UMPC

RedFlag MidLinux, a new Linux distro for Mobile Internet Devices (think PepperPad, Nokia N800) is scheduled to be launched in May. It looks great and has all the right buzzwords.

The PDF mentions 18 second boot time, screen rotation, a modern browser and GPS. Sounds great. The OS install footprint, though, is between 500MB and 1.5GB and the minimum RAM requirement is 256MB.

Does this mean a new Internet Tablet with the same form factor as the Nokia N800 but more powerful? Maybe. It almost certainly means another low cost substitute for those who’ve been having trouble justifying the cost of a Windows UMPC. It’s encouraging that Intel is embracing the smaller form factor and an open platform! Congrats to Nokia for being early visionaries in this segment!

Unfortunately, I don’t see any real focus in the PDF on gaming…..

Update: The story has been picked up by Engadget.

ThoughtFix’s latest post at TabletBlog is getting a huge response. He asked 6 Nokia Internet Tablet-related questions of his readers and has 21 well thought out responses so far. Excellent!

Places to look for third party N800 applications are popping up everywhere. ThoughtFix has an Editor’s Choice post in the works (nominations here), Jonathan Greene has an all-maemo blog starting up, and Nokia has a new directory for N800 and 770 apps.

The next month or so will also see some official releases. Better support for online video is coming from Nokia, Navicore should be releasing a navigation kit soon and Skype will be launched.

I’m looking forward to more reasons to use my N800 out and about. The Nav bundle, in particular, is going to be handy.

Steve just launched UMPCPortal, combining his work from CarryPad.com and the great community site OrigamiPortal that he recently acquired. It’s now a one-stop-shop for UMPC specs and news.

I helped him out a little with the UMPC Comparison section (an upgrade to his already awesome UMPC product info database), so check that out during your visit - and bookmark it! I expect it will be really useful during next week’s CeBit as the UMPC news rolls in. For an example of the great treatment and extensive descriptions his portal gives to individual UMPCs, check out this page about the Samsung Q2.

You can read more about the launch here.

Here are some ideas as to how such a configuration would work. Please add your thoughts.

What are we talking about?

Two Nokia N800 Internet Tablets fastened together. The hinge would connect the bottom edge of the first one to the top edge of the second one. The hinge would allow the two devices to be ‘closed’ by folding them back to back. Ideally, the hinge would also allow the devices to be folded screen to screen. The hinge would also be set up to allow for a flat position with the two being two screens tall. Finally, a slightly angled position would also be supported with the top device lightly tilted ‘in’.

How would this be useful?

• Use the bottom device as a keyboard for the top device.
• Use the top device for watching movies and the bottom device for reading the imdb entry about the movie.
• Use the top device for ReaderMini.com and the bottom device email.
• Applications could be written to take advantage of the screens as though they were one. The application could communicate with the ’secondary display’ via bluetooth, usb or wifi.
• Use the top device for GPS / directions and the bottom for a browser.
• Use the top for video chat and the bottom for a movie/browser, etc.

ThoughtFix has an excellent recap of the situation that current UMPC customers are facing in terms of upgrading to Vista. I have to agree with him on most points, especially the ‘You don’t need it’ statement. I’ve just come back to Vista after a multi-month XP vacation and I really enjoy it - on my laptop. But there’s no compelling reason (yet) to upgrade an XP UMPC to Vista.

That being said, I’ll be interested to see some solid tests (on UMPCs) of ReadyBoost, Indexed Search and the new Vista battery life improvements. Also, on my laptop, I find hibernate in Vista to be much, much faster than XP, so I assume the same would be true for UMPCs.

UMPCs are starting to be released with flash memory hard drives. Large flash drives use less power than a conventional hard drive, so they are an obvious choice for an ULTRA MOBILE device. But they are EXPENSIVE. ThoughtFix suggests a great compromise. Let us hibernate or standby to Flash. Flash is faster than my seagate and less volatile than RAM. It doesn’t have to be a lot (2-3GB) to take on the task, so it won’t add hundreds of dollars to the price tag.

ThoughtFix has a TON of news and photos from his visit to the TabletKiosk booth.

The eo dock and car mount look great!!

More TabletKiosk info is at Engadget.

Personally, I’m glad these folks continue to be successful. During the eo launch, they did an amazing job of communicating with customers.

I’lll update this post throughout the day as I learn more about my new n800. Bought it at CompUSA. Check out here and here for earlier coverage.

Chippy was kind enough to put up my hurried photographs of the n800 and the 770 here. I’m hoping to take a better set of photos in the next hour or two. Stand by!

Meanwhile, ThoughtFix, OrigamiPortal and Carrypad all have more information on the stats of the n800. That information was gathered primarily from “Disconnected” on freenode IRC (channel #maemo).

Needless to say, this is an exciting day and a real PRE-CES surprise.

Update: I just posted TONS of photos. Thanks go to Chippy for lots of camera tips!

Having owned both the eo v7110 UMPC from TabletKiosk and the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, I went back to ThoughtFix’s archive and read his comparisons of the two devices. I found myself agreeing with a lot of his individual points. However, as I noted in a previous post, I vastly prefer the Nokia 770 for the tasks I usually use devices smaller than a laptop for.

ThoughtFix: EO vs 770 Round 1
ThoughtFix: EO vs 770 Round 2

Some points I would add to the comparison:
- Bootup time: 770 is the winner.
- Return from ’standby’: 770 is the winner.
- Resuming a Bluetooth connection: 770 is the winner.
- Storage Space: The eo wins.

I was just thinking to myself that Hugh would love the 770’s sketch application. The 770’s high resolution and small size, I would think, make it the perfect device for drawing black and white cartoons the size of business cards. Imagine my surprise, then, when a search shows that he already has a 770 but curiously doesn’t say anything about sketching on one.

I recently purchased a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. I like it a lot.

I’ve been a PDA and portable tech enthusiast for years (Pilot 5000, PalmPilot Pro, Palm III, Palm V, Palm Tungsten C, Palm TX, Logitech io Digital Pen, TabletKiosk eo 7110 UMPC, RIM BlackBerry 957, GBC, GBA, DS, DS Lite, Moto Razr, LG CU320, ipod, ipod Video, SPOT watch). At this point, I feel that there are several classes of portable devices that are essential for me: The Mobile Phone/Email device (LG CU320, no email, now, but hopefully a smartphone soon) is something I need to have with me at all times to keep track of projects while away from the office and while in meetings. The Mobile Internet Tablet is something that I like to carry with me throughout the day to meetings, errands, etc, but the required screen size makes it something I can’t have with me ALL the time (was Palm TX, then TK eo UMPC, now: Nokia 770). The Mobile Workstation (Dell Inspiron 6000d) is with me at work and at home, carried to some meetings.

Everyone is different, so I accept that some of what I’m about to write will not ring true with you. I’m about to group 3 classes of electronic devices into one for the purposes of selecting a ‘winner’.

I use large-screen-PDAs, Internet Tablets and UMPCs for exactly the same functionality, so it makes sense for me to compare devices of all 3 types in order to choose which device to use on a regular basis. I use these devices to browse the web, read feeds, and use web based applications when I’m away from my desktop and notebook PCs. I also read and write email with them, though other devices are more suited to those tasks (smartphones, full sized PCs). I occasionally use them for video and audio.

PDAs, specifically the TX have small screens, usually low res, and weak web browsers. PalmOS based PDAs don’t even have the concept of mult-tabbed or multi-windowed browsing, so you have to navigate away from the site you are looking at if you want to see another. No easy flipping back and forth. In their favor, they have wifi and bluetooth. They are fairly inexpensive and have great battery life. They fit in your pocket.

UMPCs, specifically the TabletKiosk eo 7110, are many times the size of your pocket and have terrible battery life (2-3 hours of active use). They are too awkward to take to a meeting if you also happen to have your laptop in tow. The batteries and power cables are as expensive as notebook power equipment. Still, they too have wifi and bluetooth and can run nearly any application you might need. The screens , 7 inches for the eo, are large enough for collaboration and are beautifully crisp. UMPCs are expensive ($800+).

Winner: The 770 is small enough for your pocket and has great battery life. The screen is large enough (and high res enough) for browsing web sites without switching to the mobile versions. Opera for the 770 has multi-window browsing, AJAX and Flash. Extra power cables cost $15 and the batteries are also inexpensive. The Nokia 770 is only a little more expensive than a PDA at $350. It runs Linux, so lots of desktop apps have already been ported. Overall, it’s a great compromise and has easily won a spot in my daily life.

So, I can’t wait to see what comes out of CES (sounds like a Nokia 780) next month, but I think I’ll be happy with the 770 for a while.

ThoughtFix, thanks for the constant commentary on the 770, making this purchase a truly informed one. InternetTabletTalk, Maemo.org, and developers , thanks for the really exceptional support you’ve put together. Nokia, thanks for the clever combination of components and software that really has hit a sweet spot for me. #maemo on Freenode, thanks for the great conversation!

Frank just announced InkOogle for tablet pcs. InkOogle makes it a lot easier to search Wikipedia, Amazon and Google on a UMPC. That’s great news in itself, but the thing I find most interesting is how users pay for the app.

The app is free. Customers trigger micropayments in the form of affiliate payments each time they buy something from one of the online stores listed in InkOogle. That’s a win-win situation! Customers pay nothing for the app and the developer still gets paid!

Unfortunately, the last time I put it up for auction, the winner couldn’t pay. So the auction is up again!

UPDATE: Sold!