It’s been almost two months since Fujitsu’s U820 UMPC (aka U2010) cleared the FCC, and it’s still yet to show up for sale in the US. Now at least a small sign of the compact touchscreen convertible has turned up, in the support section of Fujitsu’s US site.
From big boxes do small gadgets come, and Fujitsu’s U820 (aka U2010, aka U/B50N) UMPC certainly doesn’t disappoint on either of those counts. The U820’s 5.6-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 touchscreen might not be ideal for everyone’s eyes, but the tech packed into such a small device surely has to earn Fujitsu some kudos. jkkmobile has one of the first video unboxings we’ve seen so far.
Fujitsu’s U2010, the convertible UMPC based on Intel’s Atom CPU, has made it to the FCC with a few testing photos and a new name. As could have been predicted the UMPC will launch in the US as the U820, where it will have a 5.6-inch, 1,280 x 800 resolution touchscreen and six-row QWERTY keyboard. Given that the FCC label claims the U820 “contains UMTS” it looks as though the devices 3G WWAN modem has made it over too.
Over at Pocketables, Jenn has somehow managed to score some time with Kohjinsha’s super-compact SC3 convertible tablet. The Atom-based ultraportable has a 7-inch touchscreen, 1GB of RAM (2GB in Jenn’s) and a 60GB hard-drive, and only began shipping in Japan on July 11th. There, users can take advantage of the 1Seg digital TV tuner too.
Just because the chips are in short supply, doesn’t mean the manufacturers aren’t insisting on using them. Fujitsu’s U810 UMPC is the latest recipient of Intel’s Atom processor, together with an altered casing, keyboard and name. Now under the moniker U2010, the keyboard has six rows compared to the U810’s five, and there’s built-in 3.5G WWAN and GPS.
The Fujitsu LifeBook U810 we saw at CES 2008 back in January, that has the added benefit of a built-in HSDPA modem, has finally been released. Fujitsu have also added WWAN cellular data to their larger T2010 Tablet PC. The 3G access will be provided by AT&T, who are promising typical download speeds between 600 Kbps and 1,400 Kbps and typical upload speeds between 500 Kbps and 800 Kbps.
Fujitsu sneakily put out an as-yet unannounced Tablet PC during a customer presentation in Germany last week, and an eagle-eyed spotter grabbed what scant details were on offer. Using Fujitsu’s LifeBook brand, the convertible notebook has a passive touchscreen display (e.g. you can use your finger rather than a specific stylus) measuring 13.3-inches. It also uses Intel’s latest Core 2 Duo P8400, a chipset both super-compact and energy efficient.
Four Fujitsu LifeBook laptops is now Novell YES Certified for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. The LifeBook U810, T2010, P1620 and S6510 have been heavily tested with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop distribution to ensure the compatibility.
So this mini notebook is a cool hybrid cross between a UMPC and a Tablet PC. It has the same hinge as a convertible tablet, but the screen size of a UMPC. It also has a biometric fingerprint scanner and a 5.5 hour battery life, but Fujitsu have added 3G WWAN cellular broadband so as to maximise on-the-road use.
If you’ve been even just a little tempted by Fujitsu’s indecently-compact LifeBook U810(the US version of the U1010) then you’ll be pleased to know that there’re a growing number of reviews for the tiny convertible. Obviously when you’re playing with something that measures close to 6-inches square the usual rules about “no fat fingers” apply, but if you’ve got the digits for it then seemingly it’s a good travel companion.
Check out after the cut for a video review of the U810 plus commentary
SlashGear Japan
