I’ve had unconfirmed and insider reports for months now that Wibrain (or rather NeoSolar, the owners) had sold the WIbrain operation to China-based E-King. The E-King website has been up for a while but it now looks like they’ve gone into production and are starting to sell the E-King i1 UMPC. That pretty much confirms all the rumors!
Two UMPCPortal readers have taken the plunge and bought one on Ebay. User ‘hansonweb’ has already received it and started to feed-back first impressions.
“It comes with 60gb hdd, z520 processor, 1gb memory. XP pre-installed…It came with a DVD with drivers. Hdd has two partitions, 20gb and 40gb. 40gb seems to have a restore image.
I like it so far. The only problem I have is it does not come with a vga or video adaptor. Their dm sheet says that it comes with a MicroSD, but it is actually a standard SD card slot.”
The i1 is certainly a great device [my review] and at 504 Euros including delivery, the Ebay-cost (non 3G version) isn’t bad but do watch out for support issues when buying from Ebay. Returns can be costly and take a long time.
I spoke with Mobilx this morning about the i1 and we couldn’t really come to a decision about whether importing it would be commercially viable. On one hand its a fantastically productive little UMPC but there’s obviously some risk where support is concerned. E-King is also unknown as far as build-quality goes. We could certainly try to put a group order together if people are ready to go forward with a purchase though. Let us know in the comments below and if there’s a lot of interest i’ll give Mobilx a call.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Wibrain i1 becomes E-King i1 and is now available on Ebay. http://cli.gs/BgEdTQ
April 6th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
WOW, i have been waiting for it to emerge for ages.
As for group order, i’m in, was just about to give up on it and buy the Gigabyte M912 but it has no battery compared to this…
April 6th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I’m in!
April 6th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Im in. Ive been oogling this thing forever, since back when it bobbed to the surface as a next gen wibrain B1.
If mobix puts it up for a decent price, im buying it.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
On a small sidenote, Back in its wibrain days it was displayed in an array of nice colors. Will it still be available in green?
April 6th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
if umpcportal.com’s doing a group order, then count me in. even though support from eking is going to be minimal.
April 7th, 2009 at 12:19 am
There is a lack a must is missed! Is the 3G simm card slot inside and the GPS for travelers. A greater Gb for hard disk would be appreciated, as they done with Archos media players/recorders, they have 250 Gb they have some with 320Gb! It’s no more heavy. Because, if you want some videos of your camcorder and mp3 and photos, there are no place for some programs. 90% of people are ready to buy with all these functions, if Eking don’t do it, it goes people looks for others brands or waiing like me to get it with one unit to travel, not with UMPC + GPS + 3G USB key and a large hard disk for storage. Imagine at a restaurant or in a pic-nic or even travel, to connect in the street: a GPS or bluetooth in other hand, a 3G key. I did with my Wibrain B1, all people told me what’s a toy is this?!! Why Eking wait to put GPS and 3G if they had demos, that worked properly since near a year ago!? So, make it and i buy it, oh! I did a mistake, the reality is: make it and a lot of thousands…maybe millions will buy it! That’s no mistake! If they not, it will be another one as others.
Sokonomi Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I would miss the GPS alot, but with all the wifi spots and poorly guarded APs you find in most cities, I woulnd worry about 3G all that much. Would ofcourse be nice to have though. But I thought this thing had an optional 3G module?
Since the machine is advertised as playing 720p poorly, 60gb should be quite alright for video fanatics. Guessing it ll play DVD4 content properly at around 50mb per minute, youll be able to stick around 17 hours of DVD quality video on there. Roughly 65 hours if you like TV shows/anime series.
Shove a cheap 16gb SDHC card in there for music and whatnot. Id say thats plenty.
Having them stuff more things onboard will also crank up the price. I like the price where it is now, I would not considder buying if it got more expencive to be honest.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:57 am
I’m definitely a go for it.
April 7th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I’m definitely in for a group buy.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
WE are 25 persons ready IF GPS & 3G simm slot are INSIDE. Must be onboard and we buy.
Chippy Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 11:33 am
It MIGHT be possible to install a 3G card with built-in GPS.
I’m speaking to a reseller.
Steve
April 7th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I agree, 3G and GPS, then id definately buy.
No GPS and id still buy because ive got a bluetooth GPS mouse, but the price would have to be accordingly aswell.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Ha! Wibrain becomes E-King in China. http://tinyurl.com/dywv39
April 9th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
The Good:
5 row keyboard
The Bad:
It’s like the Samsung Q1 Ultra’s ugly little brother. Similar format, but a MUCH smaller screen, and designed by someone with a brick fetish.
If it had a 7″ or 9″ screen, and got a make-over by a place like Frog Design, or something … it might be an interesting beast. But, as it is, I find it hard to come up with a reason I’d want to buy it.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Although I cant deny the fact that this machine looks like worlds most expencive brick, I do think it would lose its charm if it got any bigger. The Q1 is a nice addition for someone who doesnt already own a netbook of some sort, it doesnt have any appeal for those who do. However the small formfactor of the Eking i1 does make it portable enough to distance itself from the netbook crowd. Youd stick the i1 in your gadetbag, but most likely youd leave the Q1 at home.
As for power, its a balance between CPU and GPU. One has a stronger CPU while the other has more GPU grunt. However for the i1 its more impressive since its a way smaller package.
April 12th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I’d like to be in! Interested in i1 with 3g.
But I am not assured of delivery cost and custom charges…
April 14th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I’m in. Though it’ll be great if 2gb version is available – it seems there is no way to upgrade RAM yourself (resoldering is the only option).
April 17th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Im making progress with Mobilx. There’s a possibility that Mobilx will now carry the Eking i1. It’s not a done deal yet but keep an eye on Mobilx.eu
April 17th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Cheers, Chippy!
Thanks for working getting the good stuff to europe.
Ill be watching mobilx like a hawk.
April 18th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I’d like to be in! Interested in i1 with 3g.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I’m in for a group buy.I’d like it to have internal gps and ssd if possible…but i’m in for the current specs too.
April 20th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I have some good news from Mobilex id like to share with the rest of you:
Dear mr Talboom,
We will have Eking I1 UMPCs in our products range. It will be available soon.
Please visit our site a few week later and you will find it.
Best regards,
Peter Katona
mobilx mobile solutions
Unfortunately I didnt get the specs, but atleast its coming.
Sokonomi Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I recieved a follow up mail with the following:
Dear mr Talboom,
Sorry but we don’t know about the final price, the specification is:
CPU: Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz, FSB 530MHz,L2 Cache 512 KB
Chip Set: Intel Ultra Mobile Integrated，Poulsbo US15
Display Device: 4.8″,1024*600, Touch Screen,Digital handwrite LCD(Samsung)
Memory: 1GB DDR2(Samsung)
Hard Disk: 60GB (Samsung)
WiFi Lan: 802.11 /b/g
Input and operation module Touchpad(Bidirectional Scroll)+ QWERTY Thumb Keyboard +Stylus
Bluetooth: Support bluetooth 2.0+EDR,A2DP stereo Headphone Card Reader Support the extension of MicroSD card
I/O Interface 1xUSB 2.0,1x headphone-out/Microphone-in,DC input
Audio System Inter high definition Audio, stereo sound
Internal Sound Box Double Dimensional Sound Loudhailer
Video Card Integrated high-performance video card
Built-in Camera 0.3 megapixel
Battery Lithium battery 4 cell 7.4V/3900mAH,battery endurance reaches 6-8hours
Weight 526g (Including battery)
Warranty 1 Year
Size 192*82*28.5mm
Best regards:
Peter Katona
mobilx mobile solutions
So unfortunately no mention of 3G or GPS.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Nice post! I really liked your views and opinions!
May 6th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
heloo i want no price and mor detials plezz