Lets start this article with a poll. {democracy:4} If there’s one thing that always annoys me in the ultra mobile PC category, it’s a wasted chance. Be it poor design, poor software or poor hardware. If there’s one thing that annoys me more than that its when a company makes the same mistake twice. Even worse than that is when the device in question is high-quality in every other respect. Because of this I find the SC3 the most frustrating device I’ve ever owned. I want so much to love […]

Author: Hanno Zulla Original article appears on Hanno’s blog. Reprinted in full with permission. When it comes to portable electronic gadgets, there are three major annoyances. The three hour limit must fall Photo by AndyArmstrong There is an unwritten rule when designing portable computers: The battery will last three hours. Once technological advances allow the next generation to run longer – be it thanks to more efficient hardware or more powerful battery technology – the manufacturers decide to shrink the battery, capping the device back to the three hour limit. […]

It looks like MIDs are starting to move. There are already two Menlow based devices in the market in Japan, the Willcom D4 and the Kohjinsha SC3 (that I’m testing at the moment – more about that later.) and last night I read at UMPCFever in Hong Kong that the Aigo MID is launching on 08.08.08. That’s the first day of the Olympics. My guess is that the Lenovo device will launch then too as it appears to be part of an Olympic sponsorship agreement. Local price is going to […]

The small size of this surprised me more than usual! More informationon our SC3 info page.   Be sure to join me on umpcportal.com/live over the next hours (1900-2200 GMT) where I’ll be giving  overviews and demos of the device. The  chat  channel will be open for questions and I think JKK might pop in with a few Eees!

It arrived a few hours ago after a swift pass through customs over the weekend and it’s still sitting behind me, boxed and sealed. I’m very, very excited! The Kohjinsha SC3 will be the first retail device based on the new Intel Menlow platform that I’ve been able to test, and test it I will. Battery life, video performance, Vista performance, typing, GPS, ExpressCard capabilities and much more. It all starts today and for most of it, I’ll be live in the studio so you can join me for a […]

[This is the second in a series of 3 articles. See previous article here.] After more than 6 hours of learning, playing and testing on various devices, I’ve come to a decision about Opera 9.5. Beta. It’s technically a great browser with a very good user interface. Unfortunately though, there’s a core problem out there that’s out of Opera’s hands. Hardware. Opera does a good job but limited processing power and small screen sizes and resolutions hold it back from presenting a full Internet experience. In this review (video below) […]

The Willcom D4 and Kohjinsha SC3 devices, the first to run on the Intel MID platform (Menlow) are reaching peoples hands through importers now and I’m happy to be one of them. I have an SC3 sitting behind me, still sealed up, that i’ll take a closer look at later. If you’re tracking the Willcom device though, and many are due to its tiny size and Windows OS, you’ll want to check out this unboxing from Wow-Pow. There’s no real hands-on yet and no word from them on battery life, […]

This weekend I’ve had the chance to step back from UMPCs and test a top-end device from a mobile device category that started way back in the late 90’s. The iPaq 214, a Windows Mobile PocketPC. Also known as the iPaq 200,210, 211 and 212, it’s a recent update by HP and and attempt to squeeze what I suspect is the last from the PocketPC market, in the Enterprise segment. The reason I’ve got it is to evaluate Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta, to see how the Windows Mobile software and […]