After getting the WiFi working, I spent a few hours tweaking Gnome to have bigger fonts, larger scrollbars, a better toolbar, sub-pixel smoothing and installed a few packages. In my quest for some widgets, I stumbled across Screenlets. You’ve probably seen and heard of widgets before as they appear on many other platforms and through the website screenlets.org, you can get access to hundreds of them. You can even convert Google and SpringWidgets which makes it very flexible. They look good, perform well and there are two features that make them extra useful on touchscreens. 1) You can lock them to the screen which prevents them moving around like screen shortcuts. 2) They have a scaling feature. Here’s a screen set-up I have on the 1024×600 Everun Note at the moment.
I just choked on my cuppa! Euro 1450 for the ASUS R50a is a shocking price. Even more so when you know that Vista isn’t very spritely on the 1.3Ghz Silverthorne processor. The R50a is said to have a fairly fast SSD which will help a lot but still… Maybe this video will help you decide yourself. I’m off to wipe my screen down!
Smaller memory footprint, faster boot, better UI and longer battery life. Windows 7 is not only going to be interesting for the laptop and desktop, it’s shaping up well for Netbooks and UMPCs too. Vista always offered better touch and natural input mechanisms but it was a struggle to run it on Ghz-class devices. The reports coming back from Windows 7 pre-beta testers point towards a much more usable system on these devices.
I’ve put a few links to some early reports below but the one I wanted to concentrate on and the one that raised my eyebrows even higher than last weekends ‘TWiT podcast was a post from Ian Dixon at TheDigitalLifeStyle.com. Ian’s website focuses on media centre and related topics but he’s had a Q1P for a while and when he got hold of Windows 7, he went ahead and installed Windows 7 on the Q1P with some really positive results…
Welcome to Part 4 of the Ultra Mobile Computing Buyers Guide. The final part is titled ‘Additional Information and further reading’ and ties up the lose ends by going over some of the less commonly found features. We also give you a big reading list.
We feel we’ve done a good job on it and covered a lot of ground and a good level of detail but if you want to see additional content or make corrections, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll consider adding it to the next issue which will be published during the summer of 2009.
If you enjoyed the series, please consider promoting it by linking, digging, sharing or highlighting in some way.
Part One: ‘What is Ultra Mobile Computing?’ We give you a history of Ultra Mobile computing, show you how the devices break down into segments and show you what each segment is capable of.
Part Two: ‘Details and Choices.’ It covers the form factors, the keyboard, storage, the screen and connectivity elements of an Ultra Mobile PC. You’ll find a good overview and a lot of tips that will help you refine your choice.
Part Three continues the details about the components and covers CPU (including a detailed overview of the currently available solutions) GPU, memory, battery, weight and cost.
Part Four (below) ‘Additional Information and further reading.’ In this section we cover some of the less commonly found features on Ultra Mobile computers and give you information and links to further reading resources.
The compete series will be published next week as a free PDF or e-book for non-commercial use. If you would like to use it for commercial purposes, please contact us to discuss.
One of the distributors of the Wibrain i1 has got hold of a Wibrain i1, snapped a few pics and made some comments in the forum here. If you’re looking the the ultimate Windows XP mobility device with the best battery life and best connectivity for, potentially, a very interesting price, keep reading.
The 1.3Ghz Atom-based device is based on the old Wibrain B1 design which was, quite frankly, an ugly brick to most people. There are some styling improvements which help it a little but don’t expect young geeks to be fainting at your feet when you whip it out. However, this is an action UMPC, not a flowery style-icon. It has the same easy-to-learn control layout (the touchpad is the best I’ve ever tried on a ultra mobile PC for example) and the same extremely high quality and brightness screen in a package that weighs 500gm. That’s 1.1lbs. It runs XP, has a 60GB hard drive, new SD card slot and re-positioned USB port. The real kicker is three-pronged though. 6hrs+ battery life on the standard 30wh battery, a 3G module and what looks like it could be an amazingly good price for such a setup.
Wibrain claim 7hrs on the standard battery. I’ve seen 6+ on the battery meter in hands-on testing and ‘Digital’, is now reporting 6.5hrs with wifi or 3G on. In marketing terms, this is an all-day UMPC in 500gms.
Final availability is still not 100% clear but early pricing indications at Mobilx look positive. 467 Euros ($600) pre tax without 3G and 532 Euros ($712) pre-tax with the 3G module. We’ll keep you updated on availability when we hear anything.
The Fujitsu U820 is coming to the U.S. according to both JKKMobile and Pocketables. Don’t expect bargain-basement pricing though as these are firmly aimed at the pro-mobile market with their advanced design and high-end features. (See the reports on the Asia, U2010 version) $999 (introductory offer) buys you the entry-level model with Vista Home Premium and a 60GB drive but if you want the extra features of Vista Business and a 120GB drive, you’re looking at $1299. Both come with GPS and Garmin Mobile navigation software. Leading edge quality still costs a lot of money!
In the last two years we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of mobile computing choices. From high-end pro-mobile mini-laptops to tiny, pocketable devices that you can take anywhere. Even the smartphone segment has developed to the point where it crosses-over and now offers real mobile computing possibilities. The number of variants has grown to the point where there is a device for everyone but the downside is that choosing and buying process becomes more and more difficult . The UMPCPortal Ultra-Mobile Computing buyers guide is here to help you make your choice.
This guide, now in its third edition, will introduce you to the concepts and the options, go into detail about the technology and ultimately, help you decide if you need a mobile computing device and if so, which type of device you should be looking for. The 2008 guide has been updated with information about MIDs and Netbooks, information on the latest CPUs and technology and includes even more hints and tips about buying an Ultra Mobile Computer. It’s a very long report so we’ve split it up into four parts that will be posted each day this week. In a final post next week, we’ll pull all the pieces together into a PDF or E-book so that you can download it and keep it as a reference.
Part One: ‘What is an Ultra Mobile PC.’ We give you a history of Ultra Mobile computing, show you how the devices break down into segments and show you what each segment is capable of.
Part Two: ‘Details and Choices.’ It covers the form factors, the keyboard, storage, the screen and connectivity elements of an Ultra Mobile PC. You’ll find a good overview and a lot of tips that will help you refine your choice.
Part Three ‘Details and Choices continued‘ continues the details about the components and covers CPU (including a detailed overview of the currently available solutions) GPU, memory, battery, weight and cost.
Part Four: ‘Additional Information and further reading.‘ In this section we cover some of the less commonly found features on Ultra Mobile computers and give you information and links to further reading resources.
We hope you enjoy the guide and that it helps you make informed choices. It will be published under Creative Commons license so feel free to share and reproduce it for non-commercial use.
Raon Digital will offer two new variants of the Everun Note ultra mobile PC that we tested last month. The two models will be SSD-based and will come as high-end and low-end alternatives to the existing HDD-based model, the D60H. The low-end device (S16S) will offer Ubuntu Mobile and a 12GB MLC SSD with the CPU swapped out for a Sempron CPU running at 1.2Ghz. The high-end model (D24S) will retain Windows XP and the Dual-Core Turion but will come with a 24GB split SSD with 8GB of Fast SLC and 16GB of standard MLC flash memory. Prices aren’t available at resellers yet but we’re told that Raon are aiming for a $659 pre-tax retail price on the low-end model when it becomes available in mid-November and $950 pre-tax price on the high-end model which is already available for ordering by resellers.
Taking away one of the stand-out features of the Everun Note, the processing power, in order to lower the price is a questionable move but you’re still left with an extremely small use-anywhere ultra mobile touchscreen PC at a reasonable price. As for the D24S, you’re getting a faster version of one of the fastest UMPCs out there. Need we say more, apart from ‘where’s the built-in 3G Raon?’
I’ve been having quite some fun with the Raon Digital Everun Note S16S over the last 24hrs. One of the forum users, Tenyo, got a patch together to fix the Wifi under a standard Ubuntu 8.10 build and finally the device has sprung into life as a usable ultra mobile PC option.
