I thoroughly enjoy reading Smarthouse. You can always count on their insightful content to both entertain and inform. Dean Evan’s recent article, Inside Microsoft’s New Handheld, keeps up that tradition in fine form. I just happen to disagree with him.
“The UMPC isn’t a brand new class of device. Strip away Microsoft’s marketing gloss (’the device that you’ll always want with you’) and both of the gadgets shown at CeBIT (ASUStek’s R2H and Samsung’s Q1) seem to simply evolve and improve the Tablet PC concept. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.”
Ah, but it is a good thing. And it is a new class of device. Here’s why: it has a defined spec. The device has minimums and maximums, must haves and must have nots. The Tablet PC was never really constrained to such limits, and, in my opinion, could never reach a the critical mass needed to take-off. Forcing a degree of standardization will benefit the UMPC in ways that kept the tablet PC from the masses.
Indeed, the Tablet PC comparison is the wrong one to make. Had Dean made the comparison to the PocketPC, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now. The Ultra Mobile PC has much more in common with its PocketPC bretheren. Certainly we will see the UMPC take over the high-end PocketPC market as we watch the PocketPC ally and transition closer to to the converged cellphone space. Within the UMPC specs are things that a tablet PC never dreamed of doing, such as two-handed data entry and a form factor that allows you to finally replace your day-planner in both form and function.
Aside from all of that rhetoric, I’m desperate to get my hands on a UMPC. I never had that angst and anticipation with the Tablet PC. And that’s how I know, how I really know that this thing is different.
Loading ...
No comments yet.