UMPCFever continue their hands-on with the Aigo MID and have been playing with the device running under Windows. While they were there they did a CrystalMark test which gives us the first ever look at how various parts of a Silverthorne-based MID might perform. However, I would take these results with a large pinch of salt as they appear to be on the low side. The memory speed and disk speed figures look especially low so there could be some driver issues. Certainly the graphics figures should be ignored at this stage.

I’d advise to wait for real-life browsing and video figures from the system while running the Atom-optimised Moblin build rather than a vanilla XP build that has never heard of Poulsbo or Silverthorne!

On the image at the top right, from the top are the total score, the ALU test score, the FPU test score the MEM, HDD, GDI, D2D and OGL scores from the Crystalmark test. For a list of ultra mobile PC crystalmark scores, see Ctitanics table of results from various sources.

UMPCFever Aigo MID CrystalMark test video.

Update: A more detailed discussion is continuing on Atom performance details in the forum here.

The lucky lucky lucky guys over at UMPCFever got an Aigo MID [specifications] test device and have started to publish their hands-on reviews and video. This is the first time anyone has ever really had extended private time with a Silverthorne/Menlow-based device so pay attention as the guys have already got Windows XP up and running on the device although judging by their feedback on the Midlinux2.0 OS build, it’s looking like things are already pretty sweet out-of-the-box. [Commentary after the pic…]

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Focusing on the ‘high-end’ of the market, the Fujitsu U2010 that was announced in Korean today will be an Atom-based (we assume Silverthorne/Poulsbo) ultra mobile PC running Windows Vista and including GPS and 3G. One of the problems of the previous U1010, the multi-function keys, might have been solved in this model as there’s a 6th row of keys on the device. Weight is an impressive 610g. Screen is 5.6" at, we assume, 1024×600. I also see a fingerprint reader and SD card reader.  There’s no word on processor speed but we can assume that this will be running 1.6 or even 1.8Ghz and a few quick calculations based on a small 20wh 2-cell battery as seen on the U1010 returns a potential in-use battery life of around 3hr which would extend to 6hrs with the commonly used 4-cell battery pack.  A local Taiwanese price of $1300 puts it into the middle of the ultra mobile PC pricing along with other 3G-enabled devices like the Q1 Ultra HSDPA and a July launch ties-in with the expected availability of the Intel Menlow platform.

Its good too see some more pro-mobile devices appearing but the success of this little baby will largely depend on how Vista performs so keep any eye out for reports from Computex.

Source: Digitimes. Via JKKMobile

Update. It appears that we might have stirred the sales and marketing groups into a re-think. The M528 3G pricing has dropped to 1199 AUD overnight which is a much more accpeptable pre-order, early adopter, Australian market price.

Update 2. There’s some back-pedalling going on with pricing following our story. Gigabyte say they haven’t agreed any pricing yet. Details here.

Interested in mobile Internet devices? You know, the ones aimed at the consumer with consumer features and consumer pricing? Then read on… Tegatech, a well-respected ultra mobile PC retailer in Australia has recently signed a deal with Gigabyte for the distribution of it’s UMPCs and MIDs in Australia and New Zealand and has sent out an email to it’s media contacts announcing that my favorite MID, the M528 is on their books. A quick look at their website reveals that, yes, the M528 is listed, still looking very desirable, with a nice 8GB flash drive, the 3MP auto-focus cam, an 800×480 touchscreen, 11Wh battery, built-in GPS, 3G radio and an 800Mhz Intel Atom processor. With a pocketable size, a pocketable weight and that slide out keyboard it’s a dream device for many. So what’s the cost? [After the image]

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