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 […]

I was just reading Kevin’s article about how big the netbook market has gotten in just a year. It’s really amazing to me how the category evolved and expanded. I have maybe once seen a ultra mobile PC in use in the wild. That was someone using a UX in a coffee shop. But that’s it. Now however, netbooks seem to be all over the place. In school I regularly see people typing away on Eees. Just last week when going through Airport security a woman behind me pulled an […]

Ahh life is great. I’m sitting out on the terrace overlooking Porto Rotondo in Italy with my laptop out and connected to the internet via speedy HSDPA. It doesn’t get much better than this. I decided to travel light and not take many things with me on this trip. Here’s what I packed into my Crumpler messenger bag: – Macbook Air – Huawei E170 HSDPA modem – iPod – Canon SD950 – Blackberry Curve – Power adapters And that’s it. Im actually quite proud of myself for not taking any […]