Let me start like every other blogger that can’t be bothered to deal with Apple fanatics in comments. I like the iPad and it has a place in the world. It’s making people think about different usage scenarios in ways that Origami/UMPCs never had the chance too. With over 500,000 devices out there, some great discussion and experimentation is taking place.

This article is aimed squarely at people that want to be connected and productive while mobile. Through years of testing mobile computing (and consumer internet) devices we’ve picked up plenty of knowledge on the subject and in this article, I list the significant items that are important when considering the iPad. The list doesn’t just apply to the iPad of course and it’s not exhaustive but seeing as many are looking to use the iPad as a productive device (and I’m honestly very happy that people are trying) it makes sense to put this information out there.

Your comments are, as always, encouraged and anything relevant will be folded back into the list for the benefit of everyone.

So lets start by me explaining how I’m writing this article. I’m using the tiny but powerful Fujitsu U820 (variant) which is running Windows XP. Connected to the device are a wireless mouse and keyboard, a 160GB USB drive, my Nokia phone (it’s charging via USB) my HiFi and  a 1440×900 21 inch monitor. I’ve been using this ‘grab and go’ solution as my desktop for over a month.

The iPad can do some of that, for sure, but let’s take a deeper look into the limitations because what you see there is just the start of it. Not all issues will apply to you and some issues may become obsolete after iPad OS upgrades but as it stands today, here they are.

Multitasking. With Livewriter, 5 Firefox tabs, Gtalk and Last.FM running I’m obviously taking advantage of Multitasking. I could Close everything but livewriter but I’ve been side-by-siding a similar article I’ve written to make sure I’ve covered everything. That simple operation just wouldn’t be possible on the iPad. Single-tasking DOES preserve user experience but most users also know how to preserve it themselves.

Keyboard. If you want to be truly mobile and productive, you need to be looking at a thumb keyboard either in two-handed mode or single handed mode. There’s no substitution and if someone tells you ‘I can reach 55 WPM’ just consider some of the stress levels involved in using a keyboard with no tactile feedback. Also think about multi-key shortcuts, preserving screen space and programmable keys. The iPad can give you all the characters you want but it will be slow, heavy and a stressful.

Tablet Form factor. During the ultra mobile PC years many of us shouted loud about the need for keyboards in slider and clamshell designs. Tablets work in some scenarios but they never really satisfied anyone. Even if you marry the right software with the right touch hardware, you’re still left with a form factor that has limitations. Nothing can really fix that and the popularity of netbooks should be testament to that. Input of any kind on a tablet PC can be stressful and unproductive in many scenarios.

Processing power. Apple have done an awesome job with the ARM Cortex-based CPU but it’s still slow in comparison to CPU’s on PC’s. Looking at some of the thin and light CULV devices (the Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PTZ often comes up in discussions) you’re paying a similar price for many many times the processing power. Even looking at basic things like web page processing, you’ll see a big difference that could save many minutes a day.

Memory. If you get into any sort of professional work from creating documents, coding and editing photo’s, memory is a must. You need memory and you need lots of it if you want to get productive.

Adobe Flash. Regardless of whether you like it or not, it’s there. Not only for advertising and video but for many other uses from graphs to product comparisons. The same is true of Java, AIR, Silverlight and others come into the mix too.

Weight. 680gm is nothing for a computer but when you’re mobile, it can turn out to be too much. One-handed use is a particular problem with a tablet when you don’t have a surface to rest it on. Try holding the edge in landscape mode and pressing a few keys. The leverage on the wrist is huge. For document reading, this isn’t the best solution.

No 3G. Tethering and 3G routers are a great solution but take it from someone that has used all the solutions; there’s nothing like built in 3G. Ease-of use. Antenna strength. Battery life. Reduced points of failure. Accounting. If you want to go mobile, get the best built-in antenna possible and a quality 3G chipset. I still haven’t found anything that beats the reception on my Gigabyte Touchnote and when I’m sitting in a conference watching people trying to hook-up to the Internet, I’m happy I invested in it.

Capacitive touchscreen Capacitive touchscreens are good for some things (Glass solution. Light finger touch) but bad for others. The accuracy of a capacitive touchscreen becomes a major issue for annotations (marking up docs, signing) handwriting recognition and any type of graphical operation. Accurately cropping a photo can be a problem on a capacitive touchscreen.

At last a bit of ultra mobile PC news to talk about. The last three days were swamped with consumer ‘pad’ news and UMPCPortal feels like it’s been abandoned. (Note: Having a son 7 days ago doesn’t help with my availability right now either so bear with us if news takes a little longer than usual)

HP Slate Full specs, comparison and information now in the database

The HP Slate news has been around for a while but apart from a few viral videos and a presentation by Microsoft which heavily linked it to a Windows OS (!) there hasn’t been any concrete info. Today though, Engadget have published what could be the full spec list for the device. You’re looking at a grown-up Archos 9 with, potentially, all the errors corrected.

• 1.6Ghz Menlow platform (HD video decoding included) Check!
• SSD drive Check!
• 2GB RAM OOPS!

OK, you can’t have everything and the lack of the mouse pointer found on the Archos 9 really knocks it back in the two-handed usage department. Just like the iPad, it’s form over function again.

So it looks like we’ve got something similar to Archos 9 in form factor and a Viliv S10 in specs although the battery life could be significantly less than the S10. Expect 4hrs of usage time. A capacative multitouch display (I’m personally still looking for a good use for Multitouch on Windows 7) and an accelerometer are also included.

Entry-level pricing of $549 matches the Archos 9 so Archos will have to re-think their pricing on the 9 and also think about the fast SSD requirement that we highlighted in our full review.

See our Viliv S10 review for a device with almost exactly the same internals.

As for comparisons with the iPad, forget it. The HP Slate will be more of a ultra mobile PC than a consumer mediaslate and when partnered with keyboard (of any sort) will turn itself into a netbook style device offering all the flexibility you’d expect from a PC but, like the iPad, if you think you need a keyboard, take a look at the Viliv S10 or ASUS T101MT

All-in-all the device isn’t that thrilling but it looks like it will improve on the sub-10" slates we’ve seen before and offer a good quality, well-priced option. This sort of true TabletPC value would have been unthinkable just 2 years ago.
We’ve already confirmed that Win 7 on the 1.6 Menlow platform is not the smoothest and if we’re honest, multitouch doesn’t add much to the experience but with Aero off, it does run acceptably in 1GB and gives you a full, productive desktop operating system to play with. 700gm is a good weight too. We’re looking forward to testing this one out when it launches. (Date unknown)

Update: HP Slate information, comparison, specs and links now in the database

It’s been about 2-weeks since I last used my daily desktop PC and 2-weeks since I’ve heard that horrible background noise of fan and disk. For the last two weeks I’ve been using a silent, modular, ‘grab and go’ solution based on the Fujitsu U820 ultra mobile PC and it’s working out very well indeed. You won’t find many solutions like this out there because this is one of the secrets of the ultra mobile PC world that marketing teams and board members get scared about a multi-scenario device!

The Internet experience has split into two in the worst way possible. The mobile internet is no longer a subset of the ‘Full’ Internet; it is now a separate world offering features that the desktop just can’t offer and the worst thing is that there isn’t a single device and operating system out there that spans the two Internet worlds. In this article I look at the feature-set of the ‘Full Internet Experience’ and how those features impact netbooks and other ‘mobile’ PCs.

Read the full story

Note: This post will update as new solutions are found. Bookmark and check back regularly for updates. The RSS feed for the comments on this post is also worth subscribing too. You can follow me at @chippy and the website @umpcportal

You know the problem. You install a fully featured application on a 1024×600 screen and there are so many status and info bars that you end up with a tiny space in the middle of the screen for content. The same occurs with web pages. Google docs are a classic example of a web app that leaves too much screen space unused. Then there’s the problem of memory usage. With 1GB of memory you need to be careful. A fully featured app running on .net or Adobe Air can easily use 10-20% of your free memory. Even web apps and plugins can take huge amounts of memory. Finally, there’s the CPU problem. Web apps are the killer here and it’s not uncommon to be locked out of your PC while a big AJAX-heavy web site fills the screen. Netbooks and UMPCs need efficient apps.

I’m usually very careful with my ultra mobile PC builds and tend to run XP Home with very few background apps running in order to leave as much as possible for my work suite. I use GTalk as my mail and IM notifier and of course, Firefox might as well be in my startup folder too because it will be running within seconds of me booting the device but apart from that, I don’t run anything other than the standard build software.  Apart from a twitter client…

I’ve been testing a number of Twitter clients to try and find the most efficient (based on the criteria above) solution. You’ll probably have your own thoughts and favorites and this post is just as much a stimulus for your comments as it is a tip-list so please help us all by adding your experiences int he comments section below.

My Top 5  Twitter clients for netbooks and UMPCs.

Echofon – Firefox plugin. An extremely lightweight plugin that takes a very small amount of memory, sits quietly in the status bar and offers 3 tabs (Friends, Mentions, Messages) of 6 tweets of variable size (see image) when clicked. Each tab is scrollable and everything can be controlled using keyboard shortcuts.  The refresh rate is adjustable as is the notification sound. There are the usual reply, retweet (both types) and a handy button for pulling the current tab URL into a tweet. It supports multiple accounts and you can change the font size too. Missing is list support, the ability to limit notifications to mentions and messages (useful if you follow tons of people like me) and URL shortening.

iTweet.net – Web-based client. Light on memory and CPU with a nice format for a 600-pixel wide screen. The great thing about iTweet is that it’s very feature-rich and it offers the user a great layout of basic and extend-able information areas. It includes automatic updating although I don’t see any way that you can set it to notify via pop-up or sound. There’s also no way to collapse the input and sidebar which limits the screen space slightly but for for the memory and CPU footprint, it’s one of the best featured solutions I’ve found. A Chrome tab running iTweet takes between 25 and 35MB of RAM which is about 1/3rd of what Tweetdeck takes.

Note: The above two solutions appear to complement each other well. One, a simple notifier and the other, a great web-based search, list and research tool.

Hootsuite – Web based client. This one is for the power user! It’s a huge web application with features that I haven’t even tested out yet. Multi-column and multi-tab support with search, lists, notifications, stats and support for multiple social networks including Facebook and Ping.fm. It’s got everything you would expect from a fully featured client. It certainly takes some CPU to get the application running but once it’s stable and you’ve collapsed the status box and gone full-screen with the browser it provides a good working area. 36MB – 70MB in a Chrome tab in my test.

Twhirl. Adobe Air application. Twhirl used to be my favorite twitter app. It runs in about 70MB (which, like all the solutions here,  can rise as you use the app) and allows multiple account windows and variable font sizes. Searches can be interleaved into the tweet stream too which is great for following an event but there’s no list support which, for me, is a major limitation. It’s still in my arsenal of apps but I rarely use it now. One also gets the impression that Seesmic, the company that bought it, are focusing on their other products.

Dabr.co.uk Web Application. Dabr is a no-fuss web application. Quick and easy with various screen layouts and good support for lists, trends and search. Many photos can be shown inline but there’s a text mode that works very well on even the smallest screen. It will run in a Chrome tab in about 20MB which is about as small as a Chrome tab gets! In Firefox you can throw up three tabs with friends, a list and a search result in about 50MB of RAM and very little CPU load. Tip: Bookmark multiple tabs in one folder and it’s easy to open all the bookmarks in a folder in one go. No auto-refresh available on this application.

The ‘not-so-good’ list.

I’ve taken a look at some of the more popular web and windows-based solutions and these are the ones that didn’t work out well on my ultra mobile PC or netbook.

Brizzly. Web-based client. Basically, Brizzly is a screen space hog. On my 1440×900 monitor here I saw a total of 5 tweets on-screen. Can you imagine how that looks on a netbook?!

Tweetdeck.  Adobe Air application. Tweetdeck is a fantastic twitter application and up until today, it’s been my most often-used solution but it’s not very CPU and memory-friendly. Expect 150MB or more of RAM usage. If you’re on a limited RAM budget, 150MB is way too much. This application is the reason I started the search for something more efficient.

Seesmic Web. A great web-based application and comparable to Hootsuite above. It’s not as screen friendly as Hootsuite as it includes a permanent top and sidebar. It does have a nice single-column text mode though which is good for getting a lot of tweets on the screen.  Memory footprint is comparable to Hootsuite although I get the feeling (untested) that it’s putting a bigger load on the CPU.

Seesmic Windows Application. Running initially in about 75MB of RAM I found Seesmic to be a big load on the CPU. Using my U820 as the test bed (for all the apps here) I noticed the fan coming on more than is usual. Fan noise is a good indicator of battery drain so I dropped it fairly quickly.

Yoono. Firefox plugin. Plugins are usually small little applets that do one thing very well. Yoono is different. It’s a full suite of social tools in a plugin and it’s got the memoryfprint to prove it. After installing it, my startup Firefox memory usage went from 39MB to 140MB.  I uninstalled it.

There are thousands of Twitter applications out there. The Twitter Fan Wiki is  great list if you’re looking for something specific.

Tip: As with all Web-based apps, choose your Web browser carefully. Firefox 3.6 and Chrome are working out well for me right now as they seem to process web applications a lot quicker than other browsers. Opera 10.5 is also good and includes the great mobile-friendly ‘turbo’ and ‘fit-to-page’ feature but it has a big memory footprint which is probably because of Opera’s Unite and Link integration.

Security Note: Authorising via Oauth or passing your username and password to multiple applications is a sure way to increase the risk of your account being hacked. It’s already happened to me through a previously authorised web application that was hacked and it’s not funny to see rude and spam tweets going out from ‘you’ to your friends. When you’ve finished testing out a series of twitter apps, change your password and revoke the Oauth permissions through your Twitter connections page.

As I mentioned before, you might have already settled on a Netbook or ultra mobile PC solution for twitter. If so, tell us about it below and I’ll be happy to update this post. (And don’t forget to follow me: @chippy)

We suspect that isn’t the Pierre Cardin brand you know from the fasion world but these 7″ and 8.9″ tablets have an interesting design with a case that includes a rubber keyboard.

The devices come with resistive or capacative touchscreen and 3G options. All the usual ports are included and it even looks ok. The gotcha might lie in the CPU though because although the C7-M was good and efficient in 2006, it can be quite the hot/noisy little devil when it gets going. The Amtek T770 is testament to that.

Prices should be pretty good in these devices though so they could be worth a closer look.

jkkmobile: Pierre Cardin (HK) tablets at CeBIT 2010.

Hugo Ortega, who runs the ever interesting blog Uber Tablet, is preparing to launch a device with his company, Tegatech. The aptly named Tega tablet looks to be a rather clean slate with some fairly regular sounding specifications. It has a 10.2 inch resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024×600, uses a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, and has built-in 3G. The asking price seems a bit steep considering the slate competition out there — $995 for a version with no OS, or $1,145 for one with Windows 7 Starter (there is also a Win 7 Home Premium version available). Full specs below:

I had hoped to get a big big updated version of the mobile computing guide out before the end of 2009 but time was definitely not on my side. I’ve done a lot of work on it but it’s going to take many more hours before it’s finished. In the meantime, the late 2008 version is still available as a re-flowable PDF and is still worth reading if you’re thinking about buying a mobile computer, tablet, MID or other mobile computing device this year.

Click on the image to download the free 28-page PDF.

PDF now removed. New version of this book is planned for Q4 2010

If you want to view it online, use the links below.

Part One: ‘What is an Ultra Mobile PC.’ We give you a history of Ultra Mobile computing, show you how the devices break down into segments and show you what each segment is capable of.

Part Two: ‘Details and Choices.’ It covers the form factors, the keyboard, storage, the screen and connectivity elements of an Ultra Mobile PC. You’ll find a good overview and a lot of tips that will help you refine your choice.

Part Three ‘Details and Choices continued‘ continues the details about the components and covers CPU (including a detailed overview of the currently available solutions) GPU, memory, battery, weight and cost.

Part Four: ‘Additional Information and further reading.‘ In this section we cover some of the less commonly found features on Ultra Mobile computers and give you information and links to further reading resources.

If you find the buyers guide useful, think about donating. It all goes back into making UMPCPortal a better place.