Multiple versions I was expecting. High price is a little shocking. But NO BLUETOOTH? What are Fujitsu thinking about with their FMV-U8240 [U Hate 2 Fault Me?] Before I get into the details of that, take a look at this hands-on report by PC World. The list of specifications are quite impressive ad there’s no negative undertone in the report either.
It weighs 580 grams and measures 171 millimeters by 133 millimeters by 32 millimeters thick. Using the standard battery the machine will run 4 hours on Windows XP and 3.5 hours on Windows Vista.
Fujitsu have included a compact flash slot and a couple of little lamps that light the keyboard up in the dark. Cheaper than integrated backlighting I guess but still a nice touch. But why, why, why is there no Bluetooth support? This is a device that is not just portable between desks, its a device that can be used while moving between them and yet the most flexible method of connecting to the most commonly available wireless network connection, a mobile phone, is not available. Are they expecting everyone to go out and buy a Bluetooth dongle that will look stupid, get lost, cost more and probably break within a few weeks of use? Or are they going to stuff a cellular modem in the CF slot? If it had been me making the decision the CF slot would have been out and in integrated Bluetooth radio would be in there. I haven’t used a CF slot in ANY of my UMPC’s and dongles, including USB cellular data dongles, are a pain in the a!$e.
Its a good looking device though and I think, because of its traditional design, it will impress a lot of people. They keyboard usability is still a question mark and if its really 1024×600 on a 5.6″ screen, the screen is going to be hard to read (about 210 pixels per inch which is the same as the Vega but more readable than the Sony UX.) There’s also the question of ‘real’ battery life!
Availability is quoted as Mid-June for the XP Version in Japan only with a rollout of Vista versions and other territories after that. July and August are usually bad times to launch a product so perhaps we’ll see something in September in north America and Europe.
Specifications, images and report links are being updated as they come in on the Fujitsu UMPC product page.
