Meet the second generation of UMPCs, shoulda been 1st

When the UMPC platform was launched at Intel's 2005 IDF we were teased with a $500 or less device on the WWAN running on ultra-low powered chips capable of either 8-hours off battery or putting Vista to sleep for up to a week. Well, we all know how the Vista-less first gen launch went, right? Pictured above are Intel's reference designs for the 2nd generation UMPCs on display at IDF in San Francisco. Scheduled to launch sometime between the end of the year and mid-2007, the new breed of mobile PCs require 1/2 the power at 1/4 the size of the first generation and won't be using Intel's Core 2 Duos according to Intel. Instead, TG Daily speculates that the new devices will use an ultra-low voltage Core Solo with 1 MB of L2 cache. Included in the mix is a Yahoo-branded UMPC which was demonstrated running a version of Yahoo! Go for UMPC. While we're not willing to suffer an Origami v2 campaign, we'll happily welcome such a device into the fold if it can deliver this time. Still we wonder, was it the initial choice of hardware and software which caused a general lack of acceptance in the market, or did the market for a device both bigger than your pocket yet smaller than a laptop simply never exist in the first place? We'll see in 2007.

[Via Impress]

[Gr1zz @ Sep 29th 2006 8:05AM]

THAT looks like the origional oragami! A lot of people will warm up to a real keyboard i bet.

[Nick @ Sep 29th 2006 8:32AM]

This launch will go better than the last one but I would like to see them stick with the sub $500 price range. I dont think it will happen that way. All the producers of the last umpc's need to recoop develpment costs for the first gen flop.

[Chris @ Sep 29th 2006 8:49AM]

Well, I doubt they will be doing any recouping if they jack those prices up too far above $500.

[Stop wingeing @ Sep 29th 2006 9:05AM]

As an actual owner of one these devices I can say that I'm more than happy with it. The only downsides are the battery life and the fact that it's unusable outside on a bright day.

Do I miss a keyboard? No. I also have a convertible tablet PC and haven't used the keyboard for months. And I do a lot of writing.

[Alphamale @ Oct 4th 2006 3:33AM]

"Do I miss a keyboard? No. I also have a convertible tablet PC and haven't used the keyboard for months. And I do a lot of writing."

I call BS.

[cobalt @ Sep 29th 2006 9:10AM]

I followed the Origami announcements and the first UMPC releases with a lot of interest.

The hardware elements were clearly almost there but not quite. Almost every component was just a little off from where you wanted it to be.

The software on the other hand didn't get much thought. Every piece of software for touchscreen has basically been optimized for stylus, not touch. Windows Mobile phones are a good example of this. Dialkeys is not an adequate substitute for even a simple thumbpad. The reason everyone complained about the lack of keyboard on the 1st gen UMPCs is because it is a computer, not a mobile device. Finally, if the device is meant to be mobile in general, the UI has to represent that fact, and not just the main application launcher, but every piece of software that provides useful mobile functions. There is a reason why Streetdeck is the most applicable software set for UMPCs, and that's because it wsa built from the ground up around in-car use. Windows OS on its own does not have what it takes to deal with a small high resolution touchscreen.

IMO, the UMPC needs to be more of a lifestyle device to succeed than just a smaller computer, with or without a keyboard device. In order to be usable in multiple contexts, it needs to be optimized for at least one context. Some poeple want what represents simply a smaller computer, but not most people. That's where the initial UMPC release failed: a lack of vision and hard work to realize the implied concept. Maybe MS was not so keen on the first gen UMPCs but went ahead with it anyway. Or maybe they devoted very few resources to it to start off, while busy working things out in Vista, including support for these small-screen mobile PCs. Maybe Intel wanted to push ahead to break in the consumers to the general idea, just as they are doing with Viiv, even though no one really understands what it might be good for over another PC.

In order for the UMPC to succeed, they need to work on integrated applications, speed, and responsiveness. They need to focus on the non CPU components more than they realize, which means the costs will be higher. No matter how fast the CPU is or how much RAM, a 1.8" HDD will only be so fast, while a 2.5" HDD will be larger and possibly create more heat and increase the power requirements, which are already thinly stretched. And they need to focus on actual usage scenarios to understand what software and hardware is required. I don't think they did enough work on this initially, although what I see here looks promising.

[C. Galtenberg @ Sep 29th 2006 9:21AM]

The orange folding UMPC reminds me a lot of the picturebook, maybe the most perfect laptop ever:
http://www.reviewsonline.com/images/pma00/Sony-Picturebook.jpg

Would love to see Sony take another shot at this - tho I have to admit that their T series more truly hit the sweet spot of laptop ultraportable bliss. There may be no room between that and the Nokia E70 form factor for wide market acceptance of a portable "computer":
http://www.thaimobilecenter.com/images/products/nokia_e70_b.jpg

[Matthew Boyd @ Sep 29th 2006 9:26AM]

For me, it's all about the price. I can't justify buying something past $500 that's neither as small as a pda nor as powerful as a desktop or laptop. I know that's asking a lot for the money, but I'm willing to sacrifice on processing power as long as it still retains a full OS such as Windows XP. The Windows Mobile OS is just too limited for me to purchase a PDA and to be able to carry around all of my windows applications on something this small would be awesome, even if it were a bit sluggish for some things.
I don't think XP is a terrible operating system. It's definitely (an arguably) the best Windows OS yet. It would be nice to see it get another life converted to a mobile PC OS.

[cobalt @ Sep 29th 2006 9:28AM]

One last thought: multitasking is critical to a mobile, multi-purpose device. Again, if you look at Windows Mobile PDA-phones, you can see this issue come out. The OS does not provide a real close application function, the application is simply moved to the background, where you can't see it. However, users know that the more you optimize the phone to your own particular way of using it, through 3rd party applications, etc., you can run out of system resources and need to kill certain applications. So software to address this issue was first released in the freeware community, then it was integrated by 3rd party software companies. The OS (Windows Mobile) has gone through at least two version updates and has still not addressed the issue. At the same time, system components have been gradually improving, increasing the number of applications you can run, minus the effect of applications growing in size and system requirements.

My point here is that someone needs to address serious multitasking. The above example is one in which neither the OS nor the hardware design addresses the needs of multitasking sufficiently, and presumably neither is willing to or capable of taking the matter in hand. The 2nd gen UMPCs may use single core CPUs for battery life reasons, or cost, or both, but IMO, multi-core is the way to go, along with hardware support for both decoding and encoding multimedia data, faster data access, elimination of non-moving electronics, and enchanced tactility.

[Keith @ Sep 29th 2006 5:11PM]

Cobalt,

I agree with some of your comments, but have to disagree with a few. You've got good points on application use in current Windows Mobile. As far as needing a dual core cpu to handle multi-tasking I think it's better to with the core solo (single core). The UMPC is a great car pc. It can handle, navigation, multi-media and hadsfree support (i.e. phone, etc). I've been using the dell aximx51v in the car for all these features (except handsfree phone). The dell does suffer from resouces usage when all these apps are running but it does work. I think that's more of a memory issue. I don;t think it's a cpu resource problem. The one UMPC application has to be in the car. With the use of StreetDeck and a handsfree phone application, all you need to add is voice recognition and you've got a great portable appliance.

UMPC's can be used as a killer app for the car pc. You've got all the tools, Streetdeck, phone control and Voice Command (Media Center Communicator).

If dual cores can improve performance without a significant penalty in power usage, ok. otherwise, 5 hours battery life needs to become the norm.

Also,
Samsung SSD1, Didn't think flash access times would make such a difference. Anyways bring that flash price down and you've got my money. I'll pay $1100 for a 32Gbyte Flash Samsung Q1. Come on.....

[alech @ Sep 29th 2006 10:11AM]

anyone knows whats the orange folding UMPC model?
It looks interesting...

[rotten_fruit_fan @ Sep 29th 2006 10:30AM]

The orange is just the latest iteration of the Ruby concept. Intel has been shown a version of this concept for years now.

In my opinion this current batch wasn't half bad. The price sucked but I got one anyway because I know it's gonna be a while until we see some noticeable improvements.

About the article, this one is still not going to fit in your pocket, so journalists should stop drinking the haterade. If the Q1 was branded by Apple it wouldn't get so many negative reviews.

[Sam @ Sep 30th 2006 11:41PM]

So they thing is, Apple would never make something like the Q1. They would simply do it better. The device would have been simpler, smaller and much more intuitive.

[Oddmanout @ Sep 29th 2006 10:39AM]

Hahahahaha-HA! I SEE KEYBOARDS!!!!

The previous poster was right...if these devices are in any way designedto accomplish anything more than entertainment functions, it needs a keyboard.

I always thought it was silly that the UMPCs thus far didn't have Nexio style KBs at launch. Even the PepperPad tries to give you some hardware offering.

As for multi-tasking...yeah. I've got to say, I'm remarkable disapointed with the evolution of Windows Mobile on that front. My ancient 6 year old intermec 6651 multitasks and browses the web remarkably well even with it's prehistoric Mips cpu. My Ipaq 2215 isn't half bad, but I've just been plain disapointed in my Axim x50v. And it's got the most guts of all...

And yeah, I miss alt+tab and task manager. Supertasks works well for anyone interested, and at ~$15 it's a pretty good value.

These prototypes/mockups look interesting. I usually wear cargo pants (no...I'm not fashion concious) and a scottevest is in my future, so if these really are the new face of the UMPC...

BRING IT ON!!!

[psatish @ Sep 29th 2006 10:49AM]

If it's under a 1000, sign me up.

[Peter D @ Sep 29th 2006 11:23AM]

Get me some GPS and Solid State Memory (in place of HDD) and I'm sold.

Don't think that will be happening anytime too soon though, at least not under $1000.

[Steve Ross @ Sep 29th 2006 12:04PM]

The orange device looks a like like the OLPC pull string computer.

[irus @ Sep 29th 2006 1:16PM]

Well if we have learned anything from history, these $500 devices aren't going to be out until the end of 07 but if any of you big wigs from oqo or intel are reading this i would just like to say I don't care about price i would happly pay $2000 for a device that has the following: AGPS, Bluetooth 2.0+edr, WiFi a/b/g, HSDPA, built in keyboard, and most important at least 5hr battery life. Oh i would also pay a little extra for a 16GB SSD :)and please no bigger than a 4.5" screen, I would like to carry this thing around with me. Thanks

[mark @ Sep 29th 2006 5:05PM]

So these don't even exist, right?

[dmcohen @ Sep 29th 2006 10:26PM]

as an owner, user and fan of the first generation I just don't get the on-going trashing of the hardware. It is a great size and with the new pentiums and an extended battery it is a fantastic device.

[c.Lake @ Sep 30th 2006 12:20PM]

It NOT the lack of keyboard, it's not the SIZE. It's the price tag!!! Don't say something's going to be $500 dollars, and then jack the price up to $1500. All that does is PISS ME OFF. Completely ignore the product, taking my money elsewhere.

Manufacture some common sense? Cell phones are around $500, and laptops are $1300. Why in the hell would I buy a NEW and untested device, for $1800 (or more) that has a battery life of a teenage with A.D.D? Answer? I wouldn�t.

[minimage @ Sep 30th 2006 4:28PM]

I've been saving for my UMPC since spring. I'm just waiting for the right pieces to fit into the puzzle, and this is encouraging.

[Intrepid @ Oct 1st 2006 9:30AM]

Shutup. Enough with your I love Steve Jobs rubbish.

[steve8 @ Oct 1st 2006 12:54AM]

i dont think id ever buy one of these regardless of the price....


i dont see any circumstance where carrying one of these umpc's around is any less of a chore than my 2.8lb 12" laptop... and they all seem less functional/desirable with cramped screens and keyboards... yet are still far too big to fit into a pocket

[BB Caspian @ Oct 3rd 2006 4:21AM]

The price is too steep for the product to be competetive. Should be cheap and I'm hook. Saw the Sony UMPC and heck is it expensive and with 2hours of batterylife...why should I buy it....I got a sony picturebook and it works fine...the only complaint is the short 2hours batterylife...

Give me a cheap, thinner, tablet-version, with phone 3G connection, wifi, bluetooth, and keyboard...I'll buy! Make sure less $500-$600.

Thank you.

[gene_technics @ Oct 7th 2006 4:02AM]

I like the definition of a computer from Collins English Dictionary - "a device, usually electronic, that processes data according to a set of instructions. The digital computer stores data in discrete units and performs arithmetical and logical operations at very high speed. The analog computer has no memory and is slower than the digital computer but has a continuous rather than a discrete input. The hybrid computer combines some of the advantages of digital and analog computers"

It reminds me of a continuous typing on a standard keyboard vs. discrete typing with thumbs on mobile devices. So the answer is to make it continuous - Cell Computer Project - http://geocities.com/gene_technics

[John Ashby @ Oct 8th 2006 2:13PM]

I really liked the Samsung Q1, thinking of it as a natural for PowerPoint delivery, only to find it's native VGA output resolution was incompatible with most projection modes. You could force XGA, but it was so cumbersome as to be useless for the application.

Wonder if the new line gets standard XGA or WXGA?

[Tim @ Oct 9th 2006 1:01PM]

I'd sure buy one if it cost less than a laptop and was *actually* useful and useable. For me, a laptop is often too bulky (and ultra-small ones are too expensive), while my PDA offers limited functionality, despite its convenient size. So hopefully, the UMPC platform will clean up its act...so Engadget can give one away and I can win it. :)

[mattcc42 @ Oct 9th 2006 9:42PM]

am i the only one who thinks these are just smaller crappier cheaper laptops?

[jesse calderon @ Oct 20th 2006 8:22PM]

To paraphrase James Carville... It's the pricing stupid! I would absolutely love to have a hand-held device to browse the web with a 7-9 inch screen. The Q1 looks like an amazing device, but I'm not going to pay close to $1500 with all the accessories. If they drop the Q1 price to $500 I would buy it in a heartbeat.

[Aura Mae @ Nov 9th 2006 1:11PM]

I have a high-end pocket PC ($800) and a little Sony Vaio sub-notebook (not the new tiny tiny one, $2000).

$1000 is not an unreasonable price if it also a damn phone! Why do they (manufacturers, Microsoft?) not get that for it to be ULTRA MOBILE it needs a cellular connection. I don't know about you, but I don't have wi-fi in my car.

[I, Robot @ Dec 17th 2006 4:14PM]

It's about freaking TIME! I've already moved on to something else. They better show something GOOD! Or I'm continuing with my pda/cellphone plans.

[seb @ Jan 12th 2007 5:55PM]

i hope the orange one isnt more than $1900
if less tell me where i can get this

[davidrhoskin @ Oct 10th 2007 12:07AM]

nokia N800

nseries.com/n800

$399