There’s some news out this morning that Samsung will get into tablet PCs next year. They seem to forget that Samsung is already selling Tablet PC’s! I was going to write a short article moaning about the hype and the fact that this subject seems to come up every year but when I checked up on some Q1 Ultra prices I decided to do a promo piece instead. The Samsung Q1 Ultra, 7 inch Tablet PC with 5hr battery life, 1024×600 screen and weighing just 840gm is available for just £359 in the UK.
[Yes, this article is an infomercial now, I will get some money if you use this offer, but it’s a very good offer and comes completely unplanned.]
The Q1 Ultra is a 7 inch touchscreen tablet with integrated mini keypad, an excellent, bright, 1024×600 resistive touch screen, the 800Mhz Intel Stealey processor (comparable with a 1.3Ghz Atom) with the GMA950 GPU. There’s a web-cam, [note: no BT too] excellent stereo speakers, a stand, 40GB HDD and in this case, the XP Tablet Edition (Pro+Touch) operating system. Two years ago we were looking (and paying) about 1000 Euro for such a device. I bought one (why?) and even managed to upgrade to SSD and 3G making it a fantastic package. Even the battery life was good. At 5hrs with the extended battery, (7hrs quiet-state) it proved that Samsung had done an excellent engineering job. I would still be using mine today if I hadn’t blown it up in a solar charging experiment.
Really, honestly, I think the Q1 Ultra was the best tablet ultra mobile PC ever. Only the Viliv X70 beats it now.
I’m starting to sound like a QVC salesman now but you have to believe me when I say that I nearly spit my coffee all over the monitor when I saw it on sale at Expansys for 313 pounds (360 pounds inclusive tax 400 Euros today) with the 6-cell battery pack as standard. There don’t seem to be any ‘gotchas’ here at all. This is the full version of the Q1 Ultra.
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This is a great deal for Europeans and I encourage anyone who’s on the fence about a TabletPC to check this one out. The Q1 Ultra will work well on the sofa, in the office (second screen using Synergy is great) in the car (car mount is available) and should (I haven’t tested) work with Windows 7 tablet features. Jolicloud should install too. RAM can be upgraded to 2GB. It includes rotation for book reading (although the unit is a little heavy for that.)
The Q1 Ultra has been on the market for over 2 years now but it’s still a great device. I can’t say I’m not looking forward to a new Samsung Tablet PC but the Q1 Ultra is still a valid choice.
New article: Samsung 7" Tablet Available For £359. http://bit.ly/8Q858g
RT @umpcportal: New article: Samsung 7" Tablet Available For £359. http://bit.ly/8Q858g
Samsung Q1 Tablet PC für nur 359 Pfund ergattern. Ganz schönes #Schnäppchen im Vergleich zum Originial Preis von 1000Euro http://is.gd/5pVZl
RT @umpcportal: New article: Samsung 7" Tablet Available For £359. http://bit.ly/8Q858g
The Q1 Ultra is great. Although I sold mine to some dodgy web site guy in Germany!
It’s a very good price, especially as it has the 6 cell battery too. I’m half tempted to get one again. However my only problem with it was it had a fan. It wasn’t loud, but it ruined a few usage scenarios for me…
Picked up a used Q1U recently for $200. They are available for amazingly second hand prices, well worth it in comparison to brand new units of the same form factor. Can’t wait to see what Samsung has in store next…
So basically this is Q1U-EL XP model but with 6-cell battery? It’s a good price but this is clearing out old inventory right? I would really like to see even small product refresh. Atom processor but with good graphics not GMA500 like so many cheap netbook these days. Oh well.
Yes, it’s an older device and a refresh would be nice….unless you want that GMA950!
Bought this myself – only downs are no Bluetooth and no camera.
Great machine all the same!
Really no BT and Cam on this one?
I got my Q1 from Expansys yesyerday, but I’m not happy that although the unit is loaded with Windows XP, the MicroSoft authentication sticker on the case (under the battery) is for VISTA!
The missing cameras don’t bother me but he lack of the SD slot is a pain. Anybody know if it’s a matter of sourcing the correct SD card socket and soldering it on the baord, or would it require more than this?
Samsung Q1 Ultra is great. It really is one of the best kept secrets and I am surprised it isn’t more popular. In the past two years, I’ve used mine to draw almost 50 webcomics directly on the device, as well as edit many existing illustrations. Plus hours of browsing. What’s not to like, especially now that the price has come down?
Damn the U.S. store doesn’t have a similar price.
I keep checking ebay to see if the price gets down to $200 but they are holding around $500. I guess people still like the device.
Samsung 7″ Tablet Available For £359. | UMPCPortal – Ultra Mobile …: There's some news out this morning t.. http://bit.ly/4KF4Fv
They’re a bit heavy, considering you can get a Sony P for the same price on eBay, or an Aigo MID.
JKontherun showed a (rough and incomplete) port of Android x86 on it as well.
The things I’d really like to see for the Q1 series:
1) 5 row thumb keyboards, instead of 4 row … and put the cntrl button on the right thumb, not the left (or have 2 cntrl buttons).
2) Samsung is doing Android phones, why not an Android Q1? Whether it’s an Atom or ARM CPU, either way. (use the mouse/joystick button in place of a trackball; use the dpad as a dpad; might have to add home, menu, and back buttons, though)
3) A 9″ or 10″ screen version.
4) A PixelQi hybrid display.
5) Accelerometers for automatic screen rotation.
6) Built-in GPS/compass.
7) DVI-I out, instead of VGA
Combine all of those, along with the existing Q1 features of portrait camera (add a flash), maybe the chat cam, and the 3G module*, while keeping all of the other hardware ports and features, and I’d be highly interested. Esp. if it keeps the 3cell and 6cell battery options, but uses a nice ARM CPU (like the TI OMAP 3xxx at 1GHz).
(* especially with T-Mobile USA 3G as an option)
And, on the keyboard-less version, eliminate that huge ugly bezel area on the left and right sides (there’s no keyboard, so why keep it?).
Samsung should lose the awful keyboard. I have a Q1U that I picked up a few years ago.
The archoes 9, looks like a better deal on Expansys, its almost the same price, and alot more slick to look at. If the Archoes had better battery time i would be all over it.
If the Archos 9 ran the same version of Android that they put on the Archos 5, I’d be all over it. E-reader, Media Player, Android productivity device. Yup, I’d go there.
You can also get the NP-Q1 model–not quite as sexy, admittedly–on eBay for $400 (about GBP 250) including UPS ground shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Samsung-Q1-7-NP-Q1-Ultra-Mobile-PC-1GHz-1GB-60GB-WiFi_W0QQitemZ190356606138QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item2c52234cba