If its not one thing, its the other. The long old story of potential deal-breakers continues.
UMID M1 – Screen angle + USB dongles.
HTC Shift – Battery life + screen res.
Viliv S7 – Colour
and now, wobbly keys on the Sharp Netwalker which, given the importance of keys, is quite the problem. “The keyboard (14mm pitch, 0.8mm stroke) so far is a mixed bag for me…” says Jenn. “I’m not liking the keyboard at all.. key caps bend to all directions.” says JKK.
On the positive side, build quality gets a thumbs up along with the optical mouse, battery life and screen angle but performance is again, a bit wobbly. Standby, application start-up times and browsing speeds appear to be varying between acceptable and poor.
For a two-handed thumb-style mobile device, the Netwalker may have missed the mark. The Ubuntu UI is unrefined, the keyboard caps not ideal for thumbing and the processing power slightly less than is needed for a smooth experience. There isn’t even any Bluetooth.
At well over $500, the Netwalker is going to have problems competing with the UMID M2 that is said to be launching at $499. Even with 512MB of RAM and Windows XP it will fly compared to this device. Battery life will be much less (at around 4hrs) and the looks and build quality may be slightly less than you’ll find on the Netwalker but for me, the UMID M2 (due to launch in Q4) still has the edge.
Sharp Netwalker information page.
JKK is planning a UMID Mbook vs Netwalker head-to-head. We’ll see if we can get a live session up very soon.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:29 am
New article: Sharp Netwalker gets wobbly early reviews. http://cli.gs/3z7G4
October 1st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I think the Netwalker is getting bad rap as being expensive, but that is only so when you take a product from the Japanese market and put it on the export market where the price skyrockets.
Not sure if competing would be the right word as Sharp is only selling the product in Japan currently where both UMID M1s are not available. (Well, the Kohjinsha PM1 should have just gone on sale I think)
The Netwalker is a much cheaper product than both UMID M1s selling for 20,000 yen (about $200) less than the UMID M1 (Kohjinsha PM1) at least.
Chippy Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Good point Peter. In local markets, this is a much cheaper device. We mustn’t forget that.
Chippy Reply:
October 1st, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Having said that (2 seconds ago!) is price an excuse for a poor quality keyboard?
October 1st, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I agree with the reviews though, had one for a couple of weeks but I only lasted a couple of days with it before I gave up on it. This form factor is not for me.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Even if you leave out the additional export costs this device still is way too expensive. I really like the form factor and I was a big fan of the Sharp Zaurus series.
But the Netwalker is just too expensive. I mean 512MB of Ram and 4GB of Hdd…. Come on. With prices for memory as low as they are at the moment this just is ridiculous. And Sharp is just putting the standard ubuntu fror arm-devices on the netwalker. So there are no license fees or software development costs to justify the price.
You are basically paying for the small form factor. But if you do that you should at least make sure that the form factor works out and put in an usable keyboard.
Peter Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:54 am
Not just export costs, but you have an additional $100 – $300 for most laptops/netbooks/these sorts of devices when compared to the US prices.
Yeah they could set the price much cheaper I believe given it’s Ubuntu and has low specs but there is no competition on the Japanese market right now as they are the first on the block.
NobbyNobbs Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
The netwalker might be without competition in regard of its form factor. But I doubt that there are that many people in Japan (or anywhere else) who really do need a device with exactly this form factor. And those who do probably know about the umid devices. If you aren`t looking for exactly this form factor there is a lot of competition to consider. Performancewise the netwalker competes against smartphones that are even more pocketable. For the normal consumer who is looking for something portable (not pocketable) netbooks probably seem the better solution.
I really like the device. I just don`t understand how Sharp ended up with this price.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:29 am
Sharp Netwalker gets wobbly early reviews. | UMPCPortal – Ultra … http://bit.ly/14wtwe
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:44 am
Sharp Netwalker gets wobbly early reviews. | UMPCPortal – Ultra … http://bit.ly/1314Qh
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
Sharp Netwalker gets wobbly early reviews. | UMPCPortal – Ultra …: So there are no license fees or software d.. http://bit.ly/1zBlza
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
Sharp Netwalker gets wobbly early reviews. | UMPCPortal – Ultra … http://bit.ly/hMMj1
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
This… no. Umid M2… yea. Been looking for a change to My
Everun note
(( Even though I got a good one (No screen cable issues) ))
Its irritatin carrying along My Tekkon batterypack to make it viable.
I’d love -More- info about the Umid M2 Since frankly I cannot choose a product with even less power then the already mediocre Atom 1.6 ….