Comments on: Origami/ UMPC- the real dirt

By: Simon Guerrero

Simon Guerrero — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:19:22 +0000

I’ve been using a 770 for several months now (and I did a basic rdesktop port for it) and I’ll confirm all the comments Mike made about its battery life, processing power and stability. BUT — you don’t think a brand new mobile Windows-based device is going to be unstable? Tee hee.

By: John D Parker

John D Parker — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:58:57 +0000

Thanks for the info JK. Does it mean that you can't put your Treo anywhere near the Fujitsu 1500? Just kidding. Maybe.

By: jk

jk — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:44:26 +0000

John, the Fujitsu 1500 has palm rejection technology which reportedly works pretty well. I don't think any of the UMPCs have it so only time will tell.

By: jk

jk — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:43:22 +0000

I hope we see 3G integration at some point. The FCC and the wireless carriers makes approval a very timely and expensive process for OEMs so it is impossible to have state of the art devices with 3G integration.

By: John D Parker

John D Parker — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:15:58 +0000

I’m a bit concerned about the touch screen aspect. I could never get on with Pocket PCs because every time I tried to write on them my hand would touch the screen and make it impossible to write properly on it. Won’t a bigger touch screen just exaberate the problem?
Is this a problem on the Fujitsu 1500?

By: Cliff

Cliff — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:36:36 +0000

So are we going to see a HSDPA or EVDO enabled Tablet or UMPC anytime soon?

The past marketing campaign has gotten my hopes up.

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:09:53 +0000

Aaron — I hope so. I like the Samsung but want to see full spec sheets on each. Live fondles would help too! The 770 redefines “teh suck.” Shocked me’

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:03:12 +0000

“Matt, I don’t have any word from TabletKiosk but the Mojave may very well be their upcoming UMPC. They make very nice devices, I know that.”

JK, Thank you first off for the positive words on our systems – our UMPC (V-700) – is NOT the Baja – the Baja platform is a 8.4″ device more closely resembling a next generation LS 800. We are targeting a late Q-2 release for the Baja platform. Our V-700 (UMPC platform) will ship by the end of April to customers.

-M

Martin J. Smekal
TabletKiosk

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:12:14 +0000

Now there’s a Mike Cane rant if I ever saw one. :)

Sorry to hear the 770 didn’t work out for you, Mike. I was initially set on getting one for myself, but the price put me off. Sad to see its performance sucks too.

Is a UMPC your next device?

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:21:31 +0000

And yes, I'm the same guy whose long pre-release 770 fondle report was published here. I'm back to say what it's *actually* like as an *owner*! Run for your lives!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:19:53 +0000

The projected battery life looks very disappointing to me. We have to be getting more than a couple of hours for these devices to be pervasive and useful.

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:15:51 +0000

OK, now I’m bloody *mad*.

The countless eejits chattering around the web have crossed the line once too often. It’s time to set them straight, shove them back from the line, and show them for the eejits they are!

If I read one more time that a UMPC is “just an overpriced Nokia 770,” I will explode!

Anyone who *has* a 770 can tell you straight: The UMPC is *not* a Nokia 770 in any way, shape, or form.

The 770′s Opera browser mysteriously goes Poof! and suddenly disappears while browsing. I don’t think this will happen with a UMPC.

A site such as Palm Addict takes *over two minutes* to load on a 770. I think it will be a few seconds on a UMPC.

The 770 cannot display embedded video on sites such as Google Video or YouTube. A UMPC can.

The 770 cannot play DiVX/Xvid AVI or QuickTime video. A UMPC will.

The 770 has no browser plug in for FURL. No problem for a UMPC.

Forget word processing on a 770. Its Notes program chokes on as little as 10K of text. And the one free real WP program that’s available is hardly useable because the contortions someone has to go through to have a reliable working keyboard for WP just aren’t worth going through. A UMPC can use any USB or Bluetooth keyboard easily, and there are tons of WP programs available — not just *one*.

Yesterday the 770 I’ve been using for several months had to be rebooted *six times* because of its weak CPU and pathetic RAM. In my first hour of using it this morning I had a crash and reboot. This is its *typical day*. Crash, reboot, crash, reboot. I had a Toshiba GENIO Pocket PC — something infamous for its PPC 2002 OS instability. The 770 is a step *down* from that. Most of you don’t want to know what I call my 770. It is filthy and obscene. *Yet deserved!*

The 770 has a 200MHz CPU with 64MB of RAM. A UMPC will have a 900MHz-1+GHz CPU and most will have half a gig of RAM. If you are *still* dumb enough to think a UMPC is just a larger 770, take your desktop machine and put it in your closet. Replace it with a desktop PC that shares the specs of the 770. Then tell me how the second desktop is just like your original one — only cheaper!

I will be *glad* to exchange the *dysfunctionality* of a 770 for a UMPC with *real* usefulness, *speed*, *compatibility* with all web pages, and the ability to hook up any peripheral.

You eejits harping about the 770 don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. So shut up! shut up! shut up!

And as for UMPC being “overhyped” — baloney. It takes being traumatized by something like the 770 before you can *appreciate* a UMPC. What’s that you say? — it’s just another kind of Sony VAIO U *at less than half the price*? Just what I want! Thank you, Intel and Microsoft!!

By: Cliff

Cliff — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:12:07 +0000

I believe that what’s missing is the Tablet PC OS will support a touchscreen. Previous Tablet PC’s required screens that had to meet Microsoft’s exact specifications, were more expensive and couldn’t be used with your fingers.

Also with the marketing they’re delivering I they will get a lot more volume. When you have a lot more volume you can offer things cheaper. I think Motion Computing has too much overhead to compete with the LS800 at that price.

My initial comment about being unimpressed was motivated by this: I’ve been watching these videos they’ve been releasing, which contained people out in the forest or in the mall doing things that require the internet or a high speed connection. I assumed they would include evdo or hsdpa. Then I woke up this morning and viewed the newly released specs, but discovered they seemed a lot like stuff thats been available for quite a while like a flybook, ls800, etc….

Suddenly, I’m not running out to go by one. I’m waiting until they include one with high speed internet like I have been waiting for the past 6 months.

By: John

John — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 16:21:17 +0000

So if a LS800 costs $1699 and a UMPC costs under $1,000, what is missing? I'd think that if manufacturers like Motion could sell their tablets for under $1,000 and still make a profit, they would.

By: jk

jk — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 14:39:37 +0000

Matt, I don’t have any word from TabletKiosk but the Mojave may very well be their upcoming UMPC. They make very nice devices, I know that.

Scoobie, you’re correct, I am excited about the 7 inch screen. While the 5 inch screen on the U is very nice a little bigger wouldn’t hurt.

By: Steve Paine

Steve Paine — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 14:39:07 +0000

Is UMPC an intel/ms design spec? There's a rough definition at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/hardware.mspx but i'm sure the expression UMPC has been in general use for a long time. Whats the general term for everything that falls between a 770 low-end 'pad' and an OQO?