Getting ready for a conference or trade show always get me excited. There’s the thought of the new gadgets, the discussions, meeting with contacts (I’ll be catching up with the MeetMobility and NetbookNews teams while I’m there; @jkkmobile, @sascha_p, @joannastern) and of course, the thrill of the pack. The scout in me never ceases to get excited about packing my gadget bag.

I had an update from TI’s ‘Mobile Mover’ Seshu Madhavapeddy on Thursday evening and came away with a very strong impression that Ti want to conquer the whole ‘Ring of FIE’ with their OMAP 3 platform. PMPs were mentioned (Archos.) Smartphones were mentioned (Samsung Omnia HD, Palm Pre) and so were tablets and netbooks.  Seshu also outlined how ARM-based netbooks would differ from the netbooks we know today buy talking [...]

News from the Maemo weekend in Copenhagen; Canonical will switch to Maemo-derivative Mer from the Moblin 1.0 build for it’s Ubuntu MID derivative. Moblin 2.0 is no longer MID-focused so it looks like Intel have just lost a significant partner in their MID ecosystem.

One element of the Gigabyte Touchnote that I’m starting to get used to now is the gesture support. It’s built into a special set of eGalax drivers that have been included on the device. Originally I wanted to turn them off as they were interfering with selecting text and Grab and Drag under Firefox but after tweaking them a little, removing a few that were clashing with other on-screen actions [...]

The Mozilla Maemo developer weekend starts tomorrow and will be focusing on the very things we love here at UMPCPortal. Efficient, mobile, internet-connected application

We had a very detailed email and press release from Viliv today which is now available on their English-language website. In summary, it looks like they will be highlighting global 3G and 4G versions of the S5, X70 EX and S7 UMPCs and demonstrating Windows 7. They will also be revealing two new models. A 10” model and a 4.8” device with keyboard. The press release also mentions that Microsoft [...]

Mobilx have just sent over live pics from their first batch of Clevo TN70M’s so if you’ve ordered already, it will be on its way. (Let us know what you think when you get it!) If you haven’t ordered, there’s stock available now. More images in the gallery. After analysing the Lazion review the other day I’m a bit more positive about it. I had thought that it had lost [...]

The Q7 may not be a UMPC but there’s a lot to like and a lot to learn from the device. It highlights the difference between professional and consumer devices very well so in this article I’ve mixed a review of the Q7 with some thoughts about consumer web tablets.

Something a lot of people seem to have missed is that the Linux Foundation’s Moblin 2.0 Beta release is targeted more at Linux distributors rather than end-users. You wouldn’t think so from some of the promotional activities that have been going on but it’s probably the reason that a lot of people are expressing disappointment after testing it out. As we look forward, it’s likely that the Linux Foundation will [...]

JKK, ‘Sash’ and I recorded Meet Mobility Podcast 28 this afternoon. We spent an enjoyable 50+ minutes talking about Computex and what we think might be on the cards.

For the third time this year, Intel are putting faith in my blogging capabilities. This time we’re off to Taipei, Taiwan to cover the very big and very exciting Computex trade fair. Over 1,700 exhibitors will be manning 4600 booths from June 2nd to June 6th in what is billed as “the Largest show in Asia” and “world’s leading ICT event.” I’ll be arriving (as a one-man team for this [...]

JKK, ‘Sash’ and I recorded the Meet Mobility Podcast 28 this afternoon. We spent an enjoyable 50+ minutes talking about Computex and what we think might be on the cards. Check out the show notes and listen in at MeetMobility. We’re all going to be there next week which makes the event twice as exciting! I’ll be at Computex as a guest of Intel so you’ll find breaking Intel-focused coverage [...]

Mapfactor announced version 9 of their PC Navigator software today and I’ve got some testing notes, images and videos for you below. Main improvements include up-to-date maps form TeleAtlas from February 2009, simplified and improved User Interface (searching dialog, map tools), improved TMC (traffic information in Europe), improved ‘Find nearest.’

We haven’t had time to test the Clevo TN70M yet but definitely have it on the list due to it’s low cost, long battery life and European availability. In the meantime we’ve got some details from the Korean website, Lazion, to share with you. They’ve tested a branded version of the Clevo, the Hansung Sparq M7. We think the M7 tested by Lazion is equivalent to the Clevo TN71M. The [...]

Pocketables is reporting on availability info for the black, 32GB, 3G version of the UMID Mbook M1. A desirable unit but based on current pricing, it will have to sell for over $900. I’d rather take the base version with an unlocked MiFi unit. 32GB black UMID mbook M1 with 3G expected in June.

This is not a UMPC but could make a nice Portable or CarPC. The FitPC has been upgraded to use an Intel Atom 1.1 or 1.6 Z-series CPU so if you load up XP and plug in the USB Powered (apparently) Samsung frame/mini monitor you’ve got quite a cheap modular PC. Quite a cute solution for around $400. Composite image. Not to scale. FitPC news source. Via Samsung monitor news [...]

Great news. Following the Australian reseller, Justek (news) Dynamism have announced that they will be selling the UMID M1 Mbook and that it will be available from the 15th June.