Quote:
Originally Posted by MsAnthrope
Engadget recently wrote about Paul Allen's flipstart umpc at flipstart.com. It's the size of a paperback, built-in keyboard, usb ports, Sprint evdo ready. RAM at 512MB isn't great but CPU is 1.1 GHz. It comes with XP or Vista and runs MS compatible apps. Battery life is only 3-6 hours. The price was just halved to 699 USD. I don't know what that might portend. Wikipedia has more info and links to different reviews. This seems to fit the bill for a pocket-portable PC but you'd probably have to carry an extra battery.
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Regarding the flipstart, it is not pocket size as it is too wide and it is a thumb device. I believe those two issues, 1 - not being a jacket pocket computer, and 2- being a thumb input rather than touch type input is why they are not popular and are dropping the price.
"RWood
Most computer hardware companies today are sheep, blind mice -- following each other in rote. Once upon a time I had an UMPC called a Psion. Its clam shell form fit my jacket pocket and the screen was easy to read. There was even a program for loading ebooks to it. That was over 10 years ago "
Rwood, you are absolutely right, computer companies have been blind mice cowering to MS with no creativity. MS came out with the UMPC spec and used their influence to eliminate any creativity. After over a year the UMPC has been a dud, with only 350K sales worldwide according to a Dec 07 Forbes article.
Psion was the only company that went against MS. They could not compete in both hardware and software at the same time. I think today with the technology enabling a full desktop OS to be built into a pocket size form factor; that now computer companies can get out of their sheep role. Now with the technology if someone created a modern Psion that had full desktop OS what can MS do? they can now create hardware without MS influencing the hardware in the wrong direction like they did with their UMPC flop.
"brecklundin
the biggest issue I have with these UMPC's and handhelds is they all seem to insist on adding a phone to the device. This puts the devices in a useless configuration for me. It not only affects the power use but also form factor. Also it almost forces a [potential] user to decide if paying extra for functionality they will likely never use is worth the premium. "
I agree that I would rather see a modern Psion be a pure computer that might have wireless abilities but not built around any attempt to be a phone as well. To me the problem is once it tries to be a phone, the form factor will assume that it must be shirt or pants pocket NOT jacket pocket. Thus the computer functionality will never be there as they will resort to a thumb keyboard instead of a touch type keyboard.
Keep it focused as a form factor alternative to a laptop for people whom value mobility and do not need the most blazing fast laptop. That way the form factor is based primarily on having a good touch type keyboard and the functionality of a laptop yet as small as possible to enable it to be stowed in a jacket pocket yet also be as large as possible given the size restrictions of that jacket pocket so that the keyboard and screen are as large as possible.
If a modern Psion was available that had full desktop OS, it woul easily be a huge hit and could sell easily from the $1000 to $1500 range with no problem. The problems of UMPC are they lack that ideal Psion form factor.