The Ultimate UMPC is Not a UMPC!
Posted by Steve Laser on 01/26/08 in Asus R2H, HSPDA, HTC, OQO 02, UMPC, Wibrain, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Vista, Windows XP
According to Microsoft, a UMPC is supposed to be:
photo courtesy of Engadget
“About the size of a paperback book, the UMPC is small and light enough to fit easily into a carry-on, a purse, or a backpack. And yet, the UMPC features a powerful processor, a big, bright display, easy-to-use input options, and support for the latest connectivity standards.
The UMPC offers a display of 4-7 inches and touch capabilities, all in a package that weighs less than 2 pounds. But don’t underestimate this small computer—it can run all of the same Windows Vista-compatible software you’re already familiar with.”
We certainly have seen some of these ideal elements in UMPCs, but as far as running “Windows Vista-compatible software” using a “powerful processor” is concerned, this project is a failure. Some recent reviews illustrate the concept:
From JK on the Run’s WiBrain review on slow performance, “For example: opening up Microsoft Word 2007 takes 6 seconds on the Q1P. The same task on the WiBrain routinely takes 9 seconds.”
And on the screen resolution,
“Here’s where compromise, as it so often does with mobile devices, comes into play: due to the high res and the excellent trackpad, I found myself rarely using the touchscreen. Items are too small to accurately touch when it’s easier to just use the trackpad, cursor and mouse buttons.”
From Pocketables’ OQO Model 2 Review on slow performance, “If you can tolerate nothing less than the top-of-the-line powerhouse desktop systems, then something like the OQO Model 02 (or any UMPC, for that matter) will definitely not make you happy.”
Photo Courtesy of Ultramobile PC
From UltraMobilePC’s Vega Review on its 5″ screen size, “For example, I use contact lenses and I do not need reading glasses unless the letters are too small, like the ones printed in some drug boxes. I do not need reading glasses at all to use any of the UMPC with a 7 inches display but I felt the need of my glasses using Vega.
From UltraMobilePC’s Amtek T770 Review on battery life, “…the battery life is between 2 hours and 2 hours 15 minutes according to my tests.”
And on performance, “If you are a regular user that does not care about performance but you want an integrated webcam and microphone without having to pay a extra money, yes, you will find in this machine these features…”
Photo courtesy of Hanno’s Blog
Hanno’s Everun Review on odd size resolutions often found in UMPCs, “800×480 is the recommended screen resolution that Microsoft chose for UMPCs, yet the OS has menus that don’t fit. What good is the promise of being able to run standard software when the screen estate is too small for it?”
You get the idea. The processor’s are too slow for the (bloated) OS, the screen resolution is all wrong, rendering many UMPCs unreadable without a magnifying glass, the OS’s menus don’t fit on the screen, multitasking is impossible due to lack of memory and processing power, and battery power is generally lackluster, if not putrid.
Indeed, not all UMPCs fail in every area. Some are better than others. But there is a lack of consistency across the board regarding features and performance. UMPCs range in size, keyboard type, connectivity options, price, screen sizes and many other features, so lumping them into one category and saying they are inadequate may not be completely fair, but I have not read one UMPC review that has made me want to run out and get one. To be sure, spending $800 to $2400 for lackluster performance in a package that is not quite pocketable, and is fraught with compromises, hardly intrigues me. Pocket PCs are too small. I need a larger screen to view spreadsheet data among other things. Laptops are too big. So I find myself aching for a UMPC.
The Ultimate UMPC
Find the Ultimate UMPC after the break
And I think I found the Ultimate UMPC. Ok, it’s technically not a UMPC, but it can outperform any UMPC. I would have trouble naming one UMPC that packs so many features into one unit and performs so many functions well. It fits in a pocket (barely), has HSDPA, Bluetooth, WiFi B & G, GPS, onboard USB 1.1 hosting, 3MP camera, 5″ VGA touchscreen running at 640 x 480, ATI graphics, an 8 GB microdrive and much more. The OS? Windows Mobile 6. (I am not actually going to review the unit. There are many excellent reviews already. My intention is merely to show how the Advantage bests the UMPCs in their own arena).
Windows Mobile 6 is light enough to run quickly on the 624 MHz proc, yet robust enough to handle every software program I use. With just a few adjustments I can customize it for my needs with almost no compromise.
The Display
Unlike the tiny 3.7″ display on many PDAs, this 5″ display looks absolutely monstrous. Yet a 5″ display on a UMPC clearly doesn’t work. I can view a large enough chunk of a spreadsheet using PlanMaker.
TomTom GPS is so large you can see the whole county.
The Home screen is glorious, and with SBSH iLauncher, I can access everything quickly.
Look how beautifully movies are rendered using TCPMP. I feel like I’m sitting in the front row of the movie theater!
Photos are spectacular.
It comes with Adobe Reader built in for PDF viewing. The screen orientation can easily be changed with the included software.
Browser performance is outstanding. It comes with both Pocket Internet Explorer and Opera. Check out this photo from Pocketables:
The Advantage comes with VueFlow, a technology that senses the screen movement and scrolls the browser up or down with your movements.
Touchscreen
The complaint with many UMPCs is that even though they utilize touchscreens, the resolution is so high that it is difficult to read and the icons are so small it is hard to touch them with a finger. That is not the case with the Advantage. I installed RealVGA from XDA Developers so I can change the DPI settings. I can make it run at 96DPI, 128DPI or 192DPI. 96 yields tiny icons. I can fit many more on the screen, but everything is too small for my taste. I prefer the larger 192. With that I can use my finger for nearly everything I previously used my stylus. It works well when scrolling on a browser, opening software, and even using the software input panels.
Above: 92DPI
Above: 192DPI
Size
It fits in my pocket, but barely. With the included leather case and keyboard, it is 5.26″ x 3.89″ x 0.79″. Any bigger and I couldn’t get it into my pocket. Fully loaded it weighs about 1 lb, so compared to a PDA it’s heavy, but it is lighter than nearly all UMPCs. Additionally, its size is perfect for in-car navigation. A UMPC would be far too large. I found my Axim x50v to be a nice size for navigation as well. But the Advantage’s screen really makes the TomTom software pop. As they say on America’s Next Top Model, “it’s fierce!”
Keyboard and Input
The Advantage comes with the normal SIP (software input panels) included in Windows Mobile. It also comes with the attached keyboard which is a bit awkward to use. It’s too small for traditional typing, and a wee bit large for thumb typing, but it’s still better than a SIP. Speaking of SIPs, I have found Zoomboard to be a phenomenal SIP replacement. Using it with TextMaker:
Using PhatPad to write notes:
Between Zoomboard, PhatPad and the included keyboard, I have input options that are better than most UMPCs.
Software
Ideally I would love to run a full blown OS, but again, you just can’t cram that much bloat and run it with a weak processor and little ram. In this arena Windows Mobile shines. It runs nearly all the same software I would run on a UMPC, but it does it faster and more effectively. TextMaker and PlanMaker, for example, perfectly fulfill my mobile office needs and run with no lag. In fact, I can’t think of any software that slows the proc down.
I use Act! Contact Management software on my desktop and it integrates perfectly with Pocket Informant.
And check out the calendar. The font on my old x50v was small but readable. On the Advantage it is nicely sized.
Multimedia
Some UMPC reviews mentioned that playing movies would cause stuttering playback. Not so on the Advantage. Movies play smoothly. Plus the built-in 8 GB hard drive provides plenty of storage. In addition, the unit has a miniSDHC slot for additional storage. It plays movies, music (it comes with a standard 3.5 mm jack), displays photos and has a decent camera that utilizes auto-focus, flash and records video clips with audio. It also comes with a built-in vga out slot for viewing on a larger screen.
Connectivity
Here are the bullet points:
Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
Built-in GPS
Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 Standard with Direct Push Technology
TV or VGA Out lets you output screen contents to an external viewing device
Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi® (B and G)
Battery Life
Most UMPCs struggle to get past the two hour mark with their batteries. I was able to watch video, surf the net and use software apps for almost five hours with the 2200mAh battery.
Windows Mobile 6
Windows Mobile includes much software that is not the best in its class. We all know that Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Excel and Pocket Word are not full featured, to say the least. But the beauty of the OS is that it provides a framework for mobile computing that does not require intensive processing power or tons of ram. Furthermore, any software a user deems substandard can be replaced by a wealth of other software both free and pay. For example, I replaced my boring Today Screen with SBSH’s iLauncher, Pocket Word and Pocket Excel with SoftMaker’s TextMaker and PlanMaker, and Pocket Outlook with Pocket Informant, to name a few. The Advantage comes with the Opera Browser installed.
Some complain that Windows Mobile doesn’t have a true “close” button. When you click an X at the top right of a program it doesn’t actually close it. iLauncher has a utility built-in to take care of that, but so does the Advantage.
I’ve heard others complain that Windows Mobile requires use of a stylus. Well, so do UMPCs that utilize a touchscreen. But as I previously mentioned, using RealVGA set to 192dpi makes everything large enough to be finger friendly. I hardly ever use the stylus. But it would be wonderful to get rid of scroll bars and navigate a la the iPhone.
So My Point Is…
What UMPC device offers as many features as the Advantage? The Advantage lists for $899 - not cheap, but you can find better deals if you look. I picked mine up at CompUSA for $540 because they are going out of business. You can even find them for under $800 on Ebay. With few exceptions, UMPCs cost more, $800 - $2400, and offer less features, larger size, and poor performance. Let’s face it, neither Windows XP nor Vista were meant to be used with the low power processors, and especially in Vista’s case, less than 2 GB of ram. Yet these devices have very little ram, 256 MB in some cases, and low wattage, under-powered procs that neither deliver performance nor decent battery life. See UltraMobilePC’s test results of several UMPC procs.
“But it’s not a UMPC because it doesn’t run Windows!” Some consider the Nokia 810 Tablet a UMPC. How about the Asus Eee - it comes with Linux but is considered a UMPC?
The Advantage is the size of a small paperback, features a host of connectivity options, great battery life, and does everything a UMPC strives to do. The Advantage is my UMPC.
Recommended Reading:
Gear Diary Reviews the Advantage
JK on the Run - A Day in the Life of the Advantage
from Pocketables:
HTC Advantage News and Reviews
Advantage as Mobile Entertainment
Browser performance on HTC Advantage X7501
Written by Steve Laser · Filed Under Asus R2H, HSPDA, HTC, OQO 02, UMPC, Wibrain, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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Browser performance is outstanding???
not if you compare it to any browser on any x86 UMPC
.. it is easy to use only negative reviews to compare.
I’m happy you find Advantage so good for you, but i could not live with 640 x 480 resolution or without full x86 tabbed browser.
My current mobile computer Eee PC ( with hsdpa/touch/xp), just gives me so much more comfort without any compromises..
yes, my unit is not stock unit…
Even I understand some of your points, your pics from reviews just don’t make sence.. specially if you don’t use positive reviews.. or even understand that some of those point are not even negative.
“If you can tolerate nothing less than the top-of-the-line powerhouse desktop systems, then something like the OQO Model 02 (or any UMPC, for that matter) will definitely not make you happy.”
????? so Advantage has better performance than powerhouse desktop ????
-The processor’s are too slow for the (bloated) OS,
not true, pick your os and cpu right, i’m super happy with xp on my 900 celeron, faster on browsing than Advantage anyday.
-the screen resolution is all wrong, rendering many UMPCs unreadable without a magnifying glass, the OS’s menus don’t fit on the screen,
not true, there are both 800 x 480 and 1024 x 600 UMPCs with 5 or 7 inch screens, u can use 800 x 480 on 5 inch 1024 x 600 devices too..
-multitasking is impossible due to lack of memory and processing power,
not true, I can multitask just fine.. u can try the same with Advantage
…many models today have 1Gb ram, upgradable to 2Gb
-and battery power is generally lackluster, if not putrid.
not true, examle q1u and eee: 3.5 h, 6 to 7 with extended
..
again, I happy for you, but next time, think before writing
Thanks for writing this. I have been drawing and posting comics on my pocket PC phone (Verizon 6700) but the screen is so tiny that I need something bigger long term. I have been researching light-weight UMPCs or slates to become my primary mobile drawing device but your points about the shortcomings of all other UMPCs are exactly why I haven’t gotten one yet.
The HTC Advantage has also been on my radar and your finely written article only helps to confirm my own findings. Again, thank you.
Until I can find a UMPC that has instant on, all day battery and cellular voice capability, I’ll happily stick with the Advantage.
I didn’t compare modded UMPCs to the Advantage.
From the same article, “Storage capacity: XP Professional SP2 takes up about 2.5 GB of the 4 GB on-board flash memory.”
I think that speaks for itself.
The Advantage has double the storage, but the software and files used with WinMobile are far smaller.
You reference (in this article, http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2008/01/walt-mossberg-r.html) Walt Mossberg’s review (http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080117/asus-offers-travelers-small-mobile-eee-pc-but-its-too-cramped/) of the Eee. But even his bottom line on it is, “The Eee is a valiant effort, but it still has too many compromises to pry most travelers away from their larger laptops.”
Opera, which is included on the Advantage, has tabbed browsing.
A word of advice; try not to take things so personally.
Joe, thanks for your comment. Amazing how I write an article and get polar opposite responses. Something tells me that’s a good sign.
Aura Mae, I’ve read all your Advantage comments on Pocketables. Your thoughts influenced my purchase.
Steve,
Those are not my words, that’s Kevin from JkOnTheRun
..and using Mossberg as your reference about mobile computing and Eee???
I think that speaks for itself.
I have nothing against Advantage, it’s a good device, just the way you wrote.
If you had said ” i need something smaller and lighter” or ” i don’t need the computing power” or something else than just saying how bad you THINK umpcs are..
Because of this article, yesterday I went to check out the Advantage. I sort of liked it, but have only trialed the OQO. So I do not have a lot of “hands-on time” to which to compare. But, I did like the screen size and the size of the information on the screen. Much better than the OQO.
I am hesitating on the purchase because I am not sure of the Mobile Offiice apps. Is is going to be able to sync with my main computer all that I need. I may not need the horsepower of a UMPC, but I also do not want to buy something that is almost good enough. I already have a cabinet of “Why did I buy that technology?”
These comments have made me open my eyes and at least look for an alternative solution. Thanks for that
Just a quick note. The Eee has nowhere near the features of the Advantage. Specifically, it has no HSDPA, gps, has less storage and a .3 mp camera v. a 3 mp camera - just to name a few.
For the record, I didn’t say UMPCs are bad. I said they don’t live up to their promise. Specifically, “We certainly have seen some of these ideal elements in UMPCs, but as far as running “Windows Vista-compatible software” using a “powerful processor” is concerned, this project is a failure.”
THat HTC is a fine windows mobile device, not much more powerful than my Samsung i760. To compare it to a full blown UMPC is not reasonable.
Too bad microsoft dropped the “pocket pc” name for those devices. Of course OQO would argue that they are a true ppc… oh well. Whatever gets you through the day I guess!
The HTC Advantage is, ultimately, a large, connected PDA. It might be able to surf the Internet and even run valuable productivity software but, then again, so can most smart phones. This is not to say that it is not the prefect device for some people. The larger screen, keyboard, and multiple connectivity options offer definite usability advantages over smaller PDAs and smart phones. If your needs match the capabilities of the Advantage, why buy more?
On the other hand, there is a need (or, at least, I have a need) for a portable PC that runs XP or Vista. I find that the sacrifices I make in performance with the UMPC are more than offset by the pocketability (I have an OQO with approximately the same form factor as the Advantage).
I need to run Lotus Notes, MS Office, and Acrobat Pro on my UMPC and, while other programs might give me some similar capabilities on the Advantage, similar is not always acceptable.
P.S. One of your comments that deserves much more emphasis is screen resolution. The search for greater resolution on smaller screens leads to unusable (and, in some cases, unreadable) displays. I’d rather scroll than squint.
The Advantage is not quite as powerful as some of the UMPCs out there, but with it’s OS it appears to run just as/if not faster than some of the real “UMPCs”. Just my opinion. I am not much of an expert in this field, but I do know that the Advantage is a great device.
I agree with Dave P on the resolution though. Having the ability to look at a screen at 800×600, etc… it’s nice and all, but if you can’t read it, why bother. The Touchflo system that HTC has implemented makes browsing much easier.
I am going to throw that new Skyfire browser I posted about on my Advantage tonight and see what it can do for me.
Hi Dave,
You make very good points re: applications. I too use MS Office, and would like the ability to run full versions of those on my portable device. However, I just could not see them on the OQO. The type was just too small. I have to decide, therefore, whether I am willing to make the trade off of a full XP OS for Mobile OS, and the reduction in features.
Since I have not used any type of PA/Smartphone since Windows Mobile 2003 (on my Samsung i730), the frustration of the Mobile OS has faded. From what I read, Mobile 6 is far better.
Now, if I could only figure out whether my SIM card can be swapped between the Advantage and my BlackBerry, I could make a decision!
Replying to lark, about the Pocket PC apps and whether they can truly replace regular Office apps… I use a Pocket PC with Textmaker and Planmaker. They’re advertised as being compatible with Office and as powerful as them. I don’t think they are, unfortunately.
They’re not 100% document compatible, don’t have all the features, and I’ve found an upsetting number of bugs in them. I’d love to upgrade to a UMPC using proper desktop applications, but having bought the Pocket PC less than 18 months ago I’m not sure I can justify the expenditure!