Things have been quiet on the team blog recently so I thought I'd make a quick post. First of all, let me say thanks to all the UMPC followers to date. You guys are really amazing, I can't believe how fast you find stuff :) Seriously we see and learn about things in our forums and the other UMPC sites from all of you many times, like the discovery of the FCC pdf files of the manufactures devices. That is really cool and shows just how powerful of a tool the Internet has grown into. Of course sometimes we know about things and are dying to share it with the community but we have to patiently wait for it to be public knowledge before talking openly about it. Oh well, you guys usually figure it out ahead of time anyway!
The good news is devices will be in your pretty little hands soon. We're only a couple weeks away from Tablet Kiosk fullfiling your pre-orders and Samsung announced May availability. I've used both devices a lot and they are both really great. The Tablet Kiosk has a cool industrial design, great hardware buttons on the bezel, for instance a button to quickly hide and show dialkeys and a mouse stick. The Samsung also has a great industrial design, is really light and has two front speakers that actually put out pretty darn good sound. It also has a kickstand on the back which comes in handy when you want to quickly prop the device up. I've used the Founder and ASUS as well but since they're not available yet I guess it is kind of pointless to cover those in this blog.
Anyway, things are about to get exciting. Why? Well first you'll be living the life soon like we have been doing for a while now and I can say it can really change how you use and rely on your personal computers. You'll suddenly take for granted how light the darn thing is when your toting it around or how relaxing it is to play Sudoku or surf the web from the comfort of your couch. Heck, Emily even is using hers on the free wifi on the bus ride to work everyday. Cities like San Fran and Portland are making wireless more prominent where being always connected will be something you soon won't be able to live without. Pairing the device with a cell phone that offers internet access lets you surf and e-mail even when no wifi is in site.
We also will be running some promotions soon to keep the interest growing and give you a shot to win some free stuff, some very cool free stuff. Also we've got lots of blogs ready to go to help you out when the devices are availalbe. Sears will be doing a Touch Improvements blog soon and we'll do a Pimp your UMPC soon too. The team is standing by to help those of you that buy the devices and have questions about them and to get feedback on what needs to be improved most dramatically. So keep reading, keep watching and soon you won't be waiting any longer. Origami's (um I mean UMPCs) will be out in the wild and many of you will be the first ones to enjoy them. We can't wait to hear what you think.
Note: Microsoft does not endorse or condone the use of a cellular service that is not in compliance with you data plan. Please check with your plan provider for more details. That should cover me :)