Not only is the Viewpad 10pro one of the first Oaktrail-based (Intel Atom Z670) tablets to ship, it’s also the first with Bluestacks on it. Bluestacks is an ‘Android player’ that simulates an Android environment in order to run Android programs. Like Myriad Dalvic Turbo, it’s a system with a lot of unanswered questions. Sideloading, GPS, network usage, power, speed.

But first, let’s talk about the Viewpad 10pro. It was spotted as available in the USA by Liliputing yesterday and checks on the European side of the pond indicate that it’s already shipping in a few countries. 560 Euro gets you a 32GB, Win 7 HP version with 2GB of RAM and the aforementioned Bluestacks Android player in Germany. I’m also seeing it in the UK.

Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Pro in the product database.

With a weight of 800gm we’re getting into some interesting territory and if the battery is 36Wh as I’ve calculated, we should be looking at 5hrs life on this platform. Viewsonic claim ‘up to 8hrs’ which is possible I guess, in idle situations. The downside to the Oaktrail platform is performance. You’re looking at a 1.5Ghz CPU which is slower than the first-generation Atom netbooks. Graphics won’t be up to much either with a netbook-level performance again. If fast SSD and memory has been implemented then there’s some hope for a smooth Windows 7 experience but don’t expect too much. Browsing should be fairly quick compared to consumer tablets but don’t expect to do a/v editing work on this.

As for Android, it’s an interesting addition to the platform. The core system is known at hyperDroid, technically a hosted hypervisor which emulates the Android hardware environment and runs within Windows. As you can probably guess, there’s no way to shutdown or idle Windows while the hosted Android system is running so you won’t get any battery life advantages but with switching times in the 1-second range, you at least get the ability to run Android apps when you wish without having to go through a multi-boot process.

According to Bluestacks documentation (Bluestacks hyperDroid PDF, More here.), the file system is shared, networking is shared and simultaneous use also possible. As for emulating hardware like GPS, accelerometer and other hardware, that would be implementation independent and it’s the bit we’re going to have to wait for reviews on.

Performance in Bluestacks should be quite good so there’s some potential for gaming but do note that this is Android Open Source and not a Google Android build. That means you won’t be getting Gmail, Maps and all the other interesting Google apps. Having been through that before on a number of devices and had to deal with sideloading of apps, I wonder just how much use it will get over time.

We’re in touch with Viewsonic and are trying to arrange a review sample for an interesting live session. Stay tuned.

Update: In Europe there is going to be a follow-up model which will be better optimized for Bluestacks and a 2.3 build of Android. Please note that the current batch of Viewpad 10pro devices are optimised for Windows although they do include a Bluestacks build. The new model will start shipping in 2-4 weeks. We will be getting an early model early next week for testing.

Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Pro in the product database along with a list of comparable devices.

I’m sitting in front of an ExoPC which is now referred to internally as the Exo-1 because they’re looking for new hardware for the next generation ExoPC device – Product X

There’s a very open an interesting post up on the ExoPC discussion board about new hardware they’re testing. It’s clearly an Oaktrail-based device but they’re not giving the ID away at this stage because there’s some negative points being aired. It’s a thread that has already prompted me to post something on our own forum about Oaktrail and I’d like to bring it up here. Maybe it’s useful for Exo PC. Maybe it’s useful for readers.

Obviously if you’re going to bring similar looking / acting hardware to the market as a new model, it needs to be better than the existing product, right? If there’s one thing that’s worse than the previous model, it confuses customers and causes rumblings in the owner community. While the battery life on the Oaktrail-based devices might be better, the performance isn’t. An Atom N450-based Win 7 product will outperform a 1.5Ghz Oaktrail equivalent in most, if not all, departments. Even if you bump the CPU up to the new Z615 at 1.9Ghz, the GPU isn’t going to be better than the previous generation. It’s a problem for anyone that’s got a 10” Atom N-series in the market. Where do you go?

The problem is, the N450-based tablets aren’t exactly zippy and are not the best at battery life. Fan noise, weight and size are an issue so some progress needs to be made there. Oaktrail is not the solution here and until Cedar Trail or more Ultrabook-like designs (E.g. EP121) come along, there’s no solution.

The way to make for ExoPC to make a second device is to move to a new form factor  and / or a new operating system. Changing the OS is a problem for ExoPC because most of their business is wrapped up in their overlay software development, for Windows. Personally, I don’t use it but if it’s their bread and butter, it’s important.

So why not keep the user interface and apply it to a 7” model? The 7” Windows tablet market is small, yes, but so is the 11.6” Windows tablet market. In fact, there’s less competition in the 7” space, more importance placed on efficiency and at 7”, Windows needs an overlay more than it does at 11.6” Using Oaktrail allows you to make a different hardware product for a new market and it also brings a bridge to other operating systems that could boost hardware sales. Meego is an interesting option for an Oaktrail tablet and if your skill is in user interfaces, you could turn something round quickly and make quite a differentiator in the Meego market. Acer turned a lot of heads when they presented their 10” Morestown-based Iconia M500 tablet that’s due to be available in Q4.  Don’t forget the Windows 8 mobility path either. If you’re working with Oaktrail now, making the move to Clovertrail and Windows 8 should be easier later. It will make an even better 7” tablet platform and gives the company a product to focus on should Windows 8 kill the ExoPC software overlay business.

ExoPC should do two things. 1) Look at the 7” Slate space where user interfaces become even more important. It’s currently a fairly empty space if you consider pro-mobile users and although niche, could allow ExoPC to become the king of it. Better to be king of a small niche than a bit-player in a large one. Asses Oaktrail devices and think about Meego, Windows 8 and even Android which we’ve already seen running on Intel. Look to break out a new product with a new customer base. 2) Take time to find a better product platform for the existing (10-12”) ExoPC market. Mid 2012 perhaps? Sandy Bridge-based tablet designs could be cheaper then as Ultrabook-style manufacturing matures.

Of course there’s a risk. You’ll need to investigate why the 7” space is empty for a start but the Galaxy Tab 7 sales (millions of them) say something about the form factor. There’s also the risk that someone else has seen this opportunity too. The Viliv X70 Slate design still exists (although the company appears to be going under) and we shouldn’t forget the ECS 7” slate design either. WeTab appear to be going through the same process so stay tuned here, ExoPC, for the latest news! (And good luck, of course.)

Here’s the discussion thread at the ExoPC discussion forum.

It seems like we cannot go a full calendar month without one of the tech companies holding some event to make a major announcement. Not that I am complaining one bit. This month we have not one, but two giants partnering to bring us some new juicy gadget promises. At least that is what we assume Microsoft and Nokia’s intentions are for the press conference they have just called for the 17th of this month.

The event is to take place in Cologne, Germany, just as the Gamescom convention kicks off. The truth is, we have no idea what M&N intend to announce at this event. But it is a safe bet that it will have something to do with the Nokia Sea Ray and Windows Phone 7. The announcement Flyer, at least, indicates that they will be giving away 3 vouchers for a Nokia handset running Windows Phone “as soon as available”.  If the announcement is profound enough, it might just pull Windows Phone and Nokia out of the funk they have been for the last several months.

That is the optimistic view. Now for a little pessimism. What concerns me is that this announcement does not have the feel of a planned reveal. It feels rushed and reactionary. So it makes me wonder if this press event is being held in response to pressure. The pressure of Samsung and Apple’s quarterly earnings statements. The pressure of increasing rumors of an impending fall launch of potentially two new iPhone models. The pressure of Nokia continuing to hemorrhage money.

This is not to say that doing something to staunch the flow is not the right move. It is more a recommendation to temper expectations of what may come out of this announcement with a good dollop of skepticism. It is likely that this is just another announcement confirming M&N’s previously advertised timeline for the release of the first Nokia phone running Windows 7. Nothing new.

It will be great if I am wrong. Nokia’s handset arriving early would be an awesome way to bring in the final quarter of the year. I spent the better part of the first half of this year on a Windows Phone 7 handset, the HTC HD7. I am a big fan of the OS and rank it second on my personal ranking of mobile OS’ for phones, behind Android, but ahead of iOS. Still, it is hard to envision M&N pulling off a major reveal at this juncture given what we have seen of the pair in the mobile space so far this year. A big event that does not really reveal anything new or unexpected could be just as harmful to the Windows Phone movement as a delay in the Sea Ray. Let’s hope that whatever M&N have planned, they do it right. The launch of the Fujitsu Toshiba IS12T may be reason to hold on to hopes for something great.

Either way, you can rest assured that we will cover the story here on Carrypad. See you on the 17th (and hopefully every day in between).

Source: Engadget

Go into our product database, select Tablet Devices (Windows), click the weight and screen size column headers and you’ll get a list showing the lightest 10” Windows Tablet. The only device that comes in at under 800gm is the Viliv X10 which, as we now know, isn’t going to happen. The Lenovo Ideapad P1will be dropping into that list very shortly as one of the lightest Windows Tablets there is. It’s a trend that’s happening more and more now that Oaktrail is here. The great thing is that battery life is going up at the same time and this one even has a digitiser layer. We broke news about the P1 when it was being referred to as the Ideapad Slate back at CES. Lets take a closer look.

Full gallery here.

Full specifications and news tracking  here.

The Ideapad P1 will go head-to-head with devices like the HP Slate 500 and Fujitsu Q550 as alternative dual-input slates but I have a feeling the P1 will get quite a lot of attention based on the name.

The 1.5Ghz Oaktrail platform is certainly not going to be a powerful one. Unzipping large packages will be a chore as will any serious multitasking but the battery life should compensate for that with something like a 6W average drain. Expect the P1 to last for 6hrs with Wifi on. The digitiser layer, 3G options, 2GB RAM options, 32GB or 64GB SSD storage, Windows 7 OS options, a docking port and a high-resolution 1280×800 screen mean this is likely to be interesting to many of our audience here.

The other interesting thing is the possibility of Meego and Android for the Ideapad P1. Lenovo have good relationship with the Intel marketing groups. The Ideapad S10 3T was used as a reference netbook for Meego development so there’s a good chance that the Ideapad P1 will get picked up as a reference Oaktrail device for Meego and Android and that could mean even longer battery life and a good reason to think about a 7” version. In fact, reading through the presentation PDF (Available here), it also looks like Lenovo might be offering an app-store. This could be Intel AppUp-based which leans further towards an Intel relationship and increases the chances of Lenovo exploring a Meego build. Yes, it’s a tenuous link but one we need to keep an eye on. Meego-based Chromepad anyone? Multi-boot on this tablet could give the user an important choice.

The Lenovo Ideapad P1 is, unfortunately, targeted for Q4 which means we’ll probably see it at IDF and IFA shows in September with availability in October or November. It’s a shame it’s taking this long to bring it to market as for those that see more than Engadgets fasion-focused eyes, this is an interesting option.

Jakub contacted me yesterday via the CCC email account with the first of the CCC2011 challenges. It’s a very typical one to start off with and will probably fit many peoples requirements too so lets start with the first of our tailored buyers guides for mobile computing solutions.

Requirements.

Via a number of emails we’ve determined that Jakub would like a device that could be kept in a bag all the time. It would be used occasionally for work and personal tasks, needs 3G and importantly, needs to be able to access the full internet experience with no need for zooming and panning. A battery that can last 2 days without charging on light usage is also important. I’m interpreting the ‘bag’ requirement as something between 7 and 10 inches, 500-1300gm.

Nice-to-have’s include car navigation, sub $500 cost, ability to handle printers and cameras and a docking station. Jakub also appears to be a photography fan and wants to use the device for photo previewing and basic editing. SD card slot, USB host and screen could be important

In the correspondence we’ve had over the last two days, one line resonated with me: “full internet experience is a must. I don’t like limitations, they always appears at worst moment, when i must do something.” I was lying on the couch yesterday with the Viliv N5 thinking exactly the same thing as my Galaxy Tab failed to offer me full web experience. Not only is plugin support a problem but the ability to access full versions of websites, reliable rendering, javascript input fields and of-course, the unsolved problem of mouse-over on web-page menus.

Narrowing the platform choices.

We’ve got a problem on hour hands here. Its the common trade-off between full internet experience which is still only available on the X86 platforms using desktop browsers, and long standby life. However, we’ve got a loophole to get through because Jakub is likely to be happy with quick return from standby as opposed to always-on. Immediately I’m thinking of the latest Samsung netbooks with their quick start and long standby support. With a full SD card slot it helps for photography and they have great screens.  If the Toshiba AC100 with 3G had been fitted with a quality software build that might also be a solution although it’s available for under 200 Euros with 3G so might be worth a test.

Based on the web requirement though, I’m going to rule out the rest of the Android tablets and smartphones. That’s unfortunate because the Galaxy Tab would have been high on the list. The iPad too. The original 3G+16GB version is available for under 500 Euros and at Argos in the UK right now, it’s only 418 Euros. My feeling is that you’ll still hit issues with websites but that’s a great price for a great mobile computing device and you’ll certainly have fun with it.

The docking station requirement is a good one. There isn’t another accessory that improves the range of usage of a tablet more than a dock and since my first UMPC in 2006 I’ve been a fan. The MSI Windpad 110W might be a device to check out. It’s a tablet but it’s got an important feature – mouse pad. That improves Windows/Tablet usability a lot. Pre-order prices for the 3G versions are heading towards 600 Euro, slightly above the price range but with the included GPS (according to my specifications) it would be possible to add something like Mapfactor Navigator 11 or even their free product. The dock is going to add to the price though but might be something for a later date. The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is another one to consider in that vein but as far as i’m aware, it doesn’t have that important mouse pointer/pad. If you want a high-end Atom tablet at under 900gm, look at the Gigabyte S1080 with N570, 2GB RAM, USB 3.0, 3G and keyboard case. It’s expensive though!

Isn’t it a shame that the HTC Shift didn’t get an update. For people that just want the occasional-use PC along with portability and an always-on operating system, you’ve got the best of both worlds. Alas, HTC, along with many others are busy serving the competitive smartphone, superphone and tablet PC space. An updated Nokia Booklet 3G could have been interesting too. If you see an original for sale for under 400 Euro, do check it out though as it’s a unique netbook. (GPS, weight, battery life.)

On the netbook choices though, there’s a bargain to be had in the Samsung N150 Eom 3G. It doesn’t have the ‘Fast Start’ option unfortunately but it’s a solid, well priced 3G netbook at well under 400 Euros and in some cases, under 350 Euros. Weight 1.25KG

Finally, I’m going to call out the Viewsonic Viewpad Pro. It’s coming soon and it’s going to be one of the first Oaktrail devices in Europe with 3G for under 700 Euros. 650 Euros is the street price right now but with SSD, 3G, 2GB of RAM, 870gm weight and the Intel Oaktrail platform, it could return some excellent battery life, even in always-on mode.

Top 5 Choices

Click on images for more information.

Your reliable, good value choice is going to be the Samsung N150 Eom 3G (Eom is the name in Germany, it could vary in other EU countries.) At 350 Euros for a 3G netbook, it will cover all your angles apart from navigation.

If you fancy waiting a bit for a modular solution, do so for the MSI Windpad 110W. With 3G, GPS, the mouse pointer and the dock, it could be one of the most flexible, general use tablet PCs around. Don’t forget it has Windows Home Premium, 2GB of RAM and a nice 1080p capability. 2 years ago, something like this would have cost 1200 Euro! No full SD card slot. No full reviews yet. Above budget.

A low-cost choice and Android experience would be the Toshiba AC100 with 3G which can be picked up dirt cheap. It’s not business quality but there are marketplace hacks out there that could be fun to test out. The web experience won’t be as good as on the Windows-based devices here. No GPS. Test well before buying!

Another one to check out in the next few months would be the Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Pro. It should have better battery life than the Windpad 110W but doesn’t provide as much processing power. For occasional use it might be fine. No full reviews available yet. Above budget.

Long-shot choice. I haven’t mentioned this yet because there’s no indication that it’s coming to the market but keep a close eye (and Google search for the VX70S-001. What is it? It’s the product code for the new Viliv X70 Slate with Oaktrail. Price is highly likely to be above 500 Euros but with SSD, GPS, long standby and the full internet experience, it’s just what you and many others are looking for. No 3G. No reviews. No idea when and for how much it’s coming.

Also look at the original iPad with 3G, the Gigabyte S1080 (high-end Atom-based spec) and Acer Iconia Tab W500 and keep an eye out for cheap and sales of the Nokia Booklet 3G. There’s promise in a few 7″ Intel Oaktrail tablet prototypes (e.g. the X70 Slate, ECS 7″ Tablet) we’ve seen at shows buy as yet, none have reached the market. They could be worth waiting for though.

And finally, look in the comments below. One of the great things about this website, even if I do say so myself, is the quality of the commenters.

Keep those requests coming via the CCC2011 email address.

I, like many others, believe that Windows 8 will re-enable the pocket productivity market and lift us out of this strange consumer-focused mobile mess we’re in at the moment and get us back to a place where we have ultra mobile PC choices for our mobile, flexible working practices and scenarios. Marketing, social networking, price wars and tablet fever are getting in the way of what many people want – productivity in the pocket.

I love Android and IOS of course but I’m not letting that change my opinion that there is a requirement for a full desktop capability in a handheld form factor. The market is indeed fairly small but it’s in many different niches and sectors. [Raise your hands in the comments if you’re one of those ‘niche’ users.] Android and IOS have done a lot for mobility, sharing and mobile media and have quickened the pace of mobile processor developments so much that we’ll all benefit in the end but when you look at the software, the pace of development of productivity software is just embarrassing. On the whole, It’s a sector that focuses on quick-hit, fast turnaround, short-lifecycle software and it’s vastly different to the full-fat, long lifecycle, productive and flexible software you get on the desktop. Two years after this consumer mobile market started taking off there still isn’t a way to buy an off-the-shelf DVB-T module, extend the screen or even log in with multiple user IDs. There are literally hundreds of features that are missing and each one of them is a potential roadblock for the advanced mobile user.

That’s why Windows 8 is an exciting operating system to look forward to. It will retain probably all of the flexibility of Windows 7 but will introduce important features from the world of consumer mobile devices. Always-on, improved sensor support, touch user interface, quick-hit apps and sharing along with support for ARM-based platforms and new X86 platforms that remove some of the old legacy PC features and introduce new boot and power management subsystems. Between now and, lets say, mid 2012, I doubt we’ll see any of the existing mobile operating systems advance so far that they challenge Windows and none of the new operating systems have much of a chance either. Buying an ultra-mobile PC has never been so hard but 12-24 months is a long time to wait for Windows 8. If you’ve got a requirement, you need a device and it’s as simple as that.

Your first strategy would be to sit tight and do nothing.  That assumes you don’t have a new requirement or your current device(s) can be stretched out until then. If you have a new requirement though, be it speed or scenario, and you don’t have a device you can cover it with you could believe the rumors that Windows 8 will arrive early or you could do one of the following things:

1 – Go netbook

It’s a low-cost solution but requires a table or a lap. That’s not quite ultra mobile computing is it! Having said that, if you want to save money until Windows 8 comes along, searching for a surface or using your lap might not be too much of a problem to put up with. My advise would be to look at some of the Atom N550 or N570-based devices with a focus on Samsung who still seem to lead with better build quality and more efficient electronic engineering and screens than others. The NF310 continues to get good reports. Asus are also worth considering and the Eee PC 1015 with N570, 2GB RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium is a real bargain at under 400 Euro in my opinion. There’s even the updated T101MT with N570 and 2GB, Windows Home Premium and capacitive touchscreen at around 500 Euro in Europe. Drop a fast SSD into that and it should make quite a nice Windows convertible.

2 – Buy a Menlow UMPC

Given the age of Menlow and the lack of choices around it’s not something I would recommend to everyone but if the pocket is the destination and Windows is the requirement, what option do you have than to buy a Viliv N5 or a UMID mbook SE? Both companies appear to have disappeared from the radar though so be very aware that major failures may not be fixable.

3 – Wait for an Oaktrail UMPC

ECS and Viliv have both talked about building a 7” Oaktrail-based Windows tablet but unless a major customer or market is found, neither of those solutions are going to hit the market. By all means, wait and see but I personally think it could be a very long wait.

4 – Buy an Oaktrail-based tablet

Early review of Oaktrail-based devices aren’t singing the praises about performance and with the CPU inside being basically the same as before, it’s no surprise. The RAM will need to be 2GB, the SSD will need to be fast, Aero will need to be turned off and I dare say there’s some GPU driver improvements to be made but despite the claims of speed issues, you’ll still be able to render full flash and javascript-enabled web pages with 100% accuracy and faster than any ARM-based tablet out there. Battery life reports are showing marked improvements too so if running a PC in a 5W power envelope is your aim, take a close look at Oaktrail. The Samsung PC7 (TX100, Gloria) slider is one to watch out for and although my recent queries to Samsung don’t return any new information, they certainly don’t indicate that the project has been scrapped. I’ll keep you updated on that one.

5 – Go IOS or Android, adapt your requirements and track the developments

You may want to plug in your DSLR and run the remote capture software but there are alternatives. In this case, check out the Eye-Fi card. For those wanting full Microsoft Office support, look at the Asus Transformer and think about a remote desktop solution. For full-internet-experience browsing, look at whether IOS or Honeycomb will satisfy your needs. On smaller Android tablets, the Dolphin HD and Opera Mobile browsers are coming along nicely. Firefox is progressing too.  Think about a Dell Streak (only 299 Euros here in Germany right now) or a Galaxy Tab (350 Euros) along with a low-cost netbook. Look at PC keyboard sharing solutions for Android. Think about the Google suite too. Android also offers a lot that you can’t get in a PC yet. Location, Sharing, always-on and a large amount of fun!

If you’ve read this far, you’re into ultra mobile computing which is a good thing. It’s fun, flexible and productive but you will also have very individual requirements. The private pilot. The dentist. The courtroom assistant. The musician. The world-tourer. Take a close look at your requirements and see what would want and compare it with what you, realistically, will need. If possible, take a risk or two and ignore that extreme scenario that you’ve got on your list. One thing I would advise all of you to do though is to check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I’m not joking when I say it changed my mobile computing world. I no longer have a netbook. I no longer have a high-end smartphone and there are very few scenarios that I can’t cover with it now. I’ve heard people say the same about the Dell Streak (5”) too. If you really can’t swallow that, the iPhone 4 has to be high on the list, the netbooks I mentioned above and even some older devices like the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium.

Oh, and don’t forget to look at the Toshiba Libretto W100/W105!

This device was graciously provided by Dynamism for review.

Oh where to begin with this review…

The Onkyo TW317 [tracking page] is a rare breed of soon-to-be-extinct computer known as a “capacitive touchscreen Windows 7 Slate”. What this means is that the TW317 lacks a real keyboard or mouse. Unlike some other slates which add accurate handwriting and mouse-hovering abilities with an active digitizer — which supplement the removal of the keyboard/mouse —  the TW317 relies completely on its capacitive touchscreen for finger-based input.

To put this into perspective, may I ask you if you’d like to purchase a car from me? I’ll give you a great deal, but there’s some caveats… the car doesn’t have a steering wheel or tries. Did I mention that you can find other, more powerful, versatile, and usable cars on the market for less?

Here’s what you need to understand before reading any further: removing the keyboard and mouse from a Windows computer, and not adding an active digitizer, makes it fundamentally harder to be productive (or to just use the computer for anything, really). While the parts of the computer itself may be perfectly well made and put together, you will run into annoying situations (frequently) where your controls on this computer are not conducive to what you actually want to accomplish. For further reading on this, see here.

In fact, you’ll find that some of the limitations of a mouseless and keyboardless Windows computer nearly prevented me from bringing you a large portion of this review…

With that fresh in your mind, let’s begin.

Tour

Here’s a quick look around the hardware as well as the specs:

And that’s really all there is to it. Pretty simple, huh? Here’s a full spec breakdown:

• Windows 7 Home Premium
• 10.1” capacitive touchscreen @ 1366×768 (16:9)
• Intel Atom N450 CPU @ 1.66GHz
• 1GB of RAM
• Intel 3150 graphics
• 32GB SSD
• WiFi b/g/n & Bluetooth 2.1
• 0.3MP front-facing camera
• 1000gm

Hardware

The Onkyo TW317 is actually quite impressive when it comes to hardware. Considering that we’ve got x86 internals inside the casing, Onkyo did a superb job at keeping it thin. The TW317 is only slightly thicker than many of the mobile-OS slates currently on the market.

There’s a small fan inside, but it runs quietly most of the time and vents out the top of the device which is good because your hands won’t usually be covering the port, and the heat won’t be venting directly into your lap. Though the back does get hot after continuous use.

When you pull the TW317 out of the box, you know it’s a well-built product. You can feel it all the way around. Shake the device and what do you hear? Nothing. It’s almost as if there are no moving parts (there are probably very few beside the fan).

Design

As a Slate, there isn’t a lot you can do to make the device aesthetically interesting beyond the choice of casing material, but they at least attempted to keep the TW317 from being totally bland.

The glass on the front of the device extends over the bezel which keeps everything on the front on one plane (this is good). There isn’t much to look at on the front except a simple Intel Atom sicker. The black bezel is about 3/4” on the left, right, and top of the screen, while it’s more like 1” below the screen. Though a wide bezel is usually an undesirable trait, when it comes to slates, it’s necessary to be able to hold the device without accidentally pressing the screen.

The corners of the screen are square while the corners of the device itself are round. This creates an unsatisfying aesthetic that could have probably been avoided by making the corners of the device tighter, and then moving the corner of the screen to be aligned horizontally and vertically with the beginning of the curve of the device’s corner.

That being said, the TW317 is quite heavy and it’s also quite a bit longer than it is tall because of the 16:9 shape of the screen. This means that you’ll have a lot of leverage working against your wrist if you attempt to hold it in one hand from the side in landscape mode. Holding it in the center (using the large bezel space below the screen with your thumb) works pretty well, but only being able to use the Slate with one hand really limits your ability to input text (which is already limited because the on-screen keyboard is not nearly as fast/responsive as a real keyboard, or other mobile OS OSKs {iOS, Android, etc}).

The back of the device is a rubberized plastic, a material that I tend to like as it won’t scratch easily like aluminum. There’s also a curved line toward the top of the back to make it a bit less boring. There’s almost no flex of the back, even in the center where support is usually the worst. This again attests to the device’s great build-quality.

The back rounds into the front which makes it easier to pick up with one hand than if it were completely flat. On certain surfaces like my desk, however, it’s almost impossible to pick the TW317 up with one hand from the top or bottom, as the static friction is overcome before you can apply enough force to get your fingers underneath the device. Grabbing from the right side of the device, or going for one of the port openings (the left side or bottom dock connector), makes it possible to pick up with one hand because it’s easier to get underneath.

The bezel hangs closely over the USB ports on the right side of the TW137, so if you have any particularly bulky USB plugs, don’t anticipate being able to plug them in without an extension/hub. For instance, the LG LV600 4G USB modem would never fit.

Screen

The TW317’s 10.1” capacitive touchscreen has a 16:9 resolution of 1366×768. The 16:9 ratio makes the tablet wider than it is tall which isn’t preferable with a slate as the center of gravity is further from the edges and there is potential for extra leverage on your hand. This means that holding sessions will become tiresome after short periods, and holding it above you while lying down is pretty much impractical as you’d need to put your palm over much of the screen in order to get enough support to resist the weight of the device.

The viewing angles are poor and you’ll see brightness reduce greatly at 20 degrees or so, with colors beginning to invert around +/- 45 degrees (in this case, looking directly at the screen is 0 degrees). Because the device is heavy, and is used most effectively with two hands, you’ll be prompted to set it in your lap. Unfortunately the viewing angles don’t jive with this as you will rarely be looking directly down at the tablet in your lap (otherwise you’ll be risking serious neck strain).

Tapping items on the screen is definitely a bit easier and more consistent than devices from the resistive-screen era, but if you are imagining the responsive and accurate touch input that we’ve become accustomed to with modern smartphones, don’t get your hopes up. You’re likely to experience a lot of frustrating near-misses when attempting to navigate around the OS. Grabbing windows to resize them, in particular, is a major pain.

One issue with the screen I found was that tapping in the very bottom-right corner was difficult at times. This could be a calibration or hardware issue.

Speakers

The stereo speakers on the bottom of the device actually weren’t as bad as I was expecting. They are completely lacking bass which isn’t unexpected, but they sound much less tinny than I was anticipating.

Software

If you’d like a good laugh, you should absolutely head to this page and watch the brief “Windows Touch” video from Microsoft. The irony (and awful acting) contained within couldn’t be more hilarious. To be fair, they are talking about using a device that actually has a keyboard and mouse, most of the blame here should be placed on Onkyo and any other capacitive touchscreen slate manufacturer that thinks that keyboard and mouseless slates running Windows 7 are a good idea.

Remember how I was telling you at the beginning of this review that you’ll run into issues operating a Windows slate because it lacks a keyboard and mouse? Well it turns out that I’m currently experiencing this, and it nearly inhibited my ability to bring you much of this review.

It turns out that the BIOS has rudimentary cursor support with the touchscreen, which I wasn’t actually expecting. However, portions of the BIOS/pre-boot environment do not have any touchscreen support, which means that if you don’t have a USB keyboard on you, you won’t be able to use your computer. And as it turns out, I didn’t have a USB keyboard on me, so the Onkyo TW317 was an unusable paper-weight for quite some time. Fortunately I’ve managed to get one and was able to break out of the BIOS in order to continue reviewing the device.

This is just one of several examples of how a keyboardless/mouseless Windows computer is a total joke when it comes to usability. It’s not just the fact that entering text on the OSK is far slower than with a real keyboard, or that the inability to float the mouse renders plenty of programs hard or impossible to use, but could you imagine taking your Onkyo TW317 on an important business trip and having to tell your boss: “Sorry, I can’t send those vital reports because I forgot to pack a USB keyboard, and the computer is stuck in the BIOS”? That’s just insane; no normal user should have run into such a stupid situation because the computer lacks the basic tools necessary to interact with it.

Sumocat, resident tablet PC expert from Gottabemobile.com, has informed me that Microsoft had once-upon-a-time set up some slate-device guidelines which specified that slate devices such as the TW317 be fitted with D-pads to ensure that they are fully compatible with the OS and the BIOS. It’s not clear whether Microsoft is still publishing such guidelines, but what is clear is that Onkyo decided not to equip the device with a D-pad, and users will suffer because of it.

As with the Asus R50A of old, I found redundant built-in utilities. Two different utilities that would run automatically both wanted to control the brightness and wireless radios of the device.

Automatic rotation of the screen orientation absolutely would not work on the Onkyo TW317 even though it was supposed to. No amount of playing with the utility that had the auto-rotate option seemed to help. Not sure if this is a software or hardware problem, but you can at least manually change the orientation.

I’ve got a video that was taken a little while back that will give you a decent idea of what the touch experience is like on the TW317:

Keyboard

The keyboard brings new meaning to the phrase “hunt and peck.” Each key-press must be very deliberately placed which is a real pain. There’s extremely rudimentary predictive-text, but in a world of great OSKs (on-screen-keyboards) being offered from Android, iOS, and even WP7, the OSK on the TW317 simply doesn’t stand up. This keyboard is hardly good for entering URLs, let alone writing notes. You’ll have to manually call the keyboard up, and usually dismiss it manually which is bothersome if you’re used to rarely having to think about the keyboard on modern smartphones.

In a select-few applications, a keyboard button will pop-up when you click inside a text field. Tapping the button will open the OSK. Unfortunately this box pops-up inconsistently even where it is supposed to. In the vast majority of applications, the box will not even appear automatically, so you’ll have to launch the keyboard manually from the button that hovers on the side of the screen. Inconsistency is a big no-no in interface design and this is a great example of what not to do; having to look in one of two places for where to launch the OSK is worse than simply relegating it to the side of the screen every time.

Aligning your cursor for editing text without a real mouse is awful and very frustrating. Sadly, this problem has already been solved on Android, iOS, and even Microsoft’s own WP7.

Scrolling & Snap

Scrolling and Snap are some of the only things found in Windows 7 that actually feel natural with the touchscreen. Scrolling within any explorer window can be done anywhere, rather than attempting to grab the tiny scroll bar. It’s got inertia and generally scrolls smoothly. There’s even a rubber-banding effect shown by the whole window to indicate when you’ve hit the top of the bottom of the list. It’s unfortunate that this great scrolling implementation doesn’t make its way into third-party applications.

“Snap” is the term that Microsoft uses to describe the window size gestures that are done by grabbing the window’s title bar. If you grab the bar and push it to the top of the screen, the window will maximize. If you grab the bar and pull it away from the top, it’ll restore to a smaller size. You can also make the window occupy half of the screen by pushing the bar against the left of right sides of the screen (good for looking at two things at once). It’s very natural to do, and is way easier than trying to hit the relatively small buttons at the top-right that are normally reserved for maximizing/minimizing windows.

You can also use the “Peek” function which involves shaking the window from the title bar which cases all other windows to be minimized. This works fine through touch but I don’t ever really use it.

Multitouch

Multitouch in Windows 7 is currently (and for the foreseeable future) just a buzzword that Microsoft likes to toss around. The only place you’ll find multitouch implementations is in paint, Internet Explorer, and the default Windows Photo Viewer (and maybe a few obscure programs). It’s up to third-party application developers to add multitouch support to their applications, and pretty much no one is doing so.

This makes the multitouch capability of the device essentially useless. Unless of course you want to draw two things at the same time in paint:

Touch Pack

Touch Pack is a group of programs and games from Microsoft that are optimized for touchscreen use, presumably released because no one else is making them. I would have loved to have given it a try, but… well I’ll let this photo speak for itself:

Performance

“Painfully slow” is the best way I can describe the overall performance of the Onkyo TW317. I will say that I was wholeheartedly impressed that the device handles 720p video from YouTube with no issue, if only because the performance in other parts of the device were in no way indicative that it would be able to play-back HD video.

Microsoft wants you to use Internet Explorer for your web touch-based web browsing as they’ve built in a lot of little optimizations for touch. Inertia scroll is there by default, so is multitouch zooming. Unfortunately, both perform horrendously. When attempting to browse a site like Engadget, I’d see regular lockups that would last for several seconds. Simply trying to scroll up and down the page to browse stories was incredibly sluggish and almost unusable. If you weren’t already using Chrome or Firefox, you will be shortly after using IE on the TW317.

Chrome helps keep the scrolling lock-ups at bay, but it’s by no means smooth. Part of this is hardware/performance based, and the other part is that scrolling in Windows is quantized, meaning that it has set increments in which it can jump, leading to unsmooth scrolling.

You’ll need to supplement the missing inertia-scrolling with addons/extensions in Firefox and Chrome.

Benchmarks

Flash
The Man in Blue flash bechmark runs more slowly on the TW317 than on the Motorola Xoom which is a bit sad considering the difference in price. You’ll see around 20-24 FPS on the TW317 and 28-30 FPS from the Xoom. For some context, my laptop (several years old) pushes around 50 FPS with several applications open.

CrystalMark
The TW317 scores worse in CrystalMark than one of the very first devices that I ever reviewed here on UMPC Portal, the Acer Aspire One.

Back in 2008, the Acer Aspire One scored 27k, and it didn’t even have an SSD. The TW317, which gets a 2k bonus from the SSD, still only scored 25k in CrystalMark. This is only slightly better than my five year old Sony VAIO UX180 which scores around 23k.

Sunspider
The Sunspider javascript benchmark is very browser dependent, but it gives us a way to compare cross-platform performance. I ran Sunspider on the TW317 and found a score of 2122.4ms (using the latest public release of Chrome). It turns out that the Xoom outperforms the TW317 in Sunspider by scoring 2045.9ms in the default browser. I’m not sure if I should be impressed by the Xoom or ashamed of the TW317. For context, my Windows 7 laptop scores 567ms in Sunspider.

Video Playback
As mentioned, playback of 720p YouTube content actually worked with no issues. I was also happy to find that local 720p content played fine through VLC. I tested the same 720p content encoded with AVI, H264, and OGG. All of them played smoothly through VLC.

If you push the resolution up to 1080p with H264, you’ll actually find relatively smooth video with the occasional freeze. It’s not entirely unwatchable, but I would prefer smooth 720p over 1080p with occasional freezes.

Video encoded with OGG in 1080p tends to freeze much more often, while AVI/MPEG4 1080p actually sees better performance than H264 and plays with no lockups.

Battery Life

Battery life on the TW317 wasn’t all that bad, but the lack of removable battery makes power options on this slate less flexible than with other devices. Using the classic BatteryEater benchmark, which runs the computer at 100% CPU until the battery discharges, the device ran for 2 hours and 45 minutes. This figure indicates approximately the least amount of time that the slate can be run on battery power, so normal use would likely see around 4 or 5 hours of use. The discharge graph was very uniform so you can expect consistent battery run times.

Conclusion

Aside from some unexpectedly good video handling, the Onkyo TW317 is a joke. On paper, the device might not sound so bad, but when you remove vital components (mouse/keyboard) from a computer running an OS that is designed from the ground-up to take advantage of those components, you shouldn’t be surprised when things go wrong. There’s no way that I would ever recommend this device over a convertible tablet PC, or a slate with an active digitizer , or even a consumer tablet (iPad/Xoom, etc.). Sluggish web browsing, near-complete lack of finger-touch-optimized applications, and horrible end-user usability make my recommendation for this device an easy one: don’t buy one. Ever.

P.S. I’m fully aware that there will be at least one person out there who thinks that I’m out to give slates a bad name. This couldn’t be more wrong. If this was a product that worked well and was actually useful, I’d be happy to report that. Unfortunately I can only go on the true usability/practicality of the device, and that’s exactly what you’ve read above.

Edit: A little clarification in the comments –

I’m not dissing touch on Windows. I’m dissing slates WITHOUT keyboards or mice (active digitizer is an acceptable replacement for keyboard/mouse). I OWN a tablet PC and I love it. The different between a slate and a tablet PC is that slates do not have keyboards or mice, while tablets are convertible. I love the ink input. I even love the occasional touch input (it’s resistive however so I use it less commonly). The issue is that touch only works effectively for a SMALL portion of the overall Windows OS. This is why it makes sense to have a convertible which still has a keyboard and mouse so you can switch between the different input methods as needed. As soon as you remove those two components, you are forcing the user to use crippled input that Windows was not designed for. The fact that the user can get stuck in the BIOS without a USB keyboard, or the fact that some applications are rendered nearly unusable when you only have touch input clearly shows that touch-only is not a good experience and was not well thought out by the people who are creating slates.

When the UMPC world had a little more momentum than it does today, Sony had a few high-end offerings that stood head and shoulders above most other models in that they had some amazing engineering and used some relatively high-end CPUs. The Sony UX range had a huge fan-base and still stands on its own against competitors today. Looking at the Freestyle PC that was revealed in  a Sony presentation a few days ago, I see another unique product. Is this a sub 10” slider?

‘Freestyle’ indicates multiple usage scenarios with a consumer slant. The ‘Hybrid’ part of the name indiates the same but does it go further than that? While I don’t expect a dual-CPU, I do expect the Oaktrail platform to be used to provide the Windows OS with an overlay layer. It might also include a dual-boot or fast-boot mode. It would be nice to see an Intel Android build on this to give a true hybrid usage model.

As for size, check this out. It’s the Hybrid put side-by-side with the Samsung TX100 which is a 10.1” device.

The Sony Hybrid doesn’t look like a 10”-er to me. There’s no trackpad and the ratio of thicknesses (look at the USB port on the side) and frame width compared to the screen size says 7” or 8” to me. This could be a replacement for the Vaio P11. By looking at the P11 you get a better feel for the real-world size of the Hybrid.

And here’s the 7” HTC Shift. Again, look at the port sizes.

There are no specifications available for the Sony Hybrid yet so none of my speculation can be confirmed. I look forward to it though.

Freestyle Hybrid news found via Slashgear.

Many thanks to Jeff Kent (Mobile Barbarian) for sending us this detailed review of his Eee Slate EP121 from real-life business scenario perspective. Remember, this is a 2.6lb device containing a 12” screen and Core i5 processor. Not quite a handheld but in some respects, still an ultra mobile device.

I recently purchased the Asus Eee Slate EP121. As the term “Slate” indicates, the EP121 is a Slate (as opposed to convertible) tablet. While Slate tablets these days are multiplying like rabbits, the EP121 is a rarer bird:

• Its OS is not the typical Android or iOS, but Windows 7 (Home Premium, 64 bit).
• Its screen size, 12.1”, is much larger than the typical 7 – 10.1” range.
• Its screen is not just capacitive, but includes an active digitizer for digital inking!
• Its specs are muscular: Core i5 (U470) processor + 4 GB DDR3 RAM + 64 GB SSD.
• You also may need to be more muscular to hold it: 2.6 lbs.

There already are video reviews by professional bloggers whose video and picture taking skills far outstrip my amateurish efforts. One in particular is this review by MobileTechReview (“MTR”), which is the source of most of the pictures in this review, and also includes a very thorough 15:21 video (referred to as the “MTR Video”). Even Microsoft has gotten into the act with promotional videos featuring the EP121. So instead I thought I would discuss the EP121 from my perspective as a user. So you have a context for my usage, before we get to the EP121, let me introduce myself.

Who I am

My name is Jeff Kent, though my students have affectionately (?) nicknamed me Genghis Khent, and one created my avatar shown here. I live in the Los Angeles area. I have dual careers. I am a Professor of Computer Science at a local community college. I also work at a law firm as an attorney and network administrator. Additionally, I teach computer programming classes online, both for my community college and also privately for a national consortium of community colleges. In my spare (?) time I have a blog, Mobile Barbarian, that is devoted to my favorite hobby (and expenditure of discretionary funds), mobile gadgets like phones and tablets. My wife, who also is a Professor of Computer Science but is not enthralled with gadgets, tolerates my hobby because, as my blog motto states, “Mobile devices are cheaper and safer than mistresses.”

However, mobile gadgets are a tool as well as a hobby. My job(s) duties require me to be always connected. I also am mobile, going from one job location or meeting to another. Hence, I need to be connected and do tasks when I am not tethered to my home or office base.

But this isn’t a review of me, but instead of the EP121. So let’s get to it!

Why a Windows 7 tablet?

Particularly for business users — and I’m one — there are mission-critical Windows applications that have no iOS or Android equivalent. For example, wearing my attorney hat, I heavily rely on software like CaseMap, which creates a database of a case’s facts, issues and documents, and TextMap for storing, indexing and searching deposition transcripts. There’s nothing I’ve found for iOS or Android that would fill their role. Additionally, even if some iOS or Android equivalent existed, there would be an issue of converting from one application’s format to the other.

There’s also the matter of digital ink. While tablet these days seems to equal touch, I’ve always regarded digital inking as the essence of what makes a tablet a tablet. I cringe at the over-use of the term “killer app”, but OneNote is a killer app for business.

An active digitizer makes a big difference in inking. Windows 7 tablets commonly have active digitizers. The EP121 is no exception, with an active digitizer in addition to a capacitive touch screen.

By contrast, on my iPad 2, which has no active digitizer, inking feels more like drawing, if not finger-painting. Ditto with Android, except for the HTC Flyer, which does have an active digitizer, albeit N-trig, not the Wacom digitizer (which I regard as superior) on the EP121.

But is a good tablet experience possible on Windows?

OK, I’ve justified the need for a Windows 7 tablet. But I still want the touch to be as smooth and responsive as possible. No offence to our canine friends, but performance on a Windows 7 Tablet PC can be a dog.

Indeed, much has been written that touch is not as smooth and responsive on Windows 7 as it is on other operating systems that are tablet-optimized (iOS, Android Honeycomb). Yes, Windows 7 is fundamentally a desktop, mouse and keyboard OS. Consequently, the touch experience may not be as good as with a tablet-optimized OS. But need it be bad? I think not. In this regard, the MTR review comments:

“[T]he bigger problem is Windows’ somewhat unearned reputation for being a poor tablet platform…It hasn’t helped that several small manufacturers (generally Asian companies whose products arrive here online or through importers) went with underpowered Intel Atom CPUs and screens that are too small to work well with Windows.” (Emphasis added).

I think this comment hits the proverbial nail on the head. So let’s see how the EP121 addresses these two critical issues.

Brute force uber alles

I’ve owned other Windows 7 slates, once upon a time the Motion LS 800, later the Viliv X70, more recently the HP Slate 500. The latter two have an Atom processor, and either 1 GB (X 70) or 2 GB (Slate 500) of RAM. Unfortunately, not enough processor muscle. Often I’d have to wait a not insubstantial amount of seconds for an operation to complete. Worse, sometimes the tablet would freeze, requiring a reboot.

This waiting and freezing is at least an inconvenience. Sometimes it’s more than that. The interruption can disrupt the flow of a business meeting and make you look like you don’t have your act together. Worse is when this happens in court before Judges who — how shall I say this — are not renowned for their patience. Indeed, reliability in Court became such a concern that I had paper backups of everything, which sort of defeats the purpose of bringing the tablet.

Brute force usually solves such problems. So it is here.

The processor is a ULV (ultra-low voltage) Core i5 470UM. It’s Intel’s currently latest and greatest ULV processor. It’s quite powerful. Per Intel, its clock speed is 1.33GHz, with Turbo Boost 1.86GHz, and has 2 cores and 4 threads with 3MB cache. So from the standpoint of brute force, mission accomplished.

However, it’s not a Sandy Bridge ULV, as these are just coming available. The difference is not power, but battery life, an issue (and problem) discussed later.

The EP121’s 4GB of DDR3-800 RAM also is plenty of brute force. Theoretically the processor (and the 64 bit OS) can support 8GB, but there’s only 1 SODIMM slot, and I don’t believe any 8GB sticks are yet available (and even if they were you’d probably have to mortgage your house to buy them). Nevertheless, 4GB is plenty.

The 64GB SSD is large enough and fast enough. Per the MTR review, the SSD is of SanDisk manufacture with a mSATA form factor, looking like a mini-PCI card. Of course, the SSD could be upgraded to one of the larger, speedier ones becoming available (but see my comments later regarding upgrading).

The bottom line is I haven’t experienced on the EP121 the hiccups I’ve experienced on lesser-powered Windows 7 devices. This is very important in settings like Court where reliability is not a matter of convenience but instead mission critical.

Microsoft wants to get in on the modern mobile OS action, and after the inevitable fall of their previous version of Windows Mobile, Microsoft has sought to restart their mobile offering, thus Windows Phone 7 was born. The HTC Surround pairs WP7 with well-built hardware and an interesting approach to phone audio, but will Windows Phone 7 be able to catch on, or is it too little too late from Microsoft?

Hardware

Here’s a quick rundown of the HTC Surround’s specs, follow by a hardware tour of the phone:

• Windows Phone 7 OS (as reviewed, version 7.0.7004.0)
• Qualcomm QSD 8250 CPU @ 1GHz
• 576MB of RAM
• 8GB of built-in memory (no expansion)
• 3.8” capacitive touchscreen @ 800×480
• WiFi b/g/n & BT 2.1
• 5MP camera with single-LED flash (records up to 720p video)
• Slide out speaker with Dolby Mobile and SRS audio technology
• 165 grams (5.82 ounces)

Hardware Tour

Design

Let me start by saying that the HTC Surround feels great in the hand. It’s been too long since I tested a phone that had some real heft to it (in a good way). Recent phones (cough*Samsung*cough) have left me with a feeling of cheapness. The Surround however feels like a premium device right out of the box.

Metallic accents are found all around the phone . The front is a combination of brushed and polished metal and has a wide ear-piece that fits the look of the phone well. The back is rubberized much like the Droid X [review], and it has just a hint of metallic sparkles in it that you’ll see if you hold it in just the right light. The back is also home to a polished HTC logo, and above that is the 5MP camera and single-LED flash, both of which are encased in a metal accent piece with small radial ridges that emanate from the lens.

But this is all before sliding the device open which reveals a speaker bar that comes about 1/3 of the way out of the side of the phone. I’ll talk more about the speaker bar below, but on the design side of things I wanted to mention that the sliding mechanism could be better. I’ve definitely seen/felt worse, but the Surround’s sliding mechanism could use a bit of work to make it slide more evenly and have less wiggle.

Despite the premium feel of the phone (considering the materials used and the weight of it), the buttons didn’t seem to receive too much attention. All physical buttons on the phone, except for the camera button, don’t provide very good feedback. It’s hard to tell when you’ve pressed the power/lock button. The volume rocker is a bit better with slightly more feedback, but the camera button is the only one that has enough “click” for my taste.

The bottom of the phone has a pry-slot to pull the back cover off, but it generally feels like you’re on the brink of ripping the phone into it’s two sliding halves. I haven’t found a good way to get the back cover off without stressing the sliding mechanism in a way that it wasn’t design to move. If you are a road warrior who relies on swapping batteries during road trips, be weary of this fact on the Surround as repeated removals could lead to breakage.

On general aesthetics of the device: I think it’s a good looking phone. When you make the investment to purchase a phone that will be with you for, perhaps several years, people should expect more than a piece of plastic. The Surround would feel even more solid if they rid it of the sliding segment, but despite this extra hardware, the Surround isn’t much thicker than many of it’s contemporaries.

The video below shows one of two designs for a 7” Oaktrail Tablet from ECS. Remember ECS design and manufacture devices for others so you might, if others are interested, see this reach the market under another brand. We hear that production is possible the May timeframe.

ECS are aiming for a sub 400gm weight and 6hrs of battery life and the following specifications…

More ECS Tablet images including the 10” and 7” designs in this gallery.

ECS were quite confident that they will be the first ODM to get an Oaktrail Tablet into production when they receive the final version of the production Oaktrail platform at the beginning of April. Of course this doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to go out and buy one then but they already have customers lined up in the US and in Russia. It could be in customers hands by the end of April.

We took a close look at the S10 production sample and saw some reasonable Windows performance scores and, after a 5 minute performance test, in-use battery life of about 5hrs. ECS tell us there’s more to come in the final version and are quoting 8hrs battery life.
As far as UI performance goes It wasn’t too fluid but again, final hardware and drivers are said to fix that. We’ll see!

At 700gm (the device we had was said to be 660gm) its very light so if it can reach 6hrs of usable battery life it’s a big step forward for ultra mobile PCs.

Posted from WordPress for Android with the Galaxy Tab

CeBIT is a very traditional, business-like show. Suits dominate and after-show parties are few and far between. Companies like Microsoft often present purely business-focused products and strategies and if you’re expecting another huge pile of consumer tablets, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

For readers of UMPCPortal, our pro-level site (that has, I admit, been pretty dry on news lately) it’s good news because products like the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 get a chance to shine.

We’ve got the full, official specs in the database now and wow, this is not your average tablet PC.

 Full specifications, links etc. Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 TabletPC

A 400-nit screen IPS screen, 2GB RAM, remote security, capacitive/digitiser input, fast-charge, removable battery options, 4 USB ports, Gobi 3G option, SSD, docking port and an array mic are just some of the advanced features you’ll find which indicated a pro-level, industry focused solution. It also gives you clues to the price.

The price isn’t available right now but the Q550 has already launched in Japan with a availability stated as March/April. A CeBIT launch is also planned and we hope to get a pricing indicator next week. A guess around the 1000 Euro mark for entry-level configuration is probably not far off.

All images in the gallery.

Note that there’s a lot of talk about 8 hours battery life but a Fujitsu sales site in Japan makes it clear that this is with the extended battery (38wh) in a JEITA (largely idle) test. Take 30% off that for real world figures. With the standard battery, a 19wh unit, you’re looking at 3.5hrs max. That isn’t going to impress many but at under 900gm for a 10” PC, it’s good.

We hope to get some good testing time in with the Q550 and bring you information on graphics, SSD speed and more battery life thoughts.

Hat-Tip: Gottabemobile

In this interview I made yesterday I ask Peter Biddle, General Manager of Intels AppUp application store project about the progress of AppUp so far, we talk about AppUp on MeeGo (which isn’t being launched this week) and why developers might want to move to MeeGo as a platform. There’s information on the process of converting apps from the Windows to the MeeGo base and Peter tells us that they are looking at other types of content for the AppUp channel.

Stay tuned for news coming from Intels midday event today. Rene James who heads up all of Intels software activities, will be presenting at 1230

I’m following Oaktrail product releases closely and this one, like other Oaktrail products, has some interesting specs.

Its the Pioneer Dreambook ePad F10

Full specifications are now in our database but here are a few highlights that you don’t often see together on a Windows tablet. 15mm, 700gm, 8hrs. Obviously you should Chippy’s  Marketing Correction Factor of 30% on that battery life but hey, even 6 hours would be pretty good for a 700gm Windows tablet with a 10” screen. I don’t know what battery they have inside but 40Wh would be about the maximum size. Also note that there’s an HDMI port. Oaktrail, the platform that this is built on, supports 1080p decoding in hardware.

There’s one other specification that I find even more interesting though – Intel WIDI wireless display technology. It’s currently shown on the specification page at Pioneercomputers.

I was speaking to Intel at CES about wireless display on netbooks and they said, yes, it’s coming but they were quoting requirements that included dual-core Atom and Broadcom HD display module. I wonder if Oaktrail, with its built-in 720p HD encoding, is going to offer wireless display without the Broadcom and dual-core requirement. I sincerely hope so because wireless displays make so much more sense with a tablet than on a desktop or laptop.

We’ve got a query out to Intel on this and hope to bring you confirmation soon.

One other interesting thing about this tablet is that it is possible to buy it without an OS meaning it could make an interesting Meego development device. Or even open-source Android. Wait for details on the touchscreen before buying tho because some of them don’t play well with Linux.

But…The big question remains. Is a 1.5Ghz single-core Atom CPU enough to drive Windows 7 smoothly. With 2GB, a fast SSD and the GMA600 it’s possible but it’s going to take a well-designed unit to pull it off.

The MSI Windpad is finally available to order in the U.S. (as the Windpad 100W) and in Europe (as the Windpad 232W) and to me it looks like a mish-mash of a Tablet PC that aims to be an all-rounder on specifications and yet ends-up being a master of nothing.

The 10” screen is 1024×600 – average. The capacitive screen sits on top of the mouse and pen-focused Windows 7 – Mis-match. The GMA500/1.6Ghz Menlow platform isn’t the best at helping Windows 7 along. An 800gm weight is unlikely to house a battery that offers more than 4 hours. The U.S. version appears to be missing the Bluetooth module. The price isn’t exactly stunning.  There’s only one USB port.

With an SSD, a 1.6Ghz Atom and 2GB of RAM you’d expect it to run reasonably well but Engadget reported from CES that “Windows 7 is seriously laggy and unresponsive” which means it could have a slow SSD set-up inside.

The differences in specs between the 100W and 232W are subtle but it looks like the EU gets the more complete tablet package with Windows Home Premium and Bluetooth included in the 232W. Oh, and we’re not sure if that docking station is included too so please check before ordering. Better still, wait for some reviews to filter through first. We’ll add them to the product page when we find them.

I’m not a big fan of 10” tablets myself but I do know what it makes to create a good mobile TabletPC and a good consumer tablet. The two often require different approaches that can’t be addresses in a single product. That single-product approach is what MSI appear to have attempted here.

If the Windpad drops in price, comes with the dock and proves itself through reviews then it might be worth taking a look at as a docked hot-desk solution but for other scenarios, I think there will be better solutions out there.

Gigabyte launched a new Tablet PC at CES that we haven’t reported on yet. My fellow MeetMobility podcaster Sascha of Netbooknews has just had hands-on today so it’s worth plugging his video and talking a little about the device.

Firstly, we’re talking about 10” capacitive touchscreen tablet at 900gm running Windows 7 on a netbook platform with the N570 (2×1.66Ghz) CPU. Usefully, there’s a built-in mouse area and left-and-right mouse buttons which is perfect for two-handed use. Unfortunately, there’s no digitiser so you’re left with a slight mismatch between the pen-focused Windows 7 and the finger-focused touchscreen. It’s something we’ve seen in a few devices recently and we don’t like the trend. HP have it right with the dual-mode 500 Slate as do Lenovo and Motion Computing.

Interestingly though, the device isn’t aimed at vertical markets. The press-release from Gigabyte (Jan 6th) sates: “The S1080 is designed to be the ultimate mobile device to fit the demanding needs of consumers who need a high-performing multitasking Slate that offers the full productivity of a PC,” OK, taken from that angle, they might have it right. There’s a suite of overlay software and, i’m pleased to say, provision for a docking port that looks, based on the size of those connectors, to offer serious connectivity. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a PCI-Express slot in the docking station. Gigabyte are no stranger to the idea of PCI Express but it has far more value on a powered docking station. Later in the press release, Gigabyte allude to a more professional customer: “The large hard drive also makes it the perfect device to load custom business and enterprise applications"

We seem to have an interesting product here for either consumer or enterprise markets…until we look at battery life which brings a huge question mark to the table. N570 at 900gm means max 30Wh battery and that means 3-4hrs in my opinion. I’ve tested the 1KG N350 (Samsung, also dual-core Atom) and that didn’t get much past 4hrs. Still, with the dock in use, this could be something for hot-desking and hot couching! I’m looking over at the Fujitsu U820 that is powering this post and thinking, hmm, upgrade time? A 10” screen next to my desktop screen would certainly be more useful on my desk than the 5.6”-er I’ve got here. Let’s hope for 2GB and Windows Home Premium and the possibility to swap the HDD for an SSD.

Here’s the video from Netbooknews.

via – Netbooknews