Reports are coming out of Korea that UMID have been forced to recall their M1 mobile internet device over concerns about build quality and finishing. The M1, which retails in Korea as the mBook, went on limited sale on February 13th, and apparently is yet to sell out the 500 units.
Details of UMID’s roadmap have emerged, which indicate the company’s upcoming M2 follow-up to the recently-launched UMID M1. According to a company proposal document, the UMID M2 will have a sub-3-inch display, and both HSPA and WiMAX connectivity, all in a slim, smartphone-style body.
After my brief hands-on with the UMID M1 mobile internet device at the start of the week, and coming away not entirely convinced by its keyboard or OS, we stopped back to see the MID again and test out just how suitable the keyboard is for thumb-typing. The good news is, a combination of two-handed use and the standard Windows XP scheme make this ultraportable a whole lot more tempting a prospect: check out the second hands-on video after the cut.
Video and more images of the UMID M1 after the cut
We had a chance to spend some brief time with the UMID M1 MID at Mobile World Congress this week, courtesy of Intel’s stand, and in the plastic it certainly does little to disappoint if it’s a super-small full QWERTY notebook you’re looking for. One thing that was hammered home after some hands-on time: this is very much a niche product.
Photos and Video Demo of the UMID M1 MID after the cut
It’s no lie to say we blanched at the initial UMID M1 pricing coming out of Australia, but we’re hearing slightly happier figures from more local pricing for the handheld. According to one report, the base M1 model – with a 1.1GHz Intel Atom processor, 512MB of memory, 16GB of SSD storage and Linux OS – will retail for the equivalent of $500 in Korea.
We didn’t get a chance to catch up with UMID at CES this year, but their connectivity-heavy M1 MID made an appearance and was promised for a June release in the US. Price, though, hadn’t been decided, but was expected to be “not too expensive”; either the people at UMID aren’t familiar with what constitutes expensive, or Australian buyers are being swindled. The UMID M1 mobile internet device has gone up for pre-order at Justek, an Australia-based reseller, for a whopping AU$1399 ($924), with stock expected by February 27th.
UMID’s wireless-packed Mobile Internet Device pulled in the pageviews last week, and the company has responded with new photos and more hardware details for the 4.8-inch touchscreen device. Particularly interesting is the battery, rated at 17Wh, which estimates suggest will offer in excess of four hours use.
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