Origami Report: Thursday Evening, March 9th 2006
OrigamiPortal has a great overview of the Asus, Samsung and Founder devices. I really wish someone would release a definite answer of when these things are going up for presale and when they will ship.
‘WindowsForDevices.com’ has a look at the Via chipset which will appear in the second half of this year in UMPC devices. Meanwhile, they have a comparative look at the UMPC vs the Nokia 770, an issue that’s been bugging some people.
The CNN video (via gottabemobile) shows the new on s
creen radial two thumb keyboard in action. I’ll have to try it before I pass judgement, but it looks like it might not be pleasant to use.
Scoble is being picked on in the comments section of one of his posts. Was Origami over-hyped? Chime in at scobleizer. My opinion is that Origami is deserving of hype being the most affordable small form factor XP device with a touch screen.
MovieLink is partnering with Microsoft and the hardware partners to bundle its broadband movie rental business with the devices. Sounds good to me. Anything that brings the world closer to instant access to all video and audio for a small fee is great in my book.
As reported earlier, the Channel 9 video is up. I just love watching/listening to developers and product team members talk about the products they’ve built. Channel 9 will never get boring because it features people talking (with passion) about the things they build. Otto is no exception. I wish our presidents and representatives seemed as sincerely passionate.
Microsoft has a UMPC sister site to complement Intel’s. Speaking of which, umpc.com has moved to a new host and is much more responsive. Check it out if you stopped visiting it earlier because of its performance issues.
Though I am very enthusiastic about Origami, I posted a series of questions last night that I’d love answers to.
A foldable fabric keyboard/case will be available soon. Click the link if you haven’t seen this thing, yet. It’s pretty neat.
Nokia 770 vs UMPC
Edit (7/12/07): Since this post, I have owned a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, an n800 and an eo UMPC. It should tell you something that I kept the 770 and n800 but sold the UMPC.
Update: RogerS over at InternetTabletTalk has a response to Mike Cane’s Nokia 770 complaints. Interesting reading. I think if I had known a little more about the 770, I might have purchased it instead of the Palm TX back in January.
The 770 is nowhere near as exciting as the UMPC. I bet the handheld linux community is actually more excited than most of us about UMPC.
Mike Cane left the following comment in a Scoble post. Normally I wouldn’t reprint something like this in its entirety, but I’ve seen TONS of comments about UMPC being a more expensive 770 and it’s driving me nuts, too. I don’t own a 770, but I’ve been reading what the 770 community has to say about problems with the 770 that are just not going to be issues with the UMPC. Mike discusses the topic in this quoted statement.
OK, now I’m bloody *mad*.
The countless eejits chattering around the web have crossed the line once too often. It’s time to set them straight, shove them back from the line, and show them for the eejits they are!
If I read one more time that a UMPC is “just an overpriced Nokia 770,” I will explode!
Anyone who *has* a 770 can tell you straight: The UMPC is *not* a Nokia 770 in any way, shape, or form.
The 770’s Opera browser mysteriously goes Poof! and suddenly disappears while browsing. I don’t think this will happen with a UMPC.
A site such as Palm Addict takes *over two minutes* to load on a 770. I think it will be a few seconds on a UMPC.
The 770 cannot display embedded video on sites such as Google Video or YouTube. A UMPC can.
The 770 cannot play DiVX/Xvid AVI or QuickTime video. A UMPC will.
The 770 has no browser plug in for FURL. No problem for a UMPC.
Forget word processing on a 770. Its Notes program chokes on as little as 10K of text. And the one free real WP program that’s available is hardly useable because the contortions someone has to go through to have a reliable working keyboard for WP just aren’t worth going through. A UMPC can use any USB or Bluetooth keyboard easily, and there are tons of WP programs available — not just *one*.
Yesterday the 770 I’ve been using for several months had to be rebooted *six times* because of its weak CPU and pathetic RAM. In my first hour of using it this morning I had a crash and reboot. This is its *typical day*. Crash, reboot, crash, reboot. I had a Toshiba GENIO Pocket PC — something infamous for its PPC 2002 OS instability. The 770 is a step *down* from that. Most of you don’t want to know what I call my 770. It is filthy and obscene. *Yet deserved!*
The 770 has a 200MHz CPU with 64MB of RAM. A UMPC will have a 900MHz-1+GHz CPU and most will have half a gig of RAM. If you are *still* dumb enough to think a UMPC is just a larger 770, take your desktop machine and put it in your closet. Replace it with a desktop PC that shares the specs of the 770. Then tell me how the second desktop is just like your original one — only cheaper!
I will be *glad* to exchange the *dysfunctionality* of a 770 for a UMPC with *real* usefulness, *speed*, *compatibility* with all web pages, and the ability to hook up any peripheral.
You eejits harping about the 770 don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. So shut up! shut up! shut up!
And as for UMPC being “overhyped” — baloney. It takes being traumatized by something like the 770 before you can *appreciate* a UMPC. What’s that you say? — it’s just another kind of Sony VAIO U *at less than half the price*? Just what I want! Thank you, Intel and Microsoft!!
ASUS UMPC: Front Mounted Camera, Founder UMPC: Pentium M!
Engadget’s post shows that even the first round of Origami devices will have variety. Founder chose to add a 1Ghz Pentium M instead of the Celeron. ASUS stuck a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front. Apparently, both feel more sturdy than the Samsung (do they weigh more?).
Overall, yesterday’s news really solidified my decision. I really want to see price and the size of the power brick, but it’s hard to imagine that either of those things could stop me from buying one. Which one will I buy? The Samsung? The Founder? The ASUS? If only one is available in March/April, it’ll be that one.
jkOnTheRun has some thoughts on the variety, too.
At WhatIsNew, Lora posted a list of APIs to consider when building software for UMPC devices.
Origami Questions
So, tons of information out there, right?
Well, I still have some important questions.
- When does the first model go on sale? What is the preorder date? Is it going to be a pre-order nightmare like with the XBox 360? I plan on getting one as soon as possible and I’d hate to go without just because I didn’t know that preorders were open.
- Is there a model with a PCMCIA slot? I want to upgrade to EVDO, maybe not this year, but soon. This is not a deal-breaker.
- What does the power brick look like?
- When using a stylus, will mouseovers be detected, like on a traditional tablet pc?
- What are each models’ specific features and prices?
- How am I supposed to sleep tonight knowing that all of these questions may be answered far away at CEBit while I’m snoozing?
- What’s the deal with the instant-on media player software that doesn’t require XP to run? Is that built in to every device or just some?
- What kind of sturdiness tests have been performed?
- Does that two thumb keyboard app work well? Can you only have one thumb touching the screen at a time?
- When will the first review I really trust be written? (I trust the-gadgeteer.com, Walt Mossberg, TomsHardware, AnandTech)
Microsoft’s Ultra Mobile PC Site
GottaBeMobile is pointing to Microsoft’s new UMPC site. Not much new information, but it confirms a lot. The Asus and Samsung models are there in 3D rotating animations.
John Tokash 