Handtops, UMPC - To build the "perfect" Handtop -

The last two years have brought sharply into focus for me a burning question, not “who makes the perfect handtop?", but rather “what would constitute the perfect handtop?”.

Having lived with a variety of cell phones, an OQO, a Flipstart and a couple of smaller laptops, all of which I use in various different ways, it has become apparent that, for me at least, there is no single “perfect” device, and that at very least I would have to have two units to fulfill all my requirements. The first thing that I would then have to do is decide, what would be the ideal balance of features in the two devices that would make them the most usable for me?

I have a somewhat unusual set of needs when it comes to devices, I need to be able to have a Windows based unit with me a lot of the time, and I walk a lot. I also live in a country with a generally warm climate, so that I do not wear a jacket in the summer months. But that is just me.

In general, it would seem that it comes down to three different combination's of units, each combination having its respective pros and cons.

The first option is to say that the handtop is irrelevant, a misplaced ideal that should be ignored and go with a powerful, multi function cellphone and a small but powerful laptop. The idea behind this is as follows: On the occasions where I do not need to have a Windows based unit with me, I can use the cell phone to communicate, get and send mail, and surf the net. When I need a windows based machine, I want one with a touch type keyboard and enough power to be my primary machine so that there are no compromises.

In many ways, this is a fairly standard approach, and is probably one of the reasons why the handtop struggles to sell in any kind of reasonable numbers. But particularly for me, it is not a very suitable solution. I don't like lugging a laptop bag around with me when I walk, it gets in the way, and I have yet to find a cell phone that offers a really satisfactory experience as an e-mail client and a net browser. Several of the newer generation of phones, spearheaded by the hugely popular Apple iPhone are heading into this territory, but in my opinion none have yet quite reached Nirvana.

So for me the first option is not ideal, being too much of a compromise, with too many drawbacks.

That brings us to option two, a lightweight cell phone and a fairly powerful handtop. This was always the option that I though would be the perfect one for me. A cell phone to use as a phone, and a handtop to use away from the office as a small laptop. This to has not turned out to be the heavenly situation that I had initially thought it would be, as a handtop powerful enough and usable enough to replace a small laptop has not as yet been built that is small enough to be carried on my person without resorting to a dedicated carry bag (or belt clip if you want to go that route). But that is where I find myself at the moment, usually with a Flipstart and a cell phone. Still not as convenient as it could be, but a livable solution.

That brings us to option number three, a low powered convergence device doubling as a cell phone and a handtop with a full windows operating system, and a powerful laptop for when I really need the computing power on the go (which is not all that often).

This pushes us into the realm of Intel's MID devices and beyond, and is a direction I have kicked and screamed against ever since I first heard about it. There are so many compromises needed to make a convergence device work that it on the surface seems to be a lost cause, but Johnny public does not seem to agree, and is buying cell phone based devices that are slowly creeping into that territory in ever larger numbers, so lets take a look at what it would take to make a truly useful convergence device.

The first, and without a doubt the most important item would have to be battery life. A handtop used as a phone would have to have at least a full days battery life for it to be acceptable. I remember my first few cell phones with their two to three hour battery life with horror. Spare batteries, car chargers and the like simply did not do the job in an acceptable fashion. If my convergence device was also my phone, I would expect it to be able to function as a phone at least for the entire day.

The next item for me would be size and weight. The unit would have to have a screen large enough and of a sufficiently high resolution that computer tasks could be accomplished without to much compromise, say about 1024 x 600 in a 4.8” screen. One of the most limiting factors I found on my OQO was the 800 x 480 screen resolution. It made the unit a bit difficult to use with a lot of standard software, and I found myself setting the machine at 800 x 600 and scrolling. This I hated with a passion.

A 4.8” screen could in theory permit a unit of about 5” x 3” in size. If the screen were an OLED rather than the conventional back lit TFT, power usage would be acceptable. A unit with a 4.8” screen of the size mentioned above or there about would fit into the average pocket. Dual screens like on the Nokia Navigator range of phones would impact the battery life and increase the size (thickness) and weight of the unit, so my unit would probably have to be a single screen. While I love touch screen cell phones, I hate having to type anything much on a touch screen, no matter how great the system. A clam shell design, while my favorite, would probably be less practical than a slider design, so if I were designing such a unit I would go for an option with a slide out thumb keyboard.

Would it be possible to use a mainstream Windows OS like XP or Windows 7 as a phone operating system? I see no technical reason why this should not be achievable, particularly if one was to use the embedded version of the OS. There are a large number of practical problems to be addressed, but at this juncture in time, this might be a better option than using a dual chip/dual OS approach.

The Flipstart has a LID module with limited functionality to save power in standby mode, based on the Dual chip/dual OS theory, and before it was the DualCore unit, but both suffered from several significant drawbacks, not least of which were the increased size and weight of the systems, and the increased cost of the dual hardware and OS's. Since size and weight are significant factors as I see it in the “perfect” unit, one would not want to increase either if it were possible to go down another road. And price is a factor that must be taken into consideration. Apart from all the other reasons that have led to the comparative lack of success of handtops in general, price has been a significant factor. A small, comparatively “light weight” (regarding performance etc.) system that costs several times what a normal sized unit does is a stumbling block that has limited the success of the form factor. Even cell phones that are subsidized by a carrier on a contract have a price point beyond which the average person does not wish to go, and in order for the unit I am discussing to be successful, it has to appeal to at least a percentage of “average” people and sell in large numbers.

So the phone OS and hardware would also have to be the PC OS and hardware. There are a number of problems with this, not least of which are factors like viruses, stability and speed. But the two biggest factors are power consumption and heat. As stated before, I believe for such a unit to succeed, it needs a battery life of about a day in phone mode. It must also produce almost no heat in phone mode, to permit it to work in a pocket etc. A tall order at this point, or is it?

Most of the modern generation of ULV CPU's have various wake states, including some very low powered ones. If the OS and the unit could be set to run at an ultra low wake state while in phone mode, particularly phone standby mode, there are a few CPU's out there like the latest Intel Atom that could probably be used. This CPU and one to two others are sufficiently powerful to run Windows and Windows applications at an acceptable speed as well, so if it were possible to tweak the OS, this might be the optimal solution at present.

Throw in a Gig or so of RAM, a 64 GB SSD, an expansion slot and a hardy casing, and you might have a winner.

But in order to make the above work, several things would have to be achieved over and above the points mentioned before. First and foremost, reliability would be essential. Phones have become consumer items, we expect them to work, all the time, without problems. PC's are not quite there yet. This would have to change. If my PC hangs up or freezes for whatever reason, I curse and re-boot it. If my phone hangs up, I want to throw it away and sue the manufacturer, the carrier and everyone else connected with it.

Viruses are a PC problem that have not as yet transferred in any meaningful respect to cell phones. This would change on a cell phone with a Windows OS, so anti virus protection would become paramount.

Connectivity, in the form of physical ports: Cell phones typically don't have many, if any, PC's do and need them. Having a number of mini USB ports around the device might solve this to an extent.Technology like wireless USB for screens, keyboards, mice and other peripherals might also be a useful option, as long as the power drain was not too high.

And back once again to the battery. We expect our cell phones to have enough charge to get most of us through the day. We might like our PC's (laptops, handtops etc.) to have the same, but they typically don't. Carrying a whole lot of extra batteries around is not really a good option for a laptop, and would be a real pain for a cell phone. However, if that was what was needed, it would be a good idea to be able to hot swap the battery while the phone/computer was on. On the other hand, we typically will carry a charger for a laptop if we are away from a wall plug for a significant period of time. This might be an option if two problems could be solved. The battery would need to be a fast charging type that could be topped up to a significant percentage of full charge in a short period of time. And the charger would have to be small and light enough to make it easy to carry in a pocket.

The first problem, the fast charging battery, looks like it might be solved in the not to distant future, with a number of companies and universities testing and even starting to produce such beasts. The high powered, small size and weight charger is also currently possible, although they are currently (no pun intended) inefficient and tend to get hot and break. But I believe this is a problem that could be solved. Perhaps a universal charging system for all handtops is an idea that is getting to the point where it should be considered. Alternate battery technologies like fuel cells might also have a place in such a device, although here I am more skeptical.

Another important design criterion would be a combination charger/stand/connector that would permit one to easily drop the unit into it while at home, or in the office, and use the unit as a desktop, while not requiring any great effort to insert or remove the unit.

On paper at least, it looks as though such a convergence device could already be built, or could soon be feasable. But would this indeed be the “perfect” handtop? It would be something that one could always have with one, and that could reasonably be expected to handle all ones cell phone and mobile computer needs. “One device to rule them all”, to miss-quote Tolken. It might well be the “perfect” device for a lot of people, and that is the key. Sell enough of them, and economies of scale kick in. The handtop, which at the moment is the “toy” for the few who are interested enough to want one and can afford to pay the price, could become the “next big thing”.

Only one question remains: “Who is going to built the damn thing?”.