I’ve been down this path before, so I’ll tread lightly here. The Sydney Morning Herald reviewed the Pioneer DreamBook UMPC (an Amtek 700 device) and gave it a 2 out of 5. One of the two points was "just for showing up."
Keeping my personal opinion short and sweet:
- Main stream media (MSM) is killing the Origami concept for Microsoft because they (MSM) don’t understand the concept.
- MSM wants the public to think they get the concept by including the right catch-phrases, such as "companion device" yet they then equate the UMPC to full desktop replacement, which it isn’t designed to be (but can be used as one).
- MSM tends to pooh-pooh the device without providing detailed use cases or usage scenarios; the typical "review" contains opinions on why the device can’t be used, but never explains why that is or in what situation.
- MSM continues to compare what you could buy for the same price or less and touts the extra features, horsepower, etc…you can’t compare a UMPC with a standard notebook that doesn’t even run the Tablet PC Edition of XP. This is a new class of device within the slate Tablet PC genre.
- In fairness, there is much to be desired for the implementation of the UMPC concept, but we have to start somewhere. I guess the ratings do too….I just wish they would start in a more accurate range than "2 out of 5" with one point "just for showing up."
’nuff said by me. What do you say?
-kct
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