From the Nokia N82 to the Medion Akoya Mini Netbook. Its hard to imagine you can fit 6 more computing devices in the middle. Here’s the line-up of devices at UMPCPortal at the moment and in this 10 minute video I give you a lightning overview of how I use them at the moment.
Also available on YouTubeand in WMVand H.264 (choose on page) formats. Again, this is how I use the devices at the moment and of course, no normal person would have this many devices at one time! More details on the spcification pages: Nokia N82. Nokia N810. Compal MID (thanks Intel). Wibrain i1 (thanks Mobilx) Raon Digital Everun Note. Kohjinsha SC3. Medion Akoya Mini.
February 5th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Posted a new article: 8 mobile computing devices and how I use them. http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=5475
February 5th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
What a beautiful selection… How does the wibrain perform in terms of video? I have the u820 with 1.6 atom and it barely gets the job done… even with powerdvd player… What would you recommend for a mid-sized machine that does video very well? I really like the wibrain and oqo form factors…
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
1.6Ghz Atom will perform well.
This article talks about the performance (raw cpu performance, not hardware decoding) on an 800Mhz Atom.
http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/11/aigo-mid-browsing-and-video-experience
Some commentary on the 1.8Ghz Atom here…impressive.
http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/01/oqo-2-arrived
I’ve also seen 16mbps hardware decoded h.264 on the Kohjinsha sc3.
S
Papinymph Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Thanx for the response… I’m gonna get an ssd for my u820 and hopefully I will be satisfied… I want the oqo, but it lacks a few things the fujistu comes with (gps etc) and keeping the u820 is waaaay cheaper
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
U820 is a nice bit of kit. Also not cheap though!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Thanks for the nice overview, Steve. I would be most interested to see your principle devices in action. Choose an important task that you accomplish on these devices, say mico-blogging or reading your RSS feeds, and show us exactly how well you can complete that task on each device. What do you think?
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I wish I had time to do all that!
You’ll see a lot of past videos and articles where i’ve covered that though.
If you want to list a set of tasks, I can tell you which device i’d use. How about that? The problem is, with 8 devices there, you’d probably get a different device for each task!
A 3G NC10, Compal MID and N82 would be my three-device choice right now if I was going to cover all scenarios. Netbook for ‘jobs’ and Compal MID to grab when i’ve got nothing planned. But then, the Everun note would be good for video work, especially with a Runcore SSD in it
S
February 5th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
what happened to the gigabyte convertible tablet?
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
The Gigabyte got sold on. I didnt want to keep two netbooks and the Gigabyte was the easiest to sell on.
Steve
February 5th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
The impression I got from the video was that you were explaining how you justify keeping each of those devices around, not why you would buy them. I can’t see anyone going out to buy 8 different devices at one time in order to do 8 different jobs. Rather, your collection has built up over time, and your video shows what you are doing with them now in order to justify keeping them around.
I would be interested in seeing you do a video on which one or two devices would you keep if you were forced to throw out all of the others. I’m guessing it would be the netbook and the N82. (And the N82 can provide tethered internet for the netbook so the latter doesn’t even need 3G).
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
As I said, “no normal person would have this many devices at one time.”
This is showing what i’m doing with devices i’m lucky enough to have.
Steve.
P.S. There are four more that I don’t use!
Chippy Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
If forced to keep two it would be the N82 and Everun Note right now. I hardly ever use the netbook. No BT. No 3G. Heavy.
S
anon Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
A couple of those are loaners for testing and reviewing. Also anyone working with devices like these professionally is bound to be left with a range of devices over time! It would be rather odd if he didn’t have a collection.
– An owner of three Eee PCs (…yes, I want to get rid of the first two (701, 900A) now that I have the best laptop: the Eee 901 Go)
February 5th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
I’ve got two event coming up in March so you’ll see a couple of devices in action then. Haven’t decided what devices i’m using at them so everything is open!
S
February 6th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Dear Chippy, in the end it all comes down to having the important data, files, iTunes, a few movies with you when your out and about, I´d say a 10 Inch or 11 Inch below 6 Pounds with 3G besides WLAN & BT is the only device you need, take a Macbook Air or Sony Vaio TZ19 both dual Core´s but still small and light enough. If you combine that we an iPhone or a Symbian UI of your choice and a few Prepaid International cards you are pretty much as mobile as is gets. Well thats what I think it´s all about anyway.
Chippy Reply:
February 6th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Everybody is going to be different but that’s a popular 2-device combo. I’m not sure about the 6lb bit though!!
S
February 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Concerning 3G, I use my USB dongle and it works perfectly & you can get them cheap on Ebay without any contracts…
February 6th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Hi Steve,
I was thinking about picking up a Gigabyte M912M after reading/watching one of your reviews. I thought you were picking one up yourself.
Any reason/issues that made you dropped it in favour of the other gadgets in the line up ?
Thanks,
Zuber
Chippy Reply:
February 6th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Not really. I didnt want (read couldn’t afford) to have two netbooks lying around so offered them up for sale. The M912M went first. I guess that’s in the M912′s favor!
S
February 6th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Thanks,
Reassuring…
Just give it a bit longer to see if the exchange rate improves, then I think I’ll order one. I’ve been playing with shapewriter and it will be interesting to see how well that works with finger input instead of stylus.
Zuber
February 6th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I thougt N82 is smartphone! It’s rather weak to be UMPC. Also symbian is near to WMobile neither COmputer Os as Vista or Ubuntu. Isn’t it?
Maybe in varios countries varios standarts?
What class you give HTC Touch or Iphone?