I’m in the middle of a family visit at home right now so its a little difficult to get time to focus. The HTC Shift has helped as I’ve had that with me and have been able to do some coffee shop work while the ladies have been clothes shopping. Right now though, I have about an hour and want to go through the list of ‘starred’ items I have.
First on the list is that Ctitanic is testing the Avox UMPC which is also sold under the Gigabyte and AHTEC brands. It was also planned to launch under the Medion brand and I got a review sample before Medion went quiet on it. I liked the form factor and capability but didn’t really like the quality of the components. Frank doesn’t like XP Home on the device (on smaller screened devices, tablet edition is useful. If you ink, its more than just useful!) Frank has put up some images and bullet-point first impressions so keep an eye out for a fuller review.
Microsofts mobile blogger get-together, Mobius, is taking place up the road from me in Amsterdam at the moment. I would love to go to that just to meet all the bloggers but alas, no invite for me 
There’s some news coming out of Amsterdam that Microsoft have a rather tasty Windows Mobile 6 update in the pipeline. Gear Diary is blogging lots of details about the meetings but there aren’t any more details about this new WM6 update as everyone has shaken hands on a non-disclosure agreement. Shame, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait long. CES is round the corner and I guess Mr Gates will have something to say. Windows For Devices has a nice post on the subject.
Just 2 hours drive from here, the iPhone has gone on sale in France. You can buy an unlocked phone, officially, for 750 Euro. That’s far cheaper than the 1000 Euro that T-Mobile are asking in Germany. I wonder if the price will come down here. (Its still too expensive to tempt me tho.) I’m sure it will when the 3G iPhone comes (confirmed for 2008)
Kornel sent me a link to some FCC testing docs for the HTC Shift. (30th Aug) He was looking for proof of the GPS that is rumoured to be in the US model but there’s no mention of it there. I’m not sure that a receiver would be part of those tests though. I also took a look to see if there’s any proof that it can make phone calls but no, I couldn’t see anything obvious.
Layne Heiny announced the 2008 CES tablet and UMPC gathering. I won’t be able to go to CES so I hope that the mobile cam tablet PC is there again so that we can send rude messages!
Finally, Rob of GottaBeMobile is testing a U810. I wouldn’t mind testing it myself to be honest as I’m interested in comparing its capability to the HTC Shift. I’ll be watching for more from Rob.
So that’s it for now. I’ll be back to full speed blogging in from Sunday afternoon and preparing myself for the WiBrain that should be here next week. I have the Shift for a few more days so if there’s anything else you need to know, let me know in the forum here and i’ll take it on.
Oh, one other thing. I’ve been in contact with Simon Dale of ‘Have That’ and I’m trying to get him to join me on UMPCPortal. He’s done some great reports on the Sony UX and OQO and I’ve sent him an Everun to see how he gets on with that. If all goes well there’ll be a new member of the team here soon and I think his first duty will be to take the train up to London to attend the OQO launch next week. Don’t drink too many cocktails Simon!
