I’m a very lucky person. There are about 8 UMPCs in the house at the moment but at times it gets to be a pain because I’m swapping around too much doing tests and trying out my latest ideas. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to choose a device. The SC3 because its small, has a good outdoor screen and looks good? The MSI Wind because its comfortable on a table or the Everun Note because its so damn small and powerful?
Today though it was different and I really surprised myself. I had about 5 minutes to decide on a device for the journey to a family outing and there was no question that extreme Ultra Mobile computing was the order of the day. A 3 hour car journey with no power and no WiFi. There was only one matching weapon in my arsenal, the Samsung Q1b. Based on the original Q1 design but using a 1Ghz VIA C7 and having a built in factory fitted 1.8mbs 3G module. The 6 cell battery was fully charged so it was an easy decision. In ultra mobile situations you need the best antenna and the best battery life and that’s what the Q1b always delivers. It was the perfect choice on the rough going Solar ultra mobile PC Tour last year and it was the perfect choice today. Email inbox cleared on the way out. Reader, Mail and a GTalk chat with JKK on the way back. 3hrs battery life left when I got home.
Boom! Reality kicks. 6 hours wifi-on with extended battery, a strong factory fitted 3G module and a sub kg weight in a tabletable form factor. The screen res was actually ok in the car as it was a bumpy ride but I’m always happier to bump up font sizes on a higher resolution screen so 800×480 isn’t perfect. CCFL backlighting is pretty horrible in daylight too so its really got me thinking about my requirements again.
As I lie here in bed writing this I’m wanting an SC3 with built in 3G and 6hrs online battery life. A 3g Expresscard wont solve the problem as you cant hold the device and thumb the keyboard as I’ve been doing with this article. An extended battery isn’t good enough as it only gives 4-5hours on online battery life. The Everun Note with the extended battery is even worse and I really want that tablet mode. M912M wont work either as the internal 3G slot is BIOS locked and its too big for thumbing or two-handing,. The U2010 has a 5.6″ screen that i find too small, doesn’t have a factory fitted 3G option and its simply out of my price bracket. Q1 ultra HSDPA is the nearest I can think of at the moment. It doesn’t have the keyboard of the SC3 or Everun Note but seeing as I almost exclusively use thumbing or an on-screen-keyboard now on my UMPCs, does it really matter?
I miss my old Q1 Ultra and keep revisiting the thought of having another. Lack of keyboard backlight and pathetic mouse aren’t ideal but Expansys have some B-Stock HSDPA XPTE units at just over 500 quid including organiser pack which is tempting me so much that it hurts. Especially as I have a couple of spare batteries, an SSD upgrade and a 2GB stick that I’ve just taken out of my old, broken Q1 Ultra. I’ll make my decision tomorrow but if anyone wants to buy my Kohjinsha SC3, please say so now and make my decision easier. Cost to you? Just over 500 quid of course!
You echo my wants. I am able to get by with my HTC Advantage now with the Flashlite 3.1 upgrade. I will wait to get a UMPC until I can have a 7″ tablet with built in HSDPA and 5or better hours of battery life.
I’m in the same situation. My Advantage is serving me quite well – yes it’s not Intel/XP stuff so I have to compromise in some areas, but the 3G integration, the push mail, small size, battery life and the OS built for mobile and touch device are outweighing the rest. For instance I use my Advantage much more and for more things than I ever used my Everun.
I work for a carrier in the USA (and own our embedded WWAN program) and I can say that I too am looking for the device you mention. However, development and certification costs are high and smaller players have a difficult time bringing 3G products to market.
I just picked up a Q1. It would be my only device if it had embedded WWAN (CDMA)
Yeah. The cost becomes a real issue for niche products.
Steve
makes one admire that via, no?
how many watthours ar the extended battery of the q1b vs the sc3?
i cant help but wonder about that new series of via, and what it will bring to the market…
At that point, the VIA wss the most efficient solution its true. The McCaslin platform was better though and Samsung reached even higher efficiency with it in the Q1U. I know an Atom based Q!U would be better but right now, Atom silverthorne/poulsbo isnt mature enough for a reliable solution. That could take another year. Atom netbook platform is a possibility as seen in the very well engineered 901.
if so i wonder where the fumble is with the sc3…
Poor electronic design and poor choice of components. DId you know that there’s a VIA Wifi chipset in there that’s sucking out huge amounts of power! Why?
Why don’t you plug your device into the car cigarette lighter socket when you are driving somewhere?
Im glad you asked that because it made me think of the expression, ‘reliable, self-contained, productive mobile computing.’
I could have attached a 3g dongle or phone to a laptop. I could have taken an external batt pack. I could have used a 3g / wifi router or even an external keyboard but all these introduce potential failure points.
Steve
i would consider the lack of keyboard a failure point .
its fine when you are just browsing the web but if you really wanted to do something productive you wouldnt have been able to.
I reckon 90% of my comments are the same Steve, so its just not me. Im so frustrated at the 3gless netbooks on offer im looking at a q1u again.
Hey Chippy,
I’ve been research and reviews UMPC like HTC Shift, wonder what went wrong for it? Perhaps HTC would build another one for shift replacement, Do u know any other UMPC like Shift that would be better to bought? perhaps like Shift X9501 integrated TeleNav GPS? VideoCall, Sms, Wifi,… ? so chippy as for now, Which UMPC u would buy? i need ur point of view!, Thanks
The shift was dead in the water with its battery life (2 hours) and vista, people are installing xp now but there are alot of drivers not available, you can get an extended battery but expect to pay $300, ouch
OQO e2 SSD Wan… is the best form factor ever made … Crystalmark is 23000 battry life is 5 to 6 hours (3hours standard battery)I only need 70% of the CPU power (it’s noiseless like that)and on any UMPC the real bottleneck is the harddrive with windows .. only SSD makes them fully usable ..I will never buy a standard HDD ..
Screen size with F11 and Crtl+ or Ctrl- is really not a problem
Useless pen .. mouse on the right and button on the left are perfect..
I use it with my iphone (SSH Tunnel so I don’t need a wan module and wifi takes less battery)
I had many X7500, U750P, P1512, OQO o2…
OQO e2 SS2 is perfect…
I am agreed with Marc.
I love my OQO e2 SSD 64GB HSDPA Windows Vista :)
Nice choice. But too small for me.
7″ stradles both desktop and handtop duties.
I’ll get a cheapie MID when the time is right but for now, Q1U HSDPA is the monkey.
The Shift isn’t that bad. IMHO, it runs Vista as well as the SC3 in most areas. Plus, in my area here in the USofA, my EDVO is fast enough for email, surfing and some downloading. Having the choice to switch pretty much seamlessly between wifi and EVDO is a big win. Once the device is hacked to allow a full browser on the cellphone side, battery life is less of a problem.
Being able to surf on the Shift in the car has made me want to be a passenger more often!
Steve, what is 500 quid in American?
Too bad the SC3 has proved such a dud–a bright screened 7″ convertible with good sound and enough kick to play video well is just what I’ve been looking for, and I had high hopes that the SC3 would fit the bill. Perhaps the Clevo or the Viiliv S7 will be better executed (if they ever appear).
You’ve also piqued my interest with the thought of a device based on the OMAP3 or Nvidia Tegra. At first I thought you were a little loco talking about an ARM/Windows CE device competing with MIDs and UMPCs, but the more I think about it the better I like the idea: something with the SC3 form factor that could play HD video (720p at least, although 1080 would be even better!) and offer the Full Internet Experience (Firefox, as on the new Archos?) and excellent battery life–well, I think I’d jump at such a device immediately. (And, as long as I’m dreaming, I would want it to include a Fuji U810-style mouse button, that can be used in both tablet and standard modes; I’ve found that a useful and extremely well-designed feature.)
A quick aside, Steve–I believe you bought the Q1Uv, and as a Q1P owner I had always hoped to read your review of the device. Did you end up overclocking the processor? And did you run it with Vista or downgrade to XP? I may be the only reader interested in a review of such an old device, but I’d love to see how it compares to other devices that you’ve subjected to in-depth analyses.
Thanks again for the great site. I really enjoy keeping up with what you and jkk are thinking.
I think that the SC3 is just hobbled by bad drivers. There have been a number of articles about this and I don’t know whether to blame Intel or KJS, but someone screwed-up.
Here is the latest in this saga – apparently the SC3 is capable of playing Doom3?
http://forum.pocketables.net/showthread.php?t=913
With the right drivers/codec, the SC3 will play 1080 video (.264) without dropping frames.
Personally, I love my SC3 – mostly because the form factor is so fantastic. The size and tablet-capabilities (not to mention the beautiful screen) are a good fit for my needs.
Archos uses the Opera browser actually.
I have to agree with the article – online battery life is what counts. I don’t use my Eee offline for many things – it’s for text-based communication and internet use. Six hours of that is the minimum!
It seems the Everun Note isn’t hitting the sweet spot for you. I guess battery life really is important for you at the moment.
I have to echo mrwed and say I think the Viliv S7 seems to be what you are waiting for.
Viliv S7 is up there in the watchlist. But with a planned Q1 2009 release, that we all know will probably be Q2, I think I can squeeze a new device in for 6-9 months use!
S.
Chippy, Great post.
I have been using the SC3 for a few months now and I cant stand typing on it. It’s too small. I keep wondering to myself if I would be able to type better with the Gigabyte M704 with my thumbs. I can burn it up typing on my blackberry and I feel that must translate to the M704… Would I be wrong in that assumption? I’m a very good typer and I cant type two sentences on the SC3 without having to go back and correct a typo…. and my hands are not big at all. I’ve got small hands for a man… and it’s not true what they say.. ;)