News Week of May 18, 2008

Official: Rogers Wireless Announces Addition of HTC Shift

Is it just me or has Rogers Wireless suddenly gone decidedly high-end with its cell phone offerings? Going even further upscale, Rogers Wireless has announced that it will be carrying the ultrapowerful and ultraportable HTC Shift UMPC. It's not exactly a cell phone, but it does have a cellular connection on board for voice calls and data purposes.  (Source: Michael Kwan, Mobile Magazine)
Posted Friday, May 23, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: 3 (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

Five reasons why an Apple tablet makes sense now

About one year ago, we said that the UMPC essentially is dead (at least in mass-market terms) and suggested that someone should ask Apple to help design such a device.

We still think the idea of the UMPC is actually great. But the category needs fresh ideas and an all-in-one design including software to make it work and show that it isn’t the niche product we are seeing today. We believe that that Apple can re-think tablets and deliver a mass-market feature set. Apple has fixed product categories before (iPod?) and this category, in our opinion, makes too much sense to watch it die. Here is why.    (Source: Christian Zibreg, TGDaily)
Posted Friday, May 23, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: 4 (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

Toshiba M700-110 review

Since the Tablet PC (with a capital ‘T’) appeared in 2002, we’ve seen various ‘slate’ models come and go - but perhaps the more interesting version is the ‘convertible’, which can serve as a regular laptop or as a tablet PC. The Toshiba M700-110 is just such a beast, a well-specified tablet laptop that is relatively low in weight, powerful for business tasks and possessing good battery life.

With the Toshiba M700-110 used as a regular laptop, we find the usual complement of features we expect of a modern portable, including 802.11 networking (a, b, g and draft n), a dual-layer DVD-writing optical drive, Bluetooth and 5-in-1 card reader. Powering all this is an Intel Core 2 Duo processor clocked at 2GHz, supported by 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. (Source: Andrew Harrison, PC Advisor)

Triple booting into Vista, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu on a Fujitsu U810 UMPC

A few weeks ago Jason D. O’Grady posted about the news that a person was able to get Mac OS X running on an OQO. Prior to that Kevin Tofel had Mac OS X running on a powerful Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium UMPC device. I have the Fujitsu U810, but use it as my primary travel computer and didn’t want to mess things up so I was hesitant to give this a try on my device. However, I just read on the GottaBeMobile forums that a brave individual was able to get Mac OS X, Windows Vista, and Linux Ubuntu all running on his Fujitsu U810 UMPC device.  (Source: Matthew Miller, ZDNet)
Posted Thursday, May 22, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

Interview: Why Samsung is sticking by the maligned UMPC

Samsung is planning a next generation of its Q1 UMPC and even potential MIDs – but is holding off on thoughts of an Eee PC rival. TechRadar spoke to Jeongseon Euh, Principal R&D Engineer in Samsung’s Computer Systems Division about the company’s Q1 UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) device.

“This current Samsung Q1 ultra is second generation of the UMPC category since 2006,” explained Euh – referred to by his co-workers as ‘the Q1 guy’. “May 2006 we launched in US. As you understand, this UMPC category is still very small.”

The Q1, together with its upgraded version the Q1 Ultra has, by Samsung’s reckoning, been a modest success, especially in education. “Last year we shipped 100,000 units worldwide including the UK, Italy, United States and China.” That might not sound like much, but it’s hardly disastrous for a product category that, put simply, many just aren’t convinced by.  (Source: Dan Grabham, TechRadar.com)

OQO Model 02 Gets Spec Bump, Price Dump

OQO's updated the specs for their model 02 line pretty much all around. The fastest available processor now runs at 1.6Ghz; hard drives go up to 120GB, plus they've added the option for a flash-based 32GB solid state drive; and WWAN's been upgraded to 1.4 Mbps EV-DO Rev. A. Finally, the price for the entry level model's been cut by $200 to $1299. Not a bad little announcement. Still too rich for my blood though.  (Source: Gizmodo)
Posted Wednesday, May 21, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

Gateway C-142XL Review

Tablets are typically ultra-mobile systems that can be held easily in the crook of an arm, but that’s not the case with the C-142XL. This update to Gateway’s 14.1-inch convertible is intended for the education market and consumers looking for a pen-capable notebook. And it’s designed for those who like the idea of taking digital notes and don’t mind leaning the system against a desk while working. With a fast dual-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and discrete graphics, it’s best to think of the C-142XL as a full-featured notebook with tablet functionality as a bonus.  (Source: Joanna Stern, Laptop Magazine)
Posted Wednesday, May 21, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

Review: Modbook Mac-based tablet shows promise, but limited appeal

I say that having spent two weeks with the Modbook, which is basically an Apple MacBook that's been converted into a tablet PC for designers or those who need a slate-style tablet in the field. Real estate agents, insurance adjusters, college students, health care professionals and even mariners could conceivably cart one of these Modbooks out and about with them. (It also has optional GPS capabilities.) But I'm not sure Mac users accustomed to Apple's hardware will be ready for the compromises inherent in the Modbook.

Microsoft's Bill Gates has been touting tablet PCs as the next big thing in computing for years. In fact, back in 2002, he predicted that within five years, tablet PCs would be what most people were using. But the market for the devices has remained relatively small, even as the popularity of laptops and other portable computers has risen sharply. And while the Modbook now gives Mac users a chance to try out their own OS X-based tablet, I don't think the overall trend is going to change anytime soon.

I've personally always thought of tablet PCs as being somewhat unwieldy. Having spent some time with the Modbook, I haven't changed my mind — though I'm willing to admit that for the right user, this could be a handy device.  (Source: Ken Mingis, ComputerWorld)

HTC Shift Coming to Rogers Wireless by June

Starting with the HTC Shift, the QWERTY-packing UMPC is said to be making its way into retail stores "within the next 10 days." The current rumor has the HTC Shift arriving as early as May 22nd, but you might want to start saving up those pennies, because the Shift is going for $1,500 with a three-year contract. Ouch. I wonder what full retail on this would be through Rogers.  (Source: Michael Kwan, Mobile Magazine)
Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

OneNote doesn't play nice with my UMPC cameras

Alas, it was not to be. The Vista Device Manager recognizes that I have a USB Webcam, but it doesn't appear in the "Scanners and Cameras" section of the Control Panel. I'm not able to "install" these cameras in that section either. In OneNote, hitting the Insert, Pictures, From Scanner or Camera does open the dialog box for my camera and even shows a live preview image, but it's unable to snap the picture. I suspect that's because the "Select Device" drop-down is blank and unusable, probably because Vista doesn't show the camera in the "Scanners and Camera" section.  (Source: jkOntheRun)
Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)

GBM Shortcut: Axiotron ModBook First Looks Video

The Axiotron ModBook arrived today. Here is quick first look at the ModBook. This is NOT a review - it is just a quick look.

By the way, I mentioned how heavy the ModBook was. To compare, the MacBook is 4 lbs 14.5 oz. The ModBook is 5 lbs 8 oz.

I'll be covering the included apps, as well as built-in Apple support for Ink. In addition, I'll have an inkshow on how well this tablet holds up for artists, as well as how it performs as a Windows Vista-based Tablet PC running bootcamp.  (Source: Rob Bushway, GottaBeMobile)

Princess of Wales goes wireless

“In the emergency department, for example, consultants will use a tablet PC to look at a patient’s pathology test results while at the patient’s bedside,” said Carl Mustad, assistant director of information technology at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust.

The hospital plans to extend the use of this wireless infrastructure to help it make more efficient use of medical equipment. Cisco wireless location technology will be used to track and monitor devices, such as ECG machines and infusion pumps, enabling them to be shared between wards more effectively.  (Source: Healthcare Equipment Supplies)

What is an UMPC?

I won’t call UMPC a marketing Fiasco. The whole Origami Concept serves to show OEMs that there was a market share for devices with displays between 5 and 7 inches. Now that OEMs found that market share they have came with multiple designs, some of them without touch screen. And that’s the problem. The original concept of UMPC from Microsoft and Intel said that UMPC included a touch screen. But here is the problem, Ultra Mobile PC. Where the heck is the touch screen or something pointing to a touch screen on this name? As far as I can understand an Asus Eee is an Ultra Mobile PC. It’s one of the smaller PCs in the market which makes it automatically in Ultra Mobile.

So basically, the UMPC have became or evolved into a big family of devices running a PC OS with screens between 5 to 7 inches.  (Source: ctitanic, MobilitySite)

I Love My Pen Flicks

Pen flicks are extremely cool. If you flick the pen across the screen you can customize these gestures to do certain tasks. The scrolling flick gesture even gives some weighted inertia movement to scrolling in just about all Vista applications. Usually just using the scrollbar is easier and more accurate though. I can also do copy/paste functions, delete selections, undo, and close applications without touching the keyboard.   (Source: Adam Z Lein, PocketNow)
Posted Monday, May 19, 2008 by ChrisD
Rating: n/a (Rate it) 1 Lowest 2 3 4 5 Highest Comments (0)