Ultra-mobile PCs

Ultra-mobile PCs

Pocket PC devices and smart phones have
put the computer in our palms and pockets.
Use any of these devices for a week and
youll discover that they dont quite match up
to the power and performance of a desktop PC
or notebook. Now wouldnt it be nice to have a
device that costs less than a budget notebook
but with the same computing power, and yet
small enough to ? t in a coat pocket? In fact, there
isprototypes were recently unveiled at two
industry events.
Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, Asus and Founder
are working on a new platform: a miniature tablet
PC dubbed the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).
Microsoft tried to create some buzz through
its Project Origami initiative. In fact, it created a
www.origamiproject.com/1/)
teaser web site (
that generated many blog discussions.
www.umpc.com/).
Intel also set up a web site (
It purports to pack in everything from digital
music to wireless Internet into this PC with a very
small form factor.
At IDF in the second week of March, Intel
unveiled UMPC designs. Samsung and others
showed off their prototypes at the CeBit
technology show in Germany (March 9 -15). At
? rst glance, these appear to be smaller versions
of the Tablet PC. The prototypes have 7-inch
touchscreens and standard Intel Pentium M
processors. They can run full versions of Windows
XP tablet PC edition. New Windows Touch Pack
software takes care of the touchscreen functions.
Wonderful, but is the idea of take-along PCs
entirely fresh? I recall a particular advertisement
that appeared in computer magazines in the
www.ergo-computing.
90s. Ergo Computing (
) advertised a product called fiThe Brickfl. At
com
that time they were offering a PC with an Intel
80386 chip. Because of its small form factor, a
user could carry it home in his briefcase, hook
it up to a monitor and keyboard and continue
working late in the night. The only requirement:
two monitors and keyboards (one set installed
at either destination). That was before laptops
became mainstream.
Last year, we got an AMD Personal Internet
Communicator (PIC) into our Test Center. With its
dull grey boroplast-like shell it easily passed for
a fancy lunchbox or toolbox. But we found that
the PIC is indeed quite portable and has all the
necessary ports for connecting other devices.
We also saw portable media players like the
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) entering the grey
market. With their own storage media, built-in
screens and game pads, they offer the same thrill
as that of a gaming console.
I feel Intel and Microsoft want to create the
PC equivalent of the Sony PSP (or other portable
media players). But for UMPC to be a hit they will
need to carefully address the ergonomics and
other factors.
Keypad design is important. They will have to
master the art of putting all the essential keys
within a very limited space. Designers need to
consider key spacing and size. A clever slide out
keypad or soft keypad (onscreen) might do the
trick.
Storage is another important factor. A tiny 40
or 60 GB hard disk is what we expect. And how
about slots for removable media like SD cards or
Compact Flash? Internal memory? At least 256
MB, but that depends on the operating system
memory footprint.
A bright clear LCD display with a good
resolution comes next. Thats important for
computing in the outdoors.
What about battery life? The prototypes
shown at CeBIT could barely manage 3 hours.
Most of us would need a device that can run for a
full workday between charges. Ultra-low voltage
chips should do the trick.
And of course, it should have bells and whistles
like built-in track-pad/joystick, built-in stereo
speakers, audio-out, at least three USB ports
(one for a mouse), Video-Out (for connecting an
external monitor), and memory card slots.
The UMPC or mini tablet must have good
pricing too. Id say $500 (approx Rs 22,500)
would be a good entry-point. Thats lower than
a laptop. And a smart phone or Pocket PC costs
as much. I bet you are anxious to read more about
the UMPC.