The Q1b has finally arrived in Europe and has been lovingly nicknamed Barto, cousin of Ceegoo and Casomii (as the Celeron Q1 is marketed here) and we’ve been lucky enough to get an advanced order sent to us before the main shipments commence. Thanks to Samsung Germany and The Tablet Store for arranging this.
The Q1b is the VIA based version of the Q1 with the brighter screen and longer battery life but Barto is a little bit more than the US version of the Q1b. He’s got a 60GB HDD, 1GB or RAM and a built in HSDPA modem making it the first HSDPA-capable tablet style ultra mobile PC to ship. He’s also rumored to have stereo speakers and the CF slot which I don’t think the US version has.
The price is obviously higher than your standard Q1 which, here in Europe, is also sold with 60/1GB. You’ll currently pay a premium of around 200 Euro for this version. In the US market the VIA version is the cheapest Q1 version available and in fact on of the cheapest UMPCs there is right now.
Currently its sitting, unopened, in front of a video camera! I’m going to unbox it live very shortly (20:00 CET) and go through the differences between the Q1b and the Q1P which I also have here. There will be a Q&A chat session running at the same time so feel free to register on the portal and join in if you have queries.
Members link for video and chat.