OQO, Everun, Viliv. You guys knew there was a desire out there for a true Pocket PC but alas, it was too small for you to survive on. So what do we do now?

A customer came to me last week and asked about the Benq S6. Remember that one? We started writing about it in Jan 2008 and by mid 2009, there wasn’t much to be heard from it anymore. A version with XP was selling for a bargain basement price in Italy, if I recall correctly, but that was it.

So what if you want a 5” screen PC today?

Those of you who might be asking ‘why not go Android’ need to know that this customer has his reasons. There are hundreds more too. Compatibility, flexibility, software, USB, server, etc etc etc.  This customer knows he won’t get 10hrs battery life; the ‘PC’ part is more important. Here’s a summary of what I got from the customer, Maher, who is located in Canada.

• I want 5 inch windows OS ( xp or windows7) no Android at all.
• I have seen one model in Aliexpress,it look very promising ( impc umpc 5inch xp windows 5.6” UMPC Mini Tablet PC Pocket PC Mini Laptop with Windows XP/X86/1GHz CPU/1GB Memory/16GB HDD/WiFi/RJ 45/USB2.0/Camera/Office..if you can look at it and tell me what you think?
• price 300 to 350+_.
• windows OS allow me to surf the net and watch Arabic TV as well  permits me to open/see/read some documents in Arabic languages.

Let’s be honest now though, there aren’t any mainstream choice today. What you’ll find is ex-stock although immediately I want to say ‘Viliv S5.’ It was a peach of a device and worth stretching your budget for. If a $300 to $350 price point is strict though, you’re going to have to look around on Ebay or other 2nd-hand sales sites.

Try and stick with XP rather than a Moblin Linux build if you want to retain full flexibility.

So what if you can get hold of a BenQ S6 with 3G and Windows XP for under $350? The battery life isn’t good, I can tell you that much and with the 800Mhz Atom, the performance will be less than some of the new tablets. The Dell Streak 5, for example, is probably more powerful. I’m reluctant to say ‘go for it’ on the Benq S6.

Look for these in the secondhand market:

• Viliv S5
• UMID Mbook / BZ
• 7” Q1 Ultra (for a larger choice.)

As for a new purchase, I took a look at the MiPC referenced above. It’s also a few years old but I have to admit, it’s well-stocked with ports and therefore, flexibility. You’ll have to re-install Windows XP to get your required language but it shouldn’t be too difficult. The VIA C7 at 1Ghz is a little more powerful than Atom at 800Mhz but battery life could be worse. Don’t expect much more than 2.5hrs under use. It’s likely to get warm too. I recall the C7-based Wibrain B1 and the Q1b that I had. Both were usable devices. If the build quality is OK on the MiPC and if it includes a mouse pointer on the frame (always a great feature for a WIndows tablet) it could be worth it.

But for the ultimate pocket PC,  don’t forget the Viliv S5. Keep looking on Ebay and in forums! Anyone here want to sell theirs?

For a fellow prone to temper tantrums and emotional outbursts, an Intel MID like the BenQ S6 is a solid choice for Donald Duck to stay connected and be entertained. He has no patience for Windows and is too likely to throw something at a wall in a fit of rage to be trusted with a spinning hard drive, so the S6′s leaner Linux OS and use of flash storage (internal SSD expandable with microSD cards) would work well for him.

I touched briefly on the benefits of a hardware keyboard the other day and right now, I wish that the BenQ S6 had a slide-out one.

I’m partial to sliders in general and not a big fan of the Slate form factor, but for my use at Knott’s Berry Farm today, the S6 MID is working out pretty well. I’ve been micro blogging on Twitter, reading email, and checking a few websites using my fingers to navigate the UI and the on-screen keyboard to input small amounts of data. It’s more tedious for me than a hardware keyboard would be, but the pace here is casual and laid back. There’s no sense of urgency here, possibly because I’m removed from the Windows environment that I associate with work, so I’m taking my time and just enjoying the day.

Still . . . when I need to find a place to sit down to set up the MID and a Bluetooth portable keyboard so that I can type something more than my fingers can tolerate on a virtual keyboard (like this post, for example), I can’t help but wish the BenQ had a hardware keyboard.

Since this is a tour about Intel MIDs, I’ve decided to use nothing but an Intel MID on my theme park tour today. Yesterday I used the Atom-based OQO Model 2+ with two feature/smartphones, the iPhone 3G and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.

MIDs weren’t designed to replace smartphones, so I didn’t think there was anything “wrong” with using the latter to supplement the former when it was more convenient. The problem–and the reason I’m leaving my iPhone at the hotel and only using the Xperia as a phone (and camera)–was that yesterday I relied on the phones too much.

If you follow me on Twitter or read my post about cameras on MIDs, then you saw how I threw a little tantrum when both of my phones let me down pretty much at the same time. Suddenly not being able to use them not only put me in a bad mood (my husband can attest to this), but it also ruined my plans and crippled the way I wanted to work.

So today I’m eliminating the possibility of a smartphone failure by removing the handsets from the equation completely. Everything I would normally have done on the Xperia X1 (Twitter, quick emails, mobile blogging with Flickr), I will be doing on the BenQ S6. I’ll use the on-screen keyboard whenever possible and sit down with a portable Bluetooth keyboard for longer writing sessions.

I don’t know if it’s possible to take cutting-edge technology back to basics, but that’s what I’m going to try to do. When I want to include a photo with my posts, for example, I will take a photo with the X1 (the only “camera” we have with us that uses microSD cards), insert the memory card into the S6′s microSD card slot, and manually upload it to Flickr or MID Moves.

It won’t be particularly quick or convenient, but it will be true to the experience of someone who wants to use a MID to its fullest extent. And isn’t that part of the point of this tour?

We’re double-checking that this really is a no-contract price but so far, it looks like the same deal as  UMPCPortal reader Alberto had when he bought one.

For a 3g-enabled PC its a great deal. Hell, at that price you could just by one for the coffee table…if you don’t mind an on-screen keyboard. Shame its only available in Italy.

More details and links for the S6 in the product pages.

Thanks Fab!

Here’s the video overview of the well-executed Benq S6. Nice user interface, good styling and a few unique features like shake-to-overview and auto-rotation. Its going to launch through a European telecoms carrier very soon so it’s difficult to get an idea of price because you’ll be paying for it with an included data contract. In the video below I take a closer look at the device and demo some of the UI. The lighting was terrible but later on in the video, we moved to a lighter area.

More images in the gallery

More information on the Benq S6 page.

Video below…

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