USI wastes some plastic on MID-150 and MID-200

Just what we needed, another couple of me-too MIDs dropped into the world without a purpose. USI is naturally putting some fine tech in these devices, like a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, up to 8GB of SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, 512MB of RAM and a 1.2GHz Intel Atom processor, but given the lack of proof that an MID is even what consumers want at the moment, we're having a hard time getting excited about these particular MIDs. The main claim to fame of the MID-200 (keyboard) and MID-150 (no keyboard) is a PCI-express slot for adding 3G or GPS, but the existing four hour battery life is certainly going to strain under the load of any additions. No word on price or a release date just yet.

[Via thegadgetsite; thanks KC Kim]

[BigDaddyM @ Apr 10th 2008 11:48AM]

The screen to size ratio is the biggest concern. If I am carring a device that big I want the screen to be the main feature.
M

[Zeke @ Apr 10th 2008 11:54AM]

Can anybody actually tell me what FONT this refreshed engadget is using? the Right click -> view source didn't work

[Zeus.:God @ Apr 10th 2008 11:56AM]

Why the Hell does it matter?

[Ellianth @ Apr 10th 2008 12:06PM]

Who cares what font it is. I want back the old Engadget. The new layout looks like a mess of information. The text spreads all across the screen so you have to read all the way to the right. Then when you get over to the right you have that distracting little "features" thing.

Change the features thing to one of those carousel things where there are numbers and arrows. LET US MOVE THE CAROSEL if we wish, having it move on it's own is very distracting, especially if the article runs all the way over to the right.

The banner at the top is about the only thing I like about the new layout. Also there is WAY too much white on here. My eyes are gonna burn when I'm doing my late night Engadget reading.

Conclusion: Don't make the layout take up 100% of the screen, squish it in a bit, leave some white space on the edge. The way you have it now makes things hard to read. Stop auto-rotating that carousel, it's annoying as hell!

Btw, where did all the ads go? Either adblock got a lot better (never used to let it block engadget anyway) or you guys forgot to add them when you were putting up that little demon carousel.

[tks @ Apr 10th 2008 12:12PM]

So try to follow me here... I copied some text and pasted it into MSWord.

Evidently, it's size 10 Verdana.

I know, I know, it's amazing how I figured it out, but I'm not one to brag about my methods...

Maybe they should try to stick with making a PDA with a bigger touchscreen on it... at least those had a battery life greater than 4 hours...

[Doc @ Apr 10th 2008 12:22PM]

The new layout rocks. It loads much much faster, doesn't strain a cpu as much and the layout is what's called liquid layout which means it uses all of the space your browser window makes available. If you don't like it, resize your browser window to a size that's reasonable.

Also, boohoo on your late night browsing habits, how about getting some sleep instead so that you're not quite so whingey and susceptible to the page colour that the most websites use.

[Ellianth @ Apr 10th 2008 12:30PM]

And if I like to have my browser window maximized?

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 10th 2008 12:35PM]

Then I guess we're going to have to put up with your complaining.

BTW Ellianth, did you check out that nifty carousel feature?

[Doc @ Apr 10th 2008 12:37PM]

Then you have user stylesheets which you can change if you care that much.

Where's the big problem with resizing your browser anyway? I only use mine on fullscreen at work on the crappy crt they gave me (it's a startup). At home I run it windowed so I can have im, irc, a terminal *and* a browser all easily visible.

[Ellianth @ Apr 10th 2008 1:02PM]

The problem with full screen. I don't know. On some operating systems i can't stand to have my browser set as full screen. But on windows i can't stand to have it otherwise. Anyway no one will have to put up with complaining. Just that one time :p.

[John Stracke @ Apr 10th 2008 3:12PM]

It's in the style sheet, which is at

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/theme.css

[Tizo @ Apr 10th 2008 3:45PM]

This new layout is creating havoc on my old nokia 770, now I'll have to read Gizmodo while on the crapper...

[dennis @ Apr 10th 2008 11:56AM]

Whatever drives down the price is fine by me.

[zeke @ Apr 10th 2008 12:14PM]

ZEUZ:GOD
"why the HELL does it matter?"
geez...take a chill pill dude...
where u beaten up as a child? or what?

it matters cause I want to use the same font..
looks so clean and easy to read

[Chad @ Apr 10th 2008 2:37PM]

did you forget how to use the reply button?

[chris @ Apr 10th 2008 1:16PM]

These things look bad - If they've got no wow factor now they'll end up on an e-wast tip in China in no time at all. like this one perhaps... (china e-waste article) - they may as well send them straight there in the box.

http://www.trade2save.com/blog/2008/04/08/a-mountain-of-waste

[Doc @ Apr 10th 2008 1:43PM]

nice spam numb nuts

[chris @ Apr 10th 2008 2:03PM]

thanks doc - I just felt my nuts and they're fine - now be green and go buy something pre-owned - like yo mamma!

[Doc @ Apr 10th 2008 2:40PM]

how about not buying things? what's greener than that? No manufacturing, no packaging, no shipping, no waste. You'd do better to promote people spending their money wisely than spending it on 'green' products.

[chris @ Apr 10th 2008 2:51PM]

I agree buying nothing is better. Buy second hand is the next best thing because you save an extra product being made/shipped etc (via lowering demand). The product you trade-in gets bought by someone else too. Save money. save waste. Mamma jibe taken back with sincere apology.

[Camperton @ Apr 10th 2008 1:56PM]

What the hell is an MID?

Seriously.

[kale @ Apr 10th 2008 2:36PM]

Dude, I'm with you. And I consider myself at the very least and informed person, if not quite a nerd.

[Chad @ Apr 10th 2008 2:40PM]

MID = Mobile Internet Device

[kale @ Apr 10th 2008 2:37PM]

Oh great. Yeah, anD informed person. Wonderful. Guess I'm just stuepid.

[Chad @ Apr 10th 2008 2:37PM]

Why do you have to be so harsh, Engadget? I have a MID - a Nokia N800 to be exact, and I love it. I take it (and a fold out BlueTooth Keyboard) with me where ever I might need to get some work done. And that's instead of taking my MacBook.

As I read elsewhere online, there is now a two laptop minimum. One desktop replacement, power notebook with a bigger screen, and one ultra portable. In my case, that's my MacBook and my N800.

Most computers now are just over priced over powered thin clients for the web anyway. The MID is the new laptop. And the laptop is the new desktop.

[john @ Apr 10th 2008 3:03PM]

I have an N800 and an N810. They're not MIDs. MIDs are a specific definition put forward by Intel, not a general organically evolved market category. Part of that definition includes an intel CPU. The Nokias don't have that.

[John Stracke @ Apr 10th 2008 3:16PM]

@john: If you come up with a generic term for what people are already building, you don't get to say, "Oh, but, to be called this, it has to have our CPU in it!".

Or, well, I suppose you do, but we don't have to listen.

[Chad @ Apr 10th 2008 3:37PM]

I'm with John Stracke - if you have a better term to use that would include Intel Approved MIDs and Nokia N-Series "Internet Tablets" and other similar devices, I'll be glad to use it. In the meantime, the MIDs I refer to in my comment obviously include all of the above.

My point was, as has already been mentioned in other comments to this post - "Whatever drives the price down is fine by me". Also, whatever drives innovation up, selection up, options up, manufactoring costs down, customer knowledge up, etc. is fine by me.

Competition always profits the consumer - of which I number myself - currently, brand new models of these MIDs or UMPCs or whateever, start at $500 and go up from there. For $500, I could get a pretty decent new laptop. (I bought by N800 used for less than $200 - but it had already been replaced by the N810.) I think that the more companies that design and sell these things, whatever they are called, the lower the price will go, and the more likely the market for them will expand. I mean, if I could get a N810-like device for $150 - it might stop me from buying a $650 Dell laptop.

Sure, the [INSERT-INTEL-APPROVED-ACRONYM-HERE] might not be as powerful as the laptop, but it's much more mobile, and can do 95% of what I want a laptop to do - email, surf, chat, pictures, casual games, podcasting, blogging, youtube, music, videos, e-books, etc..

Someone on digg wrote that most laptops, and computers in general, have become over priced, over powered thin clients for the Internet - and that's pretty much the case. So, some sort of mobile device that can do the Internet in a full-featured way - not some cell-phone version of the Internet [Oh wait, "Mobile phone" since "Cell phone" refers to a specific "Cellular" technology that no all phones use - excuse me.] but the real, AJAX and Flash powered Web 2.0 Internet that we all know and both love and hate [Much like my non-Intel Nokia N800 does], then *that* device could replace most peoples computers.

What I'd really like to see added to these things is video out - either through some sort of docking station or a built-in port. That's what my N800 is missing. I have the keyboard covered. And with the SD slots, storage is not an issue. I can have as much storage as I can afford. Video out at at-least 1024 x 768 would make this thing indispensable.

[john @ Apr 10th 2008 3:01PM]

I like the overall design ... but I too think more of the face should be taken up by a slightly bigger screen.

The other thing I'd like to see: tilt screen.

I really DO like the Express-Card slot though (but, that's not PCI-Express is it? I thought PCI-Express was slightly different?) ... hopefully they'll have double-size-battery accessories like some cell phones ;-)

Are these going to run ubuntu mobile, like the other MIDs?

[John Stracke @ Apr 10th 2008 3:25PM]

ExpressCard is the successor to CardBus. Where CardBus speaks PCI, ExpressCard speaks PCIe...and also USB 2.0. An ExpressCard slot has to support both PCIe and USB 2.0; an ExpressCard card can speak either.

PCIe allows for some fancy use cases (e.g., third-party docking stations for laptops), but most cards seem to use the USB interface. (Have you noticed that most of the 3G adapters for laptops get released as USB and ExpressCard at the same time? That's why: the manufacturer can produce just one version of the guts, and just put it in two different cases.)

[Azazel @ Apr 10th 2008 4:51PM]

I'm beginning to hate engadget, their writers are so horrible, it is not the writer's place to pass judgment on products, only to discuss pros and cons. The consumers are the ones who should be the judge. This is just one of several articles that I have read where the needlessly bash products that aren't even out yet.

[FRZ @ Apr 18th 2008 1:11PM]

Yeah, I see where they totally trashed talk the products but, I agree with oversize plastics all around it though. These things look huge compare to their screen sized, (4.8"), and probably wouldn't fit into my pockets like I want a MID to.

[sinjinn @ Apr 11th 2008 12:52AM]

these are good