Arm-based Sharp EM-One fails the browser test.

I absolutely adore the Sharp EM-One. Its everything  that I want in an ultra mobile device design. The screen size and res are good, the keyboard, mouse pointer, style, weight. I liked it so much I did a full analysis of the device and nearly all the specs matched up to my ideal carry-able Internet device. Here’s the summary from my analysis:

After analysing the WM One I still love it. I think I can call this the ‘Carrypad’ that I’ve been looking for for over a year although I really should hold back until I’ve had some hands-on. Its got all the elements of design and capability that allow it to sit comfortably between the mobile phone and notebook PC as a Personal Ultra Mobile computing device. My only worries are the browser functionality, flash capability and 3rd party applications on an 800×480 screen.

The EM One makes me wonder whether we will start to see the re-invention of the Pocket PC as a low end ultra mobile computing device that can function as a navigation unit, PMP, mobile browser and Internet communicator. If consumers can buy these devices at $330 with an Internet access contract from their local mobile provider its going look like a very compelling package when compared to UMPC’s that are bigger, heavier, more expensive and have half the battery life.

That analysis was done back in Feb and you can see that I already had reservations about the browser. Since then I’ve discovered that the ARM-based browsing experience just isn’t up to scratch. Its a sweeping statement, I’ve made it many times and no-one, nor any device has been able  to prove me wrong yet so I’ll make the statement again. ARM based devices can’t yet bring you what I believe is the Full Internet Experience. When you don’t get the best Internet experience possible, you’re limiting your online possibilities. For me, someone that lives a very thin-client online life, that’s a critical failure. It was also a critical failure for the blogger who recently had the opportunity to test it out in Japan. I quote from Kevin Hsu’s blog:

First thing, it has exactly the form factor that a ultra mobile PC should have. It has an 800×480 screen, and a slide-out keyboard that actually slides out in two different directions. When you slide it sideways, it slides out only a few command buttons and the D-Pad, which is very useful if you’re trying to just navigate around, say, Google Maps.

So as I said, the form factor is good.

More images in the Gallery.

But here’s the software issue rearing its ugly head:

There is only one downside (other than the fact that it’s not in the US) – the OS. I have to say, Microsoft really comes up short on the ultra mobile PC OS side of things. The unit uses Windows Mobile 5, and though it’s ok for most things, browsing on it is a nightmare.

So  is  there anything that can be done for this gorgeous $800 device? No. Its a ROM-based operating system so there’s only a slim chance that Sharp will change it in the future and as for the hardware, it just not possible to cram an x86-based processing  engine in there. And even if you could, there’s no X86 software that’s really optimised for  this  sort of device. Forget 8Gb of Vista and even 1GB of Windows XP. On this sort of screen size you need an optimized operating system and there’s nothing readily available yet.

We really can’t blame Sharp.  They’ve taken a  great design and done  the best  they can with the processing platform and software. The problem is a software one  that could plague UMPCs for along time unless someone does a really focused job within the next 12 months.  Midinux and Ubuntu Mobile teams, I think you have the con. Make it so.

Thanks to Kevin for his feedback on the Sharp Em-One. Specifications and links here.