I know, I know. The title of this article sounds like its written for a digg ultra mobile PC search but, and my apologies to the established UK resellers, this has to be aired.

I’ve just been reading an article in UK’s Stuff magazine about Expansys importing and supplying the Sony UX series ultra mobile PC in the UK. I also ran an article on the subject and came to a similar conclusion that importing is the only way to get hold of some of the UMPCs if you’re in Europe.

Having read the article though, I looked into the price of importing other devices into the UK and found that importing a device that is already available in the UK or Europe can work out cheaper than buying in the UK.

The recent announcement by agopc of the ago7 ultra mobile PC prompted me to look in detail at import costs for the Amtek T700 OEM devices and it turns out that you can save around $300 (UKP150 – 20%) over the current UK price by importing from the U.S. I looked at the ago7 and the eo v7110 (in 512MB/40GB configuration) as UK imports through Agopc and Dynamism respectively and after adding the 17.5% VAT and the P&P (it appears that there’s no import duty to pay on portable/handheld PC’s imported to the UK but double-check this with your supplier please before you order.) the price works out at about $1100. Even better, if you can get 10 or more people together, you could be looking at bulk purchase discounts of $50-$100 off the unit price and a few hundred on postage costs. I’m almost tempted to buy up 20 right now! Anyone for a Carrypad branded Amtek T700?

Of the two options I looked at, ordering through Dynamism is possibly the easiest as they have a UK version of their website and a well-oiled processes for exporting from the U.S. Agopc are cheaper but you might have to spend a little more effort in the ordering process and checking on details.

I wouldn’t really recommend this as a choice for businesses though. Companies like PocketPc Solutions, the Tablet Kiosk partner in the UK, are very experienced in offering local pre and post-sales support and for most businesses, the value of this far outweighs the savings. (and i’m not sure you can claim back import taxes.) There may also be issues with US versions of software and US power adaptors so if you are thinking of putting in an order, check with the supplier about this. Also watch out for special offers (PocketPC Solutions are running an offer through August) and always contact your local supplier to see if they can offer any extra discounts or bundled accessories.

Some helpful links to get help you on your way:
Dynamism.com (UK page) Can supply a number of types of UMPC.
AgoPC. (U.S. based suppler of the ago7 branded Amtek T700)
PocketPC Solutions (local UK supplier of the Tablet Kiosk v7110 branded Amtek T700)
CamTech Systems (local UK supplier of the Paceblade Easybook P7 branded Amtek T700)

Steve / Chippy.

We’ve been in touch with Raon Digital and had a little conversation about the current status of the Vega. Its clear that there’s a little bit of over-excitement by certain websites on the capabilities of the Vega and RaonDigital have released this public statement to us:

“Please be advised that RAON, the manufacturer of VEGA, releases the official information of VEGA only on its homepage www.raondigital.com. Information from other sites may not be incorrect and/or insufficient”

I’m happy about that. I was worried that the Vega was being hyped through some sort of old-boys-website-club over there in Korea but its now clear to me that Raon are alive, honest and aware of whats going on in the community.

Now then, lets ignore all the hype and start from the very beginning. Carrypad is a very good place to start so send it over chaps and we’ll do the honourable thing!

Carrypad produt portal: Raon Digital Vega.
Steve / Chippy.

OnlyUMPC have a link to a really interesting cost breakdown for the component parts of a ultra mobile PC written by Linda Epstein of TabletPC2.com.

Its a great post and goes through exactly why UMPCs won’t reach $500 in a short space of time and why the economies of scale haven’t kicked in for the market yet. I said similar things in a post the other day about incubating UMPCs.

There are going to be something like 100 million notebooks sold in 2006. I’m guessing that Origami ultra mobile PC sales will reach about 0.01% of that so can you imagine the differences in the price of component parts and the cost-per-unit of tooling, production and marketing. Its huge.

I’m also a believer that the price needs to stay high for a bit to give resellers a chance to find their feet in marketing these devices. Its a costly exercise to have to spend an hour with a client to show them the advantages of mobility!

Well done Linda on a great article.

Steve /Chippy.

I’m just listening to MobileTechRoundup 63 and the guys are having a good conversation about the Vega UMPC.

It sums up the current status and general feelings about the device nicely so if you’re on the search for info about the Vega, have a listen to the podcast.

Also on the show a discussion about Notebook Hardware Control which is a great bit of software for monitoring and setting up a ultra mobile PC for efficient battery and cpu use.

Steve / Chippy.

AgoPC have today launched the ago7 ultra mobile PC in the U.S.

[img]https://www.umpcportal.com/images/Ago7-1.jpg[/img]

Its instantly recogniseable as a branded Amtek T700 (as is the Tablet Kiosk v7110) and is offered as a 512MB/40GB system in white only.

The other difference is the price! The unit is offered at a $100 discount to the equivalent Tablet Kiosk model.

Order the device quickly enough and you’ll get a free flexible keyboard.

Head over to [url=http://agopc.com/]AgoPC[/url] for more details.
Read the full story

The ultramobilegeek (Thougthfix) blog rounded up its four part series comparing the eo v7110 with the Nokia 770 internet tablet.

There’s some good info about user opinions and I second the thoughts about docking stations. They are a must-have accessory for a ultra mobile PC and like with the Sony UX and The Tablet Kiosk i7200 series, they should be supplied with the device.

I keep hearing comments from women that like these devices too.

Kristi (19) was very enthusiastic about the TabletKiosk eo. She described it as “very cute” and “would bring it everywhere.”

Is it because the UMPCs fit into ladies handbags where a notebook won’t?

From the Carrypad product portal:
Nokia 770 internet tablet data sheet
Tablet Kiosk eo data sheet.

Steve / Chippy.

Through Ultramobileblog, I’ve just found out about a new syncronisation solution tailored for UMPC’s. UltraSync from Imagine LAN

Back in Feb I was asking questions about how the UMPC’s would syncronise data and this looks like the perfect solution.

UltraSyncâ„¢ software from imagine LAN provides comprehensive digital content synchronization (files, music, pictures, video, Outlook® email, and browser favorites) between an Ultra-Mobile PC and its companion PC.

There’s a press release here.

What I’d like in a sync solution is a ‘random selection’ mode where it will copy xGB of random files from a given directory tree once per day/week so that I always have a new selection of music/videos whenever I take the ultra mobile PC away. It would be nice to have a ultra mobile PC in the car that woke up in the morning, did a wifi sync and went back to sleep again, freshly loaded with new content.

Ultimately though, one wouldn’t need any data on a UMPC. If you’re connected 24/7 via 3G cellular data, all your media can be downloaded or streamed (I’m already storing my MP3’s offline using Slimserver), emails stored offline (IMAP), bookmarks, rss, maps, books etc etc etc. In fact, why bother with the applications when you could use a WebOS. One day. Perhaps.

Steve / Chippy.

Tablet PC MVP WNewquay of TabletPCBuzz has started a TabletPC wiki which should build up to a nice community knowledge center for Tablet PC and variants (including UMPCs.)

This is a place where you can find, add, and edit knowledge about your Mobile Technologies. The initial focus is on Tablet PCs, Ultra Mobile PCs (Origami) and Media Center PCs. As various technologies converge, we may see articles on other gear, but for now our focus will be on Windows Tablet and Touch Technologies.

There’s a section on UMPC’s which I plan to add some information to soon.

via Craig Pringle.

Regards
Steve / Chippy.