As you might have seen from the ‘tweets’ and Flickr photos, we spent some time at the Intel Pavillion as they were setting up. One of the highlights was the Viliv S7, the ‘netvertible’ with the 1.8Ghz Atom processor and long battery life. Fortunately for us, the battery was charged and we were able to get a good video down.
The UI isn’t complete yet but you can see that Viliv are aiming for a UI that is very similar to the Origami Experience. The keyboard is high quality and usable as both a table top and thumb-style keyboard. The touch pad (top-right above keyboard) is well positioned for two-handed use supports tap-to-click. There’s a good range of ports and if the battery really is as high capacity as the previous reports and specifications have led us to believe, it will last for 5-7 hours on a charge depending on the kind of work you are doing.
More details, specifications and links for the Viliv S7 can be found on the UMPCPortal product page.
ultra mobile PC Fever has gotten a Viliv S5 [Portal page] and already have some videos up. There are also lots of good unboxing pics up over at ultra mobile PC Fever, have a look! (auto translated by Google). The S5, as you will recall, is a MID device that has been very popular according to our Portal charts.
Here are the specs of the device as shown in the video:
Three years ago today, Microsoft’s Origamiproject.com went live as a teaser website. [See original teaser page] One of the people to spot it was ‘Designtastesgood‘ who appears to have lit the fuse by sending a link to Robert Scoble who effectively posted another teaser. Engadget’s editor-in-chief at the time, Ryan Block, picked it up, added an image he’d acquired and wrote an article that evening which has 190 comments on it. If you have time, scan through them!
“So today Microsoft officially flipped the switch on the buzz machine for their Origami Project — an atypical viral marketing manuveur for a company whose products are usually known about years ahead of time. Scoble says its a device, the Internet’s lighting up with rumors — is it the Xbox portable? Well, we dunno, but as usual got our hands on some pictures. And as usual we can’t guarantee they’re the real deal, though we are pretty confident in their source. So, let’s go over it: these were sent to us detailing it as a Microsoft portable media player, which wouldn’t be too far off from what Jobs and BusinessWeek both prophesied Microsoft doing (despite being pretty broadly denied from within).”
According to the MyViliv website and some information we received by email, 1000 units of the Viliv S5 were sold in 15 minutes today as the pre-orders started in Korea. Viliv have been selling PMPs and other devices since 2005 and they tell us they’ve achieved the highest website statistics ever through the S5 launch.
That’s impressive considering the financial problems going on in the worlds tomorrow but it’s possibly indicative of people wanting to make a money-saving purchase as the Viliv S5 can serve as multiple devices. Navigation, PMP, Mini PC, it’s all there in one device that appears to be of good quality and returning performance and battery life figures that we would expect.
Lazion, one of the first Korean websites we turn to when a new device is launched over there, have a great 3-part review up that, although difficult to read through automated translation, gives some clear indications as to what we can expect when the S5 Premium (as the export version will be known) starts shipping at end of March. (Viliv planned shipping timeframe.)
First of all, it’s pocketable…in a kind of Sony Vaio marketing way…
Thanks ladies. I’ll be putting it my jacket pocket but please, don’t let us stop you promoting it as bum-pocket portable.
It seems to be a pretty large slate-ultra mobile PC (read: no keyboard) and weighs 2.6 pounds with the battery. Clearly this device is not for consumer wielding in the local coffee shop, but instead it is designed to stand up to some serious punishment and provide a mobile platform for commercial work. Here are some of the things that Trimble mentioned the device might be useful for while on-the-go:
Jkkmobile points out an interesting video from Engadget that shows some interesting multi-touch demos on a resistive touchscreen. Have a look at the video embedded below, but be sure to stick around for some thoughts below.
The demos are definitely neat, but I’m a very big proponent of capacitive touch technology, not because of multi-touch, but because of its consistent recognition of input. Multi-touch and the ability to do gestures is great, but I would argue that it is not the best part of capacitive touch technology. So they have managed to port the multi-touch facet of capacitive touchscreens over to resistive touchscreens, but they stick lack the consistent detection of input. Nothing is more annoying to me than having to click on one item several times because it is easy for a resistive touchscreen to either miss or misinterpret your input. It really ruins the touchscreen experience. Low pressure input resistive screens help to alleviate this to some degree but the issue still remains. Capacitive touch’s ability to extremely consistently recognize touch input is what makes it possible to have a viable on-screen keyboard on a device the size of the iPhone. I’ve tried many other resistive touch phones with OSKs, and the experience is almost embarrassing to the hardware.
As for the pressure sensitivity of the demoed screen: The way it was described is that it recognizes how much pressure you are putting on the screen by how much contact there is with the surface of your finger. If this is the correct explanation of how the technology works, then pressure sensitivity will not be able to be measured with a stylus. When you apply more pressure to a surface with your finger, the skin around the bone presses down with a larger surface area, this obviously doesn’t occur with the tip of a stylus.
This is definitely good for resistive touchscreens and a jump forward for devices that will continue to use them, but in many cases I still feel like capacitive touch offers the best experience.
Their report isn’t exactly detailed but there’s an air of positiveness about it that gives me confidence that the S5 will be the right device for many. Especially having seen the on screen keyboard and hearing that it’s “some of the best touchscreen interaction we’ve seen on devices like this.” There’s a set of photos of both the Viliv S5 and the X70 and a video showing the S5 keyboard over at this article on Engadget.
Vye Computers in the UK have long had a relationship with KJS/Inventec who design and manufacture the Kohjinsha range of Ultra Mobile PCs and netbooks but they have now decided to tighten that relationship by becoming a direct distributor of the KJS devices in the UK.
We’ve spoken to Vye and picked up information on their first offerings under the Kohjinsha brand prior to their launch next week. The first devices will be the SC3 and SX4, 7″ and 9″ convertibles. While these might be known models (I have an SC3 myself and the SX4 is based on the existing SX3) there are a few important differences that make them more interesting than they were before.
XP Home option
Embedded 3g option
Competitive pricing
UK Keyboard
For example, the SC3 with Windows XP and embedded 3G will be selling for an RRP of 699 pounds making it a much cheaper option than the Sony Vaio P that it shares many specifications with.
7” WSVGA Touch Screen (1024 x 768)†[That probably should be 1024×600]
Intel Atom 1.33ghz
XP Home
Embedded 3G
1gb Memory
80gb Hard Drive
1.3 Mega Pixel camera
Built in Speakers/Built in Microphone
Full QWERTY keyboard
2 x USB, RJ45, Multi Memory card Reader, Express Card Slot, Ethernet
WiFi, Bluetooth
Dimensions (WxDxH) 189mm x 155mm x 33mm
Weight 820g with Standard Battery
Standard Battery Life 2.5 3 Hours
Suggested Retail Price Inc Vat From £699.99
Other models will include GPS and Vista options.
Having tested the SC3 extensively I can tell you it’s got a fantastic screen (bright, rich) and the convertible touch screen rotation gives one of the best reading experiences I’ve had yet on a UMPC. The device can handle 1080p H.264 given the correct drivers (Cyberlink PowerDVD works well) as the chipset has built-in video codecs. The build quality is very good and there’s a good range of expansion ports. Memory is easily upgradable too. On the downside, the battery life can drop down to the 2hr level (an extended battery is available) if you use the device hard and there’s very little 3D graphics power. We’re going to contact Vye to see if we can get an SC3 with XP and 3G because it could be a good alternative to the Everun Note and Sony Vaio P and with XP, a much leaner and faster-booting system.
Launch is planned for 26th Feb so we’ll have reseller/url details then but in the meantime, check out our SC3 and SX3 product pages, keep an eye on http://kjs-uk.co.uk/ and follow http://twitter.com/lwrigglesworth on Twitter for updates.