Talking about MIDPhones, here’s an update on one that’s been knocking around in bitmap form for quite a while now. It’s the dual-CPU, dual-OS MIU HDPC. (Hybrid Dual Portable Computer.)
Rather than going for the all-in-one OS like Moblin is, MIU have basically stuck a phone on top of a 4.8” Windows XP UMPC although to give them credit, it does look a little more attractive than it sounds.
There are some interesting features too. If the specs are to be believed, MIU have put a 5mp camera in with an optical zoom along with a nifty 180 fold-over screen. There’s a FM transmitter, mouse (we assume the big round button is a mouse pointer) and HDMI out! According to the company website it looks like they have/are touring the U.S. looking for large customers right now. They will need to step it up a but though because Moorestown arrives soon and will enable simpler, smaller, more integrated and probably cheaper designs than the HDPC. There’s another gotcha too. The specs say ‘Cellular 2G’ That’s the deal-breaker for most people there.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:03 am
MIU HDPC. Nice design but is could be loo late / too big. Moorestown MIDPhones will be more interesting. http://cli.gs/PABGp
August 25th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I think the styling has taken a step back, as the silver frame surrounding the phone’s keypad and the actual keyboard looks very cheap especially when combined with black plastic. A single touch screen with the sliding keyboard would have have kept the device count lower and consequently the weight and the complexity of the styling.
I actually do want a full XP PC and phone in one pocket-able object as I wear jeans and T-shirts, so one device in one pocket, and the other pocket free for things like wallet and keys. If I had to carry a phone, an OQO and then my wallet and keys, something will get scratched or I’ll end up with an impromptu buldge on one side of my 501′s!
The only other possible contender that may meet my requirements is the XPPhone, http://www.XPPhone.com, but there are some serious questions about the processor’s performance. I want to run AutoCAD on the machine, and so the HDPC’s specs can run AutoCAD but I don’t think XPPhone can. It also does not have a decent camera.
You may ask why not have a good computer and a good phone?
This is what I’m doing at the moment, and as I use my contacts and back up my work a lot and switch between leisure mode and serious working mode frequently, I did not want to have a separate computer at home with all my favourite links on it and then another computer at the office with all my contacts on it and then my phone with another set of contacts, e-mails and favourites on it. I found that I spend a lot of time synchronising machines, a really banal affair! Equally banal, is having to lug a laptop around especially that I’m a cycalist. I just don’t like to carry a bag, it makes me feel less free . . . ! I can’t go clubbing with my friends on a whim if I have to remember whilst I’m getting drunk to not leave my laptop behind . . . So one devise, that sits comfortably in the pocket, with a built in 5MP camera and above, that runs AutoCAD, has a GPS and . . . a phone with at least a 2 day operating life means that I can spend the night at somebody’s without not being to call the office in the morning to say that I’ll be a bit late in. It also means that when I get into the office, I just put into the docking station connected to my 24″ monitor and it charges and I use AutoCAD, and when I go home I chuck it into a docking station connected to my HD video projector to watch TV, whilst serfing the internet. If somebody calls, I just use the paired Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 to take the call, or just use the speaker phone of the actual device.
There is no device on the market that meets my want. If the HDPC is ever realeased, I’ll be quite happy to ignore the styling, in order to get what I want.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
300gm? do you believe that?
August 26th, 2009 at 9:20 am
In the end it could be an very nice thing.Let`s keep the fingers crosed
August 27th, 2009 at 1:09 am
300g seems really a bit to light for that brick :/
August 27th, 2009 at 10:14 am
MIU phone is since 2006
only design , spec alway change , sample X ,
MIU Tech is not money………
MIU phone possible of realization ?????? question
answer ….. reply irrelevantly
August 27th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
maybe they finally got it. Concept is overkill, and not that many people will make use of it.
But its a gadget anyway and looks really nice.
Atm i think a release is possible, we’ll see…