The Handii BC9 business tablet looks to be the perfect companion for the working man outside the office. I doubt if you can suggest anything that can match it when it comes to features. I mean, what other business tablet announced and released recently comes with a built-in Ethernet port? I’ll tell you what – nothing. The Dell Streak? Apple iPad? Asus EeePad? Those have got nothing on the Handii BC9 and its built-in Ethernet port. Nope. That aside, it also features VIA C7 -M 772 Esther processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB memory, 32GB SSD, S3G UniChrome Pro II 128MB and an 8.9-inch touchscreen display. You will also find it has 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a webcam, 3G broadband modem, accelerometer, VGA-out port and 2 USB ports. What else would anyone need? It is currently being sold in the APAC region for $578 USD without 3G and $651 with 3G.

Via PCLaunches

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Cowon has just announced a new PMP that just might be a great UMPC. The Cowon V5W features a large 800×480 4.8-inch touchscreen display and supports full HD (1080p) video output via its HDMI-out port. Other features of the Cowon V5W include a built-in SD/SDHC card slot to complement its 16GB/32GB/64GB of onboard memory, Wi-Fi, and Windows CE 6.0. It also comes fully loaded with apps including games, dictionaries, and e-book reader and even a Office suite. Pricing has been confirmed as follows: 16GB version – about $327, 32GB version – about $376, 64GB version – about $449.

Via Akihabara News

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One Laptop Per Child’s next low-power laptop will come in the form of the XO-1.75, which apart from shifting to an ARM processor from a Via x86 CPU will also make use of a touch-sensitive 8.9-inch screen that supports multi-touch, according to a recent report from Computerworld. The actual release of the OLPC XO-1.75 laptop is scheduled to happen some time next year, while a similarly equipped tablet PC called the XO-3 is slated for launch some time in 2012. Being a product of the OLPC foundation, the XO-1.75 should be quite affordable but there is currently no word on pricing for it. It should be more affordable than most mainstream netbook models, at least, since OLPC have already ruled out the use of Windows for future models and are sticking to Fedora Linux for the default OLPC OS.

Via Computerworld

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Korean electronics manufacturer Viliv is just about ready to let their latest UMPC, the N5, go on the market. A marked improvement over last year’s S5, this model boasts several nice features like a touchscreen, extended battery life, and several others. Boasting an Intel Atom processor under the hood, while a Windows 7 Starter functions as the OS, the N5 is looking to be a great UMPC. For those interested, here are the current specs:

• Intel® Atom™ processor Z520 (1.33 GHz)
• Windows™ 7 Starter
• 4.8” WSVGA (1024×600) Touch screen
• 32GB SSD
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM 533Mhz
• Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth 2.0/ HSPA/TD-SCDMA/EVDO/WiMAX Connectivity
• GPS
• 1.3M Pixel Camera
• Optical Joystick Mouse
• 1 USB Host
• Micro-SDHC, Headphone-out, Mic, Speakers
• QWERTY keyboard 63 keys total (Function 34 keys)
• 6 hours max battery life (4 hour movie playback), 15W
• Dimensions:  172(W) x 86(L) x 25(H)mm / 6.77(W) x 3.38(L) x 0.98(H) inch
• Weight:  0.85lb / 388g

Expect it to hit stores in a month or so – expect the price to be around 500 US dollars, like the S5.

Source: jkOnTheRun

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About a week ago, rumors got around about Toshiba’s plans on unveiling a dual-touchscreen tablet PC that wielded 7-inch displays with the codename “GuideBook.” The rumor said that it would launch this June, and, lo and behold, it’s actually here. Toshiba officially announced it today as the Libretto W100 alongside a new ultrathin notebook to celebrate their 25th year anniversary in the laptop business.

So what’s so good about the Toshiba Libretto W100 tablet PC, aside from its dual 1024×600 pixel resolution 7-inch touchscreen displays, built-in accelerometer and haptic feedback? Well, for starters, the Libretto W100 isn’t a toy as it can run a real desktop operating system — Windows 7 (the standard version comes with the Home Premium version pre-installed). This is made possible by its 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 ULV processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB SSD. There’s even a 1MP webcam onboard to facilitate video chats through Skype or other messaging clients. As for the rest of the specs, the Toshiba Libretto W100 boasts built-in Wi-Fi n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR for connectivity, as well as a single USB 2.0 port and microSD card slot for expansion or data transfer.

If you like what you’ve read about the Toshiba Libretto W100 tablet PC so far, I recommend you to stop reading right here. The next few sentences might possibly cause you to lose respect in a company that impressed you a mere two paragraphs ago. Still reading? Well, be informed this device is currently being considered a “concept PC” by its makers and will be priced at a whopping $1,099 USD when it comes out on a limited basis within the next few months. If it catches on, we might see a consumer-friendly version (with a more tolerable price tag, I presume) that you and I won’t just admire, but will probably buy as well.

Via Toshiba

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This is probably not as popular now (or ever, in some parts of the world), but people used to buy pocket electronic dictionaries. I haven’t spotted one being used myself but bookstores still carry a few of these things around, just in case.

With the roll out of UMPCs, gadgets of that size were quickly replaced by smarter, more powerful models. The reason I brought that up is because Sharp has a new device up, about the same size of the pocket dictionaries they make. The Sharp IS01 is an Android device that’s actually marketed as a phone though it packs enough hardware to be a decent UMPC.

Sharp IS01

• 5″ 960×480 multitouch-enabled screen
• 1GHz Snapdragon
• 4GB storage
• Android 1.6
• 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, 1Seg mobile TV tuner, IrDA, 3G CDMA module
• microSD slot, 5.27MP camera + 0.43MP front-facing webcam, 5-row QWERTY
• Weight: 227g

That’s a lot of stuff to pack in a phone! The TV tuner is a nice touch, though it’s likely unusable in most places except in Japan where it’s almost a standard in all their phones. It’ll start shipping in the latter part of this year so don’t wait up for it.

source Engadget

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Ah, technology, what wonders you bring to us! Take this recent example of a UMPC that’s been the talk of the town, the UMIB mBook BZ. It certainly has the chops to take on your lightweight tasks that most netbooks are capable of. So how were they able to stuff everything into such a small package?

Wireless Goodness found out through an FCC filing for this mini notebook. Everything was laid bare and showed us how this engineering feat came together. They were even able to cram in a USB port in its tiny frame.

source Wireless Goodness

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Lenovo’s chief Yang Yuanqing stated that in the next five years, up to 80 percent of their sales will be through Internet-enabled mobile devices. Included in this forecast are the sales for smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks and similar products.

Lenovo is currently the fourth largest computer maker. Yang added that Lenovo will be moving into emerging markets such as those in Eastern Europe and Latin America. The previous quarter, sales in India and other emerging economies rose 52 percent year-on-year versus the 13 percent growth in Western markets.

source Yahoo News

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Chippy of UMPC Portal posted a very compelling piece about how the Internet basically split into two, the ‘full’ Internet and the mobile Internet. It’s an informative read for any mobile warrior and the article touches on how access to the Web has changed over the years.

Basically, the mobile ‘Net was just a subset of the full desktop Internet experience. Now, always-on handheld devices are displaying features not available with regular desktops. While laptops and desktops offer larger screen real estate, better performance and customization as well as access to more tools like Flash, FTP and 3D engines. Mobile devices on the other hand are location-aware (GPS), a touch-friendly and often have speedy interfaces.

Try as manufacturers may to enhance and integrate the features of one set of these devices with the other, they haven’t succeeded in doing so. Device makers are still trying their best to merge the mobile and full Internet experiences with the whirlwind of new gadgets being introduced recently like smartbooks, tablets and others. Maybe this year they’ll finally crack it but in the mean time, you will need to have both sets of device to enjoy the ‘full’ Internet.

source UMPC Portal

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Pocketables has a rant on people incessantly commenting on why UMPCs have such large bezels. It’s a very well-thought out rant and not the one you’re thinking about and touches on some very important points on the design and manufacturing process.

The short of it is that bezels provide some structural integrity and protection for the LCD. It’s also constrained by the size that’s standard and available in the market. Custom-made screens cost way more and will drive the final price sky high, way out of reach among regular consumers. They choose the screen size, and hence the bezel size, that’s most economical and most feasible for a certain device design.

This thinking also applies to netbooks, where manufacturers often order the same screen size as their competitors so that everyone’s purchase helps drive down the costs of the screen for everybody. As you know, the LCD is one of the most expensive parts of any mobile computer. And if you try and make the netbook as small as possible for a certain LCD size, you might get more cracked screen than you want to have.

Until they perfect frameless screens though, bezels are pretty much here to stay.

source Pocketables

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