Hands-on with the Samsung Q1 / Origami

So we managed to get our hands on a Samsung Q1 / Origami device set to roll tomorrow here at CeBIT. Don't ask how, but it'll be awhile before we recover from the brutal caning we just received. From the five minutes we spent with it we can tell you, well, it’s an XP Tablet PC with a 7-inch display. Sorry, that’s about it, nothing earth-shattering here folks. In fact, for all the hype, it’s hard to find anything revolutionary or even evolutionary in the hardware specs or loaded software (perhaps that will come when the price is announced). Sure, Samsung did call it a prototype unit, but as the final prototype prior to manufacture we're told not much will change besides a "brighter TFT LCD."

Now, beyond what we saw earlier today, Samsung will release their UMPC / Origami device with optional GPS and DMB (and presumably DVB too, eventually) mobile digital TV expansion modules, as well as WiBRO support for when that goes live in Korea around June. The version we grabbed, the Q1, also supports Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and sports a 30GB hard disk. Unfortunately the whole thing just felt wrong in the hands – very plasticy and without substance. Take a look for yourselves after the break, we've got tons more shots.

[joe @ Feb 21st 2008 9:06PM]

I'm no microsoft hater but here they failed. If apple comes out with a macbook air tablet like the fujitsu ones than I'll be sold...but 500$ on ebay for this thing is not bad.

[skype_fan @ Mar 8th 2006 1:29PM]

7 pics you call "tons of" ?

[Andrew @ Mar 8th 2006 1:29PM]

Lame. Hype really sets up some big disapointments :(

[alpha @ Mar 8th 2006 1:29PM]

unless this thing is selling for around $100 OR there is a plan to have Portable XBOX ( PXB :-) ), smartphones already have this functionality..

[Kfahn @ Mar 8th 2006 1:30PM]

Not that impressive really, it looks like an overgrown PSP.

[Regula Oblique @ Mar 8th 2006 1:33PM]

would make a great lil carputer.

[jnetty @ Mar 8th 2006 1:34PM]

Still Ugly x 3... all the fuzz was for nothing. Unless the price is like under $500, i see nothing special.

[Julian Bond @ Mar 8th 2006 1:34PM]

What size hard disk do you think? 1.8" or 2.5"?

Now why do I think somebody's going to do a miniature USB keyboard and mouse to go with it.

[ZK @ Mar 8th 2006 1:34PM]

That looks like cheap tat. Bring on the touchscreen ibook!

[Kraig Becker @ Mar 8th 2006 1:35PM]

I haven't seen a smartphone yet that runs the full version of Windows XP. Still, it is a disappointment. Battery life is lack luster for something like this, and the price is still too high. Get back to me next year with that $500, all day battery model.

[David @ Mar 8th 2006 1:35PM]

Why are you disappointed or unimpressed? What were you expecting?

[Joel @ Mar 8th 2006 1:37PM]

30GB? LAME. I was hyped about this too.... this is poopy.

[KF @ Mar 8th 2006 1:38PM]

Is that a TV antenna or a stylus? It's huge!

[PK @ Mar 8th 2006 1:38PM]

Hopefully, we can count on the gang in Cupertino to properly execute this concept.

[MikeTheEngineer @ Mar 8th 2006 1:38PM]

I don't agree with naming this thing Origami. Origami means folding paper, so the way I see it is if you're goint to call a device by that name, it should fold into various objects, i.e. a clamshell like the ones that the screens fold and twist. Yeah, yeah, I know some may beg to differ but I dont envision origami and a flot piece of plastic, so when you look into it literally, Origami is the opposite of a Table, which is what this is. Carry on.

[Kiteless Dragon @ Mar 8th 2006 1:41PM]

I am with jnetty. $500 is realistic. $100 is impossible. But like anything else that is kinda cool, and would fill a certain market, I think that it's cost is going to make it Prohibitively expensive to be any real value to the average Joe Schlub like me.

- Kiteless
S.F. Bay Area, CA. USA

[cz440 @ Mar 8th 2006 1:41PM]

I think this product would totally rock... in 1992...

[Timmay @ Mar 8th 2006 1:42PM]

I was expecting a new UI for tablet PC... This is just a rip off of the OQO (and I would rather have one of those then these).

Hell if I want some moble do everything device i'll get a Palm TX or a Dell Axim.

Whatever...

Timmay

[gnomes @ Mar 8th 2006 1:43PM]

Wow!! XP! Again!

And you had to sell your souls to Satan for that? Rather pointless me says...

:)

[j0sh @ Mar 8th 2006 1:43PM]

how quickly one forgets just how low-res 640x480 is- that screen is easilly 800w - cant say for sure that its 600h though..

[Jen @ Mar 8th 2006 1:43PM]

I don't get it... what's the point of this device?

[o0adam0o @ Mar 8th 2006 1:43PM]

I rather have an ultra portable 10" screen laptop than this.

[Jon @ Mar 8th 2006 1:44PM]

I hate to be an Apple fanboy -- but that thing would be revolutionary if it did one thing -- run Mac OS X. That's all it would need to change from just another boring device to a revolutionary one. Imagine running the iLife apps on that. . . .

[Roger Black @ Mar 8th 2006 1:44PM]

[Start Jeopardy Theme music]

Contestant: "Alex, I'll take 'Confusing Windows-Based Devices' for $800"

Alex: "The answer is: They would have been better off making it compatible with XBOX 360 games... But in reality, Microsoft & Samsung couldn't decide whether to make it a PSP killer, or an iPod killer."

Contestant: "What is... A wack mini-media PC with PSP controls (minus the games)?"

[//End Jeopardy music]

[Shawn Rutledge @ Mar 8th 2006 1:45PM]

Tablets are expensive, so even $500 would be an improvement. (Where did that figure come from exactly?) People also went ga-ga over the Oqo when it came out, but it is also way, way too expensive.

[Hairatic @ Mar 8th 2006 1:46PM]

A friggin' antenna? WTF?

[Keef @ Mar 8th 2006 1:46PM]

Its gotta have more features than that..... co it DOES have an antena on it....what could that b for??

u can see its an antena from the back picture.

[rick gregory @ Mar 8th 2006 1:47PM]

No thanks, I'll keep my Nokia 770...

[johdaxx @ Mar 8th 2006 1:48PM]

It does look like a handy little thing...reminds me of a Motion Computing LS800 which is really a nice little device. Maybe MS's strategy is just to put something out there with XP on it, and hopefully it'll create its own niche.

But, it better be cheap if the idea is to be a secondary / tertiary mobile computing device! Nobody sold any PDA's until Palm did it with their 399/499 personal/pro price point.

[bokabunara @ Mar 8th 2006 1:49PM]

Now hold on there, let's give this concept a chance. If this device has the ability to get TV (DVB-H or T depending on country), GPS and some navigation, a good strong media interface like Media Center Extender (actual media center extender software would be even better), WiMax or WiFi with WiMax future support, quad-band GPRS/EDGE/UMTS, 30GB HD++, Tablet interface, 5 or more hours of battery life, and a price point of $500 or there abouts, then I think this could be a great device concept...

[Tim @ Mar 8th 2006 1:49PM]

Yeah, what in the world is up with that antenna. It's like one of those old hand-held TVs.

Seriously.. if this was the thing MS was trying to hype, what a massive and utter failure.

[hippie @ Mar 8th 2006 1:53PM]

does pic #2 say 770g? (these pics are lousy resolution..). Also, what's "multimedia instant on" ?

[Scott Gentzen @ Mar 8th 2006 1:55PM]

Well, the post mentions a TV module. The antenna looks like something you'd see on a portable TV.

Personally, if they kepe the price low I'd consider buying it. I don't want a big Tablet. If I wanted something the size of a thin laptop, I'd get a thin laptop. I won't carry a laptop around because of the size, but I carry a notebook about that size everywhere. It'd be a big benefit to me to have OneNote around with me like that.

Motion Computing (and OQO) have tablets in similar form factors but they're $2k.

I tend to think of this more as a more powerful PDA than a less powerful Tablet.

[chay @ Mar 8th 2006 1:55PM]

To #8 I'd say the res looks more like 800x600 than 640x480 which should be good enough for a lot of web content, although a lot of sites are now coded for 1024, guess we'll have to take a step backwards either way.

[Rob Cameron @ Mar 8th 2006 2:01PM]

The little card in the picture says resolution is 800x480

[skantilous @ Mar 8th 2006 2:02PM]

forget apple, let it get vista. throw in at least 8 hours of battery life, a keyboard, and give it to sony to design. You do that under 750 and ill buy it just so that i don't have to buy a laptop.

I honestly see this as canabalizing the laptop market. Unless the hd is 60 gigs, ill keep my ipod.

They can't make ths thing compatible with xbox games. Thing about it if they built software to play xbox off of windows xp. That is essentially an emulator. I wonder how quick the community, would be able to transplant that onto any other windows OS and just play exbox games, without the xbox.

[chay @ Mar 8th 2006 2:03PM]

Aha, that'll teach me to read stuff before I comment ;)

I guess I'll have to add 800x480 to my list of web content formats.

[john Doe @ Mar 8th 2006 2:03PM]

God people are stupid. Its for the TV that was stated in the article.

Beyond the obvious this thing bites. Seriously this is why Apple kicks the **** out of everyone else. They take their time and design something that doesn't look cheap, even though in reality its specs are pretty average. I wish one. Just one IBM PC manufacturer would step up to the plate and build a quality device. They have the engineers and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what is appealing to the average consumer.
Microsoft's ad really suggested a slick form factor. Something that I'd expect out of Apple. More marketing BS. What's new. >:-(

[Melinda Chiu @ Mar 8th 2006 2:04PM]

Finally have a better view on the Origami and able to show it to my readers. Good Job Engadget. I vote here, Engadget the Top Gadget Announcer.

:)

[steve @ Mar 8th 2006 2:04PM]

At $599 or less this would be great. And better still with a MAC OS. I use a Pocket PC now when I need something very portable that connects to the internet, so I would consider this product to replace the pocket PC. Rumors are that Apple will have something like this soon and they should make a MiniBook Pro anyhow. MiniBooks would sell like hotcakes.

[Jacob Varghese @ Mar 8th 2006 2:05PM]

I got agree with some of the others.
This is a fugly attempt to topple the psp/nokia 770/ipod. Too big and ugly to carry around in your pocket, but too small to have a keyboard - making it kinda useless for me. And it's that big without a CD/DVD player? I'll pass.

I'd rather have a slim nokia 770
(http://www.nokiausa.com/770)
or a slim widescreen 12" laptop.

I'm not a Microsoft hater like some of the others, but this really amounts to crap.

[Dustin Tarditi @ Mar 8th 2006 2:10PM]

It'll look very cool in my car though... playing my MP3 playlists, GPS mapping, outlook appointments, watching video, etc.

I like the size - people look like Batman as it is, with all sorts of devices hanging off their belts. Laptops are too big unless it's your primary computer - treos are too small to do much with unless you just want to skim through a short email.

Give it a little time to come to market.

[Jesh @ Mar 8th 2006 2:10PM]

Shameless plug: The Windows Media Player 10 Skin shown in the photos were done by The Skins Factory

[Caleb @ Mar 8th 2006 2:11PM]

I think I'll wait for Apple to release something like this....Newton + Ipod = Love....
I guess I'm just confused by why they would hype up a mediocre device...is this an experiment in marketing?

[skantilous @ Mar 8th 2006 2:11PM]

sony can do the design right. Acutally the picture of the device from last year, was pretty slick. This product is best for people who don't play games on their laptops. If you're a serious gamer then you have a desktop anyway. As a second pc this works perfect. It just needs a few tweaks. This is g1 anyway. God samsungs Q1 is FUGLY!!!!

With these specs, you wouldn't be able to play a fps, but an rts shouldn't be a problem.

As long as it can play starcraft I'll be happy.

[steve @ Mar 8th 2006 2:11PM]

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/001587.html

it is said that the antenna is a GPS antenna...BUT WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???????????

[Mr T @ Mar 8th 2006 2:13PM]

With a name like Origami and the fact that the article states this is shipping in Korea you'd think people would catch on that this might not be designed for the US market.

Sure, in the states with our mega-huge smoking Dell laptops we don't see the point. Asia is different.

[nysecocoa @ Mar 8th 2006 2:13PM]

Hey...just wanted to say that I was fortunate (well, hm) enough to have actually been given a road-test of this thing and believe it or not, it's not as clunky as ya think.

I too have a Motion Computing tablet but I give this an antennae up vote. I have to see how they mix in CD/DVD too. Right on.

Check out the "Origami" story on http://www.dealsdaq.com if ya want & have a laugh.

Cool.........

[i love mac @ Mar 8th 2006 2:13PM]

ugly x3 is right. wait until Apple releases their version. just like mp3 players never took off until the ipod was introduced. origami - two stars

[Peter G @ Mar 8th 2006 2:15PM]

Exactly who wants a mid size tablet? I would like a smaller subnote like this:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1058
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnotebook

If if were an affordable price. Folded I think they are the same size and I would much prefer the semi-decent keyboard and folding screen protection. The only reason these subnotes didn't go anywhere is that they were ~$2000. Now if they are going to have a new cost reduced intel platform for the HW couldn't we get a nice small subnote for