04-17-2006, 10:00 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,386
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On Second Thought... UMPC Demos Fail for Microsoft, Intel, and Samsung
"Samsung Electronics, Intel and Microsoft have been promoting their joint project 'Origami' mini-laptop PC since they first showed it last month. In fact, the new PC proved to be too revolutionary, enough to baffle the three firms' executive officers who publicly tried to demonstrate how to use it."
Perhaps our Pocket PCs won't be obsolete so soon after all!  It appears that the first generation of Samsung UMPCs left quite an impression at a conference in Seoul, Korea last week; three separate devices failed demonstrations for the three different mega-corporate partners most highly involved with the UMPC effort. In short, one device went dead after a few minutes; another device would not respond to the on-screen keyboard commands during a PowerPoint presentation, leaving the audience staring at one slide for several minutes; the third device loaded up a PowerPoint presentation only to flip through all the slides in rapid succession within a few seconds.
Perhaps another manufacturer can do it better? In separate news, Averatec announced their entrance into this marketspace with their own UMPC-like device with a smaller 5" screen, better battery life, a built-in hardware keyboard, GPS, WiFi, and 3G data support all at a price range of between $600 to $1100. Thoughts?
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04-17-2006, 10:32 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 67
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I blogged about it the other day:
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2006/04/...nal-computers/
I can't stand these devices...
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PDAs: x50v, rx3115, PalmV, TH-55, SL-5500, T-615C (previously owned: Axim X5-Adv, h2210, e800).
Phones: QTek 9100, W810i, M600i, E61, A780, 6288, SLVR L7, U8500, KG800, ROKR E2, D840, K300i, 3300, K700i, i-Mate, T310, (previously owned E680i, E398, MOT M1000).
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04-17-2006, 11:25 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,108
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May I be the first to say... BWA HA HA HA HA.
Could've told them that micro PCs were a big mistake.
The Averatec widget is cool, but not usable enough to be a full PC, not cheap enough to be an add-on gadget, and not simple enough to be anything else.
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04-17-2006, 11:36 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 95
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I have to agree with Eugenia on this one...I don't see the space for this in the market. Between laptop's---Tablet PC---and Pocket PC....
The PPC is the device I have on my person 24 x 7, I currently have not even been able to justify the need for a laptop. Most anything I do on a daily basis can be handled by PPC.
If I do choose to get back into the laptop size device, It will most likely be one of the tablet/laptop hybrids. A device in between just doesn't seem to be a good fit.
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WirelessBeachBum
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04-18-2006, 01:43 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 41
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Still a few bugs 
But they all sound more reliable than my X50v with WM5. Time to rollback and stay there.
Don't let early developement problems turn you off to the end result! The first batch of light bulbs didn't work too well either.
I'm ready to buy after they perfect the product. 2nd generation should be good!!
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04-18-2006, 02:58 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 31
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Oh my, oh my.... why that thing happened in UMPC demonstration?
Why it did not happen in any Active-Crap-related demonstration????
If only they held a Win Mobile demos with Active Stink capability and suddenly some contacts duplicate wildly, whole phonebook missing, random date forwarding on appointment, etc i would be very grateful....
Because finally some angels above there have willingness to show the MS engineers about the flawness of synchronisation program they have -- and those crap still HAVE NOT BEEN FIXED!
Oh dont forget about that crazy alarm-not-working thing.....
Just have wild imagination that they had presentation in front of Symbian and Apple team..... what a shame....
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04-18-2006, 07:31 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 376
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Well, like birick said, this is just the first generation, its not even out yet. Ya it might be full of bugs now, Big & heavy like some ppl say but give them some time & it'll get better. I personally like the idea of a mini laptop or micro PC. Have an OQO & love it, i actually love the OQO better than MS UMPC, its much lighter , smaller & has a keyboard.. now imagine the next generation OQO, those would rock, cant wait till they r out
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04-18-2006, 04:53 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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When I found out that they were coming out within the next few weeks I couldn't be happier. I love the DualCor, and there have been no reported issues about that UMPC that I know of... But the 5" screen left something to be desired. They too said a 7" screen version would be available and I was looking forward to that as well. With a 1.5GHz processor, things were looking great with the DualCor until I saw the $2k price tag....
I spent a couple of hours researching these devices last night cause I'M GETTING ONE ASAP! I've seen plenty of real demonstrations of these devices and they look to run just fine. There are a many legitimate, outside reasons why the Samsung devices had issues during demonstration.
Me, I'm looking at the Tabletkiosk device. It's 2x as big as my iPAQ 5550 in every way, but I'll get a ton more use out of it than my old PDA. Plus, it's XP! AND it's only $350 more than the original price of my iPAQ. Yes, I'm on it!
I'm looking forward to be using REAL apps for REAL work. I totally don't have a problem lugging this around the office and with it's sub 2lb. weight, it won't be a problem lugging it in my messenger bag. The Pocket PC is just too small to get real work done on it. It will be much easier to develop apps for it than the PPC. You can still use all the same tools that you use with a regular PC. No keyboard? One device now has a built-in keyboard. BTW, I thought that was what Bluetooth was for! I use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with my iPAQ right now. No problem. With Bluetooth, USB and XP, you can get a ton of accessories for it as well and not worry about driver issues.
The UMPCs right now are ONLY first generation as well. Like the Sony ultralight laptop, they can probably shave .5 - 1lb off the weight using carbon fiber for the shell. OLEDs are right around the corner. A year from now, we can have 2GHz UMPCs that weigh a pound or less with all the goodies we want still at less than $1500. DualCor is so so close to that right now.
I see Pocket PC's going away... But not Pocket PC Phone Editions and certainly not Smartphones. Heck, I saw a 10MP camera phone from CEBIT! A little thick, but that phone was pretty darn cool. Zooming lens and all.
BTW, I think they all look pretty slick :wink:
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