Ladies, they’re making this one for you! The Walletino, from UltraMobileLife comes an interesting concept device which is one part laptop, one part UMPC, and discreet enough to pass as a wallet.
Side note: I asked my girlfriend what her thoughts were first two questions out of her mouth “The make up would be messy.” and “Does it come in pink?” She pointed out that the make up which is seen in the concept image would become dry, cracked, and powdered which could get inside the UMPC. But she did say she liked the overall idea, and mentioned that it should come in multiple colors not excluding pink. She mentioned having multiple colors to help accessorize.
Now onto the marketing (or lack there of) of the UMPC. So i’m not the first chap to touch on this. First it was Hugo and Neil over at the ubertablet blog, then Steve over at Carrypad, I’ve got an opinion and dammit i’ll let everyone know that as well!
Question: Should the UMPC be moved from the Value Added Retail markets which it currently resides to the general consumer markets (Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.)?
Short answer, I don’t think so. I’ve got a few reasons to back up this conclusion:
Now I will agree that many people are familiar with using Windows. However a UMPC is new take on the Windows OS, I’m referring to the Tablet OS side of Windows. Not only the normal Tablet OS, but also the touch pack which ships with the UMPC’s this is new to most everyone. While it can be done there will be a learning curve for many, and this curve may take time to overcome.
I’ve had more than a few discussions with interested persons regarding the UMPC however in many cases, the person with which I was speaking did not know the full functionality of a UMPC. They didn’t realize that it runs a fully blown version of Windows with (for better or worse) all the bells and whistles included. Most people don’t realize that you could run Microsoft Office, IE (or Firefox), your IM client of choice, listen to your music, or watch videos.
So would I be happy if I walked into CompUSA tomorrow and saw a display of Q1’s? Yes and no. You may have a few customers, but until people are educated and interested in the product, the UMPC will just sit on store shelves, sit in back rooms, and not be sold. Now price is quite an obvious issue at the moment which I won’t bother to say anything more about but I think the key to the UMPC being a successful product lies in the education of potential customers because until people know that the UMPC might be something for them, it will just be another expensive technology gadget.
Now I will say many are ill informed. Here’s where I side step the issue a second and say for those who are informed, who do have UMPC’s, those who blog about this great immerging technology, take the time to point out how a UMPC would be beneficial to Bob down the street, or Sue at work, or that guy in the cafe who you notice keeps stealing glances at your new UMPC. I think for those of us in the know, it is somewhat our responsibility to take the initiative to educate people about how a UMPC may be beneficial to them, and therefore make them interested potential customers.
So I’d preordered an ASUS R2H UMPC back in September. The end of the month has come and gone and what had we learned? We learned that Europe and Asia saw the release of the device but the US? In the United States we saw no such release, nor did we get pricing or availability. Call me impatient. Ok i’ll agree. One of the things i’d learned from others with the R2H is that it seems to be having troubles with Bluetooth, and also only about a 2 hour battery life.
So i’m impatient and want a UMPC. Now what is new, innovative, and works for me. The Samsung Q1b. Now this device is supposed to be sporting a 5 hour battery, a brighter screen, and well availability and pricing listed for US sales. I emphasize the price because all of the R2H prices I had seen after conversion to US dollars was at least $1200. I’m a college student! I don’t have that much expendable money! Now CDW has the Q1b for $899. I can rationalize that purchase.
So tonight I went ahead and purchased the Q1b. It should ship in 9-11 days, and I’ve got 1-2 day shipping. Tomorrow morning i’ll have to contact MobilePlanet and tell them unfortunately i’ve decided to not go with the R2H, then all I need to do is wait patiently about 10-12 days then I’ll have my Q1b.
Yes, you can expect pictures and reviews.
So today I got to try out the Zune first hand. Grand Valley alum Eric Maino stopped by campus today to give a recruiting talk and brought along two Zunes for people to check out. Honestly, I’m impressed.
Now my initial reaction to the news of the Zune was one of disinterest. Yes, I’ve got an iPod, and yes, I’ve ordered a R2H UMPC. So to me the Zune is just another entertainment device.
Actually getting the device in my hands I was impressed. The device weighs about the same as an iPod however the body of the Zune has a slightly rubberized feel to it. My first impressions were that yes, it does slightly resemble an iPod in that is has the circular buttons for manipulating their menuing system. Other than that, I think I’ll say it stands on it’s own. It has a fantastically crisp and clear screen. The pictures do not do this screen justice. I will say that I cannot critique the sound quality as I’ll leave that to the listener. I had my PC speakers hooked up to the device, and later my iPod headphones. I’d say the quality is on par with the iPod, however once again that could matter on the media, bit rate, file size, etc.
The navigation is a bit tricky. Well maybe not but I’m used to the “spinning” of the iPod, the Zune uses directional clicking to navigate the menu options. This took a bit getting used to, however I do like the fact that the “back” button, as well as “play/pause” is separate from the directional buttons.
The user interface is clear and easy to see. There is also a vibrant background image, however the image doesn’t hinder the menu’s contrast at all. Video playback on the device seemed rather clean, without any noticable skipping or frame rate problems. I’m also going to assume that this may vary depending upon file size, bit rate, etc.
I will say the Zune beats the pants off of the iPod in one feature, the radio. The Zune offers a radio function which allows a user to scroll across the radio frequencies. When the user is dialed into a strong radio signal the screen shows the call numbers of the station and also the type of music the station plays. This was amazing!
Now my roommate Brad over at BigRed’sPlace will also be blogging about his thoughts on the Zune, but overall I will say that because I’ve ordered a UMPC and I’ve got an iPod I don’t think the Zune is for me. However if you are looking into purchasing a portable entertainment device, I’d say this is worth looking into.
Note: I’ve got a few more pictures of the device at my flickr account. Also the device has wireless, however I didn’t get a chance to try that out, so I can’t comment on it.
