UMID Korea now officially has the mbook SE (Special Edition) listed on their site. The mbook SE is just like the mbook BZ [Portal page] that Chippy thoroughly covered, but it has twice the RAM at 1GB and replaces the BZ’s 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z515 CPU with the Atom 530 running at 1.6GHz. The wireless has also seen a slight augmentation; it now supports WiFi N, in addition to B/G. Aside from these differences (and a white paintjob instead of silver/black one), the BZ and the SE are identical, optical mouse pointer and all.

The mbook SE is selling for $568 in Korea, and thanks to Pocketables, we have confirmation that the UMID mbook SE will eventually be available in the US through Dynamism.

We’ve fired up the UMID mbook SE tracking page in our device portal and it’s got the full device specs if you are interested.

Chippy’s spent a lot of time bringing us some quality IDF 2009 coverage. In addition to a video-overview of each of these devices, he’s been able to sneak away and snap some nice pictures of each. Full Archos 9 set on MIDMoves

Full UMID M2 set on MIDMoves

I know I can. You probably read my recent opinion piece on the UMID M1 that I’ve been testing. Among other things, I found the device to have some serious usability issues due to the lack of mouse and the unsatisfying keyboard. While not everything on the M2 is new (it might better be called the M1.5), it definitely tacks on some much desired improvements.

The M2 that Chippy got his hands on is just a prototype at this point and may change somewhat from when the product launches (targeted for Q4), but here is what we know:

• optical mouse on the screen bezel as well as left and right mouse buttons, opposite the mouse (!)
• 1.2GHz and 1.6GHz Atom CPU options
• 1GB of RAM
• New casing, opens to a further angle
• No more proprietary USB adapters, there is 1x real USB plug on the right side of the device
• Windows 7

Have to say that I think the new hinge looks more attractive than the M1’s style, looking forward to seeing the M2 in matte as well. Here’s to hoping that the keyboard get’s some sort of upgrade before the unit gets finalized.

You’ve probably seen that Chippy jumped across the big puddle to attend IDF. He is got his live feed running and we are already seeing some interesting stuff.

Jkk nabbed some screenshots of Chippy showing the UMID M2 just moments ago. Info on the M2:

– New housing
– Normal USB plug (no proprietary dongle)
– VGA out
– 1.2GHz and 1.6GHz Atom CPU options
– 1GB RAM
– Windows 7

Otherwise the same as the M1 (same keyboard, screen, etc). Looks even more like the Netwalker [Portal page] now.

Jump over to jkkmobile to see the screengrabs, and tune in to Chippy’s live stream to see what he is currently up to.

It seems like Steve has had his hands all over the early white UMID M1 [Portal page], but I happen to have just received the official matte black UMID M1, courtesy of Dynamism, with twice the storage space (and a production model at that), oh and a nice case that Dynamism is offering with orders that even Steve didn’t get to check out! Let’s quickly review the important specs of the device:

• 1.33GHz Atom CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 32GB SSD
• Windows XP
• 1024×600 4.8 inch screen

So you’ve probably seen Steve’s white UMID unboxing, so I’ll try to keep the unboxing pictures brief, but let you scope out the sexy matte black finish and the quality leather case.

There were reports of poor build quality on the early UMID M1s. I’ve only been playing with it for a few hours, but everything feels fine as far as build quality goes. There are only a few issues I have. The first of which is the included stylus and the silo that it is housed in. The telescoping stylus doesn’t slide in and out of the silo very easily, and for some reason it feels awful when used to stroke the screen. Tapping is fine, but if you are trying to run it across the screen it feels like you are drawing with a pencil on sandpaper. I’ve been using my similar UX stylus on the screen instead which makes alleviates this feeling to some extent. The keyboard is a bit squishy to a certain point, but it is within a reasonable tolerance. UMID said that they increased the angle that the hinge would open to as there were early complaints. After consulting an expert who had her hands on the earlier UMID (hat tip to Jenn from Pocketables), it doesn’t appear as though the screen can actually go back any further, though I’ve noted that the viewing angels are excellent, so this diminishes the issue to some degree.

I’ll be checking out this sleek version of the UMID for the next few weeks. Steve has covered much of the device already; drop a comment here if there is anything in particular that you’d like me to look at.

The UMID Mbook is a groundbreaker. The first pocketable clamshell device to be able to run Windows or Linux-based software on an Intel platform is a great achievement and a huge step forward in technology. It’s also an attention-grabber. People are immediately drawn to the form factor and immediately understand that this could be a fun, productive and flexible device. It first appeared in Nov 2008 and went on sale in Korea in late Feb 2009. After a recall due to build quality issues, it’s now appearing in Ebay channels. Resellers are also getting export retail samples and this is what we’re testing here. The UMID Mbook M1 in export retail finishing sent over by Mobilx.eu

There’s an interesting line-up in the top 5 on the product portal today:

This is how the list of top 5 most-viewed devices looks on UMPCPortal today. Two UMPCs/MIDs and three low cost. lightweightm touchscreen notebooks.

The Viliv S5 has been #1 for a long time now and looks like it will stay there if recent reports are anything to go by. jkOnTheRun, Pocketables, JKKMobile, UMPCFever and yours truly have all filed positive reports based on testing experiences. Much the same is true of the UMID too. I’m guessing it would be #1 if you could actually buy one outside the Ebay channels because it seems to fit a more popular ‘microblogging’ niche than the Viliv S5. I could well be wrong on that one though so we’ll have to wait to see what the price is.

Positions 3-5 are interesting though. Over the last year, netbooks have totally dominated the UMPPortal charts with the Aspire One and MSI Wind taking the most viewings. These two both still appear in the top 10 but it’s these three new convertible touchscreen devices that are creating more buzz now.

Of the three, I personally think that the ASUS EeePC T91 is the most interesting for readers here. I was reading an advertising supplement from Stuff Magazine a few days ago and there was a lot of focus on the T91 as a Mobile Computer. They’re calling it the smallest, lightest TabletPC in the world which is actually incorrect but you can see where the marketing people are trying to push it. ‘Up to five hours’ battery life, 32GB SSD, fanless, multi-touch trackpad and GPS, 3G and DVB-T (options) in a very small sub-1kg package and an (expected entry-level) sub-500 Euros price has to be worth looking at.  The same goes for the EeePC T101H although it’s not going to be as portable. Bigger disk, screen, keyboard and CPU will increase the weight, size and price up out of the cheap netbook space. I suspect it might even come in at a higher price than the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M that I have myself. Both are excellent choices though and if the extra size, weight and price is not a consideration for you, they will be more productive than the T91.

Bubbling under in the mobile convertible space is, to my eyes, an even more interesting mobile produtivity solution though. The Viliv S7 would go head-to-head with the T91. It will weigh even less, come with a range of CPUs up to 1.8 or even 2.0Ghz and have a similar battery life and keyboard. 3G and GPS will also be options. I tested a working model at CeBIT and was impressed.

It’s fair to say that all of these devices are new, all are getting a lot of press and that their appearance on the top 5 may not be long-term but touch is moving into mainstream computing very quickly indeed and it’s good to see sub 1kg options appearing at great prices. I feel sure that these devices will be around in the top 10 for quite a while and that we’re going to see more and more devices taking touch and mobility cues from the ultra mobile PC and Tablet PC world.