Even if you don’t quite see how a MID or UMPC might fit into your daily life, most people can summon up some enthusiasm about just how much tech is squished into those tiny chassis. Kohjinsha’s PA-Series MID wowed us when it made its dinky debut then caused us to choke when we saw what the company were charging; now Wow-Pow have unboxed the tiny convertible.
Video unboxing after the cut
Remember Kohjinsha’s nifty dual-display netbook from CEATEC, that sandwiched two 10.1-inch displays together for some extra-wide Windows 7 productivity? Another video of the netbook in action has emerged, courtesy of DigInfo, and if the sight of beautifully engineered sliding LCD panels makes you weak at the knees, well, sit down before you hit the jump.
Video demo after the cut
Kohjinsha’s PA-series MID may have satisfied us that the company is at least listening to critique about form-factor and usability – unlike other mini-notebooks, such as the UMID mbook m1 and Sharp’s NetWalker, it has a rotating touchscreen for use as a slate – but they still seem to have their fingers in their ears when it comes to pricing. According to WOW-POW, the PA MID will come in at 69,800 yen, which works out to a whopping $760.
Kohjinsha’s dinky swivel-screened MID, the PA-series, isn’t the only unusual rotation happening on the company’s stand at CEATEC. They’re also showing off this dual-screen beast, currently in prototype form, packing twin 10.1-inch LCDs for some mobile widescreen action. SlashGear Japan stopped by to grab some live photos for us.
Kohjinsha may have filled their MID niche with a rebadged UMID mbook m1, but that hasn’t stopped their own engineers from coming up with a homegrown alternative. The Kohjinsha PA-series takes the same mini-clamshell form-factor of the m1 and Sharp’s NetWalker, but throws in a convertible display for using the MID as a slate.
MIDs are, despite the extra attention Viliv’s range has drawn to the segment, still very much a niche within a niche, but most of us can at least admire the hard work that goes into squeezing a full PC into a tiny little chassis. It’s with that in mind that we’ve been enjoying PC Watch’s comparison photoset of the Kohjinsha PM MID (aka the UMID mbook M1) versus Sharp’s PC-Z1 NetWalker.
Kohjinsha have announced their latest MID, the PM-series, and if you’ve followed the scene in ultracompact PCs over the past few months then you’ll be quick to recognize it as the UMID mbook M1. Freshly rebadged and on sale in Japan for 59,800 yen ($646), the Kohjinsha PM keeps the mbook’s Atom Z510 1.1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM but seemingly lacks an integrated 3G option.
Somebody nudge Kohjinsha and tell them that their latest netbook, well, isn’t a netbook. The Kohjinsha EX6 may use an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor but with its 11.6-inch display, integrated optical drive and touchscreen – not to mention the $836 starting price – it’s pushing the low-power Tablet PC boundary.
Kohjinsha’s SK3 UMPC landed quietly in Japan back in June, and since then we’ve heard little about the 7-inch touchscreen convertible. Happily the team over at Conics have been able to source at least one SK3, and they’ve shared the video unboxing with us. Let’s just say, unless they have particularly large hands at Conics, the little Kohjinsha really is tiny.
Video after the cut
Kohjinsha’s SK3 UMPC, which we saw yesterday, has been officially launched in Japan. The 7-inch touchscreen SK3 gets an Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM and a 60GB 1.8-inch 4,200rpm hard-drive; there’s also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS.
JP
