I’ve been careful to point out in the past that Moorestown and Menlow will overlap and continue to be available as two separate platforms in the MID space. While a version of Moorestown will support XP, it won’t be the version that we’re seeing touted for smartphones. Even Intel were careful to point out that you won’t see the same power envelope with Microsoft products so clearly, Moorestown is initiall a cut-down or special ‘crafted’ platform that only works with Moblin.

Menlow is that platform that continues to be offered for use in UMPCs and note here that Intel appear to accept now that Moblin V1 isn’t going to be the primary OS for Menlow based systems. I think it’s fair to say that Menlow and Moblin V1 failed and even distracted the market for ultra mobile solutions until it got back on course recently with XP versions of the original MIDs. I’m even hearing and seeing Windows 7 being promoted for UMPCs and if OEMs can keep the licensing costs low and ssd speeds high, it will make a great solution.

So that brings us to the Compal KAX-15, the only Menlow-based device that was announced within the Intel meetings. It was shown in the Ultra Mobility keynote and JKK got straight over to the demo device and gave us the full details in a video. (below) Before that, the specs.

It has a sliding/tilting keyboard that is similar to the HTC Shift but on a smaller scale. It’s a bit bigger than the original Compal MID that Aigo and Gigabyte used but that is probably due to a bigger battery. Compal will be aware that the battery life on their JAX-10/KAX-10 is no longer competitive in the UMPC space.

• Screen size: 4.8”, 800×480
• CPU: Z515 with 800Mhz and 1.2Ghz bursting. (Which I think means that designers can build around the TDP of the 800Mhz part but i’m not 100% sure. Sounds just like speed stepping to me)
• No mouse controller
• Dual web cams

I think it’s fair to say that this is in the running to be the next Aigo MID. Personally I find it a better form factor than the UMID M1 but we’ll have to see about battery life.

Firstly, let me thank the 380 people that passed through the live session last night. Your interaction and feedback during these live Q&A sessions is invaluable to us and the other listeners so please make sure you drop in on the next one. It wouldn’t be half as much fun without you.

For those that didn’t get to drop in or only had a chance to see a small part of the session, there are two videos available. The first is the full UMID Mbook M1 overview and Q&A and you’ll need a whopping 1.5hrs to watch it through. Still, if the UMID up there at the top of your list and you want to be 100% sure, we cover absolutely everything from creaking plastic to one of the fastest UMPC web experiences ever. The second video goes briefly over the Viliv S5 (The full, 3-hour-long, S5 Q&A session is here) and then JKK and I make comparisons with the Aigio, UMID and EKing UMPCs. All the devices have their merits so it just depends on what you personally want from a UMPC. By the way, it really was a UMPC fest. None of the devices we talked about were Linux based. An interesting point to note.

Also, credit to Ustream.tv We had some problems at the 2000hr start time but once we’d got through an obvious rush on Ustream services, everything went very smoothly. If you have a minute (haha!) pop over and rate the show in the Ustream channel.

For everyone considering the Compal/Gigabyte/Aigo MID and looking for XP upgrade capability, re-tune now to JKKMobile.com where JKK is testing out the new drivers. First reports are that the new drivers may not be working with the current hardware but JKK is working further to confirm this.

jkkmobile: Aigo MID XP drivers available.

We visited Aigo today to ask then just one question. ‘Are you planning an xp version of your MID?’
Luckily for us, we didn’t get half way through the question before we saw the XP version of it running on the display. JKK shot a video and I pushed in with the mic and asked for an official response.

Listen to the interview with Aigo here.

Maybe they jumped the gun several years ago when people set out to fit a full-featured computer that would fit in your pocket… it doesn’t matter though because that is all behind us now. Steve has already shown you the video, but I wanted to make sure it was dually noted, and share a few thoughts of my own.

Jkk has taken an Aigo MID, and done some serious customization work, turning it into a very responsive, attractive, and pocketable device. If you like the concept of a real computer in your pocket, don’t miss this video.

Jkk sent the unit out to get a carbon fiber graphic around the screen bezel, and had a matte coating put on so it wouldn’t be a glossy fingerprint magnet. These changes helped the Aigo suit jkk’s aesthetic taste, but some additional modifications make this enhanced Aigo unit a serious UMPC. He has attached a secondary battery to the back which manages to maintain a thin profile (sticking up off the back of the device by only a few millimeters) but bumping the battery-life up from 2 hours to around 5 hours. Using Windows XPe (embedded), jkk has managed to make this thing super-responsive and great for web browsing. I’ll tell you that I’m personally very impressed with the responsiveness of the unit; watch the video and you can see for yourself, multi-tab browsing with smooth touchscreen inertia scrolling. Remember, this isn’t power, this is response; the Aigo is only running at 800MHz but manages to look that good while doing it. The Aigo is also loaded when it comes to connectivity. Inside is WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, and GPS.

What strikes me about this is how great this modified Aigo appears, but at the same time, I wonder why it took the ability of one smart guy to make it happen when there hasn’t been something like it released from a company that has lots of money to put in to R&D.

Of course this isn’t the final solution. The Aigo is still somewhat lacking. The SSD in the Aigo is very small, and not too fast either. There isn’t a mouse pointer (as the unit wasn’t designed for XP), and jkk says the keyboard, while decent, could be better. I’m really impressed with the steps jkk has taken to turn the device into an amazing UMPC and I can only hope some companies out there take note: this is the type of device we want!

Oooh. This is close. This is really close to the microblogging device I was talking about earlier today.

Jkk has taken a stock Aigo MID and rebuilt the software with XP embedded, enhanced the battery and even changed the finish of the device. As you’ll see in the video its running very quickly and very smoothly. Jkk has really enhanced the device from a pocketable web browser to a complete mobile productivity sollution. Fantastic!

The Aigo is gaining in popularity among UMPCPortal visitors. We’re seeing a lot of activity in the forums and some great feedback from owners. As one of the only pocketable devices that gives a full, desktop-style internet experience, it’s not surprising!

One of our forums members, ‘Bassopt’, has bought an Aigo p8888w (3G version) and has documented his initial impressions and his thoughts after converting it to run Windows XP. You can read what he thinks of the stock build and about his Windows XP experiences below.

A big thanks to Joao for sending this detailed report in. More details on the Aigo MIDs here.

Read the full story

Yesterday I asked for input on the French SFR-version of the Compal MID. It turns out (thanks, everyone, for the feeback) that it’s provider locked but there’s no contract commitment. For the French, it’s a deal!

The Italians have their own option in the IDOL that is offered through TIM, one of the local mobile Telco’s.

There’s a nice thread in the forum where IDOL users are getting together to chat about the device but it’s worth highlighting a few things. Firstly, it’s unlocked, has Italian, Chinese and English language support and is available without contract commitment for a very nice 430 Euros. That’s a 3G-enabled pocketable Linux PC for 430 Euros. Undeniably good value…if you’re living in Italy.

The software stack looks the same as I’ve seen on the Aigo MID. That is, slightly ‘thin’ with no Skype application (available as a download / hack now) no GPS application and the Coolfox version of the FF3-based browser but there are signs of improvement on that.

In battery life tests by Rapael (who is logging everything on a new blog) it’s looking like 2hrs Wifi-connected and 4hrs with screen off. In my own tests I’ve seen 3.5hrs screen-off (wifi off) and up to 2.5hrs with screen on but I’ll be honest, in a real-world situation (for example at MBC09 last week) the battery life was closer to 2hrs than 2.5 but this limitation is slightly relieved by the fact that the batteries are tiny and carrying a spare (assuming you can buy one for a good price) isn’t a problem at all.

The Aigo/Compal/IDOL/MiPC is one of the best choices at the moment for a pro-level web, pocketable experience. It’s fast (12-13 seconds per page average full-load time compared to over 20 seconds for smartphones) and light. Video support is good and if you’re the type that likes to tinker, there’s a great community building out there that will help you with alternative Lunux and XP builds. Compal really need to push this out in more places an start distributing better software to grow awareness of this great little device.

If you’re not lucky enough to live in Italy or France. Here are your options.

1) Aigo P8860 (without 3G, white) is available globally.

2) Aigo P8888w (with UMTS 3G, black) is available globally.

3) Gigabyte M528 is available from Expansys (although it’s not showing today) and Mobilx.

If you’re prepared to wait and see what an XP version looks like and you’re in the US, keep an eye on the NoteMagix from Velocity Micro.

I’m living living with a borrowed Compal MID from the MID Moves tour but when that and the Wibrain i1 goes back (thanks Mobilx,for the loan) , i’m going to be lost. The Compal MID is at the top of my list with the Viliv S5 and UMID. In two-weeks I’ll be looking to make a decision one of those three devices in order to have it with me for CeBIT in March.

Italian IDOL-dedicated Blog: Il Blog dedicato al MID IDOL di Tim.

All Compal-derived devices.

Whe I tested the Gigabyte M528 sample version of the Compal (codename, JAX10) MID back in July last year, I was looking at an extremely basic software stack. When I tested the Aigo MID version a few months ago, the situation was better but not impressive…

The Aigo P8860 MID is a slightly unpolished, slightly locked-down, slightly thin-app, early-adopters Mobile Internet device. Almost everything in the application suite is underwhelming and after the initial unboxing high, the experience takes a sharp dive.

When I tested the latest Compal Jax10 sample last week, I felt like it was getting close towards being consumer-ready. The application suite was a lot better. In this video that I made for MIDMoves, I go through nearly all of the applications. Highlights for me, over and above what I’ve seen before, are Skype support, live video streaming, camera and games. Putting it into perspective though, there’s a long way to go. The experiences needs to be a lot smoother and many of the applications are stil under-par. There’s no GPS app, no security and silly things like not being able to use the camera when the browser is open. Having said that, I heard just a few days ago that Compal already have a new software stack ready so maybe i’m one step behind here!

The Blip.tv flash video is embedded below but there’s a YouTube version, a WMV version an H.264 version and, apparently, our Blip.tv videos are being syndicated to iTunes now!

More information on the Compal MID is available through our community link list.

Source: MIDMoves

Assuming Aigo increase the SSD size, would it actually be usable on the 800Mhz Atom? I doubt it.  I wonder if Compal are planning to drop the 1.3ghz CPU in.

Aigo MID To Be Running Windows 7 This Year on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

Customers are waiting for XP drivers for the Aigo MID and sales appear to be suffering as a result. Early adopters simply don’t trust a Moblin-based device to deliver exactly what they need and want the option of running XP otherwise they’re not going to buy. It’s not that they don’t want Moblin, its because they want a choice. Without XP and at current prices, they’re not buying. I’m sure that customers in France and Italy are happy with their low-cost carrier offerings but there’s a billion more people in the western world that don’t have that option.

How do we know this? We speak to the resellers. They tell us that there are early adopter customers waiting in the wings for XP-based MIDs but they won’t buy until they know the option is available. The resellers won’t even put their money down on large orders until the XP drivers are there which means prices remain high as volumes stay low. We hear what customers are saying too. These advanced, early-adopter users want choices and value. The current offerings are locked down to an OS that doesn’t give them VFM. There’s a lot of people out there that want to run a mature desktop OS and use the Aigo MID as a productive UMPC. They will not trust their personal or business processes to a fresh, problematic, asia-sourced operating system based on Moblin.

People are trying hard to get it working but there are a lot of potential customers out there, that don’t have the time to mess around and will simply hold back and buy something else in the meantime. It isn’t difficult for these customers to justify buying a netbook. Intel and their hardware partners need to get focused and bring the required software to the market to provide badly-needed confidence in their products.

Maybe today’s product announcement gives us hope. Maybe the Kohjinsha announcement too but without real drivers in the wild, it’s not enough for customers.

The P8895 version of the Aigo MID with the 3mp cam, black styling and built-in 3G is coming.

Mobilx just pinged me to say it’s up on their website and they expect to be able to ship on the 19th of December. The price is 684 Euros (570 before tax.) On one hand (that would be the hand you want the Nokia N97 in!) its expensive and large but on the other hand, there’s no competition if you want pro-level web. I will try and get one for testing ASAP.

Update: The model number changed. It is now the P8888W. The W is for ‘World’ and it contains an Option GTM 378 GSM, GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA modem. (PDF)

Full specs are now in the database.

View all the Compal MID variants.

After you’ve checked out our new video presentation, take a look at our hands-on report and at other peoples opinions by checking out the river of links for the Aigo MID. Pocketables and JKKMobile both have reviews and videos in the can. The reason I say this is that the Aigo MID device may not be for you. It’s not a bad device at all, I’m loving it more every day, but I just wanted to warn you that this device is something that will appeal mostly to the hardcore mobile Internet fans, mobile Linux developers and gadget-lovers out there. If you want a device, a platform and a software stack that offers you the best Internet experience and an exciting Linux-based playing field, the Aigo is a superb choice and arguably, the only freely-available choice today.

OFFER CODE: 14I6-U7AR-Y6HK-CARRYPAD

Mobilx have very kindly set-up a 5% discount code for us that you can use by clicking through the image above and ordering in Euros or Dollars using the code shown. The device is in stock right now and Mobilx can ship one out, globally, via DHL Express.

Coming tomorrow: Aigo MID video performance demonstration. (My notes are here if you can’t wait.)

Thanks to Mobilx.eu I’ve had the Aigo MID for a few weeks now. I put a fairly lengthy post up a few weeks ago explaining where this device fits in but now it’s time to give you an overview of it in action.

Here’s the video, made with very little preparation so you get to see a few problems with the device too.

Read the full story

Just in time for the holidays: you could win yourself an impressive gadget package from Pocketables.net. The holiday prize package features one of the first MIDs to have real consumer availability, the Aigo P8860 [Portal page]. Take a look at Jenn’s review of the unit, and don’t miss UMPC Portal’s own coverage of the device.

The Aigo P8860 is certainly the centerpiece of the prize package, but there are some other great accessories as well. The winner of the prize package will receive the following:

• Aigo P8860 MID (white)
• iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth keyboard
• Original Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset (black)
• Sennheiser CX500 in-ear headphones (black)
• 8GB SanDisk microSD card
• Book-style leather case (black)

The iGo bluetooth keyboard is arguably the best portable bluetooth keyboard out there and I have heard good things about the Jawbone bluetooth headsets. When all is said and done, the package you could win is worth over $1000. Want to win? Head over to Pocketables to read the official rules. Be sure to hurry, the entry period is already half way over!

Lets not beat around the bush here. The Aigo P8860 MID is a slightly unpolished, slightly locked-down, slightly thin-app, early-adopters Mobile Internet device. Almost everything in the application suite is underwhelming and after the initial unboxing high, the experience takes a sharp dive. Thank goodness then, that the only real problems are software-related, fixable and have nothing to do with the excellent form factor and superb Intel Atom platform which make this device truly breakthrough. I can’t put it down!

We’ve all seen small devices before. High-end smartphones and low-end UMPCs have been around for a while but none of them have managed to combine true pocketability with acceptable battery life and a top-notch Internet experience. The Aigo does though. 4.8″ 800×480 screen, check! 3hrs online battery life, check! Useable keyboard, check! Powerful processor, check! In ‘Internet’ power-to-weight ratio terms, this is a winner. Read on…

Read the full story

Jkk has been playing with the first MID that has world-wide availability, the Aigo P8860 [Portal page]. Being the amazing modder that he is, he has already managed to put 3G in it, and has a video demo of the MID browsing with 3G which later goes into details of the mod itself. The video which you can see below, shows various sites including YouTube playback which works great, and I am happy to see that scrolling looks to be very smooth and easy to use in the web browser. The MID manages to load Engadget quite quickly and all of this has my hopes high for MIDs to deliver the full internet experience in your pocket when they finally start ending up in consumer’s hands.