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.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia has recently announced a major Tegra 2 win (Honeycomb) and a new project “extending the performance range of the ARM instruction-set architecture, enabling the ARM architecture to cover a larger portion of the computing space” so it’s no surprise that the CEO is positive when he talks about ARM.

I had the chance to watch him being interviewed by All Things D mobile correspondent Ina Fried last week at CES and with Galaxy Tab in hand I was put to the test in noting quote after quote of amazing pro-ARM comments from Jen-Hsun.  How about some of these gems:

“2011 is likely to go down like 1995. We will realise that the personal computing industry was redefined”. Jen-Hsun is referring to Windows 95, the operating system that changed the way consumers interacted with personal computers.

“The most important architecture going forward is likely to be ARM.”

“Whatever expectation you have…are going to be fully met by mobile computing devices within the next 3 to 4 years.”

“3D on phone is a foregone conclusion. This piece of glass is is likely the most accommodating piece of glass for 3D”

Here’s a quick video I did of Jen-Hsun demonstrating the LG Optimus 2X. There’s a fuller video over at All Things D

In addition to Tegra 2, 3D and Honeycomb announcements, Nvidia have also taken a Cortex A15 license and have announced project Denver which appears to be looking to combine future ARM architecture (possibly Cortex A15, possibly a new license for ARMv7 or even ARMv8!) and running parallel with the Windows on ARM project. If Nvidia are chosen as the reference design for that, they are sitting pretty! An Nvidia blog post gives more info about Denver.

However, Nvidia talks about ARM like it’s the only low-power choice but we know that Intel are moving into this space too. In fact, as processing power requirements reach into the same 1W envelope, it’s the screens, radios, batteries and software need to be sorted out. An wild, uncontrolled third party app can negate a lot of potential hardware efficiencies.  Also, if Windows 8 is supporting ARM, I expected it to also be supporting the new power features of the Intel platforms that bring it right alongside ARM. Don’t forget that Android is running on Intel too!

Nvidia appear to have an excellent leader, strategist and spokesperson in Jen-Hsun and it’s unlike any other company playing in this mobile game. The brand is looking good, products are looking good, strategy and partnerships are going well and given one or two more major wins, Nvidia will rise to the top very quickly.

Thanks to Ina Fried for (literally) last-minute access to All Things D at CES. Ina runs the Mobilized blog for All Things D and is on Twitter 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.

JKK, Sascha and Chippy with show number 62 on Jan 12th 2011. Happy New Year and welcome to a special CES review edition where we’ll focus on the important mobile computing news from Las Vegas. Don’t forget to rate us if you’re listening on iTunes.

Listen, subscribe and download at MeetMobility here.

In terms of build quality, the Enspert E301 stood out from the other tablets at CES. It’s from the company that brought you the Inbrics M1 (and used to be called ‘Identity.’) The Inbrics M1 never reached EU or US markets so let’s hope this one does better. With cellular data planned for the device, we think they stand a better chance this time round and based on what we’ve seen, this is up there with the best of the non-Honeycomb tablets.

Full specs are in the database but here’ are a few highlights:

• Samsung SP5C110 – 1Ghz Cortex A8 with PowerVR 540 graphics
• Digital TV receivers planned
• 3G/4G recievers planned
• 5.0MP Auto-focus camera
• Launch planned for ‘back-to-school’ 2011

It’s the last point that worries us somewhat. By Q3 2011, this device needs Honeycomb!

More images in the Gallery

This overview video goes over the main features of the device. (From CES 2011)

Viewsonic seem fairly clear about the G10S products final specs and seeing as their are some very similar / branded variants on the market already, it is likely that this will be available very shortly.

We’re talking about an Android Open Source 2.2 (no Market, Gmail, Navigation etc.) buid on a  Tegra2 platform with some talk (!) of Honeycomb. Certainly the specs seem ok, the build quality is acceptable and, to me, it appeared fairly light for 10” device. 3G was mentioned too so this might be the main difference over the Advent Vega version that already sells in the UK. Once again, pricing is going to be the key differentiator in this busy 10″ Android Tablet space. We should get that in just a few weeks. We’ll also be keeping an eye on Honeycomb ports over Q2 because with the docking station and potential USB host capability this could turn into something completely different over time.

Our good friends at Viliv gave as some quality time with all their 3 new devices this morning. This video is from the X10, a 10” 1024×600 Android device with an excellent (bright, great viewing angle) screen and a big, 31wh battery. The Samsung s5pc110 has the Power VR 540 graphics core in it too so the graphics performance is very smooth indeed.

Viliv are going through the process of Google Android authorisation and are working on an Android 2.3 upgrade. As for Honeycomb, it’s not certain yet if that will run on the single core CPU. [Anyone know the minimum specs for Honeycomb?]

This is planned for launch after the Viliv X7 Android Tablet. (expect April-May) No pricing was given.

Here’s my hands-on video.

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.

While Meego on Moorestown is an interesting story, I bet the combination of Android on X86 raises more eyes. We’re at the Intel booth and Gemtech are showing the Zeus some tablet. Not much information here although I did speak to a representative who tells us it is being test by carriers right now and will launch in Q2. There’s a Meego version in the works too.

Video coming soon.

I’ve arrived and I’m getting ready for the big event. Sitting here with JKKmobile and Galaxy Tabs in the casino it’s a big change from our Netbook-focused experience of last year. Neither of us have our netbooks with us and we just can’t stop talking about it! No doubt the netbooks will come out when the hard, hard work begins but for this casual moment, a tablet works!

The first press events start tomorrow (4th) so stay tuned.

I was watching the film ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ the other night. It’s a strange story about a journalist and his journey to Las Vegas to report on a desert race. He gets somewhat distracted by drugs. As much as you might like to see reports of me running naked through the expo halls waving my ‘Tab’ and shouting “The Carrypads have landed. I told you they were coming.” that’s unlikely to happen here. My drug will be the hardware, software and technology going into the latest products in 2011 and you know there’s going to be enough of that around to keep me focused.

On my journey today i’ll have a good chance to research details on all the tablets announced and rumored. I have the Galaxy Tab in my hand and its loaded with info that I need to sort through and make sense of. My first thought though is that there’s no space for ARM11 devices in 2011 so I’ll probably be leaving out anything that falls under that category. Focus will be on devices with Intel (I’m expecting to see Android on Moorestown at some point this week) or ARM V7 (Cortex-like designs) platforms. I’m sure Android will dominate but WEBOS, Meego and qnx may get a look-in. I’ll also have my eye open for alternative form factors and lightweight netbooks too.

Shortly after I land you should see a rundown of all the devices along with basic specs and thoughts.  Until then, have a great day and keep an eye out for the expected rush of PR news. They’re all back at work today!

[written on the Galaxy Tab]

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.]

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.]

We’re all unique customers and all have our unique requirements. I categorise myself as th ‘boy scout’ type. I am not a fan of highly converged devices (the N900 was not something for me) but I do like being prepared with a good, mobile set of kit. I have a tendancy to want to cover as many scenarios as possible with my mobile devices but I balance that with the realisation that you can’t have one device for each task. Some convergence is needed. But how much?

One device I’m testing at the moment is the Nokia N8 which I think (although I’km not 100% sure yet) will slot in as my personal high-end featurephone with the Samsung Galaxy Tab and a netbook/notebook. I have a long-term love of what I call mobile online photography. Sharing and moving images wirelessly is important and having a camera in the pocket at all times is critical to catching memories. It’s the reason I used an N82 for so long.

Dovetailing…

Note that I didn’t call the N8 a smartphone. Technically, it probably is but when lined up with the best smartphones out there, it falls short. It has a specific target audience and my Sister summed it up when she bought an N8 recently. She told me she wanted a phone, a camera and an MP3 player. She does a bit of Facebook and Web access but not enough that the N8, with it’s relatively low-end web performance, was going to be a problem.

Those three requirements are the primary ones I’m thinking of too as I look at the limits of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It’s too big to be an MP3 player or phone and as a camera, the size also has disadvantages. Samsung didn’t exactly go OTT with the camera specifications too!

The N8 also brings in some other important features.

• Notifications in the pocket.
• Clock / Alarm clock
• FM Radio / transmitter
• One handed messaging / reading
• Offline maps

As a bonus, you get HDMI and analogue A/V out, AMOLED screen, USB On-the-Go (with USB HDD, keyboard and mouse support) a relatively open filesystem and, in my opinion, quite an original, smart design. I have the Orange version and it’s on loan from Nokia in the UK. Thanks to them for letting me test it out.

At a push, the N8 can do everything a smartphone can but having had great experiences with Android and iOS, it’s a real step back to be using Symbian for some of the things I used those operating systems for. Image, URL and selection sharing becomes a chore. ‘Share’ in Symbian-speak means OVI services (Twitter or Facebook) and ‘Send-to’ allows other services to link-in. Some apps such as the popular Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook application Gravity, don’t link into these share services at all. In fact, applications like Opera don’t even offer an integrated share option.  Notifications seem to appear in random places too and setting up internet connectivity between WiFi and 3G is a bit of a juggle to start with.

I’m pleased to say that the battery life is OK, voice quality is good, it feels strong and the audio player and camera application are fast. HDMI and USB converter cables are included and there’s a dual-charger option. Both the mini Nokia connector and the micro-USB ports charge the device. I like that! In fact, I like the N8!

The CES Plan

Last year I did CES with a tripod, camera, phone, mid and netbook,battery pack and of course, mains connectors. This year I want to do at least one day with a lightweight mobile setup. I will use a Sprint 3G Mifi while i’m in Vegas so unfortuinately, while it gives me a mobile hotspot, it does mean strapping a battery pack onto it to make it last all day. The idea is to do photo blogging during the day and the videos I take will be uploaded during the evening. The N8 will take 720p videos at up to about 8Mbps and even has on-device editing which could help.

Here’s the set-up I plan to use:

In the image you can see a ‘device’ strapped to a battery pack. I used a battery charger to simulate the MiFi unit that would actually be there. Today, my MiFi unit is being used elsewhere.

The total weight:

What advantage will I have?

CES is a brutal show and there’s lots of walking. I’ll be extremely happy if I can reduce the weight from around 5KG to 1KG. Importantly I should get some speed advantage too as the photo blogging process is simple and fast.

What disadvantage will I have?

• No detailed video editing during the day. (In fact, Video on the N8 doesn’t really lend itself to close-up product videos so I may have a bigger problem here. See testing notes below.)
• Higher bitrate (unedited) videos will take longer to upload.
• Video camera will be higher resolution but without stabiliser, good optics, zoom, continuous auto-focus, the end result will look lower worse than my previous set-up with a VGA-capable camera.
• I won’t have a keyboard during the day.
• No tripod (always bad when handling a product and trying to film at the same time)
• No ability to upload multiple images into my gallery. All will have to be posted direct to WordPress in a compressed format.

Testing

This afternoon I took an hour to simulate some CES work. I used my studio to simulate the low-lighting product bays and moved around my house, inside and out, while I wrote the blogs. I pushed out 4 posts in an hour which isn’t bad. You can see the test posts here. I’m happy with the keyboard input on the Tab. Happy with the battery life of the kit. Happy with the camera (pushing photos to the Tab is simple and quick over BT) and I’m happy that I’ll have enough connectivity. As a photo-blogging set-up, this is awesome. In fact, if I wasn’t having to use a MiFi, this setup would be well under 1KG, including the bag, my Wallet and a few other bits and pieces.

I’m not happy with the video though and this could be a showstopper for me. Videos are extremely important for my work. During 2010 the number of video views I got per day on YouTube grew by at least 4x to around 12000 per day. Views on articles are not growing that quickly. I currently use VGA for file-size and usability but I am definitely wanting to upgrade to 720p in 2010.

I took a video with the N8 during the test and it was very poor indeed. The problem is that the N8 has a fixed-focus video configuration which means it doesn’t work well for close-up work and that’s exactly the scenario I need to cover. Despite recordings being high-bitrate and high-resolution files, the quality isn’t good enough for this close-up work. I’ve used the video function in typical smartphone scenarios and it’s great but my special requirement is a real problem. Does this mean I’ll have to take my old Canon S2IS for videos? If I do, why bother with the N8 at all?  Sure, the Canon adds 500 grams  but even at 2KG, I’m saving a lot of weight and I get that critical video capability back.

Maybe there’s even a better, lighter camera option?

I’m now taking a look at a new standalone camera that includes WiFi, Bluetooth, 720p recording and weighs just 168gm. Remembering that professional photo and video blogging is not the same as professional photography and that mobility is absolutely key to my work, the Samsung ST5500 might work out well.

It really looks like the N8 won’t quite fit in as my mobile video device. I’m sad! I really thought I’d found an amazingly light and flexible mobile reporting kit for trade shows but now I know that if the N8 can’t do the video part, no smartphone can offer the photo/video performance I’m looking for.

Tomorrow i’ll be heading out to at least try a Samsung ST5500. At 200 Euro it’s not that expensive and there’s a possibility it will lift my mobile reporting kit to the next level. Happy to hear your suggestions for a sub 200gm compact for low-light and close-up moblogging though!

As for the N8 it still could fit in well. Despite the problem above It still seems to fit my setup better than any other phone. I love the quality of the build and the small features like the fm transmitter, usb on-the-go, metal body and even silly little things like timed profiles and the lock/unlock slider. For general family/friend videos it’s going to be fine too. I’m also reading that software updates are coming soon. Browser improvements, sharing improvements and continuous focus video recording will really help. As for the market and third party apps, I’m actually very happy to be doing that on my Galaxy Tab. The dovetailing really does seem good. There’s no doubt I will take the N8 to Las Vegas in a few weeks so standby for more reports on it.

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.

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