Yesterday, I completed the final part of a series of upgrades that have been done to my Q1 Ultra to bring it up to what is close to my ideal all-round ultra mobile PC device. In this article I’ll outline what I’ve done and give you some detail about my most recent upgrade, swapping the 60GB hard drive out for an 8GB flash drive. The difference is quite remarkable. Not only do test results show up to 4x the read speed and 2x write speed but boot-times are quicker and the overall responsiveness of the system is improved dramatically. If you need convincing that SSD’s are fast before you take the jump, check out the video at the end of the (long and media-rich) post. Note that much of this applies to other devices that use 1.8" drives. The Sony UX, Fujitsu U810, HTC Shift and others.

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There’s no proof that this is the same browser as on the iPhone but it’s an interesting one to note. The Samsung L870, an S60-based device, will feature Apples Safari Browser. The phone itself is also quite interesting in a UMPC-partner kind of way. An N82 killer?

Does this mean that Apple could release the browser for other mobile operating systems? Windows Mobile? How will it implement zoom on non-multitouch devices? Will it be as fast and complete as on the iPhone?

Source: Phonearena

Following the introduction of what appeared to be a value-pack in the UK where the 600Mhz non-bluetooth Q1 Ultra was being packaged with the keyboard and organiser pack for 500 pounds [aff link] , it appears Samsung Germany are dropping prices too. The price for the 800Mhz Q1 Ultra, 60GB, 1GB with XP at Amazon.de has just dropped from 1100 to 899 which brings it nearer to the 850 price of the R2E. The HSDPA version is steady at 1200 which is very expensive in comparison now.

200 Euros is a great price saving but you’d think that after one year of sales, Samsung would have some flexibility and drop it into a consumer pricing zone. 900 Euros still isn’t attractive to most consumers.

Compare it to an Eee PC 701 and you get these features with my estimated end-user value in brackets.

• Higher screen res + Touchscren (100 Euros value)
• 60Gb storage (50 Euros value)
• Bluetooth (20 Euros value)
• Lighter and smaller (value depends on user but no keyboard offsets that.)
• XP Tablet edition (100 Euros value)
• 1GB RAM (50 Euros value)

That’s a total of 320 Euros value for 600 Euros higher cost. Personally I regard the Samsung Q1 Ultra as a much better device than the Eee PC and I put a very high value on its mobility and flexibility but for most people, that’s simply not the case.

Update: Marc points out that the 600Mhz version in the UK can be had for 449 pounds (565 Euros) making it very comparable with the Eee PC 701 + 40Gb HDD + XPTE + Touchscreen + Higher Res + 1GB upgrade + Lighter and smaller.

Here’s a question: If the Q1 Ultra was 599 Euro, which would you buy. The Q1 or the Eee PC 701?

Samsung Q1 Ultra Pro 800 Besar 7 Zoll WSVGA Tablet-PC (Intel Pentium 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, WinXP Tablet PC Edition)

Its great to read this article. Samsung are going to continue developing the Q1 in the ultra mobile PC market and are aiming to have a refresh available for early 2009. According to the first in a series of articles over at TechRadar, Samsung sold 100,000 units in 2007 and are apparently happy with this result considering that the device is in a category that "put simply, many just aren’t convinced by."

I’m convinced and I hope others will be too because with a refresh, the Q1 Ultra that I consider to be the best all-round ultra mobile PC there is, will get even better. I picked up the news via jkOnTheRun where Kevin asks the question ‘how would you improve the Q1.’ I left some comments about what I would consider a good set of improvements that went something like this

• Backlit, improved keyboard.
• Atom 1.6 or 1.8Ghz platform and aim for a 4-hour standard battery life
• 5mp AF HQ cam on a premium Intel-Core version
• A low-cost entry level version running Ubuntu Mobile. $499 for 1Gb/40GB.
• A real docking port and docking station.
• Slicker looking design. Show the MBA fans what a slick mini computer can look like.

The big problem I see coming up though is the lack of Windows XP. The standard Q1 Ultras are useless with Vista in my opinion.

While we fuss about MID pricing, the cost of UMPCs is dropping quickly around us. The Q1 Ultra EL which comes with the 800Mhz processor, 1GB RAM and 40GB drive but leaves out the Bluetooth and cameras is available for $659 at Buy.com right now. With the lowest pricing in Europe at around 1500 dollars I’d recommend everyone in Europe who wants a Q1 Ultra to make friends with someone in the U.S. and get them to ship it over. Even after paying the tax, you’re going to save over $600.

One of my….no, let me start that again. My favourite UMPC, the Q1 Ultra Premium with its 1.3Ghz Intel Core processor and 6-hour battery life running XP Tablet Edition in its sub-2lb package, is coming to the UK and Europe via Expansys. Final specifications aren’t 100% clear yet but it looks like it will ship with the docking station (which is actually just a battery charger and USB hub) and the superb Samsung mobile keyboard which beats the Eee PC keyboard hands-down in desktop scenarios.

Its not clear if the UK model includes the fingerprint reader which brings a lot of benefits to UMPCs and is something I’d definitely like to have on a high-end model like this, and of course the price and availability is missing but if the price isn’t too extortionate I will seriously consider buying this as my next UMPC. I’m 100% sure that, apart from heavy video editing, a 1.3Ghz Core-solo based device will handle all my computing needs and with the 7" screen, can handle desktop style scenarios too. The only thing that might make me wait is a solution that had a real grab-n-go docking station but I don’t see anything like that on the horizon at the moment.

Link: Expansys. (aff.)