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What I Learnt from an Old UMPC today.
Posted Sep 20th 2008 8:54pm by Cas in UMPC / Comments (0)
Weekly Roundup
I’m a very lucky person. There are about 8 UMPCs in the house at the moment but at times it gets to be a pain because I’m swapping around too much doing tests and trying out my latest ideas. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to choose a device. The SC3 because its small, has a good outdoor screen and looks good? The MSI Wind because its comfortable on a table or the Everun Note because its so damn small and powerful?
Today though it was different and I really surprised myself. I had about 5 minutes to decide on a device for the journey to a family outing and there was no question that extreme Ultra Mobile computing was the order of the day. A 3 hour car journey with no power and no WiFi. There was only one matching weapon in my arsenal, the Samsung Q1b. Based on the original Q1 design but using a 1Ghz VIA C7 and having a built in factory fitted 1.8mbs 3G module. The 6 cell battery was fully charged so it was an easy decision. In ultra mobile situations you need the best antenna and the best battery life and that’s what the Q1b always delivers. It was the perfect choice on the rough going Solar UMPC Tour last year and it was the perfect choice today. Email inbox cleared on the way out. Reader, Mail and a GTalk chat with JKK on the way back. 3hrs battery life left when I got home.
Boom! Reality kicks. 6 hours wifi-on with extended battery, a strong factory fitted 3G module and a sub kg weight in a tabletable form factor. The screen res was actually ok in the car as it was a bumpy ride but I’m always happier to bump up font sizes on a higher resolution screen so 800×480 isn’t perfect. CCFL backlighting is pretty horrible in daylight too so its really got me thinking about my requirements again.
As I lie here in bed writing this I’m wanting an SC3 with built in 3G and 6hrs online battery life. A 3g Expresscard wont solve the problem as you cant hold the device and thumb the keyboard as I’ve been doing with this article. An extended battery isn’t good enough as it only gives 4-5hours on online battery life. The Everun Note with the extended battery is even worse and I really want that tablet mode. M912M wont work either as the internal 3G slot is BIOS locked and its too big for thumbing or two-handing,. The U2010 has a 5.6″ screen that i find too small, doesn’t have a factory fitted 3G option and its simply out of my price bracket. Q1 ultra HSDPA is the nearest I can think of at the moment. It doesn’t have the keyboard of the SC3 or Everun Note but seeing as I almost exclusively use thumbing or an on-screen-keyboard now on my UMPCs, does it really matter?
I miss my old Q1 Ultra and keep revisiting the thought of having another. Lack of keyboard backlight and pathetic mouse aren’t ideal but Expansys have some B-Stock HSDPA XPTE units at just over 500 quid including organiser pack which is tempting me so much that it hurts. Especially as I have a couple of spare batteries, an SSD upgrade and a 2GB stick that I’ve just taken out of my old, broken Q1 Ultra. I’ll make my decision tomorrow but if anyone wants to buy my Kohjinsha SC3, please say so now and make my decision easier. Cost to you? Just over 500 quid of course!
