Derrick

[article continues…]

I get very frustrated at situations like this. You have a perfectly capable UMPC built on an energy-efficient platform and then the manufacturer chooses to completely screw it up by installing heavyweight cycle-sapping crapware that absolutely ruins the experience for the user. In this cases its the R2E. It’s one of the first ‘first impressions’ to appear on the Internet and the user experience feedback is frightening. I know from experience that even Vista can work smoothly on the Stealey platform and I’m sure that, just like was possible with the R2H it can be cleared up and vastly improved but it shouldn’t be like that. When will manufacturers learn that early first-impressions reviews in the Internet are extremely important. They get linked (as I am doing here) and picked up by Google as important reference documents that can make or break the early-adopter opinions and sales which can have an significant knock-on effect into mainstream sales.

First, it is loaded with crap, you have to uninstall for hours, it takes forever to boot, it’s just dead slow for most activities.

On the up-side, it looks like battery life has been improved over the R2H. Not too difficult in my opinion!

Nesse.net mini review.

More R2E info and links here.