Like several others, no UMPC here yet. But I used to carry around a laptop, PocketPC, and a standard cell phone. I’d keep all three loaded with the apps I used the most and ilium’s e-wallet and ListPro were on all 3. When I got my first SmartPhone, Mpx220, I passed my PPC along to my wife, who uses it as a gaming device. I replaced my laptop with an HP TC4200 TabletPC and my SmartPhone is the Cingular 3125. The Tablet and 3125 are perfect for me now. The Tablet pretty much goes with me everywhere and I leave it in Standby throughout the day so I can get on quickly. I like having access to all the applications I can run under Vista and the 12.1 inch screen makes it easy to read as well as write. At 6’8″ my big hands had a hard time taking notes on my iPAQ ;-) I’ve looked at the UMPC’s and go back and forth on them. Adding to the indecision was HP’s announcement of the 2710p. With it starting at 3.6lbs I’m seriously considering it as my next Tablet. Since that’s still at least a year or two away I’ll have plenty of time to decide as well as see what comes down the pipe in UMPC land.

Kevin this was a great editorial on mobility! While I’m not currently a UMPC owner (darn it), I have noticed a change in my device usage since the beginning of the year.

My usage pattern changed simply because I started using the “standby” mode instead of shutting down my computer all the time. Because of this, I also find myself not requiring a super powerful phone.

My phone needs to deliver email, and allow me to reply. That is it. The rest is on my laptop, and hopefully a UMPC someday. :)
~Rick

I subsequently changed to a two device man, which worked fine, but I found the tethering to be a really pain regards to time taken to get “connected”.

Currently I am using a Orange m5000 (HTC universal) (which sucks at gaming) that has it’s own sim card, which I use extensively daily for GPS navigation (Tomtom 6), note taking (Textmaker) and a report generation database I chucked together (Sprintdb Pro). I also own a T-Mobile MDA Mail (T-mobile Dash) which is invaluable for phone calls, games playing (Astraware catalogue and Nes emulation), and finding my way around at street level when I don’t have a GPS module (Tomtom mobile & London Tube), music listening or video watching (nothing beats Family Guy or Futurama on TCPMP) and quick note taking (freeware app).

Currently I feel much more comfortable wiping out my T-Mobile MDA Mail for quick notes, calls, games etc when travelling or waiting around than my Orange M5000, plus I ALWAYS have my phone (MDA Mail/Dash) with me.

Recent case in point lying by the pool on holiday I found it much easier/comfortable to watch a movie on my MDA Mail/Dash than my bulky M5000. The phone just felt more robust for the environment.

However lately I am feeling bogged down with my Orange M5000 as I HAVE to use activestink to convert documents back and forth (not easy with access databases) I don’t really sync anything with my MDA mail/Dash other than appointments or contact details.

So my next purchase will definitely be a UMPC that is has HSDPA, Bluetooth and Wifi radios built in, the UMPC will replace my M5000 (no more Activestink yay!) and easily manage my work/internet/e-mail requirements, while my smartphone will be the device of choice when sitting on the train, walking around town or killing time while waiting for a client.

And since I fell for the okey-doke and did not get a Windows Mobile phone instead getting a Symbian phone OS because it was free (I still kick myself everyday), I use it primarily for making phone calls and keeping a rudimentary appointment book (and a few pics of my son to share :).

So it seems my sub par usage of my smartphone is due more to a lack of options that I had with my PocketPC which the tablet more than covers. Symbian/Nokia tries but they are not there yet in my opinion with their software or the UI.

On my PPC I had about 12 different third party apps I used often. I anticipated as much when I tried to do the convergence thing. But since there are fewer options in the Symbian world (I only have one third party app installed), I don’t use it much beyond its basic functions.

Recently I became so fed up with the lack of functionality on my Symbian I seriously considered getting a Windows Mobile phone. Then I remembered I still have one year to go on my current contract before I can upgrade which meant I would have to get one unlocked. If I am going to pay that much for an unlocked WinMo 6 phone, I might as well spend just a little more and get a UMPC. Since my current phone was free from my carrier (AT&T) when I signed up, I might as well keep using it as a basic phone and simple calendar (I keep telling myself it was free after all) and follow yours and James’ and others example with their UMPCs (I am getting weary of having to lug a 4.5 pound, 12 inch screen tablet everywhere).

Would things be different with a WinMo 6 phone? I like to think so based on my usage patterns with my PPC. But, having used my tablet so much, especially lately, I’m not sure I could go back.

I’ve come to enjoy, as you said in your post, having full apps and the internet (when near a hot spot) within arms reach and a boot time of 10 – 15 seconds from standby. I’m not in the kind of industry where I need constant access to my e-mail or the requisite data package and getting on the internet was okay on my PPC but I wouldn’t even want to think about it on my Nokia E62.

I do want something lighter than my tablet but realized if I got a WinMo 6 phone now, I would miss all of the things having a tablet within easy reach allowed me to do.

OH i forgot a MUST have, at least for me.
the NES emulator with all of the mario games =) if i’m sitting waiting for my wife to try on clothes at the store i pull out the dash and work on mario 2, its taken me 2 months to beat the game with random 5 min game plays.

thats exaclty whats been happening to me after i bought my Q1, i am seeing myself pulling out the q1 more and more for random use. even though i love my t-mo dash i do miss the touchscreen of a WM phone. some of my must have apps are:
Google maps (i like it better than live search)
One note mobile (awesome when you want to insert recordings and random snapshots to one note.)
TCPMP (for my divix video needs)
Documents to go (the latest version allows document editing for excel, word and ppt)
last but not least an app called Dash weather, its just a simple weather application.

besides that the Q1 does it all. if i want to upload to my blog i just do it through mms using blogger.com and to update twitter i just send an sms message, simple as that.

Great commentary! I could definitely see how one could get away with not loading a smartphone with apps. I have an HTC Excalibur and the only app I’ve loaded on there has been a game emulator for those ‘waiting in the lobby’ moments. I usually carry my Motion LE1600 around with me so if I do need anything that I don’t already have on S620 I can just boot up the tablet from sleep mode. One interesting comment that you made was how you don’t see the UMPC as replacement for a smartphone since you can’t make calls. Will all that change when HTC releases the Shift? From what I’ve read it is going to have quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA. With these radios built in, I can see how one device can take the place of both. I personally can’t wait until I get my hands on one to see if I could get away with using a UMPC device as a phone but two issues come to mind: battery life and the form factor. Would I be willing to carry a UMPC as my phone all day every day and along with that an additional charger and / or battery? Of course I can always switch the SIM card to the phone when I need to but what’s the fun in that?

Thanks for the post and your e-mail reply. Your thoughts on this topic are very interesting and I hope to hear from others who are maybe using their smartphones with their UMPC in a different way. I can clear up one point. “Tax Man” is intended to be a double meaning because I’m a CPA who does taxes and I’m a guitar player who is a huge Beatles fan.

Rock on!

Bill (aka Tax Man)