UMPC Newsbytes.

I’m finally back at my desk after 11 days away and it’s time to clear out all those starred items that built up in my mailbox last week. In no particular order, here’s a text-only run-down of some items I wanted to comment on last week.

I’m waiting for final EU prices and specs on the touchscreen netbook, the Gigabyte M912. A demo device should be with us soon. Some pricing was leaked from Gigabyte (in dollars but its normal for a reseller to buy in dollars. Or at least it used to be!) and Pioneer Computers are also offering the same device under their own brand for an impressive 889 Oz Dollars. That’s about 550 Euros! As for the U.S. I see that GBM asked Gigabyte about U.S. availability and it seems it’s not going to be available. That’s a shame but I’m sure you’ll see the 912 at Dynamism and available through Conics, Direct From Japan just like the Kohjinsha SC3.  The 912 could make an interesting tablet PC alternative but there are a few issues about battery life (untested but should be 3hrs), weight (1.2kg) and size (slightly larger than an Eee 900) that might not make it the ideal UMPC. If the price is good though, it could shake-up the touchscreen market a bit and provide people with an interesting alternative to the run-of-the-mill netbooks.

News continues…

Another touchscreen mini-laptop, The Kohjinsha SC3 will be  released on the 11th July (Friday.) This looks like a more interesting product for the Ultra Mobile user. It’s much smaller and uses the Silverthorne/Poulsbo version of the Intel Atom processor. It has a swivel touchscreen as per previous Kohjinsha models and is said to be very efficient. Again, we have ordered one of these and expect it to arrive early next week. I’m looking forward to getting hands-on with one of the first Silverthorne-based devices.

Another mini PC based on Sivlerthorne is the Gigabyte M528 (Gigabyte seem to be picking some nice devices for their portfolio) It’s very close to availability now. Expansys had a demo version and made a video last week and we should also be getting hands-on with that demo device in the next few days. As usual, i’ll run a live session at UMPCPortal/live in the evening of the day that I get any of the above devices.

Impressed with Atom video performance? I am. I did a few tests on the Medion Akoya over the weekend and I was very pleasantly surprised to see the device breezing through a 6mbps WMV HD file with under 60% CPU utilisation. Very impressive and definitely a step forward from any ultra mobile PC device I’ve tested over the last 2 years. The Q1 Ultra Premium and Sony UX range are the only mobile devices that can beat it but they cost 2-4 times as much! As far as I know, WMV is processed by the CPU on the Atom platform (the 945 chipset doesn’t have any video playback acceleration built-in) so unfortunately it still doesn’t give us any solid info about how video playback will perform on the Silverthorn/Poulsbo device which has WMV acceleration in the chipset.

There were a few Acer Aspire One stories. The article at EeePCNews.de refers to a set of photos which include some images of the Linpus Lite user interface. On first-glance it looks very polished. Mobile01 got hold of one too and have a good set of pics. Shame there’s no Bluetooth in this model. People are also commenting on the glossy screen which could cause problems with reflections. (via) Finally on the Aspire One, Blogeee (where are they getting all these devices!) have a report and a stack of photos and videos on the Aspire One. Oh wait, one more thing, NetbookMag.com have a review video of the Aspire One with a 6-cell battery. Claimed 7-hours battery life and 1kg!!!

Advent has launched a version of the device that also appears as the MSI Wind and Medion Akoya Mini. I’m not sure who’s manufacturing these devices. I suspect it’s Inventec but I can’t get it confirmed at the moment. The Advent brand is use in the UK and appears at PC World for a better price than I picked up the Medion Akoya Mini last week. Thanks to David and Mark for the emails about this. I’ll put it in the database.

Eee PC 903, 904, 16G, 900 3.5G ! ARRRGH! Too much info. Laptopmag (get rid of those horrible full-screen ads guys) talk about an Eee PC 900, with 16G….and an Atom processor. How confusing is that? Another item about this strange Eee PC at Liliputing. JKK reports too and gives a warning note about SSD speed. The 904, meanwhile, is a 900 XP HD in a 1000 chassis (according to a news item at The Register) giving the user a bigger keyboard.

I’ll try and get the database up to speed with the Eee 900 models but if it keeps changing like this, I just won’t be able to keep up!

Selling my Medion Akoya Mini. In about 3 weeks I’ll be selling the Medion Akoya Mini I bought. If there are any Germans here that want to buy it from me, let me know. Its been treated well. They are going for a 10-20% premium on Ebay but you can have it for 390 Euro, with the receipt and free DE delivery. If you’re interested, contact me.

Another Netbook item (isn’t it always?) comes from JKK. He’s completed the touchscreen mod that many were waiting for. The Eee PC 900 with touchscreen.

InformationWeek published a ultra mobile PC buyers guide but there’s a much better one here [plug plug] which will be updated to the 3rd edition in the next month. There’s a lot of re-writing going on with it!

We haven’t heard much about the HTC Shift for a while but it’s still interesting to read reports about it. Electronista have a detailed review and come to the much the same conclusion as we did. Slow Vista and battery life are the two big issues. Fingers crossed for an HTC Shift refresh sometime this year because a GPS upgrade isn’t going to be enough to change my mind!

So finally, to end this report, let me send thanks to Ben, Kornel and Thorsten for running the portal last week. You did a great job guys. Thanks also to everyone who sent tips.