UMPC Explorers! | Ultranauts.com

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I’ll admit my bias right away: I already have an HTC PocketPC. Despite all of it’s ~~glaring~~ little errors, I love the little guy. The screen is too small, the processor too slow and the built-in apps are too buggy. Does the new HTC PocketPC plus Windows Mobile 6 fix all of this? Possibly… I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out!

The fine folks over at Mobility Site have an excellent unboxing/mini-review of the sexy little “UMPCjr” up right here. It sure does make me want to pull out the ‘ole credit card and over extend myself for an HTC Advantage. What’s the verdict?

I’m an edge user of mobile devices. I use feature the average user doesn’t know exists. I try to keep that in mind when looking at new devices but I’m still astounded at manufacturers who throw in a half implemented feature. While playing with my mom’s new iPhone, I got a bit of the techno lust. It’s a beautiful gadget and much of it is really intuitive. So I started thinking about whether I could live with the limitations (no 3g, no tethering, etc.). So I took her phone and tried stuff. Stuff that my Blackjack does well and stuff that it does poorly but acceptably, to see how the iPhone compares.

I learned that despite it’s rounded corners, the iPhone still has some rough edges. There’s an iPhone bug when used with Microsoft’s address book. The office phone number refused to sync. I know how many folks use MS address book? Well, my mom for one, she’s moving from paper and Outlooks seems like overkill.

No native Bluetooth support for music. Bluetooth headsets work great for the phone functions but you can’t listen to music with either a mono or a stereo headset. (I tried both). There’s a workaround, but the music keeps playing through the phone’s speaker so why bother. Also there are reports that iPod add-ons like iMuffs will work but should we really have to pay extra for stereo Bluetooth?

Yes I’m picking on Apple a little bit but EVERY phone manufacturer seems to have some feature that is poorly implemented. “Converged Device” doesn’t mean shove it all in the same case and don’t worry if things don’t work together. I’m still not sure why this so hard. Ask a few of us what we would like to see in a device. For example, There are tons of requests for mono music playback via Bluetooth. Why? Not quality, accessibility. Sometimes you just want a little unobtrusive background music. But no one seems to get that. Not HP, not Samsung, not Apple.

The best comparison I have is that the iPhone is like Lindsay Lohan. It’s beautiful. It’s talented and yet it may never live up to all of it’s potential. Perhaps as it matures, we’ll see that it can move beyond it’s current issues to be something really special, not just the attractive thing of the moment.

I know what you’re thinking: Speak-n-Spell 2.0! Unfortunately, that’s not the case. What we’ve got here is the soon-to-be DOA StudentMate, a UMPC-like device that doesn’t really pass the test. Sure, it has a touchscreen and weighs less than 2 pounds. But that’s where things begin to go downhill…

“It has 128MB of memory, no HDD, but the memory is expandable by both SD cards and USB. As far as software goes it has a web browser, word processor, spread sheet software, contact list, a clock and calendar. For students there is also a calculator, typing tutor, home work helper, student summary list, and a mail client.”

Cool. A homework helper and a typing tutor? How very Mavis Bacon of the device to include some old-school keyboarding instruction. We could go on, but you can read more tragic “My1stUMPC” news over at Slashgear.

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Fake Steve Jobs has been exposed. Fake James Kendrick has exposed himself. Fake Steve Balmer is still a mystery but not as funny as fake Steve Jobs. Large parts of Pamela Anderson have been fake for years and Kevin Tofel picks this point in time to take on take on fake UMPC’s. He argues the hippie love theory of UMPC’s that anything that wants to be a UMPC can be one. That the definition is not important any more.

I disagree. I’m not arguing for a Champagne like definition of UMPC’s (if it’s not from Champagne, France you must call it sparkling something or other) but I think that some definition is important. Yes there are lots of UMPC like devices out there. An expansive definition includes the iPhone and the Nokia n800. But if someone claimed the Nokia n800 was a “Tablet PC”, the community would scream that it didn’t meet the definition of a Tablet PC. The Tablet PC community has worked hard to establish their definition.

Why is the definition important? Picture this conversation:

“What’s that?”
“It’s a Nokia n800 UMPC”
“Can I do all my normal computing tasks with it?
“No but you can do web browsing and email anywhere.”

Now one more potential UMPC user is misinformed. They see the UMPC as a Windows Mobile style device instead of a full PC and write off the whole category.

As for the iPhone, with a nod to Fake Steve Jobs, no hardcore Apple fan is going to call an iPhone a UMPC. If Apple doesn’t want to join the club leave them out! Real Steve Jobs still has a Newton shoved so far up his butt that we may never see a tablet style PC from Apple. So be it.

There is a part of me that does want to dump the UMPC definition entirely and lump all Windows based UMPC’s in with Tablet PC’s as one big category of portable computers with pens. Across the spectrum you can get touch, outdoor screens, keyboards, big, little and in between screens; big, little and in between prices. The common element is the pen, the tablet bits in windows and the ability to complete your normal work with it.

The big question in my mind is if the UMPC category is as big a flop as the media claims it is, why is everyone trying to claim to be a UMPC? We’ve seen a lot of fakes. How about some reality in the UMPC space?

Forbes Editor Revealed as Fake Steve Jobs

It’s certainly not the the most appealing marketing attempt that we’ve ever seen, but the form factor sure does grab our attention. Let’s hope that the upcoming Eee is more proof that good things come in small packages (and it can run XP!). We’ll be watching this one closely.

All the juicy details can be found in the Press Release.

All the big financial magazines are jumping on the UMPC bandwagon. First it was Fortune. Now it is Forbes (via the AP). This time around, Forbes is reviewing the ill-named PepperPad. The bottom-line?

On the whole, the Pad is a respectable try, but I slightly preferred Samsung’s UMPC despite its failings (like the lack of a keyboard). That’s mainly because it was possible to install familiar Windows software on the UMPC, and easier to transfer music and videos from my desktop PC.

If you ask us (and, yes, we know you didn’t), the PepperPad is an underpowered mess. It may look “neat” on paper, but when it comes to power, functionality, expandability, and just about everything else, the PepperPad comes up short. Oh, and it’s ugly. Plus, any branding folks assoicated with the naming of this device should be fired.

Read the full review via Forbes.

Project Origami lives!

I would so totally buy this today! Very, very cool.

See the incredible, folding UMPC right here!