Vistagami
Excerpts from a review by Simon Burns at Computex this past week.
Origami Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) is looking like the company’s biggest flop since Windows ME. Fortunately for Microsoft, it’s not paying for this mistake, you are, if you buy one now.
I tried out three of the UMPCs that Taiwan’s manufacturers were showing at Computex in Taipei, and talked to some of the people who worked on them and are now trying to sell them.
My impression of each of these mobile tablet PCs was the same: they’re a bundle of compromises. They try to fill a lot of different roles, but are second best at all of them. The manufacturers have made a valiant first effort, but Microsoft’s UMPC blueprint is not ready to be turned into a viable product.
On the technical side, UMPCs are crippled by severe problems with both hardware and software. Currently available components simply cannot do what the UMPC demands in terms of weight and battery life. Even worse, most of the software was designed for larger PCs and is totally unsuited to the UMPC’s unique features.
Despite…drawbacks, I’m sure some buyers will find ways to use the UMPC. It’s a versatile little machine. For example, you can connect a keyboard and mouse, prop it up, and use it like a notebook PC. Though if this is all you need then there’s a cheaper alternative that I want to draw your attention to: it’s called a notebook PC.
Lots of people are writing about how Microsoft is still doing development work on “Haiku”, the code-name for an even smaller PC form factor than the “Origami”.
Here are some of my favorite haiku about The Haiku:
When was the last time
Microsoft got something right
Don’t believe the hypeBig and expensive,
origami disappoints.
now wait for haikuDon’t like this version?
We’ll do better the next time!
Just wait a few yearsDon’t you buy this thing
Something better will come out
Surely in a year
Rock on.
I thought your original post on Origami was a sarcastic joke. I didn’t know this was real.
This doesn’t surprise me.
Which hole did you just come out of AB CD? 😉
http://origamiproject.com/default.aspx
“Standard user interface components, like horizontal menu bars across the top of the screen, are a major faux pas on the UMPC.”
ugh … it sounds like they put far too little effort (if any) into adapting the apps for the platform.
and I said this before, but web browsing is the preeminent computer activity of most people, so if you are going mobile just to sit in a WiFi hot spot, why not just have a lap top? this is particularly true since now most internet use (blogging, e-mail, IM etc) requires extensive keyboard input.
Holes (circles really ) are named with only one variable-the vertex.
They’re reaching for that Star trek PADD like device. They only need breakthroughs in battery technology, solid state storage, displays, power consumption, user interface, and CPU power and efficiency. While they’re at it I would like one of those holodeck units complete with the Marilyn Chambers collection. 😉
As a wise person once said, “Microsoft just doesn’t have style”
Neal Saferstein
The Pepper Pad runs Linux and sells for a little more than half the price of say the Samsung Q1 UMPC which retails at Best Buy for $1100. Also the battery life on these dogs is two hours unless you opt up for a much more expensive battery. Granted the UMPCs aren’t as terrible a product as Windows Vista, but they are a close second for being the worst idea to come out of the tiny minds at Microsoft. These kind of products make Microsoft Bob seem like the acme of good product design from Microsoft.