I have been involved recently in many arguments about performance and battery life and that made me think about myself back in 2006 when the Origami Concept was being constantly attacked by the press and one of the things they were saying was that OEMs were using weak processors in Origamis. And I replied many times back then that UMPCs were companion PCs no designed or thought to replace your main PC at home.

Well, Today I have to admit that I was wrong. The processors used in the first generation of UMPC were good enough in the majority of cases, as you can see from the video attached to this article. But they have one problem, battery life. I wont say that this is a small problem. This is a huge problem in our modern life.  But like I have said before, you have many things that you can do to stay unplugged from power the whole day, but you can't do anything to increase performance once you reach the point where your UMPC is fully optimized.

I was wrong when I said that UMPCs are just Companion PCs. Why? Well because when you own one and you start to use it, soon you will discover that you can't live without one of these gadgets. You will enter in a state where you want to use only your UMPC. It's so comfortable after all to use it in literally everywhere that you wont turn on your main PC at home anymore.

To think like some companies are thinking that UMPC are designed for Internet and a little bit of document editing is too... simplistic. In current time everything is more complex. Let's take blogging. Who is going to visit a blog without pictures or without a few little videos? Blogging is about mobility! I like to blog when I feel that I have something to say and that happens in the most uncommon places sometime. Do I have to wait to get home to turn on my PC to get my short video edited or to insert some watermark into my pictures? Come on!

Games... I saw the other day a video from VIA demonstrating how they can play Quake III in a OQO 02. And I have conflicting reactions with that video. Who the heck is going to connect a UMPC to a full size keyboard and a mouse to play Quake in a UMPC? That's not what gamers want! Young people want to be able to take the UMPC in the way they are and play Hallo like they are playing it in a PSP! Yes, the OQO 02 can handle Quake III. That's good. VIA is getting better. But that's not enough. is there any company that has analyzed how to use the integrated keyboard in this second generation of UMPC to remap some keys to replace the normal use of those keys by the functionality of the keys in a game controller? has any OEM checked how many potential users ask for how good UMPC are from the point of view of games? Because this is one of the most common questions that I have been asked since 2006. And I'm not a gamer. If I'm talking about this is because like I said, people are asking me these kind of questions. No Microsoft, Sudoku does not enter in the category of games that young people want to play. And that brings the same problem again. Current UMPC are not powerful enough to handle most of the games that teenagers want to play. They do not have the power and they have not been optimized to be used as a portable game station. And they do not want a new portable play station. All they want is a real UMPC that they can take everywhere with all those programs and games that they have in their home PCs.

And now we have Vista. The Operating System with the best handwriting recognition I have seen. But... what a shame, people are downgrading their brand new Samsung Q1Us because some wise person decided to cut down a processor to increase battery life and another very wise person decided to use that weaken processor with Vista. Thanks God that that last person reanalyzed the idea of using a processor at 600 MHz with Vista! 

Performance is needed as much as battery life is needed!

Forget about that stupid idea about UMPCs being the next Nokia N800 in the market. That's the simplistic idea that I have back at the beginning of 2006 and like I have being saying from the beginning on this article I  W-A-S  W-R-O-N-G. And I was wrong because this is how I ended using my UMPC:

Video



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Posted By CTitanic to ULTRA MOBILE PC TIPS at 6/14/2007 07:51:00 AM

A UMPC is still my companion pc. I can not live without my desktop. I use the UMPC as my mobile device when I'm away from my desktop. But I couldn't live with just a Q1 or a Q1 Ultra.

mvenini11:

A UMPC is still my companion pc. I can not live without my desktop. I use the UMPC as my mobile device when I'm away from my desktop. But I couldn't live with just a Q1 or a Q1 Ultra.

Because you don't have enough... performance?

or screen real estate, or storage capacity, or comfortable keyboard and mouse... Is CPU performance really the only thing holding you back from ditching a desktop altogether?

Yeah, but to reach that performance it'll need to have a Core2Duo running at least at 1.6ghz. You can wave goodbye to any decent battery life then. I'd much rather have a good 4 or 5 hours of battery life rather than faster speed. At the end of the day an origami machine still can't do everything that I want from a mobile computer, so a laptop is still required if you want to do some serious work.

icrf:

or screen real estate, or storage capacity, or comfortable keyboard and mouse... Is CPU performance really the only thing holding you back from ditching a desktop altogether?

All that can be fixed with a Docking Station.

inomine:

Yeah, but to reach that performance it'll need to have a Core2Duo running at least at 1.6ghz. You can wave goodbye to any decent battery life then. I'd much rather have a good 4 or 5 hours of battery life rather than faster speed. At the end of the day an origami machine still can't do everything that I want from a mobile computer, so a laptop is still required if you want to do some serious work.

I have been using a P1610 Core Solo at 1.2 and performance is not bad. Battery life still the same I have in my Q1. And the P1610 is not a lot bigger than my Q1.

So, you still need your laptop because you don't enough performance in your UMPC.

Well yeah. My desktop blows away the Q1 in performance, it's just faster. When I sit at my desk, why would I want to use a slower machine, when I could use a blazing fast one.

Also the screen quality is better on my desktop, because of the better video card. When I hook up my Q1 to my 17 inch widescreen monitor, it does not look as vivid as my desktop does on the same monitor.

To me, the UMPC was meant to be a MOBILE companion pc. When I'm at work on the couch, or in bed the Q1 is awesome. At my desk in my home office, I'll take the desktop.

But this is just my opinion. For you the Q1 does all you need it to do. So with that, it's the only computer you need.

I agree with ctitanic here, performance is important even in these devices. They are after all general purpose computers - they are not beefed pda's. I tend to think of the UMPC as a laptop without a keyboard but with a touch screen. From a laptop you expect performance - so why shouldnt you from your touch enabled portable pc as well?

I think its possible to make one of these that is both powerful and has long battery life. Simply by allowing the user to throttle the CPU according to what he wants to use it for. If you sit in a cafe reading mail or an ebook your CPU could probably do this just as well on 500 MHz. But when you want to create that AVI file you probably want max juice during those minutes. The problem that ctitanic is pointing at is that someone has decided that UMPCs are supposedly only to be used for low CPU tasks, and hence they build them with really bad CPUs and GPUs. With appropriate cooling that can adjust to temperature its fully possible to have both a powerful computer as well as the e-book reader.

But then again, this makes the device expensive which is also important to get the UMPC concept out in the hands of people. If it costs more than $1000 then people are going to be either enthusiasts or rich to be able to purchase. Most people would just buy a laptop instead, failing to see the benefits of having a touch screen and not having to lug the keyboard around all the time (although the nice thing about UMPCs is that you can if you want).

I got the Q1P simply because it was the most poweful of the pack at a not-over-the-top price. I dont regret that, and the device performs very well. Actually it surprised me that I could play e.g. World of Warcraft on it, which i have done for simple tasks or just for chatting with guild friends. For most people the screen would be just too small and in my opinion, the performance could need that little extra boost.... just as ctitanic indicates.

I have read your concerns ctitanic and I quite agree - the Q1U seems to be a very good machine but unfortunately kitted with a below par CPU. It should have had a real ULV core duo of sorts at least.

I haven't purchased a UMPC yet, although I own an N800, which is limited but useful, nonetheless, because I'm watching developments, which are starting to accelerate, such as the announcement of the  Kojhinsha K600. However, I am intrigued by the P1610. I previously owned a P2210. How do you like yours? Which do you prefer for mobile use, the P1610 or the Q1, since you have both?

ctitanic:

icrf:

or screen real estate, or storage capacity, or comfortable keyboard and mouse... Is CPU performance really the only thing holding you back from ditching a desktop altogether?

All that can be fixed with a Docking Station.

Okay, so what you're saying is that a UMPC doesn't offer all those things, but offers you the capability to add them on. The processor, however, you can't, and that's why it's the major gripe? I could understand that. It keeps one pile of settings for you desktop and all applications, only one system to get used to, no reason to try to remember if you moved that project over, etc.

Then again, my desktop is always going to be a stupid amount faster than a UMPC. It's already a stupid amount faster than any laptop, and those are about the same level faster than a UMPC.

Wait, you're not asking for a desktop replacement UMPC, you're asking for a laptop replacement UMPC. There's a perfectly feasibly goal, I'm just afraid at what it will cost.

jhford:

I haven't purchased a UMPC yet, although I own an N800, which is limited but useful, nonetheless, because I'm watching developments, which are starting to accelerate, such as the announcement of the  Kojhinsha K600. However, I am intrigued by the P1610. I previously owned a P2210. How do you like yours? Which do you prefer for mobile use, the P1610 or the Q1, since you have both?

I do not own both, a company sent me a P1610 for a review and now I'm preparing one for a client. Between the K600 and the P1610 is like night and day. The P1610 is a lot better. Comparing the Q1 and the P1610, the P1610 is  a little bit bigger and heavier as you can see from the pictures that I posted here, but it's a lot better in performance than the Q1. If money is not an issue and the little bit of extra weight and size I would go for the P1610. The P1610 as the best display I have seen so far. Fully Indoor/Outdoor.

icrf:

ctitanic:

icrf:

or screen real estate, or storage capacity, or comfortable keyboard and mouse... Is CPU performance really the only thing holding you back from ditching a desktop altogether?

All that can be fixed with a Docking Station.

Okay, so what you're saying is that a UMPC doesn't offer all those things, but offers you the capability to add them on. The processor, however, you can't, and that's why it's the major gripe? I could understand that. It keeps one pile of settings for you desktop and all applications, only one system to get used to, no reason to try to remember if you moved that project over, etc. Then again, my desktop is always going to be a stupid amount faster than a UMPC. It's already a stupid amount faster than any laptop, and those are about the same level faster than a UMPC. Wait, you're not asking for a desktop replacement UMPC, you're asking for a laptop replacement UMPC. There's a perfectly feasibly goal, I'm just afraid at what it will cost.

To ask for a Desktop replacement UMPC is impossible if you count that there are Desktop that are dozen of time more powerful than a UMPC. But if you think that in every house of every computer owner you have one of those Desktop you are wrong. I'm asking for a UMPC with a performance of the average Desktop. I'm asking for a UMPC that could fully replace (with a docking station of course) probably 70% of Home Desktops. So basically you are right when  you say that I'm looking for a UMPC that could fully replace a laptop. Because for example, in my house, my main PC is a laptop, my daughter's main pc is a laptop. Now that laptop are cheaper I'm sure that people are bying more laptops as main PCs than a few years ago.

Except that for most of us, money IS an issue and in this case it's a big issue.

The P1610 retails from Fujitsu for $1600 in the base config ($2280 top config) vs $1150 for the XP version of the Q1U. The base config only has 512MB RAM and it's microDIMM, not SODIMM, so it's harder to get and more expensive to upgrade and a 30GB HD. So by the time you get memory and HD to match, you're up to $2000 - almost twice the price of the UMPC. You also lose the webcams, but I'm not sure how many people really need or even want that.

It's 2.2lbs vs 1.55lbs, which may not seem like much, but again depends on what you're looking for.

9.13" x 6.57" x 1.4" for the P1610 vs 8.96" x 4.88" x 0.93" for the Q1U which means it's about the same width, but significantly taller and thicker.

On the plus side, you do get better screen resolution (1280x768 vs 1024x600) and you get a PCMCIA slot which is always handy.

I think it's also a case of there being more than one typical user and for your needs, I think you're right - you need a P1610. And truth be told, if the P1610 were say... $1400 in a comparable config, *I* might consider it. However, what I absolutely do not want is a convertable. It may seem odd, but I really don't want to lug a keyboard around all the time and I don't like the squishy feel most convertables have. It makes me nervous to push on the screen - and that hinge is one more thing to break.

Is the P1610 "better" than the Q1U? Depends on how you define better. Speedwise, definitely. Featurewise - so-so. Pricewise - definitely not.

To me, THE main feature I want is compactness and 'fiddlefree' use. The UMPC should actually fit into a pocket in my vest based on the published specs. It also fits nicely in my very small shoulder bag. The P1610 won't.

On the other hand, I already have a very nice laptop and so I just don't need to replace it, so there's less incentive for that. And the stuff I typically do on my laptop when I'm mobile seems to be pretty much doable on the UMPC. I don't play games on my laptop. I don't run heavy duty apps. I DO, however, watch video a lot and surf.  It's interesting that my laptop toting friends also insisted that once I got a laptop, I'd be using it instead of my desktop. Didn't happen. I just use them for different things. I suspect that the UMPC will be similar.

As always - different people have different needs. So far, I've not seen any compelling argument that the Q1U won't meet my needs. Don't get me wrong - I'd love for it to have the same performance as my desktop - but ONLY if it didn't end up costing as much as a top of the line laptop and having a battery life of 1.5 hours.

Oh.. and let's get the OQO2 out of the way while we're at it:

5" screen. 840x400 res. 1 USB port. Requires a weird video/ethernet dongle for wired ethernet.

$1850 to get the version with same mem and hard drive.

Pros, better integrated keyboard (although smalllll), faster CPU (although it IS a Via), active digitiser, smaller and lighter (< 1lb).

My main concern with this (other than price) is mostly that it's going to be too small. I'm already worried I'll have trouble seeing the 7" screen clearly enough. I've seen the Sony UX and literally could not use it.