One month ago I posted an article entitled “Goodbye RISC, UMPCPortal going x86” where I put the case forward that so far there hasn’t been a single RISC/ARM based ‘umpc’ that has really delivered the goods. I said that I would sideline the RISC devices out of the main UMPC list in order to ensure that what guests here see as UMPCs, really are devices capable of delivering the full Internet experience (something that I’m going to attempt to define in a near-future post.) The browser is central to the Ultra Mobile PC and if it doesn’t work properly then I don’t think I can recommend those devices as Ultra Mobile PC’s.
As I said before, this doesn’t mean that RISC/ARM based devices are bad. It just means that they are not currently capable of the full Internet experience. The N800 is close. The E90 appears to be close too. The Sharp EM-One and the iPhone might even be close but that’s not good enough. If you’re looking for an Ultra Mobile PC, you need a full x86-based browser based on IE7, Firefox or the Safari engine and enough processing power to deliver the content that appears in it.
I’m hoping that this will change in the future. I would like to see ARM-based devices with rich browsers in order to bring more competition to the market but in the meantime, I’ve moved them into a new list called Sub-UMPCs where I intent to look after them. I might even start adding uber-smartphones like the Glofish and Toshiba models and the Cowon Q5 and Archos WIFI PMPs. In fact, if anyone fancies helping manage and grow this list, please get in touch. Maybe we could break out a new blog section or even a new sub-site and grow it. With VIA promising x86 smartphones in 2008, it might be that this Sub-UMPC segment becomes very important in a few years. 3.5-4.5″ x86 smartphones and high-powered ARM will be a big battleground. Pocketable too, unlike the OQO Model 02.
