Have you been thinking about the Acer Iconia W3 since the price was reduced? A full Windows 8 tablet with a full Web experience, flexible connectivity and a weight of just 540 gram / 1.2lb? I have. At $299 it’s a ultra mobile PC at almost giveaway pricing. It even comes with a Microsoft Office license!

The problem is that the screen is cheap. The viewing angles are tight, there’s a mesh-like layer which reduces clarity and it’s only 1280×800 in resolution.

I had a chance to get the W3 in my hands last week and took four photos that show the viewing angle problem. It is, in my opinion, a real problem for usage in landscape mode. At video-viewing distances, not a major issue but for reading, it’s pretty horrible. In portrait mode, however, it’s not an issue, and that’s how I’d be using the W3 most of the time if I had it because thumbing across the bottom is way easier in this mode.

The choice is up to you though. If you want a UMPC, this is your only choice below 10-inches until the Lenovo Miix 8 or other small formfactor Win 8 tablets appear.

Personally I’m sticking with the Acer W510 that I’ve grown used to and am very close with now. Along with a cheap ASUS Fonepad I’ve got it covers all angles. I would, however, be interested in a lighter 10-inch tablet/2-in-1 with 3G and Windows 8.1. Perhaps later in the year!

Note: I’m on tour at IFA (Berlin) and Intel’s Developer Conference (San Francisco) next week. I’ll bring you any UMPC-related information I uncover.

Toshiba formerly announced two new Ultrabooks this morning, taking their total number of individual designs to 5 – a figure that tells us that manufacturers are totally on board with the Ultrabook idea.

The Toshiba Sattelite U920T (U925T in the USA) is the slider device we previewed a few days ago. It’s going to be available some time in the fourth quarter. The second is the Toshiba Sattelite U940 (again, expect U945 in the USA.) As you’d expect, both are WIndows 8 models.

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Samsung have released more details about the Samsung Galaxy Camera, one of the first ‘next generation’ smart cameras. The optic specifications almost match those of the Samsung SMART Camera WB850F which would make sense. The body shape is similar too so it may have been the pattern for the new camera but there’s no real confirmation of that yet.

Key features of the optics, sensor and image processor that you won’t find in any cameraphone are…

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Samsung just presented their new range of Windows 8 devices. You’ve already seen the new Series 7 Slate and the Series 5 Touch but Samsung also announced that the Series 9 will get WIndows 8. No surprises there. The disappointing news is that it won’t have a touchscreen.

Samsung also say that the system has been re-optimised, something that you’d expect anyway when a new OS is available.

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It’s no surprise that we’re seeing the first next-generation smart camera from Samsung today. Announced just minutes ago the Samsung Galaxy Camera is everything you imagine. Android powered, 3G/4G capable and offering F2.8 minimum F-stop, 16mp sensor and an amazing, 21x zoom lens.

The Android system is fully powered too with a quad-core procesor running at 1.4Ghz, 8GB of internal space and 4.8” touchscreen. To top it off, the Galaxy Camera will run the latest version of Android – 4.1 Jelly Bean.

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Toshiba will be showing their new convertible Ultrabook, the Satellite U920T, at IFA this week. This hybrid device isn’t official yet but Mobilegeeks have some early specs and this image below is coming via Nomobile.ru, both at IFA.

Update: Some more info at ABCNews.

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It looks great and is likely to come at a great price but the ASUS Vivo Tab isn’t quite the ASUS Transformer Book as although it runs a full WIndows 8 build, it’s a low-power (and probably lower cost) Intel Atom-based tablet with docking keyboard.

Information on the ASUS Vivo Tab is coming in from all angles at the moment as it’s just been announced at a press conference. There will be a “RT’ ARM-based version too and there’s talk of a pen-capable display.

More images at MobileGeeks.

We’ll try and bring you more on the ASUS Transformer Book soon. It’s a similar convertible with a 13.3”or even 14” screen that runs on an Ultrabook-like platform of Intel Core CPU.

When a new product category comes to Medion, you know it’s gone mainstream. Medion, a Lenovo company, is headquartered in Germany and focuses on good value technology, some of which is exclusively sold through large retailers such as Aldi. Netbooks broke into Aldi in 2008 where 20,000 boxes could be shifted in a matter of hours.  Ultrabooks could do the same.

Big customers like Aldi are big business for Medion, but only when the time is right. The Medion Akoya S4211 could mean that the time is right.

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