UMPC Review Rebuttal

Head on over to this blog,  Ultra Mobility. Neil Balthaser blogs about his use of a Q1P. In this post he rebuts a CNET article titled "Why You Will Never Buy a UMPC".  Neil does a nice job of pointing out the benefits of a UMPC, specifically the increase in mobility over a laptop. I think its important for those considering buying a UMPC to understand this key advantage.  For some, like so many UMPC reviewers, this advantage is not worth what one gives up by not going with a laptop. But for me, this increase in mobility far, far, outweighs the advantages of the laptop.

When to Use a UMPC?

Reading a Q1P review and Steve's comment it made me realize that I should make this point.  In my opinion, a UMPC is a laptop / tablet replacement that gives you a smaller form factor and lighter weight which is a plus when you are not sitting at a desk or other horizontal work space.  It gives you the power of a PC to take more places more easily than a larger, heavier laptop or PC.  What it really is not, is a replacement for smart phones, blackberries, handheld gps devices, ipods etc.  The UMPC is not pocketable, has a short battery life and takes some time to boot up.

In Steve's comment, he mentions that he used a handheld gps unit instead of a bluetooth gps receiver with his UMPC because his Q1P battery would have died before he finished his bike ride.  I would assume that handheld gps receivers have battery lives at least over 10 hours while the Q1P with an extended battery lasts only 5 hours.  What he did use the Q1P for was to upload the photos and gps information and create the tagged map, a task that required a PC.  The advantage here was he was able to do this on the go instead of waiting to get home.  He was also able to do this standing up, something that would have been difficult with a normal laptop with keyboard.

In the Q1P review (sorry, lost the link), the reviewer stresses the point that the Q1P does not have a keyboard.  Personally, I love keyboards.  I'm a very decent typer and can input lots of text very easily with a keyboard.  However, I really don't miss an integrated keyboard at all with my Q1P.  Mainly because of the way I use it.  On the go, standing up etc, it would be hard to use a keyboard.  Using ink or the TIP is much easier, like writing on paper.  Of course I use a keyboard alot, when I'm at my desk like right now.  When I'm away from work or home and I need a keyboard, my BT foldable keyboard does the trick.

As for listening to music while on the go, I will always pick the iPod Nano I own.  Its very light, powers up quickly, is pocketable and has long battery life (greater than 10 hours).  However, if I want to watch a tv show, video or movie, then the Q1 is ideal like when I watched episodes of Lost and The Office when I was on the train traveling back from Boston.

So I guess my point here is that UMPCs, in my opinion, are ideal to use in some situations.  As my primary PC, I actually prefer it over a laptop.  However, for those extremely mobile situations where the full power of a PC is not needed, I prefer to use other devices such as iPods, etc.

Weekend Use of the Q1P

This weekend I took my Q1P with me, something I usually do not do. On Saturday, I was taking my car to a body shop to get an estimate on a paint job. The place was recommended by a coworker but is an hour away. Afterward I was planning on going into Manhattan to look at apartments. So I took the Q1P with me to use as a map in case I got lost going to the body shop and also to use to browse internet sites that list apartments.

I had no problems finding the body shop so I did not need to power up the Q1P and the GPS receiver but it was nice to have it just in case. However I did use it to check apartment listings after the realtor for the one apartment I was planning to see informed me that apartment was taken. After checking other listings, I did not see any others that caught my interest, so I was able to save a trip into the city.

Today I went into the city to have Dim Sum in Chinatown with friends. After arriving at the address I found the restaurant out of business. But just to make sure, I powered up my Q1P, went to Google Maps and typed in the address that I had to confirm that I was indeed at the right location. I was and the place apparently had gone out of business! But it was a blessing in disguise as we went to another place that had dumplings to die for.

While the UMPC came in handy today, I think a smart phone or blackberry would have been better. With their smaller form factor, they are pocketable and boot up times are much quicker than for a hibernating UMPC. Though on Saturday, it was nice to have the larger screen to surf the apartment listings.

On the Road with My Q1P

Let me continue my review of using the Q1P on the road. I was in Boston for two days of training, taking the train from my home on Long Island, New York. As I noted in the previous post, I used the Q1P on the 3 hour train ride and didn't even think about plugging it in as I have the extended battery. I was also able to that night easily use the device to put together a summary of emails, doing lots of cutting and pasting. The 7" screen worked just fine.

The next day was the first day of the course. It was held in a hotel conference room and there were 6 of us to a round table. We were packed in pretty good so there was not much room for much more than the binder of course material each of us were given. During the course, each table worked together to solve a problem which required doing calculations. I was glad I had the Q1P. With its small form factor I was able to hold it in my hands and ink in the numbers into excel. During breaks I connected to the hotel's WIFI and checked and responded to email.

Actually, I also checked email during the course and did a little web surfing too! Yes, I know, I was not a very good student. However, it went unnoticed by perhaps everyone as it just looked like I was jotting down notes on a paper with pen. Nice added benefit of a UMPC (for that matter, a benefit for almost all tablets in slate mode).

On the train ride back, I watched episodes of the tv series Lost and The Office which I downloaded from iTunes. I am still very impressed with the quality of the audio and video on the Q1P.

The only thing that would have made this trip even better is integrated EDVO. I was not connected during the train ride as I have a PC slot card for my Verizon EVDO and the Q1P does not have a PC slot. I need to get a 3G bluetooth phone so I can connect via the phone and bluetooth.

Using a UMPC on the Go!

A point I made in another post is that UMPCs are ideal for easily taking the power of a PC to where you want or need it. This post on UMPC Portal demonstrates using a UMPC as well as other gadgets to create a Google Map with tagged photos. The photos are actually tagged to the location they were taken. In fact, it looks like Steve made the trip, with these devices on his bike!

I think the Q1 Ultra could do all this, though the photos would be at a lower resolution, because I believe the Q1 Ultra will have a camera and GPS built in. Now that would lighten Steve's load!

Hugo Living in a 5" World

Hugo Ortega just posted about using his new OQO 02 which has a 5" screen. If you have been reading this blog you know I have commented quite a bit about how I thought a 5" screen would be too small. I have also shown through quite a few videos how well a 7" screen works using various software programs. So its interesting to read what Hugo has to say about 'living in a 5" world".

Q1P Video Revew and UMPC Buyers Guide 2007

Two good posts at the UMPC Portal. This one is a video review of the Q1P, the same device I have and have been blogging about. Steve just received his and has some good comments and takes on its value. This post announces the updated UMPC Buyers Guide 2007, a great resource for those of you considering buying a UMPC.