Weekly Roundup

Its late on Thursday and I’ve got about 24 hours to go to get through another 20 Chippy’s Customer Challenge requests! There’s no way I’m going to achieve that so I’ll either carry on next week or start to incorporate them into the Ultra Mobile Podcast. I don’t want any of you to go without at least a few lines of input from me and some thoughts from the readers.

CCC 18. Vikenty

Vikenty has a two-part request for a MID and a small mobile phone. Usage: Browser, easy document editing, IP-video-phone, video playback in 350g or less with WiMax…….SCREEEEECH!

I need to stop right there because currently there is only one pocketable device with WiMax and that’s the Nokia N810 Wimax. Vikenty asked for GPS (check), WebCam (check), IP-phone (check)and Windows XP (Bzzzt!) All is not lost though because a lot of the MIDs will be modular. For example, the Viliv S5 might come with GPS and WiMax in certain markets (I’m told.) The problem is that it doesn’t have a keyboard. In fact, trying to put ‘easy document editing’ and ‘350g or less’ in a single device is going to be very difficult. Vikenty, I don’t think there’s anything I can recommend to you at this stage. To get the keyboard in a device that weight is going to be an engineering challenge for at least another 12 months and even then, XP might not be available anymore. The best I can recommend is that you keep an eye on the Viliv S5 and look for a small foldable keyboard to go with it. As for the mobile phone, it really depends on what you want to do with it. I’m a big fan of the Nokia N-series because of their outstanding ability to create images and video but if that’s not your thing then maybe a small, basic feature phone? I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on the phone choice. Sorry!

CCC 19. Andrew

Looking to replace a Powerbook with a mini notebook…My old Powerbook G4 12in is still good to use, but a smaller and lighter machine would be nice.  Convertible but rugged touchscreen device with ‘cool and quiet’ features and a 9in screen that provides 1024×768 or greater resolution to run Firefox, Office and development apps. 4 hours battery life, Linux friendly chipset. Weight: 1KG. Price: Under 600 pounds.

It doesn’t get any easier does it There’s only three devices that I can think of here. The Gigabyte M912X, the Kohjinsha SX3 and the end-of-line Fujitsu P1610. Unfortunately the M912V isn’t the coolest kid on the block and at 1.35KG with a 3hr, 3-cell battery, it’s not going to get close to the 1KG mark. Fortunately the P1610  could fit the bill. I’m seeing it in Europe for about 750 Euros (just under the 600 pounds mark) but I haven’t seen it in the UK for that price yet which means having to buy from somewhere like Germany and replace the OS and keyboard. Not so easy! Keep an eye out for offers in the UK as this gets cleared to make way for the P1620 and P1630. Don’t worry about it being ‘old’ because its still got great specs compared to today’s netbooks. 1280×800 screen. Intel (Linux friendly!) Core Solo with 945 chipset and 60GB drive. Watch out for memory upgrade costs and don’t forget to look for the extended battery that you’ll need to reach 4 hours. As for the SX3, you might get lucky and find an import for around 600 pounds but you’ll definitely need the extended battery. It runs Vista in a rather unimpressive fashion but there’s a possibility in the next few months that an XP downgrade is achievable with new drivers but its not Linux friendly right now (although Ubuntu might be building Poulsbo support into their April ‘09 Ubuntu-Mobile release.)

You’ve highlighted a bit of a dark spot in the Ultra Mobile product spectrum here Andrew because I’ve been trying to think of a non touchscreen device that fits your bill. Does anyone know of a non touchscreen 8.9" device that’s ‘cool and quiet’ with a hi-res screen? The HP2133 has the screen but it isn’t cool and quiet from what I’ve read. Maybe Andrew should look to Ultra Portable devices with bigger screens?

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