Ignore the old Orgiami-related ultra mobile PC term and take it for what it stands for. What do you want from your next Ultra Mobile Personal Computer?
Next week at IDF Beijing, Intel will be revealing what we suspect to be Cedar Trail, the next generation netbook platform. The problem is that there have been big changes in this market in 2010 and 2011. Netbooks have changed thanks to AMD, the user has changed, the internet has changed and there are now 3G-enabled, always-on tablets available for the price of a netbook. Intel may not have had time to build that market change into their new product so lets take look at what it could reasonably achieve and then ask the question, what do you want in an ultra mobile personal computer?
Cedar Trail predictions here are based on personal knowledge and experience.
Cedar Trail is unlikely to be a major step forward in processing, graphics or video power but is likely to use the latest technologies and process to offer smaller dies which also means cheaper prices and lower power. In previous netbook platform generation changes we’ve seen 20% performance improvements couple with a 20% improvement in efficiency. Cedar Trail is unlikely to beat that so it would make sense that Cedar Trail is aimed at pushing the size and cost down. In the developed countries it is unlikely to make a huge difference but it could make a difference in developing countries.
Processing – Cedar Trail will be based around the Atom core and is likely to remain a 2-chip solution with CPU, GPU and Memory Controller on the same die. A change in the process to 32nm will improve efficiency and allow for a reduction in die size. Single and Dual-Core versions are likely to be available and clock rates are likely to remain in the 1.5-1.8ghz range. Hyperthreading will of course be included but we’re not expecting any surprises in terms of processing performance. No Turbo Boost, 2Ghz or quad-core versions…yet.
Graphics – This is an area where the Pinetrail platform has been hit hard in the last few months and Intel will either need to turn round something that matches the AMD C-50 APU or offers another angle. I don’t suspect a move to Power-VR cores and I don’t expect a huge boost in 2D/3D acceleration. Don’t expect any GPGPU-related enhancements either. Cedar Trail is unlikely to compete with AMDs APUs in that respect because Cedar Trail is likely to be aimed at lower cost, smaller size, lower power.
Video – HDMI out is a must along with HD decoding. I expect that to be the major enhancement in Cedar Trail which will link with Adobe Flash to finally offer a smooth 720p YouTube experience and a 1080p experience via HDMI cable.
Restrictions – Microsoft is likely to continue to offer netbook-level licensing but that doesn’t mean that the platform itself can’t be used for other purposes. Expect Cedar Trail to be the simplest route to designing a Windows 7 Tablet which means you’ll see it with Windows Home Premium and MeeGo meaning 2GB and larger screens.
Pricing – Platform pricing will reduce slightly but the main cost advantages come in sizing and power budget. The smaller size and lower power dissipation means less time and material needs to be spent on the enclosure and motherboard. A fanless design could mean sealed-units which means a major saving in design and production costs. Smaller batteries can considerably reduce cost, especially when they are sealed-in units. Sub $200, 5hr units should be possible.
Power Envelope – With video decoding moving to a dedicated chip there will be improvements in the battery life claims from netbook manufacturers. The 8W TDP figure is likely to shrink to 7W to reflect this but be aware that these advantages may be offset by manufacturers as they enable lower cost or smaller batteries, again, meaning lower-cost products. Video playback battery life is likely to be the only truly noticeable change.
Features – Intel may choose to offer a wireless subsystem that includes support for Wireless Display and Wireless Audio. These ‘value-add’ features will be used in developed markets on higher-end products. USB3.0 is unlikely.
Always-On? One of the game-changing features for a netbook would be always-on. That means idling down to 100s of milliwatts of pwer usage. unfortunately, the basic PC platform is not built around this concept. The Cedar Trail platform is likely to adhere closely to the PC platform architecture and thus is not likely to offer any always-on features. That’s the value-add for the Z-series platforms (Oaktrail, Moorestown, Menlow)
Mcafee in silicon? Not for this time round. Like ‘Intel Insider’ and other premium silicon features, we’re likely to see these in high-end notebooks and desktops before the feature becomes cheap enough to put in a netbook.
In summary, Cedar Trail will bring two things to the market:
- Cheaper netbooks for developing markets. Possibly sealed-unit low-cost 3-cell netbooks for the first time.
- Thin, light, fanless, HD video, wireless display, HDMI features to high-end netbooks. Claims of battery life will increase but the average in-use battery life is likely to stay around the 7hr mark for advanced 6-cell netbooks.
Boring? Unfortunately, for most readers of this site that I know live in developed countries, yes. Cedar Trail isn’t going to be the marketing-fest that AMDs Fusion was although Intel and their partners will certainly try. There will be no major gaming performance advances. No GPGPU features and no high-end connectivity through USB3 or LightPeak. There will be no always-on features either but that’s largely the fault of the PC design itself. (And the reason why Moorestown and Medfield can’t run Windows!)
What do you want from your next Ultra Mobile Personal Computer?
Key features I’m watching for this year are:
- High Dynamic Range Computing (ultra low power to high-power computing in one unit)
- Controlled Always On feature (not wild multitasking always on as with Android)
- GPGPU features for accelerated browsing, image and video processing.
- Modular Design
- Fun, dynamic user interfaces
- Attention to sharing in the operating system
- Controlled standby with restricted multitasking / use of silicon. (To provide the ultimate always-on battery life)
- Application store
- Touch and Keyboard
- Location support subsystem
- Multi-user
- Phone and Desktop devices in the same family running the same operating system.
- Cloud-based applications (Like Google services)
What i’m talking about is a modular netbook that spans the world of mobile features and desktop features. You could also see it as a smartbook that breaks out of the cheap software mould and offers rich working applications such as office suites, a/v production and developer environments. It’s a device that spans the two Full Internet Experiences. Or maybe it’s two, that work together. We’ve seen attempts at this before but so far we haven’t seen the processing platform or operating system that has been able to drive it. Android and MeeGo are moving in the right directions and we should also expect Windows 8 to embrace this. Think of devices like the Asus Transformer.
Related article: Social Netbooks and ARMs Lock-In Opportunity
Related article from GigaOm – The Big Mobile and Desktop Platform Merge Is Underway (Written recently by Kevin Tofel)
I’ll be speaking about high-dynamic range computing and bridging the mobile / desktop gap at Mobile Monday next week in Munich.
The related IDF keynote will be on the 12th April (time on your location)
So fire away in the comments below what are you looking for in a 2011 Ultra Mobile Personal Computer?
What are You Looking for in The Next Ultra Mobile Personal Computer? http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=23539
RT @umpcportal: What are You Looking for in The Next Ultra Mobile Personal Computer? http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=23539
Here is my list:
Win7 – I want to run Office and other desktop apps. My smartphone can do everything else.
Dual Mode Digitizer – touch for casual use and active for Office and other desktop apps plus Handwriting Recognition.
5 – 7 inch screen – My 8.9″ HP Slate 500 is a bit too big to be really portable, my 5″ OQO was tight but pocketable, a 7″ screen would probably be the best compromise.
1 pound or less – holding my 1.5 pound Slate (without propping it up) gets old after about 45 minutes and I’d pay extra for a weight saving chassis.
Speed – At 1.67GHz, my OQO was underpowered, my 1.86GHz Slate is at the bottom end of performance, I’d like about 2GHz.
More RAM – 1GB on the OQO was not enough, 2GB on the Slate is manageable, 4GB would be better, buy I’d like to max out Win7 with 6GB.
Keyboard? – I’m torn here. Keyboards can be very useful at times but they add size and weight. Perhaps the best solution would be something on the lines of the old Motion m1300 keyboard – have it snap on as a screen cover, serve as a dock to hold the tablet up at an angle, and not be required so it can be left behind to save weight.
Let me know when I can buy one.
Hey Chippy, I think that the nature of your list is very cool. It seems like so often when people are asked to describe an ideal device they do little more than get hung up on specific quantities (this size screen, this much RAM, this fast of a processor) or specific technologies (this particular CPU, this particular LCD, this particular digitizer). In reality, they want a device with these specific properties because they believe that it will help them meet specific goals, fill specific needs, or have specific experiences. In reality, there might be other quantities and technologies that might better help them satisfy their underlying goals, needs, and experiences. Thus, this seems like the better place to focus. I’m happy that your list reflects the problems that you hope the device could help you solve rather than the solutions which you’ve identified as best.
I think that a good format around which people could organize their response is “Here is a list of conditions that I’ve suffered throughout my history of mobile computing that, if solved, would make a device ideal for me…â€
Working out requirements before choosing a device, expecially for business use, is critical!
As always, a Psion 5 that runs Windows! So basically a Viliv N5 with slightly better battery life, slightly better keyboard, slightly more storage, video out, and for slightly less money!
Is there anything on the horizon? Anything at all?
+1 for your ideas….
:)
basically what peejay said although I don’t want windows.
to be honest all I ever wanted was a psion 5 with a rechargeable battery, some onboard flash memory with text software that didn’t have to be converted when moving to desktop. backlit keyboard too.
and this whole umpc lark for the past 5 years has been a complete and utter waste of time. anything they make with a keyboard is so shit for text input that I write off anything as soon as I see it. all the keys are shoulder to shoulder, without spacing causing countless errors in typing. you would think that they would look at all normal keyboards.. they all have spacing and are wider at the base than the top.
I think all these umpc makers are a bunch of idiots. we finally have an almost instant on os in android with decent battery life but all the companies are too dumb to put out a decent handheld system that people can actually use for anything other than text messaging or angry birds.
If you are just looking for something to type text in on, the Pomera KingJim is probably right up your alley. If you want something to do a bunch of PDA functions, I’d say it’s not for you.
interesting but its two big, i am a thumb typist.
For the tablet PC that Android OS is merely a baby toy, and the flooded kindergarten of MP4 player.
Up to now, Android OS is no image viewer can support viewing the RAW photos, it is unable to run in Android tablet.
But in the Windows there are already hundreds of image viewer can view the RAW photos. For examples, ExifPro is excellent, as well as many other image viewers, Xnview, Faststone, or ACDsee, etc…
google own softwares are customarily worse and poorer than MS and Apple.
So this is what i’m hoping Honeycomb will influence – investment in rich software. The runway is there now and companies can invest a years work knowing that the platform will be there, and will be popular in a years time.
for examples the photography and cameras,
firstly, google must get feasible way makes these major camera manufacturers take supported Android OS, otherwise which is merely a dream. In heretofore, all the camera manufacturer’s softwares only supported the Windows and Mac, while the other image viewers must rely on original codes of the camera manufacturer.
well then, Honeycomb can be during a night changed all the camera manufacturers?
It is not a purely technical issue, nor a mobile phone.
So says the M$ Fanboy \ employee.
Remember that 2.x Android is a Smartphone OS. If there really isn’t an application in Android which can’t handle RAW, there will be. I am sure there is a ton of crap for Windows, but that is a different OS with a crap load of problems which Android users will never see.
why nobody sees Ubuntu as the actual OS which should power a tablet ??? ubuntu is now a true alternative to ms windows, in fact i’m using it since 2 years now and for nothing i’d return to windows !
i think it only lack actual multitouch screen support and c’est tout.
actually i’d dream of an Acer Iconia U500 ;))
I think Linux-based operating systems have the best position to span both worls of mobile and desktop. Ubuntu, yes, is also an option.
Even better is IMO Kubuntu (KDE desktop). It supports multitouch and is very configurable.
Also KDE is based on Qt, so it has perfect integration of QML (Qt Quick). This is a perfect language for developing mobile application. Very simple to use and efficient.
i wonder why people are so amazed to discover windows based tablets out there and compare them to ipad or honeycomb tablets…
they don’t see that the problem with windows tablets is only the OS ! the hardware could also run a light-but-powerful OS like (k)ubuntu and it then would become an ultimate killing device.
the problem with android is that it is still young OS although linux based. right now i’m a little disapointed by my Android powered Archos 43it… the Android OS is very promising but far not enough stable compared to iOS for example… i also believe iOS isn’t a real OS because too closed thanks to Apple; so it is not really usable in a professional mode. so the solution would (again) be linux…
My uses for the ultra mobile platform revolve around enterprise computing and travel. I need a system that can used with a docking station and dual monitors on my desk and then drop into a bag for traveling. To that end, I’m looking for –
CPU – at least 2 Ghz while plugged in, and could live with less when on battery
OS – Win 7 is a requirement
Weight – 1 lb or less. I use the ultra mobile platform for the GPS in my plane and the weight is important for flexing on the yoke.
Screen Size – a maximum of 7 inches. I use the ultra mobile platform for the GPS in my plane and the rental car.
Screen – I would pay a premium for a 1000 nit screen for use in the plane and car.
RAM – 2GB should work fine, upgradeable to 4GB or more would be nice.
Keyboard – I need to have a real keyboard.
Case design – I need to have either a convertible or slider in order to get a real keyboard and have it small enough to be mounted in the plane.
Some great suggestions coming through. As always here on UMPCPortal, we see extremely unique and nich requirements which has been a key element of UMPC design over the years. Let’s hope it continues.
I’ll add a mouse pointer to that list. To me it’s more important than a physical keyboard. Often times I wish my Android phone had a mouse to activate mouse over elements in websites and control Flash content.
i think that with bluetooth now, you can easily add a bluetooth mouse and a bluetooth keyboard so that you don’t really need them always-attached to an umpc.
bluetooth (3?) should definitely be a mandatory option for an umpc
by the way we need lots of usb (3?) connectors too as lots of device are usb powered at now, and usb hubs attached to netbooks are often under powered…
I buy UMPCs because I carry them in a jacket pocket and use while standing/sitting without a desk. So the mouse and keyboard has to be part of the device otherwise I’d just carry an ultraportable notebook if I’m carrying around a mouse.
Carrying extra things defeats the purpose of getting a UMPC for me. It has to be usable as a standalone device (ie. no USB to VGA, no USB to ethernet, no USB/wireles mouse, no USB/wireless keyboard, no USB WWAN modem/MiFi, etc.).
No desktop OS can compete with a mobile OS in terms of resource requirements and touch GUI. Even if you stack a touch shell on top of everything else you still have the problem of third party software. Let’s see what ios5 will bring to the table and how fast will third party s/w development be in Honeycomb (in the meantime, you can view raw photos in iOS).
Bottom line, you can either have touch and a tablet form factor or a cursor and a clamshell form factor. Trying to do both and you fail in both (excluding these modular designs with detachable keyboards)
I agree that the limitations of touch show up primarily in third party software. Win7, itself, can be made very touch friendly. You are also right that a cursor is a necessity for Windows.
What you miss, OTOH, is that an active digitizer can provide that precise cursor control in the tablet form factor. Motion has been doing it since WinXP Tablet Edition. Currently the HP Slate 500 and the Asus EP121 are shipping with dual mode (capacitive touch and active) digitizers. I have the former and it has become my only portable (although I do retain my i7 desktop for heavy lifting).
It still comes down to what you need. If you are focused on content consumption, the junior tablets provide a better experience while for content creation Windows still rules.
Note that Linux is just beginning to look at tablets and has possibilities. Still, I wouldn’t go there until they come up with handwriting recognition which came close to Win7’s Tablet Input Panel.
Fair enough, I see your point especially if you need to run specific programs that have no substitutes in the mobile OS’s. My question however remains: these programs are almost always designed for devices with a keyboard and mouse in mind. You can use a digitizer, but why should you? Why not buy a clamshell design instead?
You give up a lot of functionality to get a tablet form factor. A digitizer is great for handwritting. I agree. But, consider a program that has a desktop and a mobile version. Take Bento for example. What is better, to interact with the desktop version using the digitizer or using touch with the mobile version? the mobile GUI is more appropriate for most usage scenarios involving a tablet.
Or to put it differently. What is better, your company to provide you with an W7 tablet and active digitizers or a mobile version of their software and an iPad ?
This is therefore my opinion. When it comes to mobility, we don’t need better desktop devices to run desktop software. We need better mobile software to run on mobile devices. The software needs improvement, the hardware is adequate. And this I think will again be the main arena of change, way before Asus manages to build a W7 tablet with the usage characteristics of an iPad.
It boils down to what you are looking for in a tablet. For me, I’m not giving up functionality with the tablet form factor because I don’t use my tablet (and never did use my laptop) for extensive typing. Plus, the form factor allows me to use it while standing or sitting with no surface in front of me – something a clamshell doesn’t support and a convertible, while it could be used like this, is realistically too heavy to use for long.
You might consider another program that has a desktop and mobile version – EverNote. The desktop version, which was originally designed for WinXP Tablets, allows “ink” notes which can be searched without being converted to text. It’s perfect (for me) for jotting things down quickly or for taking notes in a meeting and the fact that I can later pull them up on my Android phone is a bonus.
Ultimately, I think you’re right, it’s the software that will make or break the OS. Right now Windows does more with more and iOS and Android do less with less. We have yet to see the ideal combination of doing more with less.
Hey well my idea was… I think I found the perfect tablet as far as I look I wasn’t able to see it here on umpcportal to my surprise but I’m sure ya heard of it, it is called Nav 7 Slate PC and it most definitely pocketable so I’m sure its a umpc. And it even has a Touchpad on the back with mouse buttons something I haven’t seen on a Windows 7 Tablet yet…lol size 7 inch so definitely meets that criteria,runs 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 Windows 7 with options of home premium/professional/ultimate, SSD options 16/32/64gb, Ram 1 or 2gb. I know that the older predecessor was the Netbook Navigator 9 which I heard wasn’t all that good but I believe Netbook Navigator got it right with this one. I’m actually exited for this tablet pc but…(yes theres a but hints as in a catch* lol) pretty one at that as in it is pretty expensive unless u get a sucky basic model which is $650 and a good one will run it upto $1000 so yea lol hey chippy add this to your database so I can see all the specs thanks love ur site btw!!
Thanks. I’ve got the nav7 on my task list but this has reminded me it needs to go into the product database.
P.S. Yea I know its not out now but specs are up on there site and they are taking pre-orders now and believe they ship em out May 1st if you ordered in March and June 1st if you ordered this month (April) so asking Chippy to see if he could get a review up/datasheet on this one sounds like this my one lol and here the link
https://netbooknavigator.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=156
This seems to me totally uninteresting device. It uses old Z5xx Atom, only 1,6 GHz (very underpowered for Windows 7) and doesn’t offer anything special.
It’s not any better then my 2 years old Viliv S5.
It seems to me that UMPC platfrom is completely dead. There are no innovating devices, according to Intel MeeGo and Moorestown should have been here already 1 year ago, but I’m wondering if we’ll at least see it this year. Delays, canceled products and delays again….
Except of Ocosmos OCS1 (have anyone heard anything about it lately, btw.) there is no Moorestown UMPC even announced.
same here, as far as the UMPC platform is going, Ocosmos seems to be the only company that even seems to have a device that fits.
My old Nokia N810 is still the best form factor for any device I have yet to see. It could run a full desktop Linux environment, kinda slow, but word processing and fully featured email client worked. It weighted 1/2 a pound and would last a day on a charge under normal use. Had a large 4″ screen and a very nice keyboard for typing with thumbs.
I want the OCS1 to come out to see how close to the hardware experience of the n810 it can provide.
1. RAM >> 2+ GB
2. CPU >> Intel Atom dual-core or some advanced ARM design; energy efficency is of premier importance for low heat and more battery-life
3. HDD >> an SSD is a must; 32+ GB
4. DISPLAY >> resistive touch-screen for stylus input (capacitive works only with active digitizer for me… which seems overkill given the screen size, and finger-touch on small devices, I’m sorry to say, is for morons); size like Viliv N5; otherwise high color fidelity, gorilla glas and good outdoor viewability
5. KEY >> a keyboard is a must; a d-pad with two shoulder buttons would be nice, marrying the layout of the OpenPandora (analog nubs!) with the quality of a Sony Vaio P/Viliv N5 would be a dream
6. FORM >> the clam: a hybrid between Viliv N5 and OpenPandora, same size
7. COM >> WLAN, BlueTooth, GPS (3G/4G optional)
8. CONN >> at least 2 USB, the UART on the OpenPandora is ace, HDMI or vid-out
9. OS >> Win (7) or Linux distro (driver support for Linux on Intel platforms, lameos!)
USAGE:
1. web-blah
2. office on-the-go (for me primarily note-taking, etc.; think ConnectedText, TiddlyWiki, fuck, any Wiki; e-book readers)
3. portable knowledge-management and exchange (see above)
4. hardware-hacking (via UART)… robots and shit
5. small-time image manipulation, i.e. pixel art w/ the stylus
6. small-time tracker crap (music), also via added stylus input
7. the odd classic game
Build it. And name it after me!
Addendum!
Battery life should be at least 6 hrs at max. performance.
I loved my SmartDevices 7″ tablets, then moved to a Samsung Q1 Ultra. I want a hybrid.
(1) 7″ screen for me, and a 10″ version for people who want that. (One system should work on many screen sizes) Make a 4″ phone version while you are at it.
(2) pure tablet, with Q1 Ultra-style QWERTY keys on the side (no, that’s not a contradiction)
(3) The ability to run real M$ Windows, so I never have to do without a browser plugin or a reader program. Add a reinstallable OS that comes on a USB ROM drive, since we don’t have room for DVD drive in this thing.
(4) Instead of McAffee in silicon, add a virtual machine to run Linux, so you can virus scan all incoming USB drives through the Linux VM that permanently controlls one USB port (which is for mass storage devices only) That way, you would stop the USB-autorun-viruses.
(5) 10 hour + battery
(6) A docking port to attach a much larger battery, with either a BD burner drive or a couple of 2.5″ hard disks.
(7) Wireless 802.11 + BlueTooth, but with a hardware kill switch under the battery. 4G is a pain, since my carrier will not support it. Include an internal USB slot instead for a decent sized 3G/4G/whatever modem.
(8) low power, daylight readable, touch screen that I can write in cursive on.
(9) Rugged enough & small enough to live in my pocket (for the 7″ version)
(10) modular – RAM in on a dimm, and HDD is easily upgraded
I am currently using a Toshiba Libretto W105 and love it. I find it’s perfect for my needs as a UMPC. The only thing it’s really lacking is decent battery life. I find Atom processors just a little too slow. When something comes out in the same form factor as the W105 plus 6+ hour battery then it’ll be time for me to upgrade…anything like that on the horizon Chippy?
A perfect UMPC for me is the following:
– Screen size 5 – 7 inches (not reflective)
– Dual Digitizer
– Slider Device
– Processor Intel Atom N570 Dual-Core 1,66 GHz
– RAM min. 2 Gb
– Nvidia iON2 with Nvidia Optimus Technology
– Keyboard input with a trackpoint and mouse keys
– SSD 64 Gb
– Battery life min. 8 hrs.
– Operating system: Windows 7 (with dual boot option)
– Wlan b/g/n
– Bluetooth 3.0
– UMTS 3G/4G
– SD (HC,XC) Card Reader
– 2x USB 3.0
– HDMI output
– Audio in an out
– Webcam 1,3 Mp
Rather than give specs, I’m happy to say what I want it to do; which is to say, I want to be able to edit a journal (mostly using a web-based interface), put together decent PPT presentations including transitions and video (and show them using the VGA out everyone still uses) and fairly complex documents in Word. and I want to be able to do this squeezed into the cheap seats on a flight, or staning up on a commuter train. I want to be able to get files to and from this machine easily, probably on memory stick. A keyboard would be a bonus, as is a half-decent battery life. To be honest, if they can get the Dell Mini Duo right, I’d take that….
Wow ur trying 2 hard 2 troll!! lol Right… that is true enough, though I got to admit the Toshiba Libretto meets what I certainly look for in a umpc and definitely wanted one but that is a rare and highly expensive to get a hold of one so reality hits in this economy (US ofcourse) and looks for the next best pc (ultra mobile) – tablet or clamshell gotta have fair enough specs to keep up with people demands atleast to the minimum standpoint* Can I get an Amen?! lol jk
I like the Sony UX form factor; Windows OS with a thumb-typing friendly slide-out keyboard. Like so many electronic gadgets out there, it needs more battery life. A successor would be much welcomed.
What I would like to see is an ultraportable device(I carry my oqo with me even at home so it must be really small)with the biggest screen it can fit(I think a bezzeless 7″ screen is the biggest it can be)
I’m a Windows user so it must be W7 cappable and because of that I don’t see a need of the allways on cappability (as the standby resume in W7 is almost instantaneous)
I would like it to have a fisical keyboard and a good pointing device, plus a dual mode screen (capacitive with active digitizer)
It should have desktop proccesor cappabilities when docked and much less is acceptable when in the move.
I would love it to have a notebook style docking station that can be portable so it can be used to work in groups (wich is impossible with a small screen)
I think it is completely wrong to expect an ultramobile device to somehow magically transform into a desktop replacement when placed on a desk. Again, this is the wrong approach that I believe killed the original umpc platform. Think of mobility in terms of mobility not in terms of desktop miniaturization. You want a seamless integration between mobile and desktop? The cloud and advanced sync capabilities will take care of you. The “me too” devices will always fail short of excellence…
I mean “fall short” :)
yea that is so tru!! which is what I most definately look for in a umpc basically some sort of laptop/desktop replacement given that fact… is why I’m not asking much but the minimum, which they have. Though everyone else is expecting or wanting some supercomputer to do it all with a unique design that meets portability and mega battery to last them all day (which is nothing wrong with wanting that) but with such great Power…costs blah blah blah u know how it goes, for me I guess reality hits(unfortunately) and battery life suffers. *Yesterday’s history, Tomorrow’s a mystery and Today is a GIFT that’s why it’s called The Present*
I had a Kohjinsha SC3 from my last company, which I used quite successfully as a desktop replacement. The CPU was just barely acceptable and the HDD was painfully slow, but I believe that with a 1.8/2Ghz processor and a 64 SSD you could successfully replacement a lot a business laptops. I mostly run MS Office apps with Visio for network designs and Firefox. For navigation I was using MS Streets and Trips in the car and AnywhereMap for the plane.
I want a Jornada 680 form factor with updated specs for Windows, 1080p HDMI out, digitizer,half the thickness ( 15mm )and 5 hours of battery life, or OQO 2 with updated specs, 15 mm thickness with Jornada keyboard, 5 hours of regular battery life. Don’t tell me it can’t be done.
I want my pc in a phone form factor, plus a phone. All inside the same device.
Wireless keyboard, mouse and screen when I need them and a phone touchscreen for phone-like activities. It would be nice to have a folding display if I need to see something big when I’m on the move (their working on those things).
I’ll use a desktop OS when I need desktop applications. I’ll use a mobile OS . The two OS should be able to run together. Battery life is not a concern: it’s OK if the desktop part can run only when plugged to main power and if it lasts 15 minutes unplugged.
And no manufacturer/operator locks, thank you. They’re not telling me how to use what I buy. It must be as open as a standard computer.
i would prefer something like the fujitsu loox f-07 slider with windows 7 and symbian(although i’d like to run android instead of symbian)