I wonder if James Kendrick means ‘fast’ in the sense that an efficient user interface means you get to applications faster than you normally would in Windows desktop operating systems? He seems to be enjoying it in his video overview but is it just the keyboard and tip-to-scroll feature that’s impressing him?
Mobile Tech Review said a similar thing about the Advantage recently too: ‘Faster than a Q1.’ they said!
I think I’m going to have to trot down to the T-Mobile shop and play around with one. These high-end smartphones (E90 and HTC Advantage) are doing a really good job of providing a fixed set of functionality at a reasonable price and, importantly, very efficiently. If the capabilities match your requirements, there’s no real reason to think about a UMPC.
Questions I would ask myself if I had the Advantage in my hand:
- How easily could the unit break away from the keyboard? Bear in mind that you might hold it by the keyboard if you are touch typing. If the unit falls off (as it appeared to do in the video) then you cant use in in two-handed mode (unlike the E90)
- How close is Opera to the FIE? 50%, 90% or 100% of most users needs?
- Is VGA good enough for web browsing?
- Is WM6 really optimized for the 640×480 screen?
[posted from the bus]
