On behalf of the team I would to wish everyone a happy new year. Let’s make 2008 even better than 2007! Next stop: CES.

See you in 2008 everyone! 

- Kornel

I was just about to go to sleep when I saw the post in the forums. Here it is. The first EEE PC with built-in HSDPA. Not much more to say here, go see the full how-to and pictures over at JKKmobile.

If only I knew how to solder…

On behalf of the UMPC Portal team I would like to wish everyone a great holiday. We hope you have fun spending time with your families and relaxing. 

Like many other sites we are taking some days off and will be back soon.

Now…. Did you get anything UMPC related under the tree? Tell us in the comments, we would love to know 

 

P.S. Was anyone geeky enough to buy a usb christmas tree? No? It must have just been me then… 

…At least in terms of aesthetics.

The story of the ugly sofa started over a year ago with this:

and now it looks like this:

Miubit, the manufacturer of the HDPC, will be at CES so ill be directing my robots over to their stand to see if its worth some attention!

The only info I could find was on their web page (translation) but there’s not much in terms of concrete info.

I’ve been staring at the specs for at least 5 minutes and I can’t work it out. Why is the Q1 Ultra HSDPA with XP Tablet Edition the same price as the Q1 Ultra Vista (without HSDPA) in Germany? In the last two weeks the lowest price for the HSDPA version has dropped about 100 Euros and in the last month, the lowest price has dropped from 1400 to 1170. Is Samsung making space for the new Q1 Ultra Premium?

Q1 Ultra HSDPA around the world: UK price: 1000 pounds (inclusive case and keyboard.) In the US its not available yet but pricing apears to be around the $1500 mark. France 1250 Euros. Australia – Not available. Canada – Not available.

Anyone spotted it anywhere else?

Pricing source (Germany): Geizhals new UMPC section.

Despite the shear excitement factor in the story that Apple will be using the Menlow platform, I have to say that I think the story by Apple Insider is a little over zealous and probably doesn’t relate to MIDs or UMPCs. I won’t go as far as to say that Apple Insider are keyword-stuffing or trying to grab attention but in my opinion its off the mark.

The core of Apple Insiders story is this line: “Apple has taken a liking to the upcoming 45-nanometer (nm) “Silverthorne” chip, agreeing to use it in not one but multiple products currently situated on its 2008 calendar year product roadmap” which they then extrapolate to: “two seemingly apparent contenders appear to be the second-generation 3G iPhone and the much rumoured Newton successor / ultra-portable slate computer.”

There’s no way Menlow will be used on a 2008 iPhone. No way. Its too big, too hot and too powerful and as for the Ultra Portable Slate, well I think its too early for Apple to be doing that. They have a good line in the iPhone and iPod now and those are both ARM-based devices. Running an x86-based iPad alongside these products wouldn’t make sense just yet. It would be far better to wait until Moorestown is available and develop an absolute killer product with that. Intel think so too. I do hope we’re both wrong though! The MID party starts in a few weeks and we need some sharp-dressers to set the scene.

One nice side-effect of this story though is that a number of top blogs followed up on the story. Digital Daily, Cnet, Dvorak. Are they all getting ready for a UMPC-fuelled 2008 or is it just a slow day for news?

Update: Maybe they mean Silverthorne in a different guise? Canmore for AppleTV? Silvethorne is also said to go to 2Ghz so maybe its ideal for an ultra slim notebook? I’m trying hard not to get dragged into the Apple rumor-mill but its bloody hard not to!

Source: AppleInsider.

I was just having a quiet little surf in bed when I saw that JKK has completed a how-to on installing a touchscreen layer on the EEE PC screen. Thank goodness I’m on the Wi-Brain. I didn’t even have to sit up to let you know all about it! Check out JKKMobile for more info. 

I’m going back my late-nite surfing session with ambient music provided courtesy of the N810 streaming radio channels!

Now that sounds like a fun exam. Students at the Brigham Young University were presented with the task of designing a Dell UMPC as their semester final in industrial design class.  Different teams had to design devices for different purposes. These included an outdoor device, a device for college students, a device for creative professionals, and one for young adults. What’s most ineressting is that while the students were presenting their device mockups, top Dell executives listened via a conference call. Considering Dell just released a tablet, a UMPC may not be far off. Let’s just hope the price won’t be as outrageous.

Follow the link for more pictures

 BYU News Press Release.

At 500gms and 2/3rd’s the size of a Q1 UMPC with just as much power, the same memory and disk, longer battery life, better controls and a higher-resolution screen, the WiBrain is pretty much the bang-for-buck bargain of the year. At $699 (price from Dynamism) it undercuts every UMPC on the market by a good margin and that alone makes it very attractive. Well, technically attractive at least because in terms of ‘style’ there’s not much here at all. Its more bricky than a brick-thing which is going to put a lot of people off. I’ve had it for 4 days now and have given it a good hard work-out, discussed some specific aspects in the forum and I’m fairly well acquainted with it now. Its time for a rundown of the main points and a demo video to show you some performance and features.

This open gaming handheld reminds me of the WiBrain B1 UMPC. Its got some great specs but the physical implementation looks a mess! It’s the latest incarnation of a design targeted at gamer/developers wanting to run gaming emulators. Based, spiritually on the GP2X, there’s very little focus on Internet connectivity an even less on mobile Internet connectivity (no Bluetooth, 3G) but the interesting thing is that the core hardware could [...]

My first impressions coming up later today but while you wait….

There have been a few reports recently (actually lots, see this thread) about the 2G being available to order but it looks like they’re already on the shelves. This image sent in by EC. Taken in Central Computers in Sunnyvale CA.

Eee PC 2G specs available in the product database.

I’ve just received my Everun car mounting kit with DC power adaptor and can’t wait to try it out. Its better than I expected with a good solid construction, a 12v DC input, USB port and DC adaptor. The problem is that my Everun is still being used for reviews in the UK so I can’t test it out. I’ll have it back in about a week. How frustrating! If you’ve got an Everun though, you owe it to yourself to open up the world of car navigation and in-car entertainment by buying one of these kits. If you’ve got the HSDPA modem installed, you’ll be fully net-connected too! Could it be any easier? 

For a navigation solution, see this review of PC Navigator which I used with the Everun. More info on the Everun here.

On the day that we discovered the touchscreen Belinea 7″ UMPC, here’s a second! JKKMobile has put a touchscreen in the ASUS Eee PC 4G. Its working a treat and here’s the proof:

According the JKK the swap was ‘relatively easy’ with a ‘kit from Ebay’ was about 60 dollars which is a bargain! Now off you go to JKKMobile.com and see if you can badger him into making a ‘how-to’ video!

GottaBeMobile are running a ‘best’ poll across a number of categories. Today you get the chance to vote for the ‘Ultra Mobile PC of the Year’ so get yourself over there and vote now!

2007 GottaBeMobile Awards: Nominations Now Open for Ultra-Mobile PC of the Year

The 7″ laptop market just heated up in the UK. I can feel it from here.

Belinea are offering a version of the VIA Nanobook reference design with the VOIP module for 420 pounds. That’s about 600 Euro. Not that impressive you say? Well take a look at some of the specs that I’ve highlighted. These are different to the Packard Bell XS20 that I tested.

• Memory Base: DDRll SO-DIMM – 1 GB fitted
• HDD Bay 80GB - 1.8″ Format 8 mm Height PATA
• Display: LCD Displays 7″ WVGA LCD, 800 x 480, touch screen function
• I/O Ports: One DVI Port, Two USB2.0 Ports, One DC-in Jack, Audio Ports One Headphone Jack, One Microphone/Line in Jack, Sound volume adjust by K/B hot-keys
• Operating system: Windows XP Pro -Touch screen
• VOIP Module / handset.
• Warranty: Period 2 year Return to Base

Unlike PC World’s rip-off 500-quid offer on their Packard Bell variant, this one has a touchscreen, an 80GB drive, the VOIP handset, Windows XP Pro and a 2 year warranty. How much? 412 pounds including VAT. (as seen at this online store.)

The 1.2Ghz VIA processor works well with XP. (I know, I’m testing the WiBrain right now which has almost identical specs to this Belinea Laptop.) If the Eee PC is just a little too low-spec for you, this could be a much better deal.

For all the information on the sister device, the Packard Bell Easynote XS20, see the UMPCPortal video review and hands-on

Edit: The Belinea laptop is known as the S-Book. Details and specifications now in the product pages.

News via EeePCnews.de

Nokia has released the latest version of OS2008, added some features and made it available for the N800 Internet Tablet.. Dan / Thoughtfix at TheTabletBlog has just written up an overview of the OS and its features which is worth reading. In general, he;s very positive about the update to the N800 but he’s not as harsh as I was on some of the not-so-good aspects. For N810 owners the [...]