It’s so good to be able to finally bring you some mobile computing news over here at UMPCPortal. The lions share went to our consumer-focused site, Carrypad [see all our consumer tablet news from IFA here] and to be honest, I didn’t see a single UMPC-style product at IFA. It’s telling.
There are a lot of positive points to pull out of IFA though. 1 – Android products are getting better and all the major manufacturers are committed to getting some tablet and smart book products out there. Some will reach the market in the next month. 2 - As we get nearer towards Android 3.0 the developers must be thinking about the opportunities and i’m 100% sure we’re going to see the productive end of the Android applicaton spectrum blossom during 2011. 3- We also saw some progress from Moblin. The first Moblin-based product is about to launch [WeTab - Details] and the feedback from the product developers was very positive. Again, we’re going to see some good developments in the AppUp market here so that’s good news for 2011. [Sidenote: We’re participating in AppUp Elements next week so we’ll have the latest info for you then.] Finally, I was extremely happy to see the 1KG Samsung N350 at IFA. Having recently written a report on mobile netbooks, I’m confident in saying that the N350 is the best solution out there. Dual-core Atom is going to bring Windows 7 application fluidity and enable basic use of video and audio editing apps. It might also allow me to finally step up from VGA to 720p in my video process. I’ll be testing it as soon as I can.
The N350 offers 1024×768 (So say Samsung. More real estate at the expense of vertically-squashed pixels?) with a non-glossy finish. No digital a/v out is offered but VGA is there. You’ve also got an easy RAM upgrade slot and the promise of 3G / 4G (which means there’s a swappable module in there somewhere.) Battery life is said to in the region of 13 hours for the 6-cell battery. The 1KG version will have the 3-cell battery and offer, in real-terms, about 4-5hrs. The screen / price / power / battery life ratio there is unbeatable. Expect about 100-150gm extra weight for the 6-cell battery – still an unbeatable combo in my opinion.
The N350 on the show-floor was only running an N450 so its not possible to tell you about the performance but even the N455 model I tested was smooth. There’s obviously a fast SATA drive in there which could easily be swapped out for an even faster / more rugged SSD if needed.
Base pricing (lets hope it’s not for the N450 model) is 400-450. If the pricing is for an entry-level single core version then you’re looking at 499 Euro for the dual-core version. Add about 80 Euro for the 3G version which might not be available immediately.
How about this: Samsung N350 with Dual-Core N55 and added 3G, SSD and Pixel-Qi screen for about 5-6 hours of 1KG of 10” productivity. It sounds like a real possibility to me after IFA this week.
Meet:Mobility Podcast 43 was a great session recorded live at the Intel booth at Mobile World Congress 2010 in front of a live audience. In the 40-minute podcast we talk about some of the best hardware and software aspects of MWC and hook into the money and business aspects of development for mobile software platforms. Round the table for podcast 43 were…
The audio version of the podcast, with show notes, will be in the normal channels soon but if you can’t wait for that, the video’s are available here.
Many thanks to Pages Media (YouTube-Channel : RedaktionPages ) and Software-Dev-Blog for their support in making this video and thanks to the live audience and of course to the Intel Developer Network who made this live session possible.
Podcast 44, a studio-based warm-up to CeBIT is coming tomorrow and the team will also be bringing you mini-podcasts each day from CeBIT as the news breaks.
I sat down with Pankaj Kedia today. Pankaj is responsible for ecosystem development for the ultra mobility group at Intel and plays an important role in interfacing with software developers and bringing their products into ultra mobile devices. I took ten minutes to ask him a number of questions about MeeGo. We talk about timescales, strategy, opportunities and I ask about a developer conference; a question I will definitely follow-up because having experienced the excellent Maemo Summit in 2009, it makes perfect sense to run a similar event or roadshow in 2010.
Summary of responses from Pankaj:
Talks about the synergy between Maemo and Moblin. More Robust OS with the same API to make it easier for developers.
Takes us one step closer to our visions.
Hundreds of people at Intel working on Moblin.
15 OSV’s (Operating System Vendors) committed to Moblin.
‘One plus One greater than two’
First version of MeeGo is ‘MeeGo Version 1’
Release in Q2
Roadmap will be accelerated
5, 7, 10 year strategy.
Big opportunity for Intel
Each segment is fragement looking for a standards based software stack.
Ovi and Intel App Store Framework will remain separate.
Welcome to Part 4 of the Ultra Mobile Computing Buyers Guide. The final part is titled ‘Additional Information and further reading’ and ties up the lose ends by going over some of the less commonly found features. We also give you a big reading list.
We feel we’ve done a good job on it and covered a lot of ground and a good level of detail but if you want to see additional content or make corrections, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll consider adding it to the next issue which will be published during the summer of 2009.
If you enjoyed the series, please consider promoting it by linking, digging, sharing or highlighting in some way.
Part One: ‘What is Ultra Mobile Computing?’ We give you a history of Ultra Mobile computing, show you how the devices break down into segments and show you what each segment is capable of.
Part Two: ‘Details and Choices.’ It covers the form factors, the keyboard, storage, the screen and connectivity elements of an Ultra Mobile PC. You’ll find a good overview and a lot of tips that will help you refine your choice.
Part Three continues the details about the components and covers CPU (including a detailed overview of the currently available solutions) GPU, memory, battery, weight and cost.
Part Four (below) ‘Additional Information and further reading.’ In this section we cover some of the less commonly found features on Ultra Mobile computers and give you information and links to further reading resources.
The compete series will be published next week as a free PDF or e-book for non-commercial use. If you would like to use it for commercial purposes, please contact us to discuss.
