UMPC.com reveals some pics, info on the site's purpose

Sirshannon over at the website of the same name has had some success playing "guess the slug" with the UMPC site's URL (we know you're familiar with this game- many of you play daily over at Engadget Mobile trying to enter the contest early), discovering that UMPC.com is actually an upcoming community forum for Origami-like tablet devices. Both a "usage" and a "FAQ" section are available to the public, with the former being of more interest as it has pictures of people using an as-yet-unseen UMPC with a slide-out keyboard. The rest of the material is basically generic marketing and n00b information regarding UMPCs and the purpose of the site, but a few of the folks in the photos look like they're having an awfully good time with their mini PCs, which has gotten us just that much more excited about March 9th.

[Via Sirshannon]

[Keropipi @ Mar 6th 2006 9:34PM]

So 3 articles in 1 day huh?

[Slartibartfast @ Mar 6th 2006 9:45PM]

From the site:
"YOU CAN download your music, videos, TV shows, photos and email, chat, IM friends�all from a small, thin device that fits in your purse!"

So this is a product exclusive to females only? Or are they suggesting that all males must purchase a 'manpurse'? Will there be an optional leather 'manpurse' for $99 if we don't want to have a sex change?

[Jonathan Greene @ Mar 6th 2006 10:17PM]

No, you actually get to buy a 350 dollar ugly white box called the Purse HIFI. ;)

[Razor @ Mar 6th 2006 10:20PM]

This will be a hot, hot product class. Male messenger style bags, sized to hold a paperback will be ubiquitous.
Apple will jump in too into this market, but if the UMPC devices are capable of running iTunes out of the box, what will Apple offer that will be unique?
Apple will never compete on price against Samsung and all the other potential manufacturers of this thing. Sure, they will get a small marketshare from fanatics, but their domination of portable media devices will end.

[MMMMMMMike @ Mar 6th 2006 10:29PM]

Thank you
I guess I have been guessing the slug all this time and so it feels better to know there is a name for it. That is so money.

[coolcyber @ Mar 6th 2006 10:32PM]

New origami video. check it out
http://www.designbum.net/alexandria.htm

[Dougplanet @ Mar 6th 2006 10:50PM]

My fave bits from this tease...

>YOU CAN get information on the hottest sales and promotions at the Mall while you drive by.
---Yay! SPAM has gone wireless, and in my car while I'm driving! The future looks golden!

>YOU CAN get GPS information while driving or walking.
---And so can Microsoft. Now I'm getting scared.

>YOU CAN do email, or monitor work while standing in line at the DMV or at any other place you usually got bored at waiting and wasting your time...etc...
---Wow, so I can do all those things that a smartphone or laptop does, yet it's not quite as portable as a smartphone, and not as powerful as a laptop.

Ow well. Still, slap it with a PDA range price and a dirt cheap broadband data plan, and I'd consider getting suckered... erm... I'd sign up... maybe.

[chris @ Mar 6th 2006 11:08PM]

Maybe I'm missing something but I can do everything they mentioned with my Treo now. And it's much smaller. And I don't need a manpurse. Maybe I'm missing something. Does palm make a manpurse accessory?

[Andy @ Mar 6th 2006 11:28PM]

More viral marketing. Deliberately placing some teaser info on a site in an easy to guess URL a couple of days shy of launch. Pathetic.

[Micah @ Mar 6th 2006 11:32PM]

An interesting detail is on the "product" page. It says that more information will be realeased on March 9, the same day as week 3 begins for Origami.

[bryan @ Mar 6th 2006 11:36PM]

ok, i dont know about the man purses, but i do know that intel/microsoft had better have built in evdo/edge and built in gps or theyre going to learn the downside to building up internet hype pretty fast. this thing is gonna be a huge disappointment if its just another oqo/sony u. oqo included xp tablet edition months ago. if this is just another thing thats "new" just because intel's marketing dept just came up with a new name for it, a la viiv(what the hell is viiv by the way?) then the online backlash is going to dwarf the apple hifi reaction.

p.s.- how bout those osx86 guys start workin on these and some touch screen drivers....please???

[pkhuong @ Mar 7th 2006 12:22AM]

They're throwing their marketing might at young urban professional women because it's a market with a lot of disposable income. They're not marketing it to males (yuppies) because no amount of marketing or lack thereof will affect their decision. If it interacts well with OS X, I can see my sister (young professional, no children, pbook 12", etc) buy it. If not, then probably not. Me? I'm all over it. Let's just hope it runs a full version of XP TPC or Vista.

[Bird @ Mar 7th 2006 12:24AM]

Hey guys, i just got back from using my time machine to go to march 9th and read the new information, and heres the shocker. Theres a week 4.

[Sintax @ Mar 7th 2006 1:27AM]

You lied I used my time machine and theres only a week 5 they skip week 4.

[OddManOut @ Mar 7th 2006 1:38AM]

Bird didn't lie, after he posted the week 4 spoiler they changed their plans in a wigum-esque "eh...no I'm not, not I'm not..." attempt to maintain the element of surprise.

And guess what ? Now with YOUR week 5 spoiler they've done it again. How do I know ? I'm posting from Japan.

And over HERE...it's Tommorow... :P

[John @ Mar 7th 2006 2:24AM]

I quite often find a protable need to do some moderately powerful computing, but I don't want to lug around a tablet pc or a notebook with a wi-fi or broadband card. I'll settle for a smaller screen than my desktop, but I'll need one that's larger than my PDA/Phone. I need more computing power to run more powerful apps than my PocketPC can today, or in the near future.

Instant-On is a must if I need to check my calendar. Also, if I add a note to my system that I'm looking to buy a particular Sony LCD TV, the device identifies nearby vendors that are selling it and they can market to me... Then, I want it. If it is just another spam point of entry, then I'll pass.

I work all the time on my Windows Mobile PDA phone. When I'm at the checkout line at grocery store, waiting at Nordstrom's for my wife to pick out shoes, etc.

I would carry the man bag needed to carry the device. But hey, I'm married and I don't need to pick-up chicks anymore... Unless it can help you meet chicks through some Wi-Fi/GPS social networking feature, then I'll buy two...

[Ricky C. @ Mar 7th 2006 3:01AM]

I believe alot of people thus far has overlooked 2 important factors which I believe will determine how successful the umpc will be in the market...

1) Standby time. It needs to be able to go into a standby or hibernation mode considering the 5 hour operating time (I'm guessing it will be since it's running WinXP). How long the device can stay powered on in standby or hibernation and how quickly it switches to a usable state from standby or hiberation is extremely important in such a mobile device.

2) If it can't go into standby mode (heaven forbid), then the boot-up time is critical. Even if it can go into a standby mode, boot-up time will still be important because alot of people prefer to power off their devices when not in use to conserve as much battery power as possible. If it takes a minute or more to boot up from a powered off state to a usable state, I'm guessing that people in their droves will inevitably snub the device.

[gadjitfreek @ Mar 7th 2006 4:58AM]

I just bought the (much more expensive) equivalent to this device...it's called the Fujitsu P1510D. It weighs 2.2 pounds, runs Tablet PC, has 512 MB of memory and a 60 GB hard drive. It might be a skoodge larger than this Origami thing, but I love it. Check it out if you are looking for a tiny convertible notebook.

[Dan @ Mar 7th 2006 5:38AM]

More info:

http://www.intel.com/design/mobile/platform/umpc.htm

[Roger Sperberg @ Mar 7th 2006 7:43AM]

I have a Nokia 770 -- eight ounces, full Linux OS, etc. And a screen that's 800 pixels wide has shown me what a Treo can't do -- surf the web painlessly.

There's a niche here that exists only because we have so many computers/PDAs already, and have found out from experience what they do poorly. The 770 and any other ultra-mobiles will do those things well (and won't do some PDA things or some laptop things at that well, of course).

[jon @ Mar 7th 2006 2:35PM]

QUESTION: Is the UMPC going to replace the laptop or PDA?

ANSWER: No. The UMPC is a mobile device designed to access online media and content on the go. It is not designed to process lots of work or write a college thesis. You have your laptop or desktop for these tasks. Instead, the UMPC is a great PC companion.

The UMPC is powerful enough to provide a great gaming, music or video experience. People will have to decide whether they want to replace their dedicated electronic device with the UMPC.

sounds just like the nokia 770... #20 was talking about. cant someoen just release a SOUPED UP TABLET PC with dual screens (like in the WWJD screeen virtual keyboards? like a super big version of nintendoDS_