It seems like Steve has had his hands all over the early white UMID M1 [Portal page], but I happen to have just received the official matte black UMID M1, courtesy of Dynamism, with twice the storage space (and a production model at that), oh and a nice case that Dynamism is offering with orders that even Steve didn’t get to check out! Let’s quickly review the important specs of the device:

• 1.33GHz Atom CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 32GB SSD
• Windows XP
• 1024×600 4.8 inch screen

So you’ve probably seen Steve’s white UMID unboxing, so I’ll try to keep the unboxing pictures brief, but let you scope out the sexy matte black finish and the quality leather case.

There were reports of poor build quality on the early UMID M1s. I’ve only been playing with it for a few hours, but everything feels fine as far as build quality goes. There are only a few issues I have. The first of which is the included stylus and the silo that it is housed in. The telescoping stylus doesn’t slide in and out of the silo very easily, and for some reason it feels awful when used to stroke the screen. Tapping is fine, but if you are trying to run it across the screen it feels like you are drawing with a pencil on sandpaper. I’ve been using my similar UX stylus on the screen instead which makes alleviates this feeling to some extent. The keyboard is a bit squishy to a certain point, but it is within a reasonable tolerance. UMID said that they increased the angle that the hinge would open to as there were early complaints. After consulting an expert who had her hands on the earlier UMID (hat tip to Jenn from Pocketables), it doesn’t appear as though the screen can actually go back any further, though I’ve noted that the viewing angels are excellent, so this diminishes the issue to some degree.

I’ll be checking out this sleek version of the UMID for the next few weeks. Steve has covered much of the device already; drop a comment here if there is anything in particular that you’d like me to look at.

The guys at UMPCFever have a sample of the Viliv S7 convertible UMPC  (Viliv call it a handtop) a few days before the Hong Kong launch and have started to post reports. It’s an engineering sample so don’t take everything as final.

Before we start, lets take a quick moment to think about what we’re looking at here. The S7 is, using current terms, a mobile-focused netbook. It’s an ultra mobile PC. Lightweight, good keyboard, long long battery life, desktop OS, solid state drive and multi-scenario layout.  In terms of efficiency this device is theoretically 40-50% more efficient than a netbook. Viliv are claiming 9 hours on a 34wh battery. If that’s true, this is a very special bit of engineering indeed. Whether that’s good enough to attract customers remains to be seen but I, for one, am very excited about the possibility of the Viliv S7 being the best all-round ultra mobile PC to-date. This is a device that will compete with the ‘all-round-capable Sony Vaio P and the ASUS T91.

Full specifications and links to videos and other articles here.

To give you an idea of the sizing, that battery is about the same capacity as a three-cell netbook battery!

UMPCFever have a good set of pics and have written in detail (English language post) so I advise to head over there for the full details and to view the video. Here’s a few things I’ve picked out though.

• Build quality is said to be ‘acceptable good.’ I would rate it slightly higher than that saying that the plastics are well fitted, good quality and attractively finished.
• The comment on the keyboard is that it’s the same size as that on an ASUS 701, the original netbook. I, and others, have said that the 701 keyboard size is as small as you can go and still be able to touch type. Those with bigger hands might find it a bit stressful but for most, given a little practice, you can reach 80%+ normal typing speed. I’ve tried the keyboard on the S7 quite a few times now and it’s really good for a device of this size. I would have no problem typing this blog post on it.
• No stylus. I rarely use the stylus on the X70 which has the same screen but it’s sometimes nice to have it for annotations and image work.

In the UMPCFever live battery life test posting (not completed as I write this) they are seeing about 10% drain for every hour of Battery Eater Pro testing. This is with radio’s off, but wow! Even if this reaches 8hours in the BEPro test, we’re looking at 5-7hours on-net usage time. That’s almost a full days work there!

As for the case lets just say it’s an accessory I won’t be taking into the coffee shop. The white finish of the device is going to be a problem for a lot of men too.

Here are a couple of pics snipped from the two videos that have been posted so far.

Questions outstanding…

• Voice? (Not expected)
• GPS? (Not expected)
• Multi-touch screen / pad? (Not expected)
• Auto rotate?
• US, EU Pricing and specifications.

Keep an eye on UMPCFever for more information and stay tuned here too. We’re also expecting a sample.

Your Opinion? Assuming that this isn’t going to be a cheap device (we’re expecting pricing around $600-$900 depending on specs) how do you think this will fit in? Is the Sony Vaio P a better buy? How about the T91? Here are all three in a side-by-side comparison. Clearly the average consumer is going to be more likely to buy a netbook but what about the pro-mobile set?

One more comparison photo…[from Lazion.com]

Looking like a slightly modified Clevo TN70M and having sizing and specs to match is this variant called the Suzuki 701 M.

I’ve just reviewed the TN70M and wasn’t too impressed by the 800×480 screen on it but I know there’s a 1024×600 variant and if it is well priced, it makes a great netbook. The only issue I can see is that Suzuki appear to have a very small 4-cell battery on this. The 4-cell on the TN70M lasts for around 5hrs. The 4-cell on the Suzuki is said to last for 140 minutes which is no good to anyone wanting mobile capabilities. The other thing is that this one is thinner than the TN70M. Maybe Clevo have a new model up their sleeve!

Suzuki Singapore product information page.

Thanks CorticalSam. Original story Liliputing.

We love reporting good news but we’ve been keeping an eye on some negative reports from X70 owners and it’s time to highlight them. Crosstalk on the speakers, flickering screen, poor WiFi quality and a weak USB port have been reported by owners of the X70 ultra mobile PC on our forums in the last week.

I recently received a retail model of the X70 and can certainly confirm two of those issues. The Wifi reception quality seems to be poor and there is definitely crosstalk noise on the speakers, even when they are muted. The issues don’t affect my daily use of the device and overall I still find the X70 a fantastic tablet but having tested for the issues, I can confirm that those issues are real. As for the flickering screen issue, I can’t confirm I’ve seen that and the weak USB port (apparently some USB sticks aren’t working) is also something that I haven’t seen but there are enough reports from users to indicate that it is not a one-off issue.

We’ve alerted Viliv to the comments here and hope they respond soon. In the meantime, if you’ve got an X70, let us know what you think.

Forum: Screen flicker report

Forum: Wifi droupouts

Blog post comments: Reports of USB issues.

Forum: X70 customer reports disappointment

Another gem from the geniuses at www.micropctalk.com. MPCT forum user fiveseven808 has created a wearable computer setup using a Sony VAIO UX380 [Portal page] to power the whole thing. Fiveseven808 was kind enough to give me a good run down of the setup and some images as well.

Components include:
Main system:

• Battery geek: BG 14-18-60External battery (60wh)
• Sony UX380N
  • VGA/TV/LAN Dongle
• Motorola iDen i425 (for next-to-nothing (but half dial up speed) always-on internet access)

Input/Output:

• Modified MyVu Crystal Head Mounted Display
• Bluetooth enabled cellphone (text and mouse input)
• Bluetooth stereo headset (voice input and stereo output)
• ThinkOutside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard
• Logitech Bluetooth Mouse
• Bluetooth Frogpad (text input)

Essentially he took the MyVu headset, removed one of the eye pieces, and mounted the other to his glasses to that he could see his surroundings and the UX’s screen at the same time. The MyVu is attached to the UX through the A/V output port on the UX’s port replicator dongle. With some additional addons he provided his UX with extra battery life via an external battery, and several input methods to communicate with the UX while the rest of the kit resides within the backpack.

Unfortunately I must report that fiveseven’s UX380 recently died due to some physical failures, but I got a chance to talk to him about his initial vision for the project:

I guess my original goal was to design a prototype wearable computing system that is expandable, cheap, compact, yet powerful enough to be used as an every day computer with the possibility of having augmented reality systems and other passive information systems convey useful location based information to the user at all times.

I had a chance to speak with fiveseven and have somewhat of an interview with him that I’ll share in the near future. You’ll be able to read fiveseven’s comments on the project. I personally found this setup, and the idea behind, it very cool. Here is to hoping that he manages to track down another UX to continue his work.

Sony, along with others such as Samsung, was one of the early companies that jumped into the idea of the ultra mobile PC with some great devices. For a company that hesitated to jump on the netbook bandwagon, Sony was surprisingly passionate in their early ultra mobile PC work, updating their Sony VAIO UX series on a nearly bi-yearly basis. Though the UX series never made it to the big-leagues (read: widespread consumer awareness) it apparently made some friends in Hollywood.

Over the years, the Sony VAIO UX series has appeared in a surprising number of films and music videos, often toted as a futuristic high-tech gadget, or a high-class luxury device. With the help of my compadres over at www.micropctalk.com, I’ve compiled a short-list of videos where the VAIO UX is featured and some screenshots of the devices in use from a few of the mentioned locations. I’ve also included Wikipedia links in case you are unfamiliar with the media:

• Terminator Salvation (film) Used by John Connor
• 007: Quantum of Solace (film) Used by Bill Tanner
• Stargate Atlantis (show) Used by Rodney McKay
• Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) (music video) Used by Wyclef Jean
• Same Girl (music video) Used by R. Kelly
• 24 (show) Used to arm a suitcase bomb
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop (film)
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets (film)
• The Pink Panther 2 (film) Used by Kenji
• The Guard (show)

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (film)

Same Girl (music video)

Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)

Drop a line in the comments if you’ve ever seen your favorite gadget featured in a movie or other form of media.

The Viliv S7 [Portal page] is still on its way out the production door, but that hasn’t stopped a Korean blog from getting their hands on one and taking plenty of good images.

The same site also produced a video of the rather underwhelming Viliv Shuffle UI that comes included with the device:

Check out the original article for more images of the Viliv S7.

via [jkkmobile] and [ultra mobile PC Fever]

James Kendrick over at jkOnTheRun posted an interesting video showing the Viliv S5 being used with Windows XP Tablet Edition. Essentially you’ll be seeing tablet input panel usage which is neat, but the video actually also shows some of the frustrating parts of tablet computing such as poor text recognition and lengthy input times. I’d be interested to see who could input text faster, someone using Tablet Edition or someone using the default OSK. Check out the video below: