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CeBIT: Samsung's first-generation Ultra Mobile PC
is an intriguing device, but currently you don't get enough functionality or
battery life for your money.
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Following much speculation and leaked images of varying
provenance, the truth about Microsoft's 'Origami' project is now out. Not that
the truth comes as all that much of a surprise: First, the company's teaser
campaign on www.origamiproject.com
rather gave the game away in its source code by identifying Origami as "the
Mobile PC running Windows XP"; and second, Intel showed off some concept
Origami designs on March 7 at its IDF conference in San Francisco. |
By the time Microsoft, Intel and its hardware partners came
to deliver some details at CeBIT in Hannover on March 9, it was clear that an
Origami device was bigger than a handheld but smaller than a tablet, powered by
standard x86 processors and running some variant of Windows XP. Prelaunch
punditry and comment also suggested that the first generation of devices would
not match up to the ideal, touted by Bill Gates at the 2005 WinHEC conference,
of a fully functional mobile PC with all-day (8-hour) battery life costing
around US$500.
And that's pretty much what we got. The Origami codename
became the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) platform; three manufacturers--Samsung, Asus
and Founder (a Chinese company)--broke cover with UMPC
hardware; and battery life was confirmed as a rather disappointing 2 to 3.5
hours. The one price reported so far, around €1,000 (US$1,191) for the Samsung Q1
previewed here, is higher than we would have liked--especially as a
considerable amount of desirable functionality comes in the form of addons.
Samsung Q1: A first-generation Ultra
Mobile PC (UMPC).
The Samsung Q1 is quite a smart piece of kit: It's mostly
shiny black, with silver accents, accommodating a 7-inch 800 x 480 (WVGA) TFT
touchscreen within its 22.7 (wide) x 13.9 (deep) x 2.45-2.65cm (thick)
dimensions. It weighs a handy 779g without any external or internal addons, is
powered by Intel's ultra-low-voltage 900MHz Celeron M processor and comes with
512MB of DDR2 SDRAM in its single DIMM slot. Graphics are handled by the GMA 900
module integrated within the Intel 915GMS chipset, while internal storage comes
in the form of a 40GB hard drive. The overall impression of the hardware lies
somewhere between a small tablet PC, a large handheld and a bloated Sony PSP
(although the screen isn't as gorgeous as the PSP's).
The operating system is Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, with
the addition of Microsoft's new Touch Pack, which provides a number of interface
features designed to make stylus- or fingertip-driven operation easier. The
Touch Pack's Program Launcher organizes applications into categories, using
large buttons and icons to simplify the process of finding and launching
programs. There's also an innovative Dial Keyboard--two fan-like arrays of
touch-keys on each side of the screen, conveniently placed for thumb typing.
Other navigation/interface elements include an eight-way joystick, a four-position
user-definable button, enter and menu buttons, and an Auto Scaler button that
toggles the screen between its native 800 x 480 and 800 x 600 or 1,024 x
600.
As far as connectivity is concerned, the Samsung Q1 has
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth (2.0+EDR) built in, along with wired 10/100
Ethernet. There's no wide-area wireless connectivity in the shape of GPRS or 3G,
which might have been expected in such an eminently mobile device. So to access
the Internet away from an office, home or Wi-Fi hotspot, or to get a GPS fix,
you'll need to have a suitable Bluetooth, CompactFlash or USB addon to hand.
Ports and connectors are arranged as follows: On the left is the power
connector, a USB 2.0 port and a VGA connector; the right-hand side houses a hold
switch, a volume rocker, an audio jack and a powered USB 2.0 port. The dual
microphones are on the front fascia, along with the stereo speakers. The top
edge houses a dual-mode power and AVS switch (AV Station is a pre-boot
application for accessing multimedia content), a reset button, a Type II
CompactFlash slot and the Ethernet connector.
The Q1 comes with a useful-looking array of accessories: A
keyboard, an organiser bag, an external optical drive, a car cradle and an
8-cell extended-life battery pack. Samsung claims up to 3.5 hours of life for
the device using the internal battery, or "over 1.7 hours" of DVD playback.
First impressions
The Samsung Q1 is an intriguing piece of kit, but some
natural selection needs to occur before it can evolve into an indispensable
mobile companion. Key functionality such as GPRS or 3G connectivity is not
integrated into the device, and battery life is nowhere near long enough at
around 3.5 hours. That said, we look forward to a hands-on review of the Q1 and
its brethren, and also to charting the development of this new mobile computing
platform. |
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