UMPC - a new kind of PC

The past months I have closely watched a new kind of device being made available to the masses - the UMPC. UMPC is a short for Ultra Mobile PC. So what is a UMPC? Its not a PDA and its not a laptop. A PDA is too small and not a general purpose PC, and a laptop is often too big and cumbersome, although also a portable device. A UMPC is something in between. It has many similarities to a tablet PC, and I believe the touch screen is one of the most important features of it. Many also feel that it doesnt require an integrated keyboard - if you do add one it only becomes yet another small laptop.

Most UMPCs today come with a 7" screen which is just right for this kind of device. The reason is simple to see from the number of scenarios you can use this form factor in. I will list a few here:

- In your sofa, web surfing or playing games
- In your home or office, calendar and contacts
- In your car, playing music and using it for navigation
- On vacation, kids can watch a dvd
- In a meeting, you can take notes, show documents or presentations
- In the bed, reading an ebook
- In your photobag, backup of memory cards and a teethered shooting device
- Anywhere, a telephone or video conferencing tool

These are just some examples of use. If you compare these to a pda or a general purpose laptop you will often see that they either dont have a big enough screen, not enough CPU power, or will just be too cumbersome to bring with you. The only real alternative is a tablet PC - and in my eyes a UMPC is just a small form factor tablet PC. If you do require a keyboard you can always connect one in a USB port or wirelessly through bluetooth.

One selling point of the UMPC is the battery life, which unfortunately up to now has not been too good. Recently there is a shift to more efficient components to make the battery life stretch to 5 hours on a normal 3-cell battery, which is quite good for such a device. These devices arent meant to be used continously like a work PC, but now and then, having the device in standby mode when not in use. A UMPC can often be slow to boot up, but bringing it back from standby is very quick according to user reviews.

The UMPC shown in this article is the Samsung Q1, which exist in 4 versions today, one with a Celeron 900 MHz, another with a Pentium M 1GHz, a third with a Via C7 CPU, and finally the original Celeron 900 MHz but with an SSD drive instead of a harddrive. I will comment the UMPC choices in another article, but my good eye is now fixed on the Samsung Q1 Pentium M edition.