Some of the knocks on the Q1 from actual users are the lack of a dedicated cursor stick and a limited number of buttons when compared to other UMPC’s. On the plus side, the buttons are programmable. Well, the developers have finally found the Q1 and are giving us flexibility.
Dedicated Cursor Stick
Ticonderoga on the Origami Project forum has an app that let you use the Q1’s mushroom as a mouse. It’s evolved tremendously in a week with new builds out every day. At this pace he may wear himself out but I’m expecting the app to do everything but make coffee soon. It’s reported to work with Vista as well. Dedicated cursor stick, check.
More Buttons
The Q1 buttons are great but there’s no easy way (like with your finger) to change their programming to a different set. I’ve been wanting a way to select a button group depending on the app I’m working in. So IE gets browser specific buttons as does Media Player, etc.
Now Cue on the Origami Project forum has a small app that will let you setup and cycle through different button setups. The setup takes a minute to get used to but it works and it seems to work with Ticonderoga’s pointer app just fine.
I’ve set mine up to click the U1 button twice to show the button group. Then I press U1 to cycle through the different groups. When I stop, that’s the active group. Single clicking the U1 button fires off the action or program I’ve selected. This means that I can use all four buttons for an app and still be able to switch button groups, effectively giving me an unlimited number of buttons. More buttons, check
What I like about Samsung’s choices for the Q1 is that even though they got some things wrong out of the gate, these two items can be solved with software after the fact. While apps solve very specific Q1 issues, I’d love to hear if there any similar apps coming out for the EO or Asus units. Maybe something to make their buttons programmable too?
(In a nod to Hugo Ortega, holding the menu button on the right and pressing volume changes the brightness on a Q1. Hugo showed that in a recent video and I confess I didn’t know about that.)
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