The Belinea S.Book 1, AKA the Cloudbook CE1200V, was a device that surprised both myself and JKK at CeBIT. It was better looking than we imagined and the specs stand out as being a cut-above your average cheap laptop. With the touchscreen, the 80GB drive and the 1GB RAM, it can really hold it’s own in the mobile productivity league and with a price of under 600 Euros in most EU countries, its a bargain too! Below you’ll see a video that I made with JKK at CeBIT. JKK talks about the device and goes over the main features. Underneath that there’s a video from Cindy, the UMPCPortal-sponsored S.Book owner in Holland. While the video quality isn’t the best, it does show the boot-up time (after the install of a number of packages) and how quickly Office 2003 Word and Excel start. Thanks Cindy, for making the video.
I’ve just listened to the Podtech.net interview with Pat Gelisnger, Senior Vice President and Digital Enterprise Group co-General Manager. How about this for a quote:
In the milliwatt range we want to literally turn every cellphone into a fully capable Internet communications device able to access every piece of content application plugins that have ever been done in a compatible way and that’s really the value proposition of IA but for the first time coming to mobile devices.
If you’re not interested in IDF but have maybe a passing interest in mobile communications, of any sort, stay tuned over the next three days!
March was a big month for UMPCPortal. We hit 1 million page views across the news, forums, gallery, river of links, product database and RSS feeds which is a major accomplishment for a single month. Of course, CeBIT helped a lot but there does seem to be an underlying swell of UMPC activity as people begin to realise that while Origami-style UMPCs might not have been their bag, the cheap 7″ laptop and 5″ pocketable devices are! Confidence by manufacturers and advances in technology have enabled both of those sub segments and as the world starts to go 3, 3.5 and 4G mobile, the sub 1KG productivity and consumer pocketable categories will become more and more important. The Macbook AIR also played a role too. While it appeared as an underpowered styling exercise to early commentators, owners have unanimously voted that the mobility factor has to be experienced to be understood. [more stats after the jump...]
Laptopmag reports that the XP version of the Eee PC 4G is on it’s way. They’ve had hands-on too but I’m wondering how that will fit in the market with the 8.9″ version that’s supposed to be coming out soon. $399 will buy you the 7″ XP version which is $100 more than the Linux version but if you work back from the Euro-prices talked about for the 9″ version – 499 Euro – we should see the 8.9″ version with Linux for around $500 in the U.S. If I had waited this long to buy an Eee PC and was looking for ‘productivity’ I’d probably wait a few more weeks for the bigger screen (and, as I understand it, more storage and rumors of Bluetooth and multi-touch track-pad) rather than the XP operating system. However, $500 is a lot more than $400 and the difference will be too much for some people.
Back at the beginning of this month I wrote about Cindy in Holland. She was customer challenge #5 and I had agreed to give her some sponsorship money towards a Belinea S.Book in return for some reports. She was very quick in sending me her initial review on the device but I haven’t had the time to post it until now. Remember that the Belinea S.Book [details] is the 1Gb/80GB, touchscreen version of the VIA Nanobook reference design and will be almost exactly the same as the Everex Cloudbook CE1200J. Cindy is Dutch so English is obviously not her first language but I’ve left the review almost untouched apart from some formatting and few spelling corrections. Take it away Cindy…
I’m back at my desk after a swift tour in the UK last week, a place that appears to be home to one of the most advanced mobile Internet industries I’ve seen recently. My home country of Germany is certainly no laggard when it comes to offering high-speed Internet over 3.5G networks but the UK is a big step ahead. Everywhere you go on the high-street there are promotions and advertising for ‘mobile broadband’ which is the carriers way of trying to pull in DSL and cable customers with the promise of the mobility factor. 10 pounds a month gets you a 2 year contract with a free ‘dongle’ on a 3G network 15 per month nets you 3.6mbps access. Even the pay-as-you-go offerings are good. Its very consumer focused now and seems to have moved on from business-level marketing.
I’m on the last day of my mini-holiday in the UK and have been trying to catch up with feeds and email before I dive back into full-time UMPC work on Monday but one thing I couldn’t leave until next week was a mention of the new specs that Engadget have on the HP 2133 UMPC. [Right. Click to Enlarge]
Its good to see some confirmation that it really is VIA-based and that it will have a DX9-capable chipset. Probably the VX800. The size and weight figures look a bit suspicious and might just be shipping figures so I’d ignore them for the time being.
The disk sizes indicate an 8mm 1.8″ drive and its nice to see it support up to 2GB of RAM.
I’m disappointed not to see a Bluetooth module in the low-end devices and no HSDPA option but I think there’s a lot of potential market spread in this product and I’m sure we’re going to see Isaiah-based versions of this with some great additional specifications. What we see here is probably only the start of a big range of devices.
I wasn’t able to get these specs confirmed but to me, they do look reasonable and tally with my initial estimate of pricing and target market.
Wow, that was certainly unexpected. The FCC leaked the new EEE 900 manual which reveals that Asus stuck in some sort of a multi-touch trackpad. It appears to only take two fingers though, so it wont do three finger swipes. I am wondering if I did the right thing as I just ordered something else with a multi-touch trackpad (more about that later) though considering the price of the EEE I can probably have both. As expected no Atom processor. More x-rated pics over at jkkmobile.
This isn’t the entry-level Q1 Ultra, this is the full Q1 Ultra Vista with Bluetooth and SD slot and it’s going for $749. The Q1 Ultra Vista is the UMPC I’m using at the moment although I’ve upgraded it to Windows XP, added the extended battery and upgraded internally with 2GB and an HSDPA module.
So if you’re thinking of buying, do me a favor, buy me a birthday present and help UMPCPortal by buying through my Amazon affiliation!
MIDA is a Korean organisation that has been set up to help those involved with the manufacturing of MIDs in the country. I like the fact that we’re seeing coordination between companies.
MIDA includes Intel Korea, Haan Soft, KT, SK Telecom, LG Electronics, Daum Communications, Yukyung Technology, Wibrain, Hanbit Electronics and Digifriends. If combined with companies in consideration, it has 30 members.
I’ll be 40 years old on the 25th so I’m going ‘home’ to the UK to be with family and friends for this sad occasion. (Only joking; I’m looking forward to the next 40!) I don’t expect to be providing too much in the way of self-generated content during my holiday but I will be watching carefully for Intel news. IDF is on the 2nd April and I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of news about Atom, Atom-based devices and Moblin. Intel’s Josh Bancroft is going to Shanghai so make sure you keep an eye on his blog. I’ll try and microblog via twitter so keep an eye on the Carrypad FriendFeed page or RSS feed. As soon as IDF is over I’ll be on the train to Amsterdam for The Next Web conference for a bit of fun and to ask Robert Scoble how many N95 batteries he gets through in a day! (For those that don’t follow him, he’s an N95/QIK fan.)
In the kit-bag this week is the Samsung Q1 Ultra and Samsung Q1 keyboard. I’ll load my 3 UK SIM card into my Nokia N82 and use it via Bluetooth from the Q1 Ultra if needed. I will be leaving the Canon camera behind and relying solely on my N82 for photography. I’ll also be taking an Archos 605 to keep my daughter occupied in the car.
If you’re on holiday this Easter week, have a great time. If not, make sure you ping me if you see any juicy news! I’ll be back on the 30th.
Since I shot this video I have installed XP on my Q1 Ultra and it’s gone from dust-catcher to my primary UMPC. HTC, you might need to do the same with the Shift. Here’s an example of two Intel A110-baed UMPCs running the two Microsoft OS’ I think a lot of reviewers would feel differently about the Shift if it had XP. Vista, the deal breaker.
I’ve been doing some podcast testing with the Q1 Ultra today but it’s taken me ages. Since I loaded up a set of podcasts feeds on the N82 set it to auto-update it’s been playing non-stop and has been distracting me! More about that later but for now, I wanted to show you how I’ve been testing lightweight podcasting and simultaneous Skype conversation recording on the Q1 Ultra. I’m actually quite surprised how stable the whole setup is and if I had the Q1 Ultra premium with the 1.33Ghz Core Solo, it would probably be stable enough to take a couple of simultaneous Skype calls and would be able to feed soundbytes into the mix too. No doubt this is all possible on the MacBook Air but the MBA doesn’t have 6 hours in-use battery life and an HSDPA modem for true mobility in an 800gm package does it! Most Ghz-class UMPCs should be able to do this under windows XP.
First take a look at the video (edited and rendered using the same UMPC while I wrote this article) and then listen to the quality of the recording using the link below.
Another CeBIT 2008 video. This time it’s the Universal-ABIT MID that we spotted hiding in a glass cabinet. Full specifications aren’t yet available but you’ll see a lot of detail in the video. It will be based on Atom, include a built-in 3G modem and what appears to be a bigger-than-average battery pack compared to the Gigabyte MID. Maybe they’re going for a bit more battery life on it. What you won’t find built-in is GPS or DVB-T as these are likely to be sold as SDIO add-on cards. As with all Intel MIDs, the ABIT MID launch is targeted for mid 2008. Overall its a nice looking, pocketable Internet device. Video after the break…
Yesterday’s news refresh about HTC’s Dream has spurred me into taking a wider view on the device again. We heard about the HTC Dream last November and I speculated, based on some publicised ID features, that it might be based on an Intel prototype. The sizing was similar and that swivel screen that HTC talked about matches up well. It was a bit of a long-shot, yes, but I think the odds have shortened somewhat since we heard that HTC is working on a MID with call capabilities. Mash those two stories up and one of the theories that drops out is a very interesting possibility that Intel could be pushing the Atom/MID/Moblin concept into the Open Handset Alliance and that the Dream could be an Intel Atom-based Android smartphone.
What if Intel are contributing the Moblin Kernel to the OHA/Android and enabling an Atom-enabled Android build? What if Dream is built on an Intel Atom processor and is both the rumored HTC MID and HTC Dream in one? According to the sizing rumors, Dream could quite easily be an Atom-based MID.
If Intel are contributing Atom-enabling software along with their Atom silicon, their flash memory silicon, their WiMax silicon and their MID ecosystem, to Android, it will be a HUGE step for Atom into the consumer Internet handset market. Considering that Intel aren’t exactly aligning themselves with Microsoft on this project and are trying to push Moblin out though as many distributors as possible, it makes at least some sense, especially when you consider that ARM aren’t part of the OHA. ARM licensees that are part of OHA might have something to say about it though and that’s the big crack in my theory at the moment.
Looking far more stylish and desirable than the Eee PC, if this one launches at the rumoured $500 price point it will definitely cause some issues for the Eee PC 900 but I don’t think that’s where this one is heading. I think as a Windows device with storage, a 10" screen and HSDPA it’s going to be a very good value option for those looking at the Sony TZ. These images come from an article over at Pocket-Lint that was posted last week. More G10 specs and links here below.
The Belinea S.Book 1, AKA the Cloudbook CE1200V, was a device that surprised both myself and JKK at CeBIT. It was better looking than we imagined and the specs stand out as being a cut-above your average cheap laptop. With the touchscreen, the 80GB drive and the 1GB RAM, it can really hold it’s own in the mobile productivity league and with a price of under 600 Euros in most EU countries, its a bargain too! Below you’ll see a video that I made with JKK at CeBIT. JKK talks about the device and goes over the main features. Underneath that there’s a video from Cindy, the UMPCPortal-sponsored S.Book owner in Holland. While the video quality isn’t the best, it does show the boot-up time (after the install of a number of packages) and how quickly Office 2003 Word and Excel start. Thanks Cindy, for making the video.
Back at the beginning of this month I wrote about Cindy in Holland. She was 
I’m disappointed not to see a Bluetooth module in the low-end devices and no HSDPA option but I think there’s a lot of potential market spread in this product and I’m sure we’re going to see 
Wow, that was certainly unexpected. The FCC leaked the new EEE 900 manual which reveals that Asus stuck in some sort of a multi-touch trackpad. It appears to only take two fingers though, so it wont do three finger swipes. I am wondering if I did the right thing as I just ordered something else with a multi-touch trackpad (more about that later) though considering the price of the EEE I can probably have both. As expected no Atom processor. More x-rated pics over at 
