We get a lot of emails highlighting ‘new’ products that turn out to be re-badged versions of devices we already have in the database so when I saw a recent email highlighting the Wibrain and Aigo models from HightonUMPC I politely responded with a ‘thank-you. We’ve covered these already’ and thought nothing of it. They wrote back fairly swiftly to highlight that 4 products in their range are actually from their own designs. Sure enough it looks like Highton ultra mobile PC do actually make their own UMPCs! Details of […]

There have been rumors flying about for a while now that the X70 UMPC [#2 in our charts today] includes the voice-capable version of the Huawei 3G modem so when Viliv sent me a replacement for my pre-production X70 sample the first thing I did was to check the 3G hardware and software. Sure enough the installed software includes a phone dialer and the hardware is wired up to the mic and speakers. It’s a phone! Video demo below…

Be careful how you read this story. Some people are taking it as meaning there will be no more Z-Series; possibly forgeting that there is a Z-series market outside the netbook market. Only last month, Intel told me that Menlow (the platform that uses the Z-Series CPUs) will continue alongside Moorestown. I understand that this is because Moorestown won’t initially support Windows products and Intel need an offering for the Windows-based ultra mobile market. A small market, yes, but a growing one. There’s one aspect that we need to consider […]

When we guessed the specs of the Crunchpad back in April we based it around what we thought was the best that could be achieved. It appears we may have got the pricing in the right ballpark but woah!, wait a minute, we’re now hearing that it will weigh a hefty 1.2kg. Take it from me, that is way too heavy for consumers. My Gigabyte Touchnote (similar specs to the Crunchpad) weighs the same and it’s not a device I use on the sofa or in the bed. Anything over […]

The Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M [details] is a great convertible netbook. I’ve been using one as my main laptop for nearly 4 months now and I’m very very happy with it. Of course I’ve retro-fitted one of the new Runcore Pro IV SSD drives and added a 3G modem which connects to the pre-wired antenna turning it into more than your average netbook but even without the SSD and 3G it’s a great convertible netbook. The only niggle I have is with the 3hr battery life. My Ultimate Netbook U20 battery […]

There’s a strange excitement over the Samsung Mondi [specifications]. It’s basically a PocketPC and yet that MID form factor, the hi-res screen and the slide out keyboard make it look incredibly appealing for mobile internet work. Jenn at Pocketables has just received hers and posted a set of unboxing pics. She’s happy with the build quality and pleased at the surprise set of car mount accessories. We’ll have to wait for her to dive into the software and give her feedback on the user experience, speed and of course, the […]

Kicking me back into life after 3 weeks away from my desk is this special Meet:Mobility podcast about the (possible) Apple Tablet. JKKMobile, Sascha, Warner, Xavier, Ben and Brad provided some really interesting thoughts and commentary on what the device might be like and where it will be targeted. At the end of the podcast I ask them all if they would buy one based on the current rumors and there’s a very very interesting response that tells me that the Apple Tablet is a hugely risky product! Meet:Mobility Round-Table […]

The UMPCPortal team is continuously monitoring the Internet for news and interesting articles about UMPC’s, MIDs and related technologies. As we find them, we add them to the middle column on the front page. Here are the links we added today along with our comments. Shared Using the Viliv S5 as a Tablet PC | MID Stories Hector Gomez talks about Tablet features and usability. Shared Samsung Mondi Mobile WiMAX Device First-impressions Shared BOLT Mobile Browser Served More Than 100 Million Pages Shared Report: Acer, Asus hold off on new […]