This is probably going to piss off alot of my fellow Tablet PC bloggers and probably even some at Microsoft. But everywhere people are writing about how unfair the reviews of the first UMPC's are.
Here's a few links:http://www.gottabemobile.com/WaltMossbergAndTheQ1.aspxhttp://www.gottabemobile.com/TheMostNegativeQ1ReviewYet.aspxhttp://journals.tuxreports.com/lch/archives/003574.htmlhttp://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34337http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/05/predictable-umpc-reviews.htmlhttp://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/05/umpc_scenarios_.htmlhttp://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/05/wheres_the_umpc.htmlhttp://wickedstageact2.typepad.com/life_on_the_wicked_stage_/2006/05/another_ouch_re.html
The list goes on and on but I don't feel like pulling more links from my RSS right now. My point is, lets face it, how can all the reviewers be wrong? The UMPC is just too far ahead of its time. It was a great idea and I was totally excited about it when I first heard about it but then the reality hit right around the time the announcement was made and my lofty expectations soon settled down.
There's some things that could be addressed right now such as the lack of a keyboard. I'm a slate owner and let me tell you, I never leave the house without making sure my convertible keyboard is in my backpack. These UMPC's need a slide out OQO-style keyboard. Be honest with yourselves guys. I know we love the Tablet PC and all the great programs that are ink enabled but ink input CANNOT be the only input. It simply doesn't work for alot of use cases. Even my PDA phone has a keyboard which I use more than the touch screen keyboard. Ink email is a cute novelty, but would you send an ink email to the CEO of a company you're about to sign a contract with?
There's alot of reasons why the UMPC won't be able to meet expectations today regardless of how much they listen to customers. Battery life is the biggest. I'll never forget when I was at Windows Anywhere with my Electrovaya Scribbler and I was sitting with Rob Bushway who (I think) had a TC1100. While I was happily inking away, he was feverishly scanning the perimeter for an open outlet as his battery neared 0%. Today Rob always uses an extended battery. There's just no way to get decent battery life AND decent weight in a full fledged Windows PC right now. This will come in the future though, possibly sooner rather than later but it's not here today which is all that really matters.
Also display resolution. They're going for the 800x480 screen for cost reasons. Unfortunately, they're not passing those cost savings onto you but that's another issue. Developing an application that looks good on a UMPC is going to be hard work. Of course the new Windows Presentation Foundation makes this alot easier, but it requires more horsepower which the first generation of UMPC's don't really have to spare either. Developers that aren't thinking about the UMPC (meaning everybody except the usual suspects in Tablet PC land) don't care about your small resolution. How are we going to get them to care?
Size. They're too big to be a go-everywhere pc. I don't necessarily need something to be a go-everywhere pc in order to buy one but that's what they're being labeled as. When I go into a movie theatre or a bar, I don't bring a backpack or wear something around my waist. I'm a man, thank you. But my Pocket PC can just slip in my pocket. Where am I supposed to put a UMPC? Has anyone thought of that? So let's stop saying it's a go-anywhere pc because it's not.
Cost. This is way too expensive. A very good Pocket PC Phone can be had for less than $500 and it runs a huge catalog of Windows Mobile software, works all day, has built in internet *everywhere*, and many have keyboards now too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's financially possible for a company to sell a UMPC at $500 or less with current technology and stay in business. I'm just saying that for a device like this, that's the price it's going to have to get to before it's going to have any kind of mass appeal. Don't compare the price premium to an iPod simply because an iPod costs more than the competitors. The fact is, an iPod still costs far less than a UMPC. People have a cap that is set in dollar amounts on how much they will spend on non-essential gadgets like this. It really doesn't have anything to do with how much the device is capable of. Right now the UMPC is well above all but the most geeky of geek's cap. (Please don't be offended if you bought one - I'm a geek too and so are you. It's not an insult these days.)
Will someone please explain the advantage a UMPC is supposed to have over a Pocket PC? Please don't say “it runs all the same software”. Give me specifics. What *use case* does it enable. It can be software based but if the Pocket PC can do the same or similar with another software product then it doesn't count.
I am not trying to bash the UMPC. I am trying to bring a little reality to this circle of Tablet PC lovers which I am a part of. I'm sure it hurts to read all these reviews but instead of putting our fingers in our ears and saying lalalalalalala we should be trying to understand and accept the limitations.