Live from CeBIT: Samsung, Founder, ASUS UMPC / Origami devices

Here they are, live from the CeBIT: the three mysterious Origami / UMPCs from Samsung, ASUS, and Founder that we've been seeing in various videos, snaps, spyshots, etc.  More pics of these three lovelies after the break, and more details to come....

[kerunt @ Mar 9th 2006 3:54AM]

The ASUS has the nicest design :)

[Jeffrey @ Mar 9th 2006 3:54AM]

Oral-gag-me. Haven't we been here before people?

I say it again: This device is 100% guaranteed chick-repellent material. A toy for people who can't find the world around them just quite fascinating enough. Get a laptop and do some work. Use a smart-fon if you have to, but this gizmodo-no should stay in a hospital. and it should stay made by Fujitsu.

[Reese @ Mar 9th 2006 3:55AM]

If only they were smaller... like 5 inches. Bet they are $800 too...

[wako @ Mar 9th 2006 3:55AM]

I think Samsung's looks alot more sleeker.

[frank @ Mar 9th 2006 3:56AM]

i like the piano black samsung but i bet its fingerprint magnet

[Jason Mueller @ Mar 9th 2006 3:58AM]

I knew MS would`nt come up with something cool: once again
it`s the old grey business like PC style. What a relief for (yet)
tabletless Apple users ;-)

[Robert @ Mar 9th 2006 4:02AM]

These have nothing to do with Origami: they aren't thin, don't fold, nor are they square. For the folders of the world the name is misleading ans insulting.

[Mark E @ Mar 9th 2006 4:07AM]

You could fold them if you want to.
Might void the warranty though

[swaxtastic @ Mar 9th 2006 4:09AM]

whens the apple origami coming out? ;)

[Jonathan @ Mar 9th 2006 4:15AM]

CRAAAP!!! i stayed up for this junk! I have to be at work in 4 hours! the hell with bill gates, even steve jobs is letting us down now at the special events. Didnt this used to be called a laptop like 10 years ago?... this thing doesnt even have a cd drive!!! does it?... unless im not seeing it, how the hell are u suspusto do anything on there without a cd/dvd drive! MS is just going to launch an itunes like store now strictly to make money from the origami... you cant play dvd's or cd's on that thing... its just begging you to "download kazaa or limewire", if you even can download apps on there, the only advantage i see is throwing itunes on that sucker but that would likely take up all 30gigs of that "monster" storage. I feel like a crackwhore who just sold her body, arggh.

Well goodnight everyone, since i feel raped and used by microsoft im going to go take a shower... at least stick to the origami name you friggin idiots!!! that is what people know it as by now!

[Me @ Mar 9th 2006 4:21AM]

"8. whens the apple origami coming out? ;)

Posted at 4:09AM on Mar 9th 2006 by swaxtastic "

SHUT DA F UP!

[mmoroca @ Mar 9th 2006 4:26AM]

Im still waiting for April fools day...

[David @ Mar 9th 2006 4:33AM]

Underwhelming.

seriously, its just a tabletpc with a smaller screen and some added software.

[Frank @ Mar 9th 2006 4:33AM]

I love it!

Compared to media players, iPods etc these devices have an OS, albeit Windows, which means I can run all kinds of programs. I could turn it into a media player, an organizer, a customer database. Whatever.

Sure, it doesn't look very trendy/fancy and it's rather big... but how can it be small and sleek when it needs to hold a 7" screen and a battery with proper capacity?

I'm sure Microsoft invested thousands of dollars to find out if there's market for these devices. Sure there is one.

Wireless WiFi VGA connection? Plug&Play keyboard/mouse connection with bluetooth? I could leave it in my rucksack and use it as a desktop PC or Media Center.

Yes, it has potential!

[Tonio @ Mar 9th 2006 4:35AM]

I've seen some ugly designs in my time but that trio takes home the prize. Besides the whole concept is so 90's that only Sony with that eReader of theirs can compete with these things in the retarndness compartment - in both senses of the word.

[rawr @ Mar 9th 2006 4:37AM]

some points

1. it was called the "origami" project. now its called the UMPC and well, it doesnt matter if it has to do with folding or not. though there is a folding prototype i saw on cnbc...

2. usb ports ftw. cd/dvd drive would be excess bulk. and battery consumption. it should be able to handle mpeg4 avc anyways...

3. its quite a bit more powerful than any other commercial product of its size. now, the ones we see have celron m in them but maybe by the end of the year we will see ulv core duos or something.

4. it runs full win xp so you can have itunes on it if you want. or winamp. or vlc. or media player classic. or all of them at once. and itll be able to handle any file type and you'll never have a problem with not being able to find video codecs cause theres binarys for them already. no more format conversion either. oh, and it can play non-drm stuff!

5. because its XP and not some super special os, you will be able to put your favorite software (firefox, openoffice, etc etc.) on it.

6. and people thought the video ipod had a large screen...

7. omg its not called the origami anymore...

*ooh it looks like the asus has a built in camera. and they all appear to have card readers.

[bufbarnaby @ Mar 9th 2006 4:50AM]

For all the Apple cry-babies...Apple did have an Oragami back in the day.It was called the Crapple...Or more properly the "FIG NEWTON'.Apple innovaton is paying to download poor quality postage-stamp-size versions of TV I get for free over the air in TRUE HDTV.Yep...go give Stevie some more of your cash.I prefer full-resolution,free,HDTV with Dolby 5.1 audio.

[Julian Bond @ Mar 9th 2006 4:59AM]

Physical hard disk size? Tell me it's 2.5" and not 1.8", please?
Now with 120Gb now and 160Gb this year, this could be very appealing. But if there's only space for a single platter 1.8" this is very limiting.

The other big factor is the expansion available. PCMCIA? SD? Or is all we've got the single USB port?

[Ultim8fury @ Mar 9th 2006 5:00AM]

Too big to carry, too small to be really useful, a battery life that won't last you through a film and a crap OS with an interface mod to make it slightly less hideous.

I'm not feeling the vibe here.

[Melinda Chiu @ Mar 9th 2006 5:00AM]

Posted at 4:15AM on Mar 9th 2006 by Jonathan 0 stars

hmm.. i stay up till morning for news that gonna-be until now.

[Perrey Z. @ Mar 9th 2006 5:42AM]

The Samsung look the best., Piano Gloss Black is ALWAYS sylish. Not question about that.

Didn't Samsung and iRiver have similar things in 2004/2005? or are these totally different gizmos?

[Gary @ Mar 9th 2006 6:33AM]

I think this type of device is just about right. I will be able to read books and newspapers from it. I will be able to use a GPS module and moving maps from it. I will have a wireless browser with a screen that is just big enough to view web pages but no bigger. I will be able to listen to music. I will be able to watch video (movies or TV) on a screen big enough to see even when I am on a tredmill. I think that the hard drive will shrink to just chips rather than grow in size. Once google gives us unlimited storage space online, we can keep our files there and access them from one of these devices anywhere and anytiime we want. And best of all, no keyboard to haul around.

[ZipperSeven @ Mar 9th 2006 7:10AM]

I'd still get an OQO.

[Carvalhinho @ Mar 9th 2006 7:19AM]

I dislike its size, and battery life, but the usage of windows XP opens up a lot of possibilities, in the realms of field labour... I am talking about social security people, medics, etc, that will be abble to use to every program in the world that already exists for XP... with minimal configuration...

meanwhile OQO exists for two years and has been a poor selling product, but, it was expensive... we now look for the comodotization of this kind of appliance, with competition and price drops

Man it's uggly!

[Razor @ Mar 9th 2006 8:15AM]

This will kill Apple Fools Day.

[south @ Mar 9th 2006 8:18AM]

I still can't help thinking of that Vaio U-series that tanked not so long ago, even in palmtop-crazed Japan. And even that was far sexier than any of these things.

[Kendall Ananyi @ Mar 9th 2006 9:07AM]

I wonder why people are complalining about the size after all most portable dvd players all have 7" screen. I say 7" is the right size for a portable device. Cos if u have a 3.7" pocekt pc 7" is like a regular monitor to u (in desktop world) and if u have a 5-G video ipod this will seem like a quad screen multiple monitor to u :)and u can download skype and have a large Wi-Voip phone, moreover the on screen keyboard is really trendy and since MS Street and trips '07 is on it, the 7" scereen would display large maps.

I wonder what the batery life is with Wifi and Bluetooth enabled......

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

This will stand or fall on battery life. I am not convinced.

[Tim @ Mar 9th 2006 9:40AM]

It's not a bad device, I just don't think it's quite the mind-blowing concept that MS had people believing it would be. It's just a relaunch of tablet PCs in a form they should have been from the start. MS has been pushing this format for a while, probably because they think they can get everyone on the planet to NEED one, when of course they don't.

[Eric @ Mar 9th 2006 9:57AM]

I'm very interested in one of these. I have a few laptops (17" Widescreen/Heavy, 12.1" very light, and an older 15") and I currently use them all for different things and carry an external HDD to use between them. They basically each have their own OS on their HDD with programs installed on there as well, but all documents, media, etc. is on the external HDD.. This could basically replace my external HDD, my iPod, and probably my light laptop.

Like someone stated earlier, the ability to run full Windows will make this transcend all codecs, from Apple iTunes, to ATRAC, to Divx, to anything you could have a codec for... No more give and take with which media player to get because of which media store you want to shop at, or which is the easier to hack to get it to do what you want..

I'll be first in line for the ASUS one, although I like the Sammy as well.. I'll probably end up waiting for the Vista version though, but as soon as we get more definites, dimensions, price, weight, etc.. I'll be building a mount in my car for this :D :D I currently have a Mac Mini in there with a 7" touch screen, but always have to worry about it when I have to park somewhere shady, or when it's really hot & humid out.. Not to mention all of the crap I had to through to actually get it all to fit in my car.. This sounds like it will be cheaper than buying the Mac Mini, Power Converter (DC to DC), 7" LCD touchscreen, mounting hardware, USB hub, etc. etc. etc. I spent about $1500 in total on this when all was said and done, and more than a few weekends tinkering.. Imagine just getting a mount that this would clip into that would feed from 12V power source, and that's it.. I'd happily spend $1500 on that, at least I wouldn't have to cut my car up again and disassemble the entire interior..

eric

[Eric Chiu @ Mar 9th 2006 10:44AM]

people stop hating the world.

i love umpc... coz i'm student who needs to take notes @ class and im also a pt fotographer that need some basic foto storage/display/editing + GPS device... umpc does all these to me perfectly... 3 hrs batt life might be short.. but hell why not carry more batts coz they aint gonna be that big as ur god darned 17" powerbooks...

apple is now left behind.. with the power of intel and bill, wat steve can do... he'd tried his best bt thats wat apple got...

the actual device will be out Q2, so by that time unless Apple announce sth like UMMac with Intel Core Duo, im goin to grab one of the top models of UMPB...

god i dun care how much it is... i jst want sth small , with a readable screen (PDA?Smartfone = real crap) and have certain processing power....

u ppl jst sxxt up and play ur desktop at home... !

[Aaron @ Mar 9th 2006 11:42AM]

This is not a device customized to my unique problems, i hate it. What a bunch of whiners.

Let's see. More powerful than a PDA, smaller and lighter than a laptop. Able to run full apps. I don't play games, I work on web and MS Office. PERFECT! This is a solution for the mobile computer user. You think The CEO's don't know what consumers want That is odd since they themselves are part of the target market. Most users are not going to frag party and don't need more horsepower, just portability. This might not fit my exact needs but I think it fits a lot of other's.

[carter @ Mar 9th 2006 11:52AM]

Looks nice but touch screen typing = bad.

The 2 key points for me are battery life, and syncing w/ other machines.

FWIW I think this development is totally the wrong direction. We should not be continuing to shrink the PC, but coming up with thin clients and robust connections to central personal servers.

[Wry Cooter @ Mar 9th 2006 12:59PM]

Really can anyone verify if it does or does not have the following features, and how?

GPS? Built in or bluetooth?
Camera?
WiFi?
Use with Pressure Sensitive stylus?
Barcode scanner (for inventory control?)
Media Playback?
How much storage?
Um a tellyphone?

Some of these features could be added via a card slot, if the features can be added, or are built in, without popping the thing into four figure land (hopefully not even approaching that), there might be something to it.

Otherwise Phones and Laptops will crowd it out, because it is too bulky to use as notepad, without having USEFUL notepad functionality as noted.

My PSP still seems more attractive.

[Dignan17 @ Mar 9th 2006 1:02PM]

So what, Samsung thought that the Creative PMC was successful or something? What an ugly design.

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/files/misc/creative-pmc-big.jpg

Basically the only one worth considering is the Asus. I think it would help everyone to put the other two out of their minds because I admit it's impossible to even think of carrying that one by Founder along (who the hell are they anyway?)

[Adam @ Mar 9th 2006 1:21PM]

To me it really comes down to this. The battery life. No matter how good or functional a device is, if it doesn't have the batterylife to get you through what you need it to, it's kind of worthless. I can go get an ultraportable laptop that weighs maybe a pound more, 5 inch bigger screen, just as thin, and battery of 4 hours?

The video iPod might have a smaller screen, but I'd assume it will be able to play atleast one movie?

On a personal level, if it's too big to carry in a pocket, then you've got to have some sort of bag for it when you carry it around. If i've got to carry a bag with me, is this product that much better than just carrying a laptop around with me? No touchscreen interface is going to be good enough to replace a keyboard (at this point atleast).

I can see where this product might find its niche... just like previous Tablet PCs. I don't think this will find mass appeal like MS has been promising however. I think that this is a good product, just nothing revolutionary. If this product had built in GPS and bluetooth, some sort of cellular service capability (EV-DO, UMTS, etc.), and a battery life of 6 or 7 hours with the screen on... everyone would buy one. I realize thats a pipe dream at this point.

As always, battery technology is what's holding back everything else.

[Jonny @ Mar 9th 2006 2:04PM]

If you need a product like this, take a look at the P1500 at FujitsuPC.com. Built by people who have been building these types of devices for 25 years.

The new Origami products are not anymore portable than a 15" notebook in that it doesn't fit into a pocket (unconcious portability) and has to be carried in a bag.

And, without a transflective display, these things are useless outside (despite everyone's fantasy of working on the beach).

[K @ Mar 9th 2006 2:29PM]

Do not really undertsand what the difference betwwen this and a Nokia 770 tablet PC is except for the Apps. In fact I think its typical MS over-design which kills a major requirement (battery life).

I mean will you spend $300 on something that does what you need or $800 on something that does more than you need? The more isn't worth it to me. Now if they can sell it for the same price as a 770 then it will definitely be a winner.

[MacroEQ @ Mar 9th 2006 3:22PM]

I am amazed that these products got made. What market are they aiming this for?

It's too small and not powerful enough to be a laptop. No keyboard or vga adaptor. And it's too big to be a PDA or phone. This niche product will be the biggest flop for Microsoft in recent years and the small pda/phone/camera is where the market will eventually go.

[stern88 @ Mar 9th 2006 11:04PM]

This is comparable to the sony u8g. I own an OQO and am completely satisfied with the small size. 5" screen is fine. Fits in the pocket which is the idea behind portability. Look at this sony u8g that replaced the u50 and u70 - I will stick with the OQO - completely fits my needs. By the way - resolution is the same 800x480. OQO has excellent viewing in direct sunlight.

Sony Vaio U8G $1825.00 USD
Model:
Sony VGN-U8G

Processor:
900MHz Celeron-M
Intel 855 GM

L1/L2 Cache:
64K 2MB CPU

RAM/ Memory Bus:
256MB (512MB Max)

Hard Drive:
20GB

Optical Drive:
None

Floppy Drive:
None

Video Card/RAM:
64MB Shared System Memory

Display/ Resolution:
5" SVGA TFT
800x600, 16 Million Colors
1600x1280, 16 Million Colors (External)

Audio:
PCM 16-Bit

Inputs/ Outputs:
One (1) USB 2.0
One (1) Memory Stick� Slot
One (1) CF Card Slot
One (1) Headphone/Line Out

With Dock attached...
One (1) VGA Port
One (1) RJ-54 Ethernet/LAN Port
One (1) iLink (Firewire)
Four (4) USB 2.0


Wireless Connections:
802.11b/g WiFi

Keyboard:
(Attachable) QWERTY 87, 17mm Pitch, 2mm Keystroke, Trackpoint (Pointing Stick)

Battery:
2.5 Hrs (Standard)
5.5 Hrs (Enhanced)

AC Adaptor:
24 Watt, 100-240V, 50-60Hz

Dimensions:
6.57" x 4.25" x 1.03"
(167 x 108 x 26.4mm)

Weight:
1.21lbs. (0.55kg)

Software:
Windows XP Home

http://www.kemplar.com/sony_u8g.php

[david @ Mar 10th 2006 5:13AM]

The biggest advantage is the price point is coming down. I get a full PC, it's portable and afaik it does come with bluetooth built-in. Some versions have GPS. I love the fact that it has a stand at the back (Sony's U 71 didn't and was about 4x the money). I will use it to run all my apps and HDDs in a home built media center, I can surf when I want to, place video calls. OK, so if the battery power improves even better. I would really appreciate a pcmcia card as well to enable hdspa and other apps. I love the ASUS - with the built in cam. WOW!

[Jeff @ Mar 14th 2006 2:49PM]

Actually the form factor is perfect for light industrial applications. In my case remote warehouse management. Laptops and tablets are too big and iPaqs are too small. This is the perfect size for a fork lift operator or inventory clerk.

[akeja @ Mar 18th 2006 7:59PM]

The Asus is easily the better of the 3.It's sleek and overall good looking!

[Polo @ Mar 21st 2006 2:45PM]

I think it's fantastic and shall be replacing my current kit to be more mobile. I currently use a Dell X1 laptop (12.1" screen, 1.1GHz Pentium M) and to be honest the only difference between what I run at the moment and the new UMPC's is a keyboard. My laptop uses an external CD drive, has a compact flash slot (No PCMCIA) and 2x USB ports. Finally, I use it for Visual Studio.NET applications and watching films etc.

If a keyboard is pretty much the only difference, why on Earth would anyone pay over �1300 for a Dell X1 or Sony Vaio with a 10" screen when you could have a lighter, more compact device for probably half the price. Crazy..

Only bummer, is the battery life - such a shame. It would be a killer device if it had better battery and to be honest it's a shame they didnt do better with the technology. My laptop again only uses an ULV 1.1 GHz CPU (And a larger screen than a UMPC) and gets about 4 hours battery life on average.

I'll be getting one anyway.

[Jay @ Aug 10th 2006 11:15PM]

I hope you guys have heard of the Sony Vaio UX. Much better umpc. thick yes but better overall
tons more features! qwerty and all to boot!