It seems like Steve has had his hands all over the early white UMID M1 [Portal page], but I happen to have just received the official matte black UMID M1, courtesy of Dynamism, with twice the storage space (and a production model at that), oh and a nice case that Dynamism is offering with orders that even Steve didn’t get to check out! Let’s quickly review the important specs of the device:
- 1.33GHz Atom CPU
- 512MB of RAM
- 32GB SSD
- Windows XP
- 1024×600 4.8” screen
So you’ve probably seen Steve’s white UMID unboxing, so I’ll try to keep the unboxing pictures brief, but let you scope out the sexy matte black finish and the quality leather case.
There were reports of poor build quality on the early UMID M1s. I’ve only been playing with it for a few hours, but everything feels fine as far as build quality goes. There are only a few issues I have. The first of which is the included stylus and the silo that it is housed in. The telescoping stylus doesn’t slide in and out of the silo very easily, and for some reason it feels awful when used to stroke the screen. Tapping is fine, but if you are trying to run it across the screen it feels like you are drawing with a pencil on sandpaper. I’ve been using my similar UX stylus on the screen instead which makes alleviates this feeling to some extent. The keyboard is a bit squishy to a certain point, but it is within a reasonable tolerance. UMID said that they increased the angle that the hinge would open to as there were early complaints. After consulting an expert who had her hands on the earlier UMID (hat tip to Jenn from Pocketables), it doesn’t appear as though the screen can actually go back any further, though I’ve noted that the viewing angels are excellent, so this diminishes the issue to some degree.
I’ll be checking out this sleek version of the UMID for the next few weeks. Steve has covered much of the device already; drop a comment here if there is anything in particular that you’d like me to look at.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Pics taken with the iPhone 3GS. RT @benz145: New article: UMID M1 matte black, production model and case, unboxing http://cli.gs/6rJJH
August 27th, 2009 at 11:40 am
It looks so much nicer!
If the screen had changed to go back further then I could have got over the other issues I have with the M1. As it doesn’t, I can’t.
Chippy Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
There’s a slight increase there but maybe not enough.
I love the finish though. Very nice.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Will we ever see 1 gig of RAM and, most importantly, 3G on a UMID M1?
Ben Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 2:06 am
There is a 3G model, Pocketables.net should be getting one eventually. Unconfirmed if it works in the US yet though.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
i know this is kinda off topic, but i don’t think i’ve read any news on this umid rebrand of the clevo 7′ umpc
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-UMID-SPARQ-M7EX-Mbook-Tablet-ATOM-Z530-UMPC-SSD64GB_W0QQitemZ220465659500QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item3354c6fe6c&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177
Chippy Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
There have been a few of these rebranded Clevo’s about. This one, with 1024×600 is more usable than the TN70M but there’s something that tells me the Viliv S7 will be a better purchase for those wanting a portable, convertible all-round mobile device.
Dr. Nick Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Hey, Chippy, do you think we might see anything new from Viliv? Maybe at IDF next month?
August 27th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Seems it is not really black plastic but PAINTED black!
See third picture from top how you see the white where the battery would be covering…
ArchiMark Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Wow, please someone tell me that it’s not so…. ;-/
Mars Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Plastic seems to be black molded. The white looking piece you can see in the photo is an insert. It feels smoother than the black plastic so I don’t know if it is to make it easier to slide the battery in — or perhaps it has some different thermal properties. But the rest of the case looks to be definitely black on all surfaces.
Ben Reply:
August 31st, 2009 at 8:49 am
Yeah the case definitely has that matte feel to it, not just glossy black plastic.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Does it has any VGA port or any thing that could be used for making presentation?