We’ve grown familiar with getting drawn in by an alluring piece of ultramobile computing hardware and then realising it’s unlikely to make it outside of Taipei, so it’s almost a surprise to be writing about a new British UMPC company. PsiXpda’s eponymous UMPC packs a sliding, tilting 4.8-inch 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen display, full QWERTY keyboard, Atom Z510 1.1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, and runs Windows XP.
Fujitsu have always been partial to tiny computers – the LifeBook U8×0 series still rank as some of the most appealing UMPCs around – and their latest model certainly looks endearing at first glance. The Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 has a more traditional clamshell form-factor than the mini-convertibles in the company’s back-catalog, but more than makes up with it with a 5.6-inch sunlight-readable WXGA multitouch display, 62GB SSD and optional integrated 3.5G WWAN.
Update: Pricing and more photos added after the cut
Given how popular Android has tuned out to be among no-name tablet manufacturers, it’s almost a surprise to see a new Windows XP slate. Still, the Shenzhen Seed Industrial Co. HT560 has a few tricks up its sleeve: behind the 5.6-inch WVGA 800 x 480 touchscreen lurks VIA’s 1GHz C7 processor rather than the Intel Atom we’ve come to expect, paired with 1GB of memory and between 8GB and 32GB of SSD storage.
ViewSonic’s deluge of new products back in July failed to include a MID or UMPC style device, but it seems they were merely waiting for the holidays to arrive in order to roll out just such a model. The ViewSonic N01 is a reasonably striking MID with a 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z510 processor, 1GB of RAM and a scant 10GB of onboard storage; it also has integrated 3G connectivity along with a TV tuner and Windows XP.
Electronic versions of the classic Etch-a-Sketch aren’t particularly unusual, but so far this is the first time we’ve seen Arduino-controlled knobs with physical resistance and a proper shake-to-clear integrated into such a project. The Hack-a-Sketch takes a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop and adds the usual two Etch-a-Sketch rotary knobs; this time, though, they’re hooked up to two potentiometers which control the onscreen drawing.
Video demo after the cut
Continued »
Back in July, Google's execs were grudgingly agreeing that Google Chrome OS and Android have "a great deal of commonality" and "may merge even closer." Now co-founder Sergey Brin has further stoked that speculation, telling reporters after last week's Chrome OS reveal that "Android and Chrome will likely converge over time". Brin pointed to the common Linux and Webkit browser code as existing points of convergence in the two open-source platforms.
We made no attempt to disguise our confusion about what looked like a poorly orchestrated teaser campaign for the Camangi WebStation Android slate earlier this year, but neither did we deny that there’s still a space in our heart (and on our shelves) for the first affordable example of just such a device. Camangi’s site – now fully functional and accepting pre-launch reservations – is claiming that the 7-inch WebStation will drop “no later than early December this year”.
We’ve covered a few modded Sony VAIO UX-series UMPCs over the years, but it’s rare to see all the headline tweaks combined into one machine. Happily one member of the Micro PC Talk forums has done just that, taking a humble 2007 UX490 and not only switching out its SSD, WiFi and other basic components, but completely replacing the standard CPU (which is soldered into place) for a faster version.
We’d forgive you for having forgotten about C-motech’s Mangrove UMPC; after all, the market for a 7-inch touchscreen tablet running Windows Mobile 6.5 is hardly vast. Still, we were interested to see the unit at Qualcomm’s event today, though its tubby form-factor was a whole lot less impressive when sat next to the Quanta Android Smartbook.
Continued »
Remember Archos' triumphant announcement last month that the Archos 9 PC Tablet was finally arriving on store shelves? Well, that joy looks to have been seriously premature; while the Archos 9 may have gone up for order on October 22nd - priced at £449.99 ($748) or thereabouts - it's not expected to ship for another few weeks at least. UMPC Portal spoke to Archos themselves, who revealed that Archos 9 pre-orders won't actually ship until early December. It's even worse news if you're waiting to pick one up at a nearby retail store.
SlashGear Japan
