Ok, here we go folks, a UMPC with an
announced price, ready to order. First from the gates is the
TabletKiosk V-700 or rather,
"eo" UMPC v7110. Now, forget what you heard about these pups dropping for around $500 to help position them
between the handheld and laptop market, mkay? This UMPC sportin' a VIA C7 NaNo 1.0GHz processor, XP Tablet PC edition,
30GB disk, 7-inch 800 x 480 TFT touch LCD, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, and 256MB RAM will hit the last week of April for, get
this, $900 freakin' dollars! Now consider for comparison, that you can get a
Dell XPS
M140 laptop which also won't fit in your pocket but has twice the screen size, double the processing power, double
the RAM, and double the disk for $50 bucks less and we just gotta wonder... why TabletKiosk, why? Sure, prices will go
down with time, but that's not exactly the most auspicious start.
[Via
GottaBeMobile]
posted March 28th 2006 9:01AM
"A bit silly, but are you going to walk down the street as easily with an open laptop?"
Huh? I've seen people walking down the street with GPS enabled (or not) PDAs, it did not seem to me that they were begging for a larger device for that purpose actually.
Solution looking for a problem indeed...
"Huh? I've seen people walking down the street with GPS enabled (or not) PDAs, it did not seem to me that they were begging for a larger device for that purpose actually."
You are ignoring my overall point that a 7-inch screen would make such things that can be done on a PDA easier and more enjoyable to view. It would make the GPS easier to view if it were on a larger screen -- think driving a car rather than walking. It would make it so reading a book or watching a movie would be easier to focus on for longer periods of time if they were a bit larger than a PDA screen.
You can read a text file of War and Peace on a tiny cell phone window but, dammit, the screen is just too small. The same book can be read on a PDA and you're getting there but the form factor is not quite good enough when balancing font size and how much is before you at one time.
I've spent a great deal of time dealing with PDAs and various kinds of media and I absolutely love both the portability and the utility of my Dell Axim. But the screen is too small to truly enjoy the media itself -- particularly reading books -- and the UMPC fits the niche between pocketable portability and the relative unwieldiness of a laptop.
Personally I don't care if the UMPC succeeds or not. But the screen size and resolution are an ideal compromise across a great many uses for things I already do both on a PDA and my home machines.
If that 7-inch screen were the entire face of the unit with any obligatory buttons on the side and it were a bit thinner and cheaper and lighter then I think more people would understandably jump on board.
Size factor : agreed. I for one have been dreaming of a larger screen, more powerful PDA for years, and i've had the feeling that my dream was coming true when Sony released the Vaio U "pre UMPC" tablets.
The Vaio U did get a warm welcome form early adopters actually; despite the pretty high price tag.
Now, my point is : the UMPC niche is not as obvious as microsoft and manufacturers execs would like us to believe.
Here's how i feel :
- e-book reader? yeah, well... by the time there's an actual market for e-books (and e-book readers mostly), people will most likely turn to dedicated, cheaper devices with a focus on "readability". E-books reader have existed in Japan for years, now there's pionneering new displays with reading comfort and power consumption in mind. I don't think regular multi-purpose screens will match once e-book has become a reality
- portable GPS (for pedestrians) : i don't see the large screen as an actual selling point. Or if it is, then maybe dedicated (cheaper) products will do the job. If it's not, then i expect to see GPS or other positionning systems growing in PDAs and cellphones (as they already do in Japan)
- portable GPS for cars. Larger screens make perfect sense. Using a GPS PDA in a car already is a reality, and having a larger screen would be nice. However, larger screen for the GPS also means a larger PDA than won't fit in the pocket, there. That's not actually a new market for UMPC, it's a change in user's habit (could happen, could not)
- video viewer : i see more people watching movies on their laptops in transports than on dedicated devices (excepted for a few portable DVDs). If those people are ready to part with their built-in keyboard, power, and everything that make their laptop more than just a video player, then maybe UMPC has a part to play here, if it proves as efficient as a laptop in other uses.
- home uses : i can think of plenty of uses. I would love having such a device at home, actually. There again, for $900, no way. Not even for half the cost actually, and it would not replace my laptop either, i'd only by on top of what i already use for various uses.
Unlike many, i like having a laptop keyboard for stability when browsing the web in bed, for instance. Maybe that's just me!
I really think UMPC is a solution looking for a problem, and i do not think it will change anything in our way of using/seeing computers.
I'm just waiting to be proven wrong, tho, since, as i've said, i liked the idea since the VAIO U came out, and even before. But at second thought, i really think it will take more than just form factor and touch screen to change the way we use computers.
(and i have not even mentionned software yet!)
"- e-book reader? yeah, well... by the time there's an actual market for e-books (and e-book readers mostly), people will most likely turn to dedicated, cheaper devices with a focus on "readability". E-books reader have existed in Japan for years, now there's pionneering new displays with reading comfort and power consumption in mind. I don't think regular multi-purpose screens will match once e-book has become a reality"
E-books have been a reality for myself and many others for a number of years now. For the curious, there are tens of thousands of free public domain e-books at places like Project Gutenberg, and these e-books are simply text files -- tons of classics for the downloading.
The price of the new generation of e-books is going to kill the concept once again as $700 one-trick ponies hit the stage. For a couple hundred more you can get a fully functioning portable computer of some kind albeit with much less battery-charge life. People seem happy to be regularly charging their cell phones which is important to realize all by itself.
Anyway, we're obviously all different in exactly what we want and the market will impose reason on the marketers and the dreamers. That's always fun to watch.
Yup, i'm aware e-books are already a reality for some people, i'm just a little skeptikal UMPC will ever make this tiny niche a mass market. Also, marketting the UMPC as highly suitable for e-books will only appeal to those who already know/read e-books.
As you say, $700 for a dedicated e-book reader is a joke; but then again $900 for a UMPC also is. Competition will be different when prices will drop to $100-200 for e-book readers (and once DRM issues will be overcome) and $300-400 for UMPCs (if this day ever come!).
Anyway, e-book is not the point here...
> Anyway, we're obviously all different in exactly
> what we want and the market will impose reason on
> the marketers and the dreamers. That's always fun to > watch.
It is!
Also, as we're all different in our expectations, maybe that's also why it's so difficult to create a multi purpose product that will suit the masses.
You're right people seem happy to be regularly charging their cell phones. Interesting, i'll think about it... Maybe this has to do with the fact that the cellphone is a social tool and direct human contact is involved.
Well, i'd be even happier to charge it less regularly, by the way. But the thing is, i'm totally unhappy to have to charge my MP3 player regularly (and i would hate it if my cellphone doubled as my MP3 player)
But we're leaving UMPC talks here...
(hm, now that i think of it, i can think of many possible reasons why people charge their cellphone more happily than other chargeable devices... thanks for mentionning, this will keep me awake for a while! :D )
I love the idea of the UMPC. Either for PC or even if MAC decides to put one on the market. Within the next few generations of this, I do see more people getting into without a doubt. Now realistically the price is high for this type of machine to hit a wide market, but if you look at the Palm Lifedrive and its pricetag, you have to wonder if $500 for a mini tablet PC is too low a price.
To compare this thing to an Ipod or a PDA or a phone or a blackberry, that I have heard some people do, is not valid. Ipod for the most part serves one fucntion, now two if you count video, but I'm not going to pay extra to watch a small screen of movies on a device with poor battery life (I do own an Ipod nano though). Now comparing it to a laptop is also a hard sell, this is something more portable so that you don't have to walk around with your laptop open or a larger tablet PC in hand. It is meant for ease of use. Now that being said, it's size is an enigma. And this will play a huge role in how consumers decide if they want this or not. Do you get a PDA, small, compact, full of things you need, fits in your pocket, can double as a phone and music player, as well as video and pictures and is "unobtrusive". They don't get in the way. This thing no matter where you go, what you do, you need something to carry it in. IT will never replace the phone, or the Ipod, and unless the specs get better, the PSP, or Nintendo DS. If consumers want bigger screens, get a laptop. If they want smaller and easy to grab and leave the house without the hassle of a billion things, get the Palm PDA's. This is missing the mark right now. They should have done all this to a device the size of the LifeDrive or the blackberry etc. Increase the screensize if necessary (3.5" to 4" is enough for a mobile device.)
Needless to say, when the 4th or 5th gen are out and the price is down and the bugs fixed, I will buy one for those occasions when I decide to pull out the manpurse and lug this thing around.
Say what you like about the people who won't buy for more than $500 and are criticizing the price.
They are the MARKET.
You can't dictate to the market what the price will be, you can ask and see if they bid.
Looks like they're not bidding.
Why?
They don't see VALUE.
That's what it's all about.
Personally I would absolutely buy one of these devices and I am very interested. But my personal bid is no more than $700. I WILL NOT pay $900 or $1100 for one of these devices and I don't give a damn about the poor shareholders of samsung and asus who can't find a way to reduce the price to where I will buy it and evil ungrateful me asking them to sell for below cost.
Produce it for the price at which the market will bear. Do not do that and you will struggle to sell them. That's how markets work.
Next flop please.
I'm an auto technician looking for a PC smaller than a laptop (with no lid/screen) to run a windows based diagnostic program and come with a fairly high resolution display. Is this the answer or do I wait for the next great innovation?
Interesting, I checked out these on my own and I noticed that it is a very good idea, those naysayers who complain of "no gaming" and "not enough power" don't seem to have considered all the options.
1. It is running full XP, Tablet XP.
2. It is fully ready for retro-gaming, or emulation gaming, a PSX or N64 emulator, SNES, Genesis, etc.
3. It needs to be @1Ghz for power savings, I would even like to be able to clock it slower, many programs run fine at 533mhz.
4. If you follow the VIA Mini-ITX you will see that this is basically a Pico-ITX with the latest generation of the VIA processor, with a full-speed FPU(finally) and a power draw of a ridiculous 3.5watt max. (see how your precious Celeron/Centrino stacks up, naysayers please have facts at your disposal)
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/v-series/vx700/
5. I have of late been subjected to a 800mhz Duron on an nForce2 IGP, at 256MB of ram, it performs flawlessly in XP, I have no doubt that this handheld will best it in performance.
6. The Video is called a 200mhz, 128-bit data paths, 3D engine with AGP8x bandwidth, I suggest we give it a try on some retro games.
7. I want one, it is a product thats time has come.
I love the idea of UMPC's. I have an HP hx4705 PDA. King of the hill of PDA's w/ a 4" VGA screen. It cost me over $600 brand new, and it was worth every penny over the cheaper competition w/ smaller 3"-3.5" QVGA screens. Many of my colleagues own the same device and completely feel the same way. Now I don't know what PDA fits into a guys pocket, or who would want to put an expensive PDA in their pocket, as mine goes in my briefcase, one of wife's big purses, or if I'm feeling really adventurous on my waist w/ belt clip (it really weighs down the pants, though). I am also one of the MANY who have plunked down another $130 to have the memory upgraded to 128MB of RAM from 64MB.
Would I pay a couple hundred more to move to 7" higher res screen, with nearly full pc funtionality? Heck Yeh!!! The PDA has not completely replaced my notebook, so I still carry a notebook and PDA together when on business, and on vacation. Its seems the UMPC could replace both at only 1.7 lbs. BTW the new Tabletkiosk models will be 22% smaller. Most of the negative comments about the UMPC seems to be from kids with little spending money. At this time, these are VERY GOOD price points.
Since PDA's are going the convergence devices route, there are little options for those who want a large screen, with good functionality (the new convergence devices have neither compared to the hx4705). The UMPC seems the next logical step up, then.
The author of this article most certainly does not have a journalism degree, and it reads very much like he is one of those kids with the little spending money, and would rather have a PSP to play his video games. Its amazing anyone would compare this to a laptop, when its 1/4 the weight and 1/4 the size. People were willing to spend $300 on a really thin RAZR when they first came out, though for $0.01 they could get a larger phone with the same features. People PAY for size, period.