I’d love to do another tour this year so over at Solar-UMPC.com, the journal I used for the tour, I’ve taken another look at the UMPC sector to see what devices I could choose from.

I’ll be talking about the 4″ to 10″ space, along with my beloved ‘Mobile Computing Segments’ diagram at DevMob 2010 in London next week so if you’re in the area, please drop in and say hello. I’ll have a bunch of devices with me too so if you want hands on with the new UMID BZ, Viliv X70, S5, Android Tablet and other MID-space devices, it’s the place to be!

We’ve followed the event, had time to digest all the specifications and had a great chat with some readers in the live chat channel so now it’s time to summarize what the iPad is and where it fits. JKK and I spend 25 minutes going over the main points.

It’s about time this appeared because it doesnt really make sense that Archos only produce a 5″ version of the Android tablet. The news came out of the ArchosFans forum and I like the look of it. Just imagine if the first Origami device had had these dimensions and pricing in 2006. It would be a different story today. Archos 7” Android Tablet appears for iPad-killer Price. | Carrypad.

Update: New, 4-part video’s are included below. Thanks to everyone that joined the /live session yesterday evening. 600 pairs of feet stepped into the room and we had a lot of interactivity in the chat room which was great! The first hour of the live session is now available on YouTube for those of you that missed it. Bear in mind that this is the quality that we stream out [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Shared Netbook Navigator intends to deliver a 7" MID tablet. Shared Windows MID costs just $114. Shared Compal Tegra2 Tablet. Published Compal 10″ Tegra2 Tablet Design (Video). Published Things to Consider [...]

The number of tablet devices in the market has grown considerably in the last 12 months and we’re now at the point where we have 46 of them fully-specified in the database with screen sizes of 4.8 to 10 inches.

Come and check out the (rather good) UMID BZ in a LIVE presentation on Monday at 2130 CET (12:30pm San Fransisco, 3:30pm New York, 8:30pm London, 0430 Shanghai!) We’ll record the session as usual.

Finally, after a week of frustration without a charger for the UMID BZ, it arrived in the post and I was able to charge up and go with testing and hands on today. I’ve already had a few hours with the BZ during CES but there’s nothing like a day of focused ‘messing’ to get to know the device so here, after about 6 hours of usage in total, are my first impressions.

We had to split up the 1.5hr Meet:Mobility podcast 40 because there was just too much to talk about! In it we (that’s JKK, Sascha and myself) cover CES with a focus on netbooks, MIDs, smartbooks, tablets and ereaders in the three-part podcast that you can download or stream at Meet:Mobility.

You know I love a good Intel vs ARM fight and what’s going on in the mobile device market right now is nothing short of volcanic. ARM partners were all over CES and Intel demonstrated the first ever X86 smartphone and tablet on their Moorestown platform. Both companies know that a specialised platform is needed and both companies are enabling it. Who will win?

There’s a review and video of the UMID BZ coming just as soon as I receive the missing power cable from UMID (due in a few days) but in the meantime, I’ve added it to the database and finished a photo shoot. If that’s enough to tip you over the edge then Dynamism is the place you need to look next.

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Liked 2 videos. Shared NetFront Browser v4.0 For WinMo. Shared The Most Important 3GPP Features From Release 5 to 10. Shared Netbook Navigator wants to be your source for tablets. Published [...]

XPPhone have released a local price range for the XPPhone. There are some new images too.

I’ve been extremely happy with the Mifi 2352 (and the Sprint version I used at CES) We voted it mobile gadget of the year and have previously highlighted it for ease of use and its ability to improve security over open hotspots. Unfortunately we’re going to have to retract the latter statement because of a serious security issue based around multiple vulnerabilities. The latest update highlights the ultimate danger. http://evilpacket.net/2010/jan/14/mifi-geopwn/ [...]

Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item. Shared 4 photos. Posted Mobinova Smart Book. Shared Mobinnova Beam smartbook hands-on – SlashGear. Shared Intel Moorestown smartphones and tablets at CES. Published AAVA Prototype Moorestown Phone running Moblin 2.0 | [...]

As we move to active and connected standby scenarios and and extremely wide power ‘envelope’ for connected devices there will be problems in determining the true, real-world battery life of a connected device. This article addresses the issue.