I’m in the ‘BUX (as my fellow US-based bloggers say!) with the SC3 and having a fun, productive time. Watching that battery level of course but really enjoying the form factor. To most people round here I guess it looks like ‘one of those small notebooks’ but they are so so wrong!
Things you can’t do with a netbook..but can with an SC3.
- Thumb the keyboard. Yup, it feels comfortable for one-lines, IM, passwords and URLs.
- Hold it in one hand and drive it via the touch screen while leaning back.
- Leaning back with a coffee in one hand and the SC3 converted to tablet mode reading feeds in the other.
- Slipping it into my ‘man purse.’ [Yes, a debateable advantage ;-) ]
- Bluetooth teathering to my phone (OK, some netbooks do actually have Bluetooth)
- Feeling really happy that you have one of the smallest and most adaptable PC formats ever.
Problems you must cope with…
- Battery life
- Keyboard not as good as a netbook but im happy to sacrifice a handful of words per minute.
- Vista keeps slowing me down with its disk activity and inability to be slim and fast. I checked out an XP-based 1.33Ghz Silverthorne-based device this morning. It was so much better.
I have decided to give the SC3 another chance. My Tekkeon and Samsung Q1U died last week so rather than shell out $1400 for my ideal Q1 Ultra, i’m going to get a slim, 30hw external battery pack that will fit in my gadget bag and provide some badly needed energy. When I get the chance, i’ll try out the Kohjinsha extended battery. It should save me $1000 while I wait for a new device. In the meantime i’ll have to put up with the rollercoaster of emotions that the SC3 gives me. 2hrs mobile happiness followed by massive frustration that device is unuseable without mains power! A bit like the HTC Shift but with a much, much better screen.
[Note about that rollewrcoaster: I was tethering to my N82 rather than using WiFi to save battery power and the battery on my phone died before I had a chance to post this. Battery life, battery life, battery life. Grrr!]
YES!!! I
[quote]Problems you must cope with…
Battery life
Keyboard not as good as a netbook but im happy to sacrifice a handful of words per minute.
Vista keeps slowing me down with its disk activity and inability to be slim and fast. I checked out an XP-based 1.33Ghz Silverthorne-based device this morning. It was so much better.[/quote]
With problems like this chippy, I await the day for when those $900+ prices of these things come crashing down to netbook levels. Much like Samsung, Gigabyte & WiBrain have.
I can’t believe how it barely clears the Starbucks mug lol, people bug me enough there about the Eee 900’s size. So I take it you must’ve gotten the Spainish inquisition with your double-shot. :P
I agree with you Chippy. I’m lucky enough to have small hands, so the SC3 is actually not bad for me to type on.. I’m almost to the touch typing stage after using it for about a week.
I picked up a Tekkeon to use while I await the extended battery. I figure between the Tekkeon, my small regular battery, and the extended one, I should have a pretty good setup to meet most of my needs.
Some sort of HSDPA setup is next on my list. Anyone have a good recommendation for phone/card and a reasonable UK coverage package?
Are 3UK offering Expresscard/34 options? If so, they are a great value service. (Not the best quality though)
Steve.
Comparing to M912… SC3 is ultra mobile – much smaller and lighter. On the other hand M912 has bigger screen, better performance and battery capacity, not to mention lower price. Having quite large fingers I am waiting for M912.
Yeah. Its the difference between a device that can be used in mobility situations and a device that is just mobile.
I do thumbboard on my EEE on occassion also, as for BT I can spend more for a fancy coffee at Starbux than I paid for my USB BT dongle, if I really wanted to I could intall it internally also
Man purse! Are you using the sparkle kohjinsha one? I’ve gotten a few stares with mine.
I bought a bt mouse for my sc3 and while I realize that makes it less than ultra-portable, it increases the practicality of the device when it is plugged-in.
NOOO WAY!
I have a new man purse that I may have to reveal if I feel brave enough. I can get away with it in Germany. Thats all im going to say for now!
Steve
i think its way past due that society accepts that men need the capability to carry more then some money, keys and maybe a mobile phone…
Personally, I think you should do a whole man purse article! I was with a client today who was fascinated by the sc3.
“That is so small! I could fit that..”
“In this little sparkly bag our Japanese friends provided for this purpose?”
“Uh, er…I was thinking my meeting planner.”
“Right…”
Chippy, you might want to try and turn off the following this is one reason the disk activity.
Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation
Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature isn’t really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so.
To disable this:
Click Start then Computer
Right Click the C: Drive
Click on Properties
Select the Tools Tab
Click on Defragment Now
Uncheck Run on a schedule
tHANKS hg. aNOTHER GODD TIP FOR THE LIST!
OOPS caps! Sorry!
Chippy,
I also saw a tip from someone that mentioned turning off ‘auto-indexing’ [?] – not sure if that is on the list?
Anyway, at some point I read your Vista optimization article – hope you will add these more recent tips to that article so that I can easily optimize my SC3 as soon as I get it by simply running through your list :-)
Cheers,
Mark
SC3 thunbboarding? :)
kinda funny that microsoft is able to stuff this in there, but not able to make it smart enough to see that “hey, the power save/laptop mode is on, lets forget about this stuff”…
it cant be that hard to do something like it…
Chippy and others, how is typing on this unit compared to typing on the Gigabyte M704?
Thanks.
I had a chance to play some with the Fujitsu U2010, and while I could live with the keyboard the screen felt too small for the resolution on it.
I forgot to add the question, how does the U2010 compare to this one?
Well Chippy, you talked me into it. An hour ago I ordered a black SC3 with 2gb of memory and an extra battery. I better like this thing or I’m going to hunt you down!
Excellent news. A stalker!
Well, be prepared for a rollercoaster. One minute you will love it to death. 2hrs later you will be cursingthe fact that you didn’t get an extra bettery/external battery for it!
Let us know how you get on. Where did you order it from?
Steve.
I did get the extra battery. I got it from your site sponsor “Direct from Japan”. Now, I’m asking for someone to link to some form fitting waterproof cases for this unit. For a snug fit. I wish Kata, who makes nice camera bags made something in this size.
Chippy I have question while I wait for my SC3 to arrive. 1.) How well does Skype work on the SC3, is the video with Skype work ok, or good? also how is Skype with out video calls just lets say regular call to landline phone or to a mobile phone? Reason is the U810 really doesn’t work well with Skype using Vista. 2.) What Bluetooth drivers does the SC3 come with? and does it support BT DUN to pair mobile phone. Right now I use my Blackberry Curve paired as BT DUN to my Fujitsu U810 for my internet, email, and posting on the road like right now. I also post using my Blackberry but its nicer using my U810 until I get my SC3 hopefully soon, I ordered Aug 4.
Skype audio is good quality.
Skype video works but its not good quality.
1) Frame rate is low as CPU is pegged at 100%
2) Video cam quality doesn’t seem to be that good. Yes, skype is choosing a low quality video codec but even with a local Kohjinhsa camera app, its like ‘soft focus.’ not sharp at all. Acceptable for skype if it could do HQ video but there’s not enough CPU power.
Steve
What issues do you have with Skype on the U810? Is it device related? Internet connection related? ?