Early on in the Kohjinsha K600/SH6 story we were seeing the A110 800Mhz CPU being listed but when it came to launch, the devices turned out to be using the 600mhz A100 CPU which was a little dissapointing. The 800Mhz devices do exist though and Snave of the MyKohjinsha blog has got his hands on exactly that. Its an 800Mhz version of the Vye PC S37 that I mentioned last month. Again, the screen and keyboard impress but there’s the ongoing problem of 2-hour battery life. I know I know! It could be good enough for some people but I can’t get over the fact that this is the Intel UMD 2007 platform and we should be seeing 3-4 hours battery life. If Kohjinsha can’t produce a device that takes advantage of the McCaslin features then why bother with McCaslin? Do they want Aero that much? I really think that Kohjinsha have some sort of design problem on their hands and I wish Intel would kick them into shape because people are losing faith in Intel’s ultra mobile PC efforts right now. The S37 could be a real HTC Shift alternative if it had the 4 hours battery life, especially if the Shift launches with an 800×480 screen that many people regard as second-best.
As far as the specifications go, the S37 that Snave is testing has the 800Mhz processor, 1GB RAM, 100GB (5400 RPM, 2.5″) drive and the same specs as the other SH6 devices. Thrown into the offer you get a HUGE Vye Computer Advert Logo which is not something I’d like on my ultra mobile PC and I don’t think many others will want to see it either. Snave also has an issue with the logo along with a strange SD card and WiFi problem that I don’t see on my SH6. I’m guessing he has a little fault on his hands there. The price quoted is £800 ($1500 direct conversion which would translate to about $1200 local price) which, if it had 3.5 hours battery life wouldn’t be a bad price for a big fast hard drive, great keyboard, best-in-class screen and sub-1KG size. 2-hours battery life is another matter though and will fall short of many peoples minimum requirements. Sure, you could add the extended battery but then you’ve added another 20mm depth and a few hundred grams to the weight.
Whether anyone can actually tell the difference between the 600 and 800Mhz version is anybody’s question. It would take someone that’s don’t a lot of work with the 600Mhz SH6 to be able to tell the difference and to report the real-world effects to potential customers. (hint hint!)
MyKohjinsha blog – Initial impressions of the Vye S37.
Full specifications of the existing (600Mhz) S37 here.
