UMPC Explorers! | Ultranauts.com » 2006

Laptop upgrades are not difficult to complete yourself, and there are three key upgrades that you can easily accomplish to make your laptop run faster. These will also give your laptop a higher resale value when you decide to replace it.

One of the most simple laptop upgrades to complete yourself is to upgrade your operating system. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Media Center, upgrading to Windows Vista is a good idea. You will be able to take advantage of the many features of Windows Vista, as well as enhance the speed of your system. An upgrade to Windows Vista for the Home Basic edition is under $100 and is worth it to enhance the efficiency of your system. (More…)

Have you been praying for Halo to make it’s debut on the UMPC? Do you just watch Microsoft’s UMPC teaser video over and over, dreaming of the day when you’ll get your hands on a portable version of Master Chief and Cortana? We’ll if your’re one of those people, you can keep waiting!

Halo isn’t coming to the UMPC anytime soon. But what you can have is Hangman. I don’t think even Halo could match the action, drama and suspense evident in the clip above.

[Thanks citanic]

The little Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a an odd bird (and didn’t even garner one little vote in our recent poll on which UMPC-like device you would like to own). It’s one part PDA, one part UMPC and one part smartphone. After playing with it for a couple of days, the good folks over at KVET.CH have posted an in-depth review with some great pics and screenshots. Their conclusion?

I’d rather carry this than an OQO or UMPC, and I certainly prefer it to any PDA or Windows Mobile device out there. And unlike my PowerBook, it is pocketable. It compliments a mobile phone perfectly

Interesting! Read the full and excellent review at KVET.CH.

The UMPC development community manager over at Intel made a forum post at UMPCbuzz requesting some open, honest and direct feedback regarding how Intel can improve the UMPC software development process:

I’m the mobile software development community manager for Intel. I’m intersted in listening, engaging and learning from the UMPC Buzz community. Please let me know how Intel can help you write the best software for the UMPC platforms. Do you need specific tools, technology, information to write your code faster or more robustly?

Please take this opportunity provide Intel with your thoughts. We don’t want to scare this guy off, so please make sure to remain professional and friendly. Basically, don’t act like this jerk:

First, I applaud you for making that post and engaging the community. Bravo! Kudos to you and Intel.

Second, it doesn’t matter how easy you make it for developers to create code for the UMPC if no one is buying the thing. The best thing you could possibly do is light a fire under the UMPC marketing boys at Intel and Microsoft. They are not earning thier paycheck (check www.ultranuats.com for some lucid commentary on the UMPCs marketing failures).

In fact, it would be fantastic if you could get the marketing guys (and gals) to create their own thread here so you can address both the development and marketing sides of the UMPC coin. That would be very, very helpful.

*WINK*

Go to the UMPCBuzz thread now!

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com

It was a busy week for Sony’s answer to the UMPC. The UX180P and UX90S have shown up in a few great reviews. Here’s a round-up of some our favorites, courtesey of your good friends at Ultranauts.com:

Mobility Today - Lots and lots of performance stats!

Laptop Magazine - “The first handtop that performs like a real notebook crams in a ton of features but falls a bit flat when it comes to usability.”

Brighthand - “Sony did a ton right with the VAIO UX180 and little wrong.”

Tom’s Hardware Guide - July 2006 Editor’s Choice winner.

Akihabara News - You’ll appreciate all of the video and pics.

If you spring for this bad-boy, don’t forget that one the cheapest place you can get it is Amazon.com via their direct rebate. It has gone from a $150 dollar rebate to a $50 rebate though.

Sometimes the best advice is the most obvious. That’s certainly the case with this little snippet from the Kiosk and Self-service Information website after getting their hands on a TabletKiosk eo:

I’ve said this before and I will say it again: Like any new technology, if this is the first time you have used a computer with the Tablet PC operating system there is a learning curve. Do no panic at the lack of a keyboard! It takes a few days to get used to using the pen or the on screen keyboard, Not because its difficult, simply because its not how you are used to using a computer.

Excellent!

The DualCor cPC looks to be an interesting take on the pseudo-UMPC segment. I’m looking forward to more on this one. Apparently, the cPC manual, or at least the QuickStart guide, is available for download via DualCor’s website.

Congratulations on your purchase of the cPC! We at DualCor have worked very hard in making the cPC a more efficient and easy-to-use mobile computing device for the mobile business professional. We hope that you find the cPC an indispensable tool to help you through your busy work day.

If the cPC’s battery can make it all the way thorugh that “busy work day” I might just have to buy one! Download the manual from here via DualCor.

There are many devices that now carry some variation on the UMPC label. And there are a lot more options coming down the pipe too. It’s definitely a great time to be in the market for a UMPC or UMPC-like device!

A couple of weeks ago, we asked the community (via a highly scientific poll) which of those devices that are out (or are just around the corner) they would most like to call their own. The results were a bit closer than I expected, and there were some clear trends as well.

First, the Asus R2H is clearly leading the UMPC pack as far as interest and purchasing intent are concerned. IT is the number 1 UMPC according to the Ultranauts community (and what we say is gospel). This is followed by a pseudo-UMPC, the Sony UX180P, in 2nd place. Taking the tail end of the Top 3 was the trusty little eo from TabletKiosk. I did expect the Samsung Q1 to rank a bit higher.

The real losers in this poll though are the pseudo-UMPCs from off-brands such as Avertech, OQO and DualCor. It think each of these devices has promise, so hopefully we welcome them with open arms. The OQO has been around for a bit and is an especially impressive piece of hardware. At the very bottom of the heap is the Nokia 770 Internet tablet. It’s actually a very nice “feeling” device, but it’s functionality is questionable. And it is super-small and actually closer to a PDA than a UMPC. Either way, the poor thing didn’t get a single vote. I guess nobody from Nokia reads Ultranauts.

A new poll will be going up in the next couple of days, so if you want to get the last word in, vote now!