CES is just days away and I’ve just finalised the kit-list for my Ultra Mobile Reporting Kit V11. I’ll be there for the week and focusing on Tablets, Netbooks, Ultrabooks and, if I find anything, UMPCs.

2011 was a year of change in the way I did reporting for my websites Carrypad, UMPCPortal and Ultrabooknews. The Samsung Galaxy Tab gave me more mobility than I had ever had and the Nokia N8 gave me less reason to use a dedicated camera for photos and videos. My last test relied on just those two items for everything.

Towards the middle of 2011 the realisation that YouTube was one of my most important revenue channels led me towards a better quality 720p editing set-up. A series of tests and articles posted here on UMPCPortal gave me an indication that Core i5 Sandy Bridge processors could bring some major advantages for 720p video work. Intel Quick-Sync video hardware and some excellent software from Cyberlink in Media Espresso and PowerDirector sent me on the search for a new camera and in  October I settled on the Panasonic Lumix FZ150, a bridge camera that gives impressive low-light camera and HD video results along with relatively lightweight hardware for a camera with a long-zoom lens and a rotating display. After testing some Ultrabooks I actually took the Samsung NP350, a 1.4KG 12.5” laptop that runs a 2.2Ghz Core i3 and holds a 60Wh battery. Compared to my previous netbook (Gigabyte Touchnote) it’s the same weight but a gigantic step forward in processing power. Even battery life is better so I’m happy that it will work well when on the road.

Here’s the detail on the kit-list:

Samsung NP350 Notebook

A 1.4KG (3lb) notebook running a Core i3 CPU at 800Mhz-2.2Ghz with battery life ranging from over 8hrs (typing) to 1hr (gaming.) It has a 12.5” 1366×768 matt screen, 600GB hard drive, good keyboard, Intel Centrino Wifi module with Wi-Di, SSD, fast-start, HDMI, VGA, full-size SDHC and 2 USB2.0 ports with sleep ‘n charge. There’s no backlit keyboard, SSD or USB3.0. Cost – €430 before taxes.

I’ll use the NP350 for 720p video conversion and editing and sit-down article composition, data storage, mass photo upload.

Panasonic Lumix FZ150 Camera

12MP, 24x Zoom, hot-shoe, rotating display, full HD (plus 720p) in MPEG4 or AVCHD, external mic port, HDMI-out and some impressive low-light performance for a compact-size sensor. Weight is just over 500gm. Price around €500

The FZ150 will be used as a 720p video device and camera. I won’t be using 1080p quality as it’s overkill for the quick hands-on videos I post to YouTube, especially as YouTube compresses the hell out of 1080p!

Nokia N8 CameraPhone

A Symbian-based phone with high quality camera, Xenon flash and 720 video capability. Long battery life.

The N8 will be used as phone, SMS, calendar reminder and for quick photos (including evening/people/party) that I’ll put up on Twitter, Facebook and other channels. It will remain on my European SIM card with no data capability while at CES. Images will be transferred to the Galaxy Tab via Bluetooth for sending to various social channels when needed.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Android Tablet

At over one year old, you’d think that there are many better 7” tablet solutions out there by now but the Galaxy Tab 7 is still up there as one of the most usable 7” tablets on the market. I’m looking to upgrade when ICS is available but the original Galaxy Tab 7 will be fine for CES work. There won’t be a SIM card in it for data or voice but it will be connected to my Clear MiFi unit as my ‘always-on, always connected’ component. I suspect i’ll have some mini blogs going out through this as well as Tweets, Facebook posts and Google Plus posts.

Clear MiFi + Power Pack

Not shown on the picture are a Clear 4G MiFi unit (rented from Event Radio) and a small USB power-pack that I hope will sit in my bag and provide me with a moving cloud.

The kit weight is going to be well over 2KG once the tripod, cables and spares are added and it’s more than I would like to be carrying but for a 720p recording and editing suite and always-connected mobile and social set-up, it’s not far from optimal.

My reporting kit changed quite a bit for this years CES show in Las Vegas. I’m aiming for a shift in devices, an improvement in video, preservation of my smartphone battery life and, of course, a test of new equipment. Without testing new equipment it is impossible to know if there’s a better solution out there.

As a reminder – here’s what I’m trying to achieve.

• All day battery life (no chargers)
• Video with long lens
• Video for close-up
• Video for quick processing and posting to YouTube
• Images with long lens
• Images with low light
• Comfortable image editing, blog writing, storage
• Basic video editing for YouTube (cut, fade, overlay)
• Microblogging (Twitter, quick image posts)
• Social networking
• Phone funtions
• Navigation
• PIM features
• Cellular data (mobile data)

This year I again took my trusty Gigabyte Touchnote netbook (in use since April 2009) and the Canon S2IS (In use since Mid 2007!) that is seriously in need of an upgrade. I added the Galaxy Tab and the Nokia N8 smartphone (thanks to Nokia UK for the loan of the phone) and a Sprint Mifi (thanks to Intel’s Free Press team for the loan.)

You might ask why I still use the Touchnote and S2IS. It’s because the two are perfectly matched for the work I do. MJPEG videos at VGA resolution are crisp, the zoom and optics are great and the videos are super easy and quick to edit on a netbook. The Canon remote capture software also allows me to link the two devices for some really quick live blogging via USB. See the image below. I’m having real trouble finding a device, OS and camera combination that can beat it. My major issue though is low-light performance. It’s more than a few generations old and that means it’s a a number of F-Stops less sensitive than the latest compact cameras out there. In comparison with DSLRs it’s pathetic. Show me a camera with 10x zoom, good sensitivity, remote capture, 720p video, hinged viewfinder and I’ll consider upgrading both the camera and the netbook to support 720p H.264 videos too. If you can find one with Bluetooth too, I’ll be even more happy.

Image Credit. JKKMobile.

Apart from the (not insignificant) issue of low-light sensitivity, the netbook/S2IS works well. I accept now that 500gm is the weight you have to consider for good battery life, connectivity, rotating screen and a long lens on a camera and that its unlikely to ever be possible on a smartphone. If this was a DSLR, it would be 1KG and $1K so using a bridge camera seems like an acceptable trade-off.

I also accept that I need a full keyboard, Windows operating system and 5hrs battery life on a notebook in around 1-1.2KG. I don’t need graphics power, just CPU power. Dual-core Atom at 1.66Ghz with fast SSD could be the answer. The Lenovo Ideapad S100 is high on my list for 2011. Will I finally switch to Windows 7 in 2011? Old processes don’t die easily but if I can find a camera to match, i’m all-in.

Aside from the ‘bum-on-seat’ scenarios talked about above I wanted to test a mobile blogging method that Jenn of Pocketables has successfully used in the past and one that i’m fond of perfecting in these quick-fire exhibitions. The process is more photo-blogging and micro-blogging than anything else but it can be quite effective in getting news out quickly and giving readers a sense of being there. The idea was that the N8 and the Galaxy Tab would work in harmony for this by sending images over to the WordPress application on the Tab, thumbing a paragraph or two and then posting to my website. The reality was slightly different. At 0900 on the 6th of January I lost any semblance of 3G connectivity from the Sprint MiFi unit I was using and due to the spotty and location-specific Wifi, the process crashed. A list of 18 hotspots on my Galaxy Tab is proof that I tried hard to stay connected.

Despite the 3G problem, I think I’ve found a really great combo of devices in the Tab and N8 and I want to persevere. I did take a lot of photos with the N8 (about 300, mainly taken in low-light scenarios, parties etc) The N8 does a reasonable job of 720p recording too but there’s a showstopper for me there – fixed focus. The N8 can’t be used to do close-ups. I hear that a firmware upgrade will introduce continuous auto-focus like it does on the Xperia X10 but until then, it’s no good as a video camera for me. Battery life on both the Tab and the N8 was more than 24hrs in this ‘shared’ scenario. I absolutely love the build quality on the N8 too. Add in the USB-OTG support, HDMI out (i used it in the hotel on a 42” screen), the FM radio and a few other nice features and you’ve got something that matches-up with the Tab really nicely. Of course, without the Tab I’m missing some Android apps and browser speed but to be honest, it’s not often that I’m without the Tab! As for the Tab, I used it a lot for calendar, Twitter, note-taking, maps, RSS reading, Google chat, Google latitude, ebooks, gallery and a/v entertainment. It was with me most of the time and proved its worth. It also meant that there were occasions, especially in the evening when meeting with other bloggers for chats and drinks, when I didn’t need to take the netbook.

The next step is to ask Nokia if I can continue to test the N8, wait for the promised software update and take the same kit to mobile world congress where I expect to have a much better 3G service. I’ll re-try that micro-blogging scenario then. Between now and then though, I wonder if I can find a solution for the camera. Your feedback is more than welcome! If you have any questions about my set-up, feel free to ask below.

Previous reporting kit reports, all the way back to 2006, are available here.

This is not the first time we’ve discussed the crossover between pro/productive/full-os mobility and the continuing threat/opportunities offered by mobile operating systems.

See: Mobile Changover – What’s Your Plan? for more from June 2010.

CES 2011 was an absolute whirlwind of crossover products and after a week of note-taking, I’ve put together a report. Following the crossover theme, I’ve published it over at Carrypad!

Report: Mobile Computing at CES 2011 – The X-Over Year

Don’t forget, Meet:Mobility Podcast 62 covers a lot of this ground too and includes perspectives from JKKMobile and Netbooknews.

Meet:Mobility Podcast 62 is now available.

JKK, Sascha and Chippy talk about CES and cover new netbook platforms and what might happen in 2011. There’s also a lot of detailed discussion around 7″ tablets including those from Dell, Viliv, Motorola and RIM. Don’t forget to rate us if you’re listening on iTunes.

Listen, subscribe and download at MeetMobility here.

I have been predicting a 20-30% all-round improvement in battery life with Oaktrail. I might be wrong. Viliv are showing their new Oaktrail-based X70 UMPC and it’s coming in at 420gm, with 6.5hr battery life. The previous X70 was about 650gm so that’s a great improvement. I’m hearing the same message all over.

It appears that all Oaktrail devices are going to be available earliest in March 2011 and the X70 is no different. I’ve got a video for you later so stick around for that.

Specs are shown in the image below.

CES, the big consumer electronics show starts officially In just 4 days but for us, and you, it all kicks off tomorrow.

Not only am I flying out tomorrow for the first pre-events on the 4th but the PR companies will be back at work after the new year break so expect a lot of news as the scramble for the key stories begins. For the western world it’s an important show that will present company strategies that will play out as products during the rest of the year.

I’ve been kindly invited out to CES by Intel and will be bringing you not only their mobile hardware, OS and application news but lots of other news from CES too. There are meetings planned almost all the way through the 5th to the 8th so its going to be a busy one.

Sascha and JKK from the Meetmobility podcast will be there too and I expect there will be a party or two where we’ll get the chance to compare news with other bloggers and reporters.

As well as my reports, we have a team trying to keep up with all the news that comes in through other sources and as usual, we’ll be keeping focused on consumer internet devices on Carrypad and the more professionally-oriented mobile devices on UMPCPortal. I’m sure there will be a few crossover devices too. There will be videos and, when I get more time during the latter part of  the week, more analytical reports.

My reporting will rely heavily on the Galaxy Tab this year as I plan to tap out some quick posts to keep you all updated on the latest in Las Vegas but the Netbook (Gigabyte Touchnote) and smartphone (Nokia N8) will also play important roles. I had planned to take the video reporting up a notch to 480p but I haven’t been able to find a camera / Netbook combo that satisfies me yet. I want to keep it ultra-mobile as always so i’ll take my time to find the right equipment. I’ve written a few posts about my quest for new equipment over at my personal blog, Hiblue.

My Twitter account. @chippy will be a good place to see all the behind-the-scenes activity if you’re that way inclined.

Hope to have some good conversations with you all in the comments!

[This post written on the Galaxy Tab.]

There are Tablet PCs and there are tablet PCs and one’s that are getting the most traction today aren’t the ones that were in the market first. Microsoft’s Tablet PC ecosystem has been around for years but was focused at pen input, productivity and built on an extended (not a cut-down) desktop operating system. The tablets that are getting the attention today are lightweight, finger-focused for consumers and include fun user interfaces, a monetised developer ecosystem and unique features such as ‘always on’ , high quality cameras and social sharing that you don’t get so much on the ‘desktop’ Tablet PC. With the market for tablet PCs growing (estimates run to 20 million iPads, 10 million Galaxy Tabs and, probably millions of new devices from companies like Blackberry and HP) there’s an opportunity for Microsoft to take advantage of their history and re-build a new version for consumers in 2011. Some people are predicting it will launch at CES and be called Windows 8. I find that unlikely.

While the full and flexible desktop OS has advantages for some categories of mobile computing, there are major problems inherent with the ‘PC’ OS build when thinking about consumer products. Think about the PC cruft. BIOS, X86, PCI bus, USB devices, ACPI. A lot of this isn’t desired in a consumer tablet and yet almost every X86 mobile computing hardware platform out there will offer it, regardless of a what a new version of Windows looks like. Even the most recently available ultra-mobile focused Menlow platform from Intel supports all the old PC architecture and as a result, battery life is nothing compared to ARM-based devices. Tellingly, Intels new platform for 2011, Moorestown, doesn’t include many of the elements I mentioned and therefore it doesn’t support Windows either! Intel chose to invest in their own OS for that and that makes complete sense.

A consumer tablet needs always-on, quick boot, small disk and memory footprint, clean core, optimised kernel, slim device driver library, app store, developer ecosystem, touch-focused UI and API’s, sensor support and more. Can you get an idea of the effort required to build a new desktop OS that was able to include all this and still move away from traditional PC architecture support, just because there’s one Intel CPU out there that looks attractive? Nope, neither can I.

Alternatively, Microsoft could skin Windows 7 and hope for the best on existing X86 platforms.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Covering up the cracks won’t help and won’t provide Microsoft a platform for future products. They tried it with a silly Origami Experience skin in 2006 and 2007 and it didn’t impress anyone. Fans still whirred, battery life still suffered and you needed a minimum 16GB disk and 1GB of RAM to support it. Today, that base requirement is up to 32GB and 2GB and those fans are still making a noise.

There is an alternative.

Windows 7 Compact could be the platform on which to build these consumer devices. It is the next generation of Windows CE (embedded) and supports X86 and even ARM Cortex processors which would be a retaliatory poke in the eye to Intel! Windows 7 Compact  is not available yet but we’ve seen a preview and there are some promotional videos available. The tablet features heavily.

There are questions about the locked-down nature of the platform and whether it would create developer interest for yet another unique application build process. It certainly doesn’t support Windows 7 binaries but that would be a good thing in the long-run right?. Silverlight runtime is included with Windows Compact 7 though; Could that be the platform for developers?

With H.264 support, a new media player, BT, 3G and Wifi support, Office and PDF document readers, multitouch and gesture support, Open GL2.0 support and Flash 10.1 support, Windows 7 Compact is not lacking in consumer-focused capability. License costs are down in the $2-$20 category too so adding it all together, there’s a lot to be said for the operating system.

Moving away from Windows 7 would be exactly the right thing to do for this category. A Windows 8 Tablet Edition would be the wrong thing to use for this category. If Microsoft positioned themselves well with developers, we could see more than just tablets appearing. Cameras, HiFi equipment, Ebook readers, smart-books and more. If they show some sexy products at CES, they have an even better chance.

Could Windows 7 Compact and related products launch at CES? I think so.

More images in the Gallery

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.

Don’t forget to vote for us on iTunes and subscribe to the feed!

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One of the big surprises of CES was the LG GW990 smartphone and based on progress I’m seeing with Moblin, the AppUp Store and what we’re hearing from Intel, we should expect to see those devices feeding in in Q3 this year. Moorestown is not only limited to smartphones though. There’s huge potential for ‘smart’ connected devices based around the tablet and larger slider form factors. Intel were showing a number of designs at CES and you’ll see them all in the video below.

Despite what seemed like a double-day of work and a whole day without mobile internet yesterday, I hardly had time to publish any content at all which wasn’t really my intention but I guess that’s how it’s going to go for the next few days at CES as the madness builds to a crescendo today, the first real day of CES.

I do have some news though and I’ve got some videos and information to sort through and post on an individual basis but here’s a quick run-down of what I saw yesterday.

Intel, as usual, had a few surprises at Pepcom. The Hanvon Tablet, a 9” capacitive touch 1.6Ghz Slate looking not unlike the HP tablet shown at the Microsoft keynote, was interesting. It’s targeted for the Asian market but based on what I saw, I think it would sell in EU and US too.  I also got hold of the Fujitus UH9000, the UMID BZ (I have a loaner here on the table) and the Viliv N5 (thumbs up!) I’m being told that I need to watch the Intel keynote very closely today and as I’ve finally got myself sorted out with a Mifi unit here, there’s a good chance I might be able to live blog it.

In addition to Intel’s offerings I got hands-on with the ICD Ultra 7” Android device. It wasn’t working but I can say it’s super lightweight. I also checked out a 9” convertible from Haier which didn’t seem to offer anything more than the Gigabyte T1028M I have but it sounds like it will be competitively priced.

Nvidia will announce Tegra 2 today and after talking to a number of people i’m quite sure we’re going to see a Cortex A9 multi-core  platform that will be ready in Q2. That’s not confirmed but all the rumors and responses I’ve had point in that direction. We’ll find out for sure at about 10am here.

Finally, I spoke to Novatell about their MiFi product. The 2352 (version with the applications processor inside and seen in Europe) is getting a bunch of applications soon. One of which will be an application that works with the Eye-Fi card enabling digital photos to be sent straight from the camera’s SD card to Flickr via the Mifi unit.

Stay tuned.

Another CES ‘leak.’ This time it’s the UMID BZ 4.8” clamshell UMPC which is very similar to the Viliv N5 we’ve just reported on.

The BZ has also been known in the past as the M2 and also sells as the Onkyo BX and it improves on the M1 design by adding an optical mouse pointer and mouse buttons, standard Line-out and USB ports and a slight modification to the casing design.

The unit runs on the Intel Atom Z520 (1.2Ghz HT-enabled) and battery life tests by Lazion are showing 5hrs figures. According to the report the BZ will be available in mid-Jan 2010. Pricing of $499 has been mentioned in previous reports but this is unconfirmed.

For more images and a translation, head to Lazion.

We’re planning to get both the N5 and BZ in a side-by-side hands-on at CES in just a few days.

Meet:Mobility Podcast 38 is now up. Recorded on Dec 30th 2009.

(Show details below)

Listen, subscribe or download the podcast at Meet:Mobility

You can also find the podcast on Mevio where it’s available in a number of different formats and on iTunes (Please rate the show on iTunes.) You can also subscribe via RSS.

JKK, Sascha and I are extremely proud to announce that we’ll be doing our first ever live-audience MeetMobility podcast recording (and hopefully live broadcast) at CES 2010 on Friday Jan 8th at 2pm

Thanks to Runcore, creators of excellent SSD solutions (I think we all have at least one Runcore–enabled device now) we’ve got a place, a time and an internet connection. With a sack full of news to talk about I doubt we’ll have any problems at all filling a podcast and if we meet any other bloggers on the way, we’ll drag them in too.

It should be fun and we’d love you to join us if you’re at CES. Shout abuse, feed us with cocktails, whatever you fancy!

Here’s the announcement from Runcore:

Join us on Friday the 8th a 2pm where www.Meetmobility.com consisting of www.JKKmobile.com, www.UMPCportal.com and www.Netbooknews.com will hold a round table event discussing the pros and cons of all the new products they are covering at CES. Everyone should come and enjoy the show, as we all know when these guys get together there is sure to be some educated, excited, and enlightening debate that sheds light on products that will surely turn your geek on. The event will be uploaded to YouTube for everyone that cannot attend CES. We also hope to stream it live on Ustream. Keep any eye on www.Meetmobility.com for further up to date information on this event.

Location: Booth #35516 from the NetBook Tech Zone, LVCC South Hall 4

If we can set it up, the live stream (and chat) will be on the usual /live pages on our respective websites.

UMPCPortal

JKKMobile

Netbooksnews

We thank Runcore for the location, advertising and use of their internet connection.

Read more news about Runcore at CES 2010 here.

Before it gets too late and CES becomes a distant memory, I wanted to thank all the bloggers that were out in CES providing detailed news, images and videos for the rest of the world to see and enjoy. You kept us busy for many many hours here at UMPCPortal (I’m still not able to sleep in my local timezone yet!) and it was almost impossible to keep up with all the content at times.

Special thanks goes to Sascha Pallenberg, Jenn Lee and Kevin Tofel who all called in for quick podcast recordings, to Brad for some great netbook coverage and Gottabemobile for their usual high standards of reporting. Engadget did a fantastic job.  Also thanks to Lora Heiny who organised the tablet and touch meeting which many of us enjoyed live over Ustream. Finally, thanks to the 850 people that dropped into the live session over the four days where JKK and I did a scary 45 hours of live streaming. The feedback in the chat room was amazing and definitely helped us to keep track of that latest and best news items coming out of Vegas. Star Member award goes to ‘EC’ who spotted the VIA Nano-based Samsung Q1EX and even called in from the floor. We owe you EC!

You can find all the CES podcasts in the RSS feed and, currently, on the front-center column on the homepage. We’ll be going live soon for a roundup podcast, probably on Friday evening here. Follow twitter for latest announcements about that.

JKK, Sascha and I, the three Mobiteers, have already booked an apartment in Hannover for CeBIT 2009 starting on March 02. Hopefully we can repay some of the hard work done by those now suffering with colds, blisters and lack of sleep!

Podcast CES09 #8
Saturday, 10. January 2009 00:06 (CET)
Dell Mini 10
Lime Note
CTL2Go classmate 3
No Samsung device?
UMID getting attention now. Official specs on website uncovered. Lots of interest in forum.
MIO MID
Windows 7 download
Thanks To EC for his photos from CES.
Thanks to forum members.

Podcast CES09 #7
Friday, 9. January 2009 05:08 (CET)
MIO MID
Viliv S7, X70
Locked 3G on Vaio P
New CPU and GPU on Eee PC
BYD Venus MID on the Intel stand. No details.
We’re getting devices!

Jenn over at Pocketables is doing her best of capturing spy shots of yet to be opened CES booths. She has some new pictures of Intel’s MID display up, so go check it out at her site. There are quite a few devices up there, including the err beautiful pink WiBrain which I’m sure many will drool over completely ignore.

Anyways, heres the link.

We’ve just watched all the Samsung press releases go through as the Samsung press conference started in Las Vegas but there wasn’t anything about a UMPC. Only HDTVs and camcorders. That leaves us with the following news so far…

• Sony Vaio P images from Engadget.

• NEC’s Power IC’s to assist Moorestown MIDs

• ASUS Eee PC T91 Convertible. The PND Netbook?

• ASUS Eee PC T101H. 10″ Convertible. Pic’s by Gottabemobile.

• SDXC standard pushes speed and storage limits.

Read the full story