With the sales success of the Viliv S5 and X70 MIDs, all eyes are on the Viliv S7 to see if the company can make 7-inch touchscreen convertible netbooks popular too. Yet to go up for preorder in the US or Europe, an S7 has dropped into the hands of UMPC Fever in Hong Kong; they’ve been sharing their first impressions.
We can’t help but think that if OQO had seen this much interest a few months back, they may not have gone bankrupt. An OQO Model 2+ UMPC – the company’s most recent model, complete with OLED touchscreen, Intel Atom 1.86GHz processor and integrated Qualcomm Gobi 3G WWAN – is currently listed on eBay, with bidding already at $5,100.
It’s an interesting challenge. Lots of mobile devices that are all vying for the consumer pocket (and wallet). But just how many devices will consumers carry with them at any one time? The answer is important as that also helps define which devices will be successful and which ones will fail. Conventional wisdom holds that most consumers prefer to carry only a single device, and while that wisdom is correct it only tells a partial story. We’ve done some interesting research at Interpret that says there’s more here than conventional wisdom would indicate and that consumers are willing to carry more than one device; however there’s also an upper limit on that number.
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
Dell are tipped to be working with Intel on a 5-inch touchscreen tablet, which will be provided free of charge to users who sign up to one or more digital content subscriptions. The unnamed device, expected to hit the market in around six months time, will be positioned as a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader, and offer would-be users turned off by that device’s high initial purchase price an alternative way of accessing regular digital content.
Preorders for Viliv MIDs and UMPCs just don’t seem to be blessed with the best of luck. After the Viliv S5 launch brought down importer Dynamism’s servers and left many struggling to complete their orders, the launch of the Viliv X70 has been struck by components shortages at the factory. In an email to those who preordered the 7-inch touchscreen device, Dynamism suggests that “MIDs have been especially popular this year” which surprised components suppliers.
The September launch speculation for Apple’s tablet – aka the Apple Media Pad - continues, with Chinese newspaper Apple Daily reporting that Wintek have won the contract for the touchscreen device’s display, while Dynapack ITC will be supplying the battery. The paper goes on to describe the device as having a 10-inch display and 3G connectivity, tipping its launch at the same time as Apple’s iPod refresh in September.
Augmented reality – integrating data from computer and internet sources with everyday life – is showing up more and more lately, as cellphones learn to geotag landmarks and webcams are coaxed into spotting special ID glyphs, but we’re still a way off from a true mainstream-commercial head-up display. MicroPCTalk forum member fiveseven808 decided to take matters into his own hands, and hacked together a wearable computer with the eyepiece from a Myvu Crystal, a Sony UMPC and a Motorola iDEN i425 for cheap, always-on connectivity.
Anticipation for Viliv’s next UMPC, the S7, is increasing, and considering the Korean company has become the poster-child for the much-misunderstood segment that’s no real surprise. After being spotted in the wild last week, now Lazion have managed to pin an S7 down for some battery testing.
It looks as though one of the mainstays of the UMPC segment, Raon Digital, has closed business. After stock shortages have prompted concerns over the past few months, more recently speciality sites have reported no word from their contacts at the company and, according to Pocketables, Korean news sites have published bankruptcy notices.
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