The UK is getting a third version of the Amtek T700 UMPC. The UBiQUiO 701 and 702 sold, it appears, exclusively through expansys.

The 701 is the 512Mb/40GB version of the Amtek T700 and the 702 is the same device with the 6-cell battery, a leather case and mini usb keyboard.

The prices look very competitive at £600 and £650 respectively. Thats very good for the UK.

Availability is 16th Sept

I’m also interested to see that the Founder Mininote is listed on the UK Expansys site too. I thought that Tablet Kiosk had the lead on that OEM model in the UK so I wonder if expansys are doing imports to get around this.

Steve / Chippy

Amtek T700 data sheet.
Carrypad Paceblade P7 review. (Also Amtek T700 based)

I’m starting to take interest in Vista now. With integrated media center and tablet capabilities it will sit far above any other OS for touch-enabled devices. In fact, I don’t think there there is no other OS that can support the touchscreen, speech recognition (is it really correct? Vista supports speech recognition out of the box?) and has media center capabilities built in.

Pricing for an upgrade, however, isn’t going to come cheap.

$160 is what it will cost to upgrade a ultra mobile PC from XP tablet edition to Vista Home Premium.

In fact, if I upgrade all the PC’s that are in use within our family, we’re talking over $1000. That makes Linux very attractive indeed for my non-touchscreen devices. I’m using Suse 10.1 with Xgl 3D windows and its superb. And Free. And multi-user.

Windows pricing info here.

Steve / Chippy

tags: umpc, vista

Without power-efficient CPUs, Ultra Mobile computing just would not be possible.

VIA, Intel and AMD know the important of this and are all putting more effort into development of low-power processors and chipsets. VIA already have the C7-M ULV, the VX700 and ‘John’. Intel are working on ultra-low-power single and dual-core processors. AMD have the LX800 that is now starting to appear in low-end Ultra Mobile PCs and ‘pads.’

As battery, storage and screen technology improve is it time to draw the line under processor power utilisation and start to increase the processing power to enable UMPC’s to utilise more advanced features and to start replacing low-end desktops?

On the main portal, I’ve just published an overview of the recent and near-future developments with a few of my own comments and thoughts.

The report is here.

Steve / Chippy.

tags: umpc, power, battery, cpu

[img]https://www.umpcportal.com/uploads/img4470db7d2982b.jpg[/img]
The Samsung Q1b that was mentioned by two British tech websites a few weeks ago has been announced by Samsung at the IFA exhibition in Germany.

On Samsung’s German language IFA [url=http://ifa.samsung.de/]website,[/url] a presentation reveals the following:

60% increase in battery life (To 5 hours)
30% increase in LCD brightness
WiBRO and HSPDA possibilities.

In addition, through other sources, we know that the device uses a VIA C7-M processor, VX800 chipset and has a price set only slightly above the existing Q1.

An October release is rumored at this stage.

Via [url=https://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=39]Carrypad[/url] Read the full story

Samsung makes some info available about the Q1b.

One of the problems of working in the European timezones is that after I go to bed, all the good news comes out!

I woke up this morning to read all the great news about the Q1P. Wow! 5 hours battery and built in Cellular data options. That’s just what everyone wants.

Having missed the original news item, I decided to have a dig around the Internet to see what was new. Sure enough on the German website, there it is! A presentation about the Q1b. Lucky I live in Germany!

First things first. It looks like someone got their P’s and Q’s mixed up. Its the Q1b. Not the Q1p that Samsung announced at the IFA yesterday. At least there’s no mention of a Q1p in the Samsung IFA website so I assume someone mis-heard it.

5 hours Battery life. Yes, it looks like the VIA C7-M is finally being used to good effect. They are quoting 60% more battery life.

That roughly translates to – Advanced Energy management technology. 60% longer than the battery life of the Q1. With the Standard battery. Q1 3hours, Q1b 5 hours.

So it looks like the same battery is being used. Samsung originally quoted the Q1 battery as 4 hours so they’re playing with their figures a little there but what the hell. If they get to 5 hours, everyone will be happy.

Next up, LCD brightness. Nearly 30% more brightness. That’s going to be a noticeable difference and great news for outdoor fans.

It says: Despite a newer, brighter LCD filter being used, the energy use remains the same. Brightness Q1220nit Q1b 280nit.

And what about cellular. Here’s some great news for those wanting the total mobile Internet experience. Wibro and HSDPA will be available. I’m not 100% sure about the WiBro standard. I think it’s  South Korea only but I could be wrong. Anyway, HSDPA means 1mbps here in Germany. Streaming radio in the car, live traffic info on Google maps and streaming TV could really be possible with this.

Translation: WiBRO/HSDPA available. Stay permanently connected with Email and Internet. 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 support.

Unfortunately there’s no talk about the VIA processor or hard drives but we’ve already had this info from other sources. VIA info here and hard drive/RAM info here. Its going to have 1GB RAM and 60GB hard drive according to the British press. We also know that the Q1b will be introduced in the UK for just 100 pounds more than the current Q1. If that info is true, its a superb price. I suspect that the Q1 will be phased-out or, even better, reduced in price. UKP100 discount on the original Q1 would put it at the right level and stimulate the market. I suspect ASUS will be looking at this very carefully and maybe even holding back for a few more weeks to announce pricing.

Remember that with processors, ram, HDD info, battery life info and pricing, there’s a lot of scope for errors. For example, the pricing could be for a base model with users having to pay extra for HSDPA module for example. At the end of the day though, this is a great step forward for UMPCs.

The Samsung IFA webpage is here. Click on the arrow underneath ‘Entdecken Sie die Moglichkeiten.” for the presentation.

Steve / Chippy

Carrypad data sheet – Samsung Q1b

tags: Samsung q1b, Samsung q1p, q1b, umpc

There’s two items of software that I’m looking forward to testing out on the i7210 when it arrives (next Tuesday is the latest word I have.) The first is inscribe and the second is the software that GottabeMobile have just tested.

Check out the ink-show video to see GPS.RADAR.

Steve / Chippy.

Linuxdevices.com have just run an article comparing the Pepperpad 3 to the Nokia and Samsung ultra-mobile PCs.

I tend to agree with the article when it says that the Pepperpad occupies a unique segment. Its at a unique price point and has a unique design. Its the perfect sofa/coffee table device not least because of its consumer infra-red capabilities and remote control application which includes learning and a program guide supplied by TitanTV. It also enables webconferencing via its built-in camera and keyboard input via the mini keypads. Its also the only device that’s had some attention paid to ruggedisation with rubberised edges and splash resistance.

Aesthetically its not top-rung but it’s not bad either and personally, I really like the black version. I can see my daughter loving the pink one too!

And I wonder how long it will take for someone to get XP running on it. If the Vega can run Xp on the AMD LX800 then there must be a way to get the Pepperpad running XP.

Steve / Chippy.

LinuxDevices article
Carrypad Pepperpad data sheet.

tags: umpc, linux, pepperpad

Pocket-Lint have just posted a news item saying that the ASUS R2H will launch at £799

That’s exactly the same price as the Samsung Q1.

Incredibly, they report that this includes 768MB RAM a 60GB HDD and an external DVD Dual D/L Drive. If this is true, Samsung have a problem on their hands.

There is a link to ASUS on the news story but no source quoted for the news.

Lets wait and see if more details emerge from ASUS today.

Steve / Chippy.

tags: asus, r2h, umpc