Microsoft’s recent unveiling of their UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) concept, dubbed “Origami” definitely made a huge splash! Did it live up to the hype that was created by the three week long viral marketing campaign? Well the answer tends to differ depending on who you ask, but in my opinion, I think it definitely did!
The UMPC is basically a cross between a Tablet PC and a Pocket PC. It inherits much of the Tablet PC’s power and functionality, while keeping the formfactor closer to that of a Pocket PC’s. Microsoft, and their partners in this project (Intel, Samsung, Asus, Founder and more), are targetting a broad market with this product, hoping it will become a popular item. Microsofts foray into the mobile pc market to date hasn’t been to successful, with the Tablet PC failing to become the mainstream item that it was touted as being, and Pocket PC sales seeing little growth. The UMPC concept has the potential to avoiud the shortfalls of its siblings, offering the best of ultra mobility and power.
Some of the products many attributes and uses are outlined below, in an excert taken from the official UMPC website.
Checking out your favorite movie during a road trip. Downloading and listening to the latest hot tunes at the coffee shop. Surfing the Web at the beach while your friends surf the waves. More than ever before, people around the world are demanding simpler, more convenient ways to access and enjoy their favorite digital content while on the go.
The Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) addresses these needs with small, stylish products you can carry with you everywhere you go. The UMPC devices offer ultra-portable sizes and long battery life, plus full PC and Internet capabilities, so you can access your favorite web pages anytime, virtually anywhere!
At the unveiling, Samsung, Asus and Founder had working models of their respective UMPC’s (shown in the image below). The specs on these three pruducts vary slighty, each one offering slightly different hardware components and features. Samsungs Q1 weighs in at 779g (1.7 pound), has dimensions of 9 x 5.5 x 1and sports a 7″ touchscreen LCD. It’s powered by a Celeron M ULV processor, and comes equipped with a 40GB drive, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS and DMB options, and runs Windows XP Tablet with Touch Pack.
Both the Asus and Founder UMPC’s appear slightly more impressive, with the ASUS model having a sleek, brushed alluminum case and 1.3-megapixel front mounted camera for WiFi video conferencing, and the Founder UMPC using a 1GHz Pentium M processor compared to the 900MHz Celeron M in the Samsung and ASUS.
These first generation UMPC’s will definitely come at a premium, putting you back at least $1000. I’d advise one to wait at least a year before getting one, as battery life and performance will greatly increase (Intel mentioned an 8 hour battery life in later models), and the price should fall to a more manageable $500+ range.
Other manufacturers are beginning to release their own UMPC’s, with TabletKiosk recently announcing their V-700 UMPC. It comes equipped with a VIA C7M at 1GHz, max RAM of 1GB, 2.5-inch HDD up to 160GB, 7-inch 800×480 display and several other addons.
Will I get a UMPC? Definitely! Now? No, I’ll be waiting until the price drops and the performance increases. This device is what I’ve been waiting for, something which can replace my laptop when I’m on the go or even in my house. I’m very impressed, and it’s going to take all my will-power not to grab one of these when it comes to a store near me!
