Jeff Angelo sent us a link to DualCor’s website showing the CPC and apparently solidifying it as a UMPC.

According to the info at [url=http://www.dualcor.com/umpc.php]http://www.dualcor.com/umpc.php[/url] the DualCor is going to be running both Windows XP Tablet/Edition 2005 and Windows Mobile 5.0. so that will be giving it an advantage over other ultra mobile PC devices as it will be able to run software for both platforms.

It also has both an Intel PXA263 400 MHz Embedded Processor and a VIA C7-M 1.5 GHz x86 Processor included for each of the systems.

One interesting difference is that the DualCor has a 5 inch screen instead of the 7 inch screen that all of the other ultra mobile PC devices have been seen with. But since it comes with the Microsoft Touch Pack as well, it must be of official Microsoft Specs.

As far as I can tell there is no release date yet, so hopefully there will be more info soon. Read the full story

Thanks to our friends at The Tablet Store for understanding my terrible German and confirming availability and price info for the Paceblade Easybook P7 and for providing us with the first confirmation of a retailer, dates and end-user prices for the German market.

As previously reported, the Easybook P7 European manufacturers price will be 1090,- Euro. The Tablet Store tell us that the German launch date is 22nd May

The Tablet Store will be selling for an inclusive price of 1250,- Euro.

Regards
Steve / Chippy.

Und auf Deutsch:
Das Paceblade Easybook P7 ultra mobile PC wird in Deutschland erst ab dem 22. Mai 2006 verfügbar sein. Endkundenpreis liegt bei 1090 zzgl. MwSt.
Es wird bei The Tablet PC Store (Muenchen, Deutschland) für 1250,- Euro incl. MwSt. angeboten.

Danke an The Tablet Store.

Steve / Chippy.

I’ve just read a very good article on the Linuxdevices.com website written by David Wood, co-founder and executive vice president of research at Symbian. David talks about convergance and how the migration of applications is tending towards smartphones and why smartphones have been a success. David is obviously somewhat biased being a leading figure in Smartphone OS developement but I concur with pretty much all he says and dont class the article as just propoganda.

In the Carrypad journal, I have already written about a lot of what David has said in the (pdf) convergance diagram and journal entry I made back in Feb. So the reason for this journal entry is not just to link and promote Davids and my ideas, but to learn from some of the important things that David has written and try to apply them to the ultra mobile PC market.

Important points to consider.
There are 4 points in his article that are very relevant.

Smartphones are an evolution of an existing device that is already highly popular

What can we say about the UMPC? There’s two angles. Firstly, we could assume that the ultra mobile PC is a new device in a new segment. In that case, the ultra mobile PC needs to have a lot of developement and evolution. Secondly, we could assume that theultra mobile PC is the evolution of a not-too-popular tablet PC or PocketPC/PDA. On this point, i’m afraid the ultra mobile PC fails. We need to consider the ultra mobile PC as a new device in a new segment for it to move forward.

Mobile phones have been steadily improving in functionality, while (on the whole) retaining their core simplicity and utility.

UMPCs devices are in their early stages and so the improvement still needs to happen. However, the important point here is that mobile phones have core simplicity and utility. This is where I believe that Microsoft made a big mistake with their UMPC. They took a complex operating system, with all it’s hardware requirements and heavyweight do-it-all user interface and squeezed it into a consumer marketed package. That, in my eyes, was very wrong. Not only becuase they committed themselves to a tough hardware spec. but also becuase simplicity is key to consumer success. Microsoft should know that by now. They’ve been burned before and they don’t seem to be learning. A half-hearted touch-pack software layer is not the answer.
Simplicity is a nut that still needs to be cracked with UMPC’s. It won’t be done with a desktop-version of XP and it won’t be done with a desktop version of Linux. In fact, it won’t be done with any desktop operating system at all. It needs someone to take a core system and build a dedicated user interface around it. Microsoft have done it with Windows Mobile 5 and maybe they should have come in from that direction by re-developing it and offering native Word and Excel document support. They could have sat it on top of an Xscale processor architecture and ended up with a far more efficient platform. Nokia seem to be doing the right thing. They’ve taken a core Linux kernel and reduced distribution and are wrapping a dedicated user interface around it. Its not perfect by a long shot yet but look at the price point they have achieved by using that method. Here in Europe I can buy 4 Nokia internet tablets for the price of a UMPC! That gives Nokia a lot of price headroom in wich to bring out an updated product.

David uses the failed Apple Newton as an example in his next point. He says that the Newton was too expensive (I’ve heard this comment somewhere else recently!) and that smartphones used a price subsidy model to help get over this problem.

The lower purchase cost of mobile phones to end users means they are much more affordable than the Newton. One reason for the lower cost price is a business model that was never feasible for a device such as the Newton: operators frequently subsidise part of the purchase price

Subsidising the cost of these pieces of leading edge technology (they’re not running at high Ghz but the thermodynamic problems associated with ultra mobile PC requires leading edge technology.) is an option that needs to be considered and is, in-fact, possible. Origami’s have a screen-size advantage over smartphones which means that they’re able to offer video/tv capabilities that can not, because of current physical constraints, be migrated to smartphones. The Newton had no feature that allowed a subsidy model to work but with UMPC’s we have Video and TV content available to us. Can you imagine the ad targeting that can be done by a TV/IP provider knowing the location of its end device and its google profile? Its an advertisiers dream. Actually its probably Googles dream. The biggest hurdle here however is content rights. The distribution technology (internet) is pretty much in place but its only the real heavyweight players that will be able to offer the content and if they do, they’ll have a business model that no-one else will be able to match. Apple are sitting in a very comfortable position right now with regard to UMPC’s and content.

The huge size of the mobile phone industry means that strong learning effects and economies of scale operate, driving down costs even further

This is a simple one. Once, the device starts getting good market momentum, research momentum increases, the sales predictions rise and production volumes go up resulting in good economies. At this point in time, a few other factors also contribute to cost reductions. Competition, consumer education and content availability. The whole machine starts to turn at a very fast pace and not much more effort is required to oil it.

The rest of the article is also worth reading. David goes on to talk about Ipod functionality being migrated to the smartphone and lists a number of other migrating applications. Ipod fans won’t like that bit and although its technology possible, the ipod is a not just a device, its a technology, software and content suite that needs to be replicated with mobile phone carriers before it happens.

A message to marketing managers!
I’m not a marketing expert so I could be missing important points here but taking what Daivd has highlighted and adding my interpretations, here are some ultra mobile PC marketing tips to help achieve mass-market consumer success.

(1) UMPC’s need constant development. Don’t give up at the first hurdle. (2) UMPC’s need to be simple – Don’t build them on top of desktop operating systems. To help achieve the critical mass, a subsidy model is needed. Sell through channels that will add video/TV content to the mix and subsidise the purchase cost.
You won’t see smartphone levels of sales (there’s only one device format that you can take everyhere!) but you could reach that important critical mass.

Thanks to David Wood for some good pointers. I hope someone is listening to him (or me!) out there and David, if you’re reading this, i’d love to hear your views on the ultra mobile PC market. How about enhancing the Symbian plaform to cover the requirements of a ultra mobile PC device? Maybe Nokia will use it for their next tablet device!

Steve / Chippy.

The ultra mobile PC product portal gets many daily updates, tweaks and enhancements but yesterday, we finished setting up a really useful ultra mobile PC product tracking feature thats worth posting about.

Using a normal RSS 2.0 feed reader, you can now subscribe to updates from all or any of the products in the ultra mobile PC product database. Currently, the feed includes reviews, comment, rumor, pricing and availbility links that we add into add the product datasheet from our hand-picked sources. (Many of these are in our link list.) Soon it will be enhanced to include manufacturers pricing and availability information. All links are reviewed and only added if relevant so you can be sure of a quality (although possibly not the fastest-available) feed.

The all-product RSS feed is available via Feedburner. Go to the product pages to see the individual product RSS feed links. It looks stable from here but if you see any issues, let us know.

If you have important product-related links that you think should have been published (give us 48hours to capture new links) or you run a good source of information that you think we should be tracking or adding to our link list contact us and we’ll do our best. email to productupdates@carrypad.com
Links and sites need to be relevant to the ultra mobile PC market which we, at Carrypad, define as a portable computer at 1kilo or less with a screen size between 5″ and 10″. There are of course exceptions to this rule. One of which could be the Sharp Zaurus CL3200 which is now being imported into Europe. We’ll be reviewing this device in the next week or so to find out if it’s worthy of going into the product database!

Regards
Steve / Chippy.

Jeff over at Apex Software just shot me an email letting me know they just recieved their shipment of eo’s. For those wondering, heres whats inside the box.

[url=https://www.umpcportal.com/uploads/img445a7952766a4.jpg][img]https://www.umpcportal.com/origami/images/tabletkiosk_apex.jpg[/img][/url]

Read the full story

More news for our UK readers on ultra mobile PC availability.

We’ve seen on the Camtechsystems website today that the pre-ordering has started for the Paceblade Easybook P7. The price is £934.12 which is, as always, higher than prices over the pond.

Details on the Easybook P7 (aka SmartCaddie), a device from the same mould as the Tablet Kiosk Eo, including images, notes and review links can be found in the Carrypad product portal here.

Steve / Chippy

The Samsung Q1 has been the hot new thing to be reviewing all of the sudden so here are a few more reviews to check out.

[url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2006/tc20060504_271171.htm]businessweek.com[/url]
BusinessWeek does a review and says that websites seem to be too big for the screen. Watching movies from movielink is great but downloading them is a pain with the small screen.

[url=http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/05/03/ap/hitech/d8hckku80.txt]casperstartribune.net[/url] has an article from the Associated Press where the reviewer says the ultra mobile PC would be great as a book reader however when switching the screen mode the touch screen didn’t respond correctly.

[url=http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/015194.html]weblogs.jupiterresearch.com[/url] says that they are about to get a full review together but say while using the device they were able to get 3.5 hours of use out of the battery.

Lastly, [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/technology/04pogue.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]nytimes.com[/url] has an in depth article about the who, what, when, where and why of the device.

so check the articles out for a little more info about these devices.

Read the full story

Going though some draft posts I found this article, written on 7th March 2006, that I hadn’t finished. Its about the market segment of the ultra mobile PC and its been discussed many times before. While we are waiting for the first UMPC’s to be marketed though, it still seems a very valid summary.
—————–

I read this post recently. [March 2006] from Palmaddict. Here’s a quote:

Too big to put in your pocket while not big enough to truly replace your laptop or Tablet PC, a device without an identity.

Its a response to seeing the form factor of the Origami project devices. Palmaddict questions the market possibilities for the ultra mobile PC form factor. Like a lot of other peoples comments i’ve read, he thinks it sits in an ineffective middle-ground between a smartphones, pocket PCs and laptops. Its partly true, it does sit in the middle ground. But its a middle ground thats becoming bigger and less populated as smartphone functionality develops and PDA’s become less useful. If you’re in the same boat as Palmaddict and wondering why a ultra mobile PC has been brought to market, here’s my thoughts about the ultra mobile PC market position.

Its a tough question to resolve: Will the ultra mobile PC end up as a niche device like the tablet PC? Will it replace the low-end laptop? Its not a black and white situation and everyone has different requirements and preferences. I’ve been trying to define my own portable-pc situation for months after my search for a new smartphone resulted in too many overlaps with the things I used my laptop and pocket PC for. I had a lot of frustration at not being able to migrate all the things I did on a PDA to a smartphone, and at not being able to do all the things that I do on my laptop on my PDA. In the end, i worked out that its all to do with the physical limitations and I needed to find a new class of device. [see footnote]

If you take a look at the growth of the ‘smartphone’ and the functions that are migrating to it, you’ll see that there arent many ‘general use’ apps that are left for the PDA. When I say ‘general use.’ I mean functions like email, web browsing, voice over ip, digital photography and others. [edit: since writing this, I summarised the uses and positioning of mobile devices in this diagram.]

Many of you reading this are classed as advanced users but within a year or so, the same thoughts will be valid for many mass-market customers as they consider their portable computing requirements. A lot of people will really be asking themselves why they have a pocket PC in the car, a laptop in their rucksack, a phone in their pocket and why the hell they need a UMPC!

Accepting the fact that many applications are migrating to the smartphone (‘why’ is not explained in this report. See this article for the division of applications and devices.) the only apps that are left on the PDA are the ones that require a larger screen or some more advanced input method. Video viewing, for example, doesnt migrate well to the smartphone (unless you are happy to carry smartphone with a 3.5″ screen. I’ll also accept that watching 3-minute video clips of stupid people doing stupid things is highly satifactory on a smartphone!) Navigation is another app. that fits perfectly with the PDA form factor. Its a great size for the car dashboard and for the pocket when out for a quick jaunt round your local mountain. Its also not too bad at graffitti type input either. The screen size is big enough to jot a few words down on and the on-screen keypad with its built-in dictionary is OK when writing short emails. Graphical games are also possible, bigger batteries and multiple card slots are also possible.

Whats left for the ultra mobile PC then?
After dividing the applications between a smartphone and a PDA there isnt much left. Most bases are covered apart from apps that require a laptop. That is, a bigger screen and a keyboard (and maybe mouse.) Thats document creation (notes, emails, blogs, spreadsheets, picture editing) longer-term video watching and, very important, quality web browsing.

So why not have a smartphone, a PDA and a laptop? Well, the fact is that most laptops are over specified and are a pain in the arse to carry around. Really. Be honest. Its generally 2kg in weight, costs a lot of money and doesn’t quite fit on an aircraft seat table. Personally, I only watch videos, edit photos, browse the web and write blogs and emails on laptops. I dont do any video editing on it, or any DVD burning, any complex document writing, web-site creation or gaming. I have my big-screen, high-powered PC at my desk for all those things and at the end of the day, its usually my PDA that I use in bed, on my sofa or even in the toilet!

So should I just dump the laptop and use the PDA? No! You still can’t write emails, watch videos and play games on a PDA and most importantly, browsing the web on a PDA is painful. A slow and frustrating experience.

The answer for me (and I suspect a lot of other normal users) is to forget the PDA and laptop options altogether and to go for the more flexible ultra mobile PC (nee mini-tablet PC) option. It covers all the ground that the PDA and the Laptop did for me and actually works out cheaper. My only worry is that it becomes too flexible and both my wife and daughter find good uses for it. One day, I know i’m going to find the button mouse covered in Peanut Butter!

The ultra mobile PC is the new carryable form factor for the smartphone generation. 5-7″, 800×640 of screen space, an optional keyboard for real-time IM, emails, documents and blogs, connctivity to the internet via Wifi or through your smartphone, enough processing power for videos and an enhanced browsing experience, enough disk space for media and, importantly, a stylish appearance.

Is it then time to dump the PDA and laptop and fulfill all the tasks the you really want to do with a UMPC? If you have a PDA or laptop, just be honest with yourself about how you use it and i’m guessing that most normal users will see that a ultra mobile PC is a far more useful and efficient solution to daily computing needs that any PDA/Laptop combo you can think of.

If you’re thinking of buying a laptop for home use or a Pocket PC/PDA for bedtime browsing, my advice is to wait. UMPC’s are here for the early adopters now but in six months, you could be buying a 2nd generation mini-tablet PC device that does everything you wanted with portability you didn’t even dream about in 2005.

Steve / Chippy.

[written – 7th March 2006.]

[footnote]
Thats where the ‘carrypad’ spec. was born from. A hardware definition, software definition and some thoughts about locations have already been published. Then the ultra mobile PC spec. came along and most of my wishes were granted!