Handtops, UMPC

02/28/06 + alcuin

Very informative and interesting video. Also seems like processor speed is manually adjustable down to 400mhz. From the video near the end though, it seems to have somewhat loud cpu fan noise, closer to an OQO volume than a Sony. Also interesting to hear was the USB type-b port is used only as a mass storage device slave port, not as a host port, as some have speculated. The relative thickness compared to Steven's hand when he was holding it was a little disappointing, although expected.

Recent Blog: UX180P vs U750P Sony Software comparison

02/28/06 + alcuin

Very informative and interesting video. Also seems like processor speed is manually adjustable down to 400mhz. From the video near the end though, it seems to have somewhat loud cpu fan noise, closer to an OQO volume than a Sony. Also interesting to hear was the USB type-b port is used only as a mass storage device slave port, not as a host port, as some have speculated. The relative thickness compared to Steven's hand when he was holding it was a little disappointing, although expected.

Recent Blog: UX180P vs U750P Sony Software comparison

02/28/06 + snowviper

*and CompactFlash II slot into which you can connect a GPS, phone, caller ID, barcoder, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth dongles and/or cards. It will also connect with a stereo headset and telephone headset. *

is this mean that Dual cor don't come with phone, bluetooth and wi-fi ? (not build in ?)

02/28/06 + 2disbetter

Ok well that was very interesting thank you for the video. The only thing im envious of is the processor, but i see it coming in the model 02. I like Dualcor. They are pushing the envelope. THe external battery was a good idea. Although those looking for portability might be depressed. At any rate the device looks like it will up the anty in handtop world.

I can't wait tell someone gets one, and post some video. Hey the monitor is bright, it was too bright for video. Glaring like crazy.

02/28/06 + MeanSquare

Thanks for the video link. It did clear up a few things.

Thoughts on some of the points:
"Both processors take separate partitions of the machine's 1GB of DDR 2 SDRAM and 1GB of NAND Flash but share the 40GB hard drive"
I'd bet that the Windows Mobile side uses 128MB of the SDRAM, leaving the rest for XP. That's a respectable amount for both.
I suspect the NAND Flash has a similar division, but I'm not sure what XP would do with NAND Flash.

"CompactFlash II slot into which you can connect a GPS, phone, caller ID, barcoder, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth dongles and/or cards"
I'm hoping this is just an example of a marketing type just listing all the things you could hook up, otherwise, it's an indication that WiFi and Bluetooth aren't built in. That goes against everything else I've seen. The use of the word "dongle" actually isn't appropriate. Dongles plug into USB ports, which the cPC has, but it should have been listed there.
DualCor needs to be careful here. There were a number of class-action lawsuits (albeit stupid ones) about Pocket PCs that advertised connectivity anywhere, but neglected to include that it would require an additional cellular modem or other connectivity card.

"It has a resistive shared touchscreen display (5" 800x600)"
This would also be nice if true. I've seen everywhere else that the display is 5" 800x480. The 800x600 would be better for applications that assume a 3x4 aspect ratio.

The blurb (in the first post) also shows how important it is to be able to read "hype."

"This makes 41GB of storage which is over 100 times the size of any of the competition."
"competition" in that sentance means "other Windows Mobile devices" which usually max out at 128MB Flash ROM and 128MB RAM.

"will run any application that is x86, and 100% out-of-the-box Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2000."
... as long as you run it on an external monitor. If not, include the caveat that "any application" can't expect an 800x600 or greater display. (Depending on whether the 800x600 is right or whether that's a typo and it means 800x480.)

"The internal battery will give you 12 hours of battery life. You can get literally hundreds of hours in standby mode, and 3-8 hours of continuous usage."
If you run in exclusively Windows Mobile mode, you get 8 hours. If you run exclusively in XP mode, you get 3 hours. (Your times will go down from that, depending on hard-drive use, whether you use Bluetooth or WiFi, and whether you have a CF card plugged in and how much power it draws.) I'm not sure what the 12 hours really means. I may mean that, in typical use (whatever that is), the battery would last about 12 hours. "Hundreds of hours" in standby is better than what I've seen in any Windows Mobile device (which typically last about 3 days) and better than other XP devices, which last 2 days or less on standby.

"One of the greatest add-on features is the External Battery Pack which will give you up to 10 days of battery life."
Notice no mention of size. There's a nifty external battery pack I've seen at Fries that could do that. The pack itself is only about as big as the cPC itself. Also notice no mention of what "battery life" means. I sincerly doubt that's 10 days of continuous use.

"There is a keyboard that mounts on the back of the cPC and folds to approximately the same size. The keyboard also has a pointing stick built-in so you can use the cPC just like a miniature laptop."
It's good to see that DualCor has noted the issues that some of us have with no built-in keyboard. This solves that issue to some extent, but does so by doubling the thickness of the cPC. Keyboards on handhelds are always a bit of a trade off, though. A built-in thumb-board isn't as useful for long typing projects (It gets tiresome.) but it's perfect for quickly entering Contact information or such. A folding keyboard is great when you have a desk or other flat surface on which to work, but not useful when you don't.

I'll be honest. The cPC is a little too big for my tastes. I like the "best available technology" solution of combining Windows XP and Windows Mobile in one device, though. It's not the ultimate best solution, but it's probably the best for now. Right now, I only have to wait a few seconds for my device to come out of standby, but I miss the "instant on" Pocket PC functionality. I'd probably do all my PIM work on the PPC side with Pocket Informant. It's actually better than Time & Chaos in some ways.

Recent Blog: MeanSquare's Review of the Sony UX (with comparison to OQO)

02/28/06 + kyone

I do like the USB B type plug on the device. It enables you to use the cPC HDD as a slave drive to other PC's. The easiest way to swap files between different computers especially if you do IT support.

03/02/06 + JohnG

You can get built-in wireless and Bluetooth, but you lose the CF slot. You can see this version of the device on their website.

03/02/06 + mensrea

"You can get built-in wireless and Bluetooth, but you lose the CF slot."

Wow, what a joke. That's pretty deceptive.

03/02/06 + MeanSquare

kyone said: "I do like the USB B type plug on the device. It enables you to use the cPC HDD as a slave drive to other PC's. The easiest way to swap files between different computers especially if you do IT support."

I had read that the exact opposite way; that it would allow you to hook up an external HDD. I hope you're right. That is a cool feature. You can even go one step further. There's a suite of apps that's designed to run off of an external HD or USB key. You could load those up on the cPC HDD with short-cuts to each app for use locally on the CPC, but also use them "portably" by connecting your cPC to any desktop system. (The advantage of the portable apps is that you have your own settings, tweaks, bookmarks, etc. on any system you use them on.)

mensrea said: ""You can get built-in wireless and Bluetooth, but you lose the CF slot."
Wow, what a joke. That's pretty deceptive."

I was afraid this was the case. They need to be *very* clear on this or they will have some rather disgruntled customers.

Recent Blog: MeanSquare's Review of the Sony UX (with comparison to OQO)

03/02/06 + mensrea

Yeah, you're right. I don't think it's an intentional deception, at least I hope not, but if I were inclined to buy one I'd be expecting to get both built-in Bluetooth and WiFi and have a CF card to use for storage of my media files. Not one or the other.

Pretty disappointing, this was one of the features I found to be most compelling about the CPC.

03/02/06 + educationk12

10 days of battery life!!!

Do you think it could be modified and get such life out of the OQO...10 days!!!!!!!!!! 24 hours days? Hmm. They must mean in Windows Mobile mode.