Hands-on with ASUS and Founder UMPCs

Now that the cat's out of the bag, we got a chance to lay flesh to gadget and conduct a quick hands-on with both the new ASUS and Founder UMPCs. As opposed to the Samsung Q1, these devices look and feel solid wtih the ASUS throwing down a sleek, brushed alluminum case and 1.3-megapixel front mounted cam for WiFi video conferencing. Oh, and the UMPC from Founder also slaps in a 1GHz Pentium M processor compared to the 900MHz Celeron M in the Samsung and ASUS. Expect these to sport optional, built-in GPS and mobile digital TV adapters too once they hit the streets, with premium price tags to match. Mums the word on exact pricing or availability but at least one of these three will drop this month for consumption. Lots more pics of the ASUS and Founder after the break.

First up, the ASUS. Note front mounted camera. That's brushed metal, folks though it's tough to tell in the moody Intel booth lighting.




SDIO up top.




Spec'd just like the Samsung Q1.


Next up, the UMPC from Founder sporting the Touch Pack.


Ahh, those new  DialKeys, er, keys feel good. It's actually an effective way to enter text.


There's the Pentium M pushing 1GHz. Half the RAM of the others though.

[James D @ Mar 9th 2006 7:15AM]

Ok, so the Asus at least shows some promise, and some hope that the devices won't always be friggin' ugly... Anyone know if Sony is going to be joining this party, or have they given up after their own handtop computer kinda flopped?

I'm still irked that we fell for the hype; unless the pricing on these is truly astounding there's no way it can justify the multi-week teaser extravaganza.

And that prototype/mock-up/whatever it was, with the woman holding it, looked way cooler than these do... These could be pretty kickass when they hit Generation 2 or 3

[Bennington Purcell @ Mar 9th 2006 7:17AM]

I like how all the pictures are under that red glow, really adds an air of excitement to them. :-)

Oh and if you would please "TAKE THE UMPC AND RUN, ENGADGET, RUN!!!"

[Grizz @ Mar 9th 2006 7:18AM]

I bet cops will gobble thease up as battery life isnt a factor when hardwired into a car.

[Eric Fetty @ Mar 9th 2006 7:22AM]

Getting better, the vid cam is a great idea. But there is no way theses things will take off until battery life is better. I heard initial versions will only get 2hrs.

[Will @ Mar 9th 2006 7:28AM]

Those are really cool! But why would I buy those when I already have a laptop and a treo that do the same stuff. Laptop prices have dropped to the $1000 and under, unless you go big time. Laptop are not that small/portable, but my treo can do most of what they can do. I don't see a mass market. Again, they are waaay cool though.

[migo @ Mar 9th 2006 7:32AM]

AWESOME!! THis is the future indeed. I want one. The Asus is sleek, great! Unlike Apple, there is competition within this segment here, so the consumer wins.

[rotten_fruit_fan @ Mar 9th 2006 7:41AM]

Man, Intel has done more to hurt the PC games industry than any console.

I can only dream that Vista requires hardware T&L so the next UMPCs can actually run a modern RTS.

[Alexander Riedel @ Mar 9th 2006 7:48AM]

Fujitsu P1510D, what can I say? Same weight, faster processor, convertible with an actual keyboard at that weight. Available docking station. Finger print scanner. Touchscreen.
I don't get it. I was expecting built-in EVDO or something of that sort.

[Mark Watson @ Mar 9th 2006 7:51AM]

Yeah, but anyone who has used a PDA or touchscreen piece of kit knows that putting your fingers (or thumbs) on the screen leaves greasy smudges. So if you type with your thumbs then the bottom corners are going to be seen through a haze of sweat, grease, bogus, you name it...

[Peter @ Mar 9th 2006 7:53AM]

I hope Sony just uses the same tech to give a nice tiny VAIO like this:

Samsung Q1 UMPC: 779g 230mm x 140mm 7-inch touchscreen LCD
VAIO PCG-C1MSX: 998g 249mm x 152mm 8.9" LCD

http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/03/samsung_q1.jpg
http://www.transmetazone.com/articleimages/transvaioc1msx_perpspec2.jpg

More on the VAIO form factor.
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1058


Put the same processor in each, which would you rather have, tablet or submini notebook?

[Jack Inman @ Mar 9th 2006 7:54AM]

Hmmmm.. I'm in the market for a laptop. I think I'm still in the market for a laptop.

[mkh @ Mar 9th 2006 8:00AM]

I'm pretty curious about the distinction between these and a mini-tablet like the Fujitsu or Flybook, too. The price does make a difference, and I do think this hurts the OQO, which is smaller but vastly slower. If anyone puts together a spec comparison between these intial offerings and comparable tablets I'd love to see it. I'm in the market some something in this niche.

[PeteC @ Mar 9th 2006 8:14AM]

If the Asus is sub �500 in the UK and available before then end of April then I'll get one. Now just have to wait around to find out if that's likely or not, a little annoying they're being so tight lipped on the price and availability, it makes me think that neither will be that great otherwise they'd already be telling you how cheap it will be and trying to market it to you.

[Mack Swift @ Mar 9th 2006 8:23AM]

Not too sure if these would be that great for law enforcement work. Ideally, quite a few departments in the country (or world for that matter) alread have some kind of detachable computer in squad cars that can be used for recording a traffic stop, incident and arrest reports, so on and so forth. Why go to a completely new platform?

I'm curious though. Why is Microsoft pushing these now when Vista is due in November?

[Kurt @ Mar 9th 2006 8:33AM]

It's everything a laptop is and less. Blech!!! I'd rather have a 10" or 12" laptop over this. If I had to choose between that and a PSP I'd take the PSP. It has better games and the hacked apps will make it do everything I would ant it to do.

[John Doe. @ Mar 9th 2006 8:33AM]

"Yeah, but anyone who has used a PDA or touchscreen piece of kit knows that putting your fingers (or thumbs) on the screen leaves greasy smudges"


Not all screens or the covers on said screens are created equal. Have you ever messed around with a touchscreen inside a Prius? It hardly ever needs cleaning.

As for the device itself. I question a 1Ghz chip. Maybe a 1.5 ULV but 1Ghz is going to be pretty dang slow. Yes its an obvious tradeoff for battery life but all I'm thinking at this point is Vista is going to be virtually useless on this thing. Remember kiddies. Vista is less then a year away at this point. You need to be keeping that OS in mind when you buy any hardware at this point.

[Rich @ Mar 9th 2006 8:34AM]

My opinion is that UMPC is similar to my PSP - but with better promises. I want my PSP to have Internet (done), GPS (still waiting), and GSM services (probably never going to happen).

With these UMPC, I think it's getting better excpet maybe for the GSM services. But I wouldn't mind lugging around this tablet on the road/train/travel to do most of what I'd do on a "real" machine; ability to play (music, video); and also have it as my mobile phone (not sure if Cingular or T-Mo would offer up SDIO card similar to Verizon EVDO data PCMCIA card)

So I think this is actually promising from the MSFT and et al industries. I might actually buy some stocks in these guys

[Kamalot @ Mar 9th 2006 8:34AM]

Check out the Duaphin DTR. I still have one.

http://popcorn.cx/computers/dauphin/dtr-1/

Same thing but older. These aren't new.

[Frank @ Mar 9th 2006 8:41AM]

What I love about the UMPC is the possibility to replace my laptop AND desktop with one device.

Sure, it goes without saying that I would need hot plug&play keyboard and mouse, plus maybe a slightly smaller (foldable) keyboard for on-the-road.
However, I guess the only way I can connect a 17" TFT to a UMPC - wirelessly, without any extra stuff being plugged into the UMPC - would be via a rather costly device like the austrian WiJET G from Air Access Koller:
http://www.airaccess.at/products/wireless/otc-wijet.html

On the other hand, I guess I'd need to plug-in the UMPC anyhow when I'm at home... a cradle with both power-supply and VGA connector could do the trick.

The UMPC should cost 600 EUR tops!
approx. 750 $... after applying the US vs. Europe "social-cost-factor" (=VAT): 600 $ ;-)

[E @ Mar 9th 2006 8:46AM]

Cue nimrods who think the design is ugly.

Someone hurry up and make a white one so they will STFU.

Oh wait, then it would just be an apple ripoff... Nevermind.

[jack @ Mar 9th 2006 9:06AM]

2 areas where I thing this will have an impact :

- Digital photography : uploading RAW images on standalone devices with a screen costs around 500 USD and they can't do anything else !

- Home Media server : This is much more user friendly for large libraries especially if combined with wireless-USB (thats coming). I currently use a desktop in my living room for all my FLAC files connected optically to my home cinema receiver.

Between the ergonomics, photo uploading/editing/viewing when travelling and media serving at home I find it a compelling solution at a price of 600-800 USD.

[Alex @ Mar 9th 2006 9:09AM]

So how is this really different from the sony U50 and U70 that were around 2 years ago? Google them - they were very slick looking...

[atomb @ Mar 9th 2006 9:15AM]

nobody has rebooted any of these yet....will they have 'instant on' capability?

the form factor and usage is just begging for PDA style instant on with XP loaded in RAM (or just the important bits)

didn't the samsung image yesterday say something about 'multimedia instant on'?

it would push me over to the 'will buy' crowd if i could simply take this out of my briefcase at a customer's office and istantly boot up to go over some autocad drawings! (instead of waiting 2 mintues for my laptop to turn on and boot up!)

[Peter G @ Mar 9th 2006 9:31AM]

Pricing: http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/03/09/umpc/index.php

"Samsung plans to put the Q1 on sale in Europe before the end of June. The device will cost around �1,000 (US$1,190), it said."

Again, what can you do with this that makes it better than a subnotebook??

[Mike Street @ Mar 9th 2006 9:35AM]

Good pics guys. I'm feeling this product. I'm gonna cop the one with the 1.3 meg camera. If they market this right i can see it doing well.

[invaderluj @ Mar 9th 2006 9:35AM]

the specs are actually quite impressive for the size and form...the asus is the looker of the bunch tho

if they are reasonable in price I might put some thought into buying one

[chris @ Mar 9th 2006 9:46AM]

decent (=all day) battery life + $1000 price point = i'm hooked!

[Robert Getch @ Mar 9th 2006 9:50AM]

I hate the news in the area its so off...

"Microsoft plans on giving the iPod a run for its money, there going to release a device called, The Oragami. Microsoft has not given word if the device will support video, and what types of music it will support."
-Fox 12 Oregon

It's basicly a tablet

[Magus @ Mar 9th 2006 9:52AM]

If the price is right this is the perfect device to bridge everything i would like portable. Mobile phone doesn�t have the functionality I would like especially when it comes to meetings and notes in class.
I still see a major flaw in most PMPs being rather large and low rez. (i really don�t feel like recompressing what i record for ~Qvga) Large storage full OS makes it easy to play any format.
GPS add-on for my PDA works pretty well but that makes it attached to the car. having it built in works well.
And if this can get wireless web. (not just hot spots) It would replace my phone as well.
Gaming should be easy don�t need much extra development just lean in more towards emulation that already exists.
Price shouldn�t be a problem much if you�re looking at portability vs. functionality.
pmp ~300
PDA/gps ~350
Gaming 150^

I can only see 2 down sides.
2-3 hr battery life & price if its over $700.
both due to improve with a gen or two

I would think that its primarily aimed at business and corporate use. Hard to see a market outside a few people looking to consolidate devices.

Anyone know anything about boot times on those?
I should hope it is faster than laptops.

[sherlock @ Mar 9th 2006 10:02AM]

Can anyone finaly publish the resolution of the screen for al those UMPC? is that 800 x 600 or 1024 x 600 ?????

This is crucial information that is suprisingly missing from all the news???

[tom @ Mar 9th 2006 10:33AM]

#20... Why can't you put your machine on standby? It only takes me 10 secs to wait for my machine to start back up.

[Camperton @ Mar 9th 2006 10:35AM]

Within 3 years every kid in highschool will have one of these in their bags.

[Josh W. @ Mar 9th 2006 10:39AM]

Okay, so it's an OQO competitor that isn't an OQO competitor. Wait, it's a sub-tablet that's not as powerful. Or is it, a HUGE FREAKIN Ipod Video competitor. Either way, it's just a FREAKIN PALMTOP COMPUTER. WHO CARES!!! My PDA and Laptop are just fine, and they fit into their respective places in my backpack. What am I gonna do with one of these, put it in some HUGE belt hung carrying case monstrosity? No thanks!

Josh W.

[Ryan @ Mar 9th 2006 10:43AM]

Any word on display specifications outside of resolution? Such as what video controller they use, or amount of dedicated video RAM?

[UMPCDeals.com @ Mar 9th 2006 10:45AM]

If they can increase battery life and get resolution to at least 800x600 (hopefully more) it could be very successful.

http://forums.umpcdeals.com

[Stewart @ Mar 9th 2006 10:46AM]

Of course it'll run iTunes...

[Razor @ Mar 9th 2006 10:51AM]

2006 will be a market building year for this device. Generation 2 that runs Vista available for the Christmas shopping season could really be hot, hot.
Raises the bar for expectations for a similar Apple device, that's for sure.

[kelly @ Mar 9th 2006 10:54AM]

these things look huge. did I see they're like an inch thick? I want something that will fit in my pocket, everything else is a luggable. a luggable that's 3 inches smaller from an ultra portable notebook, without keyboard? I'm missing the purpose of this...

[tsunamii @ Mar 9th 2006 11:04AM]

Id like to see this device as something between my laptop and universal remote. Give me IR learning functions to control AV and home automation and you have me sold. A good color universal remote it in the same price range so why not.

[Tom Dietrich @ Mar 9th 2006 11:06AM]

If this costs more than 800 it will never take off.

I'm not paying 1200 for a glorified PDA.

[Chad Jenison @ Mar 9th 2006 11:06AM]

Some of these should use pure NAND for non-volatile storage (increasing battery life and performance while simultaneously reducing size [versus 1.8" drive]). Who could get by just fine with 4 or 8GB of NAND rather than hard drive if this was auxilliary PC?

I guess this occurs naturally with the 2nd generation as the NAND cost/capacity curve moves with time.

[OMAC @ Mar 9th 2006 11:11AM]

These things are great. Can't wait to get one in my car. I was going to get the Pioneer AVIC D1 but this thing blows that idea out of the water. The only thing that remains to be seen is its 3D capability, and the only reason I bring that up is because of the video that showed a prototype origami device running Halo. If this thing can run World of Warcraft then I'll be hooked.

[Wun Chiou @ Mar 9th 2006 11:28AM]

These would have a good place in the classroom, I would think. Bigger screen than a PDA, cheaper than a tablet PC, small enough to pop into a backpack. Wireless and the ability to take handwritten notes on them are great. The battery life is a big downside, though.

[Tim Millwood @ Mar 9th 2006 11:33AM]

I want one, i am a mac user and the only thing microsoft i own is office, but how cool are these. i want one!!!

[jef @ Mar 9th 2006 12:21PM]

expect to see these in hummers and escalades the month after they're released.

you will no longer need to purchase gps and stereo from dealers. all you need is a place in your dash where these will go.

[willyjsimmons @ Mar 9th 2006 12:24PM]

Question 1.

How many 1GHz 512MB+ PDAs are on the market?

Question 2.

How many 1GHz 512MB+ PDAs with wi-fi and bluetooth are on the market.

Question 3.

How many 1GHz 512MB+ PDAs with wi-fi and bluetooth, running full blown XP are on the market?

If you want something that does all of the above AND fits into your pocket, then keep waiting.

I hear people talking about Fujitsu, aside from being larger, those things don't even have bluetooth and start at $1399.

This device is NOT designed for 'serious' gaming.
(MS would much rather sell you a 360, or another yet to be announced portable specific to gaming).

If you want/need something larger that meets your needs graphics wise, then buy a tablet or small notebook.

If you want something smaller, and don't care about being able to play EVERY game in the world, this is it.

[Erik @ Mar 9th 2006 12:26PM]

All I can think of is what Apple did so long ago. Microsoft did it again... they imitated and embellished someone else's idea. Can you saw "Newton"?

http://members.aol.com/stevenw9/mp2000.jpg

[Christopher M. @ Mar 9th 2006 1:11PM]

More coverage, including models not shown on engadget:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/08/eveningnews/main1384694.shtml

[Dave @ Mar 9th 2006 1:17PM]

I can't figure out why so many people get so worked up about this crap. If you don't like it, don't buy one. Pretty simple concept actually.

Besides, once these really hit the street, somebody will Port the Penguin to it, and then we won't have too worry about Vista. Or Vista SP-2.

Anyway, depending on the price point and actual battery life, one of these would be a very worthy replacement to my iPaq hx4700 when the time comes.

[Jake @ Mar 9th 2006 1:38PM]

I don't think this is really a site for people that dig gadgets. It seems to be more of a site for people that like to make snide comments about gadgets.

This is a real slick concept. I'll admit that the industrial design and the form factor (size) aren't quite there yet but they've done what they can with current technology.

The gadget designer wannabes that bitch about every new product that comes out don't seem to quite get it. I crack up when I read comments like "if only it had a bigger screen and was smaller" or "if only it was lighter but had 6 times the battery life." For those of you that don't understand why that cracks me up, please think about it.

This is a great move for microsoft and intel. It's also a great development for consumers because if someone doesn't rip the keys to portable music and video world out of Apple's hands, we're all going to continue to get screwed on content (I love my iPod fanboys so chill).

In my opinion, these devices are a play for the nascent (but burgeoning) portable video market. Instead of comparing this to a small laptop, compare it to a large PMP like an Archos AV700. You get relatively similar size and price, but about a zillion times the functionality with the availability of the XP OS (and soon, Vista).

On form factor, you're about 1.5 to 2 years away from the following: a device like this that is about the size of a checkbook and sports a 5 inch or so OLED widescreen, a keyboard, every type of wireless connection you can think of, NAND Flash for onboard storage AND (the really cool part in my opinion) the ability to link to a wireless USB hardrive that stays in your backpack/briefcase.

So . . . if I was in the market for a PMP and/or a PDA right now, I'd give one of these things serious consideration.

In general, though, I'm holding off on all my computing purchases right now because there's too much change in the works and I'm giving the manufacturers a little time to catch up and stabilize stuff (and it always gets cheaper -- bonus!!!)

This device is a great development. Can't wait to see round 2 or 3. By this time next year with Vista and these new Core Duo chips and shrinking (and wireless) storage and OLED and EVDO and all the new content deals that come out every day. . . this stuff's all going to be real cool!!

And somebody pointed out above that this will push Apple to get its own small tablet out. I agree and competition is really great for us consumers. It would be really bad for us if Apple corners the portable video market the way it has cornered music downloads/mp3 devices.