Sony, along with others such as Samsung, was one of the early companies that jumped into the idea of the UMPC with some great devices. For a company that hesitated to jump on the netbook bandwagon, Sony was surprisingly passionate in their early UMPC work, updating their Sony VAIO UX series on a nearly bi-yearly basis. Though the UX series never made it to the big-leagues (read: widespread consumer awareness) it apparently made some friends in Hollywood.
Over the years, the Sony VAIO UX series has appeared in a surprising number of films and music videos, often toted as a futuristic high-tech gadget, or a high-class luxury device. With the help of my compadres over at www.micropctalk.com, I’ve compiled a short-list of videos where the VAIO UX is featured and some screenshots of the devices in use from a few of the mentioned locations. I’ve also included Wikipedia links in case you are unfamiliar with the media:
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Terminator Salvation (film) – Used by John Connor
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007: Quantum of Solace (film) – Used by Bill Tanner
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Stargate Atlantis (show) – Used by Rodney McKay
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Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) (music video) – Used by Wyclef Jean
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Same Girl (music video) – Used by R. Kelly
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24 (show) – Used to arm a suitcase bomb
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Paul Blart: Mall Cop (film)
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The Pink Panther 2 (film) – Used by Kenji
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The Guard (show)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (film)
Same Girl (music video)
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)
Drop a line in the comments if you’ve ever seen your favorite gadget featured in a movie or other form of media.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Stargate Atlantis featured several kinds of UMPCs and tablets, though the Vaio UX wielded by Rodney McKay (you mistyped his name) was the most recognizable to me. Too bad I didn’t make notes when some interesting-looking devices were on screen – while they naturally are just props, some of them looked nice enough to have if they were made with current technology.
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July 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
the wire featured a samsung q1 , which they were using for surveillance .
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July 22nd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
The interesting thing is, i have never seen one in real life
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July 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I have seen one in real life and it looked surprisingly bulkly (depth), had a poor keyboard and the screen resolution was far too high on a small screen
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July 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 am
i had a ux1nx,vista destroyed a great machine,battery was piss poor and the initial outlay was well over a grand,keyboard was a nightmare but the ssd was very good,sold it on ebay for a third of its initial cost,i reckon windows 7 would transform these machines into something very useable,shared some of its guts with the oqo e2 which in my opinion is a far superior machine to this,thats also been in a few tv shows and movies even though they are now defunct.
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July 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
The OQO is much better!
http://www.oqo.com
http://www.oqotalk.com
A shame both of them are over!
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July 23rd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Well the OQO model 1 was used in Mission Impossible 3 by Tom Cruise when they broke into the Vatican
I think this was a higher profile role than any of the Sonys appearances. What made me laugh was the Sony appearance in Terminator Salvation. It was handed over after the guy who was carrying it was fully immersed in water. Must have been a waterproof model
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:06 am
T think the QOQ 2 was used in “fast and the furious 4″.
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July 24th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Yes, it was used by the girl for finger print scanning in F&F4, which the OQO does not supports
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July 24th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Sleuth (2007) featured a samsung q1, that was used for surveillance too. It seems to be pigeonholed.
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