News about a new Sony VAIO “Ultra Mobile inch has me pretty excited. I’ve been a long time fan of the Sony VAIO UX series, and have been wishing that Sony would reinvent the Clie UX as well.
According to a teaser page on Sony.jp, they’ll be coming out with a new device. Unfortunately, I don’t think that this one will be the answer to my dreams. Let’s take a look at what we know and what we can infer from the available information:
The first thing we should ask is: “What’s in a name? inch Sony is calling this an “Ultra Mobile inch. Generally, Sony’s line of thin, light, and high performance laptops has been referred to (in the US at least) as ultraportables so that may be something to consider, though it is quite possible that he translation simply comes across differently. While I wish more than anything that Sony was reinventing the VAIO UX series, Sony refers to those machines as “Micro PCs inch, so I doubt we’ll be seeing a new VAIO UX or anything similar (ie: no slider).
I think what we can definitely rule out is some sort of ARM-based handheld device. The device is quite clearly going to be a VAIO, and Sony hasn’t released any non-x86 VAIO devices (except for a failed “VAIO Pocket” DAP back in 2004 [thanks lvyelion]), so we can pretty easily rule out something like the rumored PSP-phone or a new Sony Mylo. And while I don’t read Japanese, the teaser page pretty clearly indicates that the device will be running Windows 7, again ruling out the possibility of any Android or other mobile OS device:
The last thing to talk about is the orange symbol on one of the teaser graphics. Several have pointed out that it looks like a paperclip, and it could also be the view of the computer from the side. The Sony VAIO P [product page][review] actually fits the image pretty well, as the lid is quite thin compared to the body of the computer. Still, it’s probably best to not take that image too literally. Best we can infer is that it’ll be a laptop style form-factor.
Based on the demographic being shown in the teaser (young and hip) it’s possible that Sony has a new line of netbooks coming down the road, or it could be a new Sony VAIO P as Engadget says they’ve been told by a “previously proven inch tipster.
Still seems odd that they’d start up a teaser campaign just to add a new VAIO P to the P-series. Maybe Sony is actually working on something more akin to the UMID BZ [product page] or Sharp Netwalker [product page].
What say the readers? What would you ideally like to see from Sony compared to what you think we’ll actually end up seeing?
New article: Sony Teases New VAIO “Ultra Mobile†— Brief Analysis http://bit.ly/dkCu9m
Sony Teases New VAIO “Ultra Mobile†— Brief Analysis: News about a new Sony VAIO “Ultra Mobile†has me pretty exc… http://bit.ly/9mzcsE
RT @umpcportal: Sony Teases New VAIO "Ultra Mobile" — Brief Analysis http://bit.ly/dkCu9m
RT @umpcportal Sony Teases New VAIO "Ultra Mobile" — Brief Analysis http://bit.ly/dkCu9m
RT @umpcportal: New article: Sony Teases New VAIO “Ultra Mobile†— Brief Analysis http://bit.ly/dkCu9m
“I think what we can definitely rule out is some sort of ARM-based handheld device. The device is quite clearly going to be a VAIO, and Sony hasn’t released any non-x86 VAIO devices”
This is not true, check the “VAIO Pocket”, VGF-AP1L
Thanks, will update the article.
It’s Windows 7. Who cares about more Windows?
Who cares? Anyone that wants a full x86/computing experience on the go. It’s the whole reason why UMPCs exists. They may be on life support, but they’re not dead yet…
It is new vaio p… it popped on FCC some time ago..
Maybe a 3-Screen device rolled-up into that paper-clip shape? Something similar to this:
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22862
nice. can’t wait till sony releases their new line of umpcs. i just hope it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like their ux did when it first released. sony is crazy.
by the way, skyfire for android!
http://www.skyfire.com/
clamshell,no thanks.
Don’t hate, Clie UX was clamshell and it was awesome! Gotta be convertible IMO so you can get rid of the keyboard when you don’t want it.
Sliders are great too, but lack the ability to be set down on a table with the screen pointed in a variable direction.
With the death watch that slider devices have going on, that’s an extremely minor argument. And as the market has turned completely to clamshells & tablets, I get what deriuger meant.
Make it a clamshell please. Not another of those flashy, cool-looking yet useless iPad-like tablets.
In the picture of the (young and hip) girl, the block in the upper left says “Sony make.believe Viao”. What do you make of that? Are they for real?