Microsoft already planning "Vistagami" UMPCs

If you had as much fun as we did with Microsoft's Origami teaser campaign, then you'll probably be excited to learn that we may be in store for another one next year, as the software manufacturer is already working towards the next generation of Vista-powered UMPCs. It'll be a little harder to keep us guessing this time around, however, as once we start seeing ads for the "Vistagami" -- which is the project's awkward internal codename -- we'll have a pretty good idea that Microsoft and friends are trying to loose yet another mini-TabletPC on the world. Like so many other products we've covered, the new devices are scheduled to be released at the same unknown time as Vista, and by necessity, will sport either the Home Premium, Ultimate, or business versions of the oft-delayed OS. Oh, and if you were curious as to Microsoft's thoughts on the hefty cost of picking up a current-gen UMPC, the company's Mika Krammer openly admitted that Redmond was disappointed, saying that "we would have liked to have seen a lower price point." Hey, us too!

[Bill @ May 24th 2006 4:40PM]

heeey....that looks photoshopped!

[jilly @ May 24th 2006 4:46PM]

ohh my god it does!!!! lol
isnt this getting alittle farther than they should be worrying about? we arent even certain the first gen upmc platform is crashed yet...

[Justin @ May 24th 2006 4:50PM]

at least the machine will look sexy when it crashes.

[cracka @ May 24th 2006 5:07PM]

looks like a game gear. will probably be as popular as the game gear as well. can i play sonic on it?

[Josh Warner @ May 24th 2006 5:16PM]

I do NOT want Vista anywhere near a portable, unless it's crippled to the level of XP or below. Why, you may ask? Let's see...

1. Battery life. Mobiles already run down too quick due to too many eye candy features. Vista only adds to the life-sucking unnecessary eye candy, and given how they have been toting these things as "Media-centric" you know it's going to have a lot of graphics baggage.

2. Price. To run Vista well on these things, they're going to have to have more powerful components than the current ones do (which BARELY meet Vista's minimums on CPU, RAM, and hard drive) and will almost be required to start including a GPU instead of integrated crap. Obviously this will jack the price, and will also make my #1 reason even worse - I'm thinking 1 hour/charge would be GOOD.

3. Crippled. IF they got all that stuff crammed into the case and cheap enough, it would be cool to have Hi-Def outs on the thing so it could be a forward-compatible media source. Unfortunately, MS caved to Hollywood, and any HD content would be downsampled to standard def (if you're lucky) or not displayed at all.

4. Encrypted, proprietary content. I will accept no DRM in things I _BUY_ and _OWN_. For those who do, this should still be a concern - DRM schemes keep getting more complex to stay ahead of the crackers in a sort of arms race. This means that they're harder to DEcrypt to play as well, and consequently will use more of your CPU/GPU to play them back. Which, again, makes the battery life even shorter

I could go on, but why? Vista on a portable device is unnecessary (if none of the features are used, why not XP?) or really bad ($$$ and battery life of crap).

[daschupa @ May 24th 2006 5:17PM]

Hmm, well, with the increased specs needed, maybe it will actually be worth the price. That means a fast cpu, a lot of memory and a fast graphics card.

[R @ May 24th 2006 5:24PM]

I bought a Samsung Q1 on the first day of availability and the detractors are completely and utterly wrong, the thing is the perfect traveling PC and the ability to all the media stuff is icing on the cake.

Could the bettery life be better? Certainly. I get maybe 2.5 to 3 hours at best, but then other than a flight I am rarely away from an outlet for that long.

MS did an excellent job with the applications and settings for XP Tablet to make the use of the OS on a small screen better. Movies look great on this thing.

Did I pay about 20-25% too much for it? Probably...but $1100 is just not that much money to me.

This thing will not be heading for my "tech retirement closet" anytime soon. Very useful and entertaining product.

[Mike Ishi @ May 24th 2006 5:28PM]

So they want us to purchas $900+ Origami PCs which will be outdated in only a year?

How stupid.

[Larry Ge @ May 24th 2006 5:33PM]

sure, they will get vista on a UMPC, that is if it ever gets out=)

[Bill @ May 24th 2006 6:17PM]

but $1100 is just not that much money to me.


Well it is for most of us

[Sean @ May 24th 2006 6:17PM]

By the time Vista comes out, the UMPC will fit into a case the size of my thumbnail and plug directly into my optic lobe.

[Andrew de Ridder @ May 24th 2006 6:35PM]

Vista on a umpc? Will they have to up the umpc specs to cope with all that pointless GUI? *note to umpc manufactures: be prepared to stick a t least a 512mb GPU in there*

[bliss @ May 24th 2006 6:51PM]

well, here we go again...another viscious cycle of soon-to-be outdated devices!

[3rdsun @ May 24th 2006 8:41PM]

"we would have liked to have seen a lower price point."
I would like to see a lower price on all Microsoft products as well. is this asking too much

[K1ller 1nst1nct @ Aug 9th 2006 10:35PM]

If they want people to buy these they need to go with a lower price. Just give us XP with 256mb ram and 20gb hdd.

Tablet PCs cost about the same as some of these devices. And the Nokia 770 is only $350 (although its running Linux and rather weak on hardware).