Kohjinsha SH8 Available at Conics.net

• 800 Mhz A110
• 120 GB hard drive
• $1,168.51 USD

It’s the same specs as the Vye S37. Not sure if it comes with the extended battery.

Link

UPDATE (9/7/07):
I received an email from Conics.

• They will not be getting English keyboards for approximately 3 weeks
• The Japanese models comes with the 3-cell battery
• The Japenese models are available now

Silverlight 1.0 is out and supports Linux

Scott Hanselman just blogged Silverlight 1.0 is out.

“..Silverlight 1.0 is officially released as of 9pm PST and surprise! It will formally support Linux (screenshots) as Moonlight via a partnership with Novell in the coming months. You can see an interview with Brian Goldfarb, the Group PM, about this at Beet.tv. Wired also has the scoop. ..”

This tells me this is good news for mobile devices. With UMPC’s & MID’s leaning toward Linux, this could bring a rich internet experience to small devices.
Intel’s latest low powered A100 & A110 (Stealey) processors has caused some concern since the performance in Vista is nothing to write home about. It doesn’t look like the trend will change either since we will see even lower powered processors (Menlow) with most likely no gain in performance. So it seems Linux for small handheld devices is the way to go as demonstrated by the Nokia N800. It’ll be worth checking out how Ubuntu Mobile is progressing as well.

A Menlow device + Linux + Silverlight +  iTunes sounds like crazy talk.

Scott Hanselman’s blog Via Josh Bancroft’s tweet

Dreading iPod News / New Stylus

Dreading iPod News / New Stylus
I’m almost dreading reading all my
Google reader feeds and twitter posts
tomorrow since it’s iPod announcement
day. I have a feeling it’s going to be a
ooo’s and aah’s or a bitching and moaning
fest.
So what’s my prediction?
It will be like the Sansa Connect
but less use of Wifi. You will
be able to listen to internet radio
and only have the option to tag
the song to later purchase on
iTunes. No direct downloading. No
syncing through Wifi. No browser.
Just radio.
If you haven’t realized. My
handwriting is all over the place
today. This is because I’m trying
a new stylus. I picked up a
pair of Nintendo DS pens which
also included some screen protectors.
I dont know if I like this. It’s
pretty thick and it slides too
smooth on the screen. Writing on
a slippery touchscreen surface
isn’t easy. The tip is very fat too
so it’s not as precise as the
included stylus. I’ll practice more
and see if I get used to it.

Vye S18+ Review

pugleon, a member of the UMPC Portal site, posted a review of the Vye S18+ in the forums.   It is a rebranded version of the Kohjinsha SA1 series with the touchscreen.  He is very happy with it and summed it up nicely.

“PROS:
Everything. Light. Well constructed. Sleek looking. Good battery life. The improved keyboard. Fast enough to do what you want it to. Price is right. Logo can be covered with a nice transfer. Plenty of good sites doing made to measure high quality vinyl transfers if the logo bugs you. Looking for an SH1…. this is the one to get”

Check out the post.  He put up some photos and a youtube video of the device.

 

Link

What’s the wear level of your battery?

It’s not much of a secret for Q1 owners that the battery wear rate of the lithium batteries are horrible.  It’s expected that lithium batteries wear down over time due to factors of age and heat.  With the Q1, the rate at which they deteriorate is much higher.  I don’t know much about battery technology so I don’t know if it’s the circuitry in the Q1 or the batteries itself that causes the problem. 

Granted, I use my Q1 all the time. It’s almost always on and, most of the time, plugged into the AC adapter.
I have NHC (Notebook Hardware Control) installed and checked the status of my 3-cell and 6-cell batteries. The 3-cell is a year old but I haven’t been using it much the past 6 months since I bought the 6-cell. The past 6 months, I’ve almost exclusively gone with the 6 cell.

Sierra Wireless 880U/881U USB Modems Announced

“Sierra Wireless on Wednesday introduced its AirCard 880U and 881U USB modems, Mac and PC compatible devices used to connect to mobile broadband networks worldwide.

The devices, which plug in to an available USB port on a Mac or Windows PC, enable users to communicate with wireless data networks using tri-band connectivity. They support High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), a data access protocol that can operate at a theoretical upload speed of up to 2Mbps and a theoretical download speed of up to 7.2Mbps. They’re also fully compatible with HSPDA, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS and GSM networks.

The 880U is optimized for Europe and Asia, according to Sierra Wireless, while the 881U is intended for use in North America. Both devices also feature their own internal battery, to make sure there’s enough power support to handle peak or fringe area transmission requirements.

Both of the new USB modems feature power control, a patent-pending antenna design that Sierra Wireless claims maximizes data performance, and an architecture designed for data traffic management.

Pricing was not announced, but it’s likely to be set by cell service carriers that will offer the devices to their customers.”

Here we go. Doesn’t look like the modems are going to be drastically smaller than the 875U since they will still have a battery. Support for up to 7.2Mbps sounds nice though. Just hope AT&T at least roles out HSDPA in my area.

Via MacWorld

Back to XP Tablet on the Q1

I reinstalled XP Tablet Edition on my Samsung Q1 a few days ago.  Since I’ve owned the Q1, I probably went to Vista and back to XP at least 3-4 times starting with RC1 and now saying bye to Vista Ultimate. 

I’m glad I’m back.  The main reason I went back for the final time (I keep saying that), is stability.  Everything just works in XP.  The final straw was when my iPhone was stuck in Recovery Mode.  The Q1 with Vista Ultimate refused to see the iPhone in recovery mode and didn’t install the drivers.  My work laptop with Vista Business tried to go through with the recovery process but iTunes crashed.  That’s when I started to panic and turned on a Mac and finally got my iPhone going again. Two possibly unrelated problems happening in Vista just pissed me off.  I had to have at least one ’stable’ portable device, so back to XP on the Q1 since I use it the most.

Now, what have I gained back since going back to XP?

• GeckoTIP – I can open up a floating TIP while using Firefox.  The latest release isn’t compatible with Vista.
• Bluetooth Tethering - For some reason, Vista bluetooth can’t see my Blackjack phone as a Bluetooth PAN device.  It’s most likely the phone, but still, fact is it wouldn’t work.  The only way I could tether in Vista was through the USB cable.  Now I have both options back.
• Performance – Programs are loading up faster.  Videos are playing smoother.  I can play a 720p high definition WMVHD file again.  No disk thrashing.  Overall snappier experience.
• Battery Life – I’m getting slightly more battery life.
• Screen Brightness w/ hardware buttons – With Vista, the combination of the menu button + volume rocker only worked for reducing the brightness.  With XP, I can use the same combo for both brightness up & down.
• Robogeo – For some reason, I couldn’t get this to install with Vista.
• Stable drivers – I feel better not using, for example, beta drivers for my webcam.

What have I lost?

• TIP – The TIP in Vista is much improved.  It’s undocked by default and swoops on the screen.  Character recognition is excellent now and learns as you use it.
• Start Menu – I miss the search from the new Start menu.  Very useful.  I also like how the programs are arranged.  Always sorted and in one scrollable row.
• Security – Probably didn’t make much of a difference since I turned off most of the security features due to performance.
• Better NHC – Notebook Hardware Control gave me more options in Vista.  Allowing me to control the CPU speed for each profile.
• Origami Experience – Never used it.  It’s slow and felt bloated.  VLC played videos much smoother.  CarPC frontends made more sense.
• Media Center – Ran too slow, I never used it.

 So I’ll say it again, I will never go back to Vista on my Q1.  Doesn’t mean my next device won’t have Vista, just not the Q1.

Samsung announces 3 new Q1U models.. no 4th?

From Engadget:

“While they aren’t updates on the order of the refresh to the original Q1, Samsung has apparently decided that it was time to give the Q1 Ultra a bit more company, with it today announcing not one, but three new models. On the low end of the lot, the Q1U-ELXP gets a 600MHz A100 Ultra Mobile processor and a 40GB hard drive with a list price of $999. Taking things up a notch, the $1149 Q1U-XP boasts a 800MHz A110 processor and an 80GB hard drive, while the $1649 Q1U-SSDXP unit packs the same processor and a speedier but pricier 32GB NAND flash drive. From the looks of it, all the other specs remain the same as the standard Q1 Ultra, with Windows XP Tablet Edition serving as the OS. From the sound of it, all three should be available from the all usual sources immediately.”

Anyone see anything missing?

That’s right. Where’s the Q1U-CMXP? The HSDPA version of the Q1U with Windows XP.
I checked pcconnection.com and it’s still listed..

Let’s cross our fingers and hope we get some HSDPA goodness here.

DigitalTechNew via
Engadget

Vye Mini-v S37 (Kohjinsha SH6) Available in the US?

I found the Vye USA site which seems to be a US distributor of Vye Computers in the UK.  They recently rebranded the Kohjinsha PC’s.  Snave of My Kohjinsha was able to get a hold of one and posted his impressions.

What’s interesting are the specs on the site:

 

The differences from the SH6:

• 800Mhz A110 processor instead of the 600Mhz A100
• 120GB hard drive instead of 100GB
• USA Keyboard
• Extended 6 Cell Battery

On the products page, it’s being listed for $1349.  With shipping, add an extra $42.

When I tried to go through the checkout,  it redirected to Pal Pal for payment.

I emailed Vye USA on availability and I hope to get an answer soon.

UPDATE (9/3/07):
vyeusa.com has updated their homepage. The Vye Mini-v S37 will be available September 17th in the US.

Dynamism.com has the S37 listed on the site. There is no price set. The dimensions and weight are a bit smaller/lighter than the SH6 which is odd. The specs show it has the Japanese keyboard instead of the USA keyboard.

From Dynamism.com:

Vye S37

8.58 x 6.42 x 1.0 [inch]
218 x 163 x 25.4[mm]
2.17 lbs / 985 g
Standard Battery: 5.0 hours
84 Key QWERTY Japanese

Kohjinsha SH6

8.58 x 6.42 x 1.0 [inch]
227 x 170 x 25.4[mm]
2.2 lbs / 993 g
Standard Battery: 3.5 hours
Enhanced Battery: 7.0 hours
84 Key QWERTY Japanese

UPDATE (9/3/07):
So I email dynamism.com today asking about the Vye S37 availability, price, keyboard, and extended battery..
I haven’t received a response which has been typical of vendors, but, I just noticed a change in the website.

• $1349
• Shipping mid to late September
• 6-cell extended battery included
• 84 key QWERTY keyboard (English) – Not exactly sure what that means but hoping it’s a USA keyboard

UPDATE (9/4/07):
I received an email back from Jeff of dynamism.com. He confirmed the Vye S37 will come with the extended battery and have an english keyboard. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a USA keyboard so we shall see. He doesn’t know if the Vye logo will be on the back of the screen since they haven’t received a demo unit yet. I’m very happy I received a reply. Brownie points for dynamism.

Steve Paine’s Solar UMPC Tour Starting!

It’s finally come. Steve will go on a grueling journey in a test of will and power. He will be powering his devices using the Sun while he rides his bike across Germany.

“..I want to start on Sunday 26th of August and go through to 3rd Sept where I will finish on the Rheinufer (Rhein River promenade) in Duesseldorf and drink a huge Krystalweizen beer!”

During breaks, he will be blogging updates, taking photos, and updating a google maps mashup using GPS datalogged tracks and geotagged photos. His main device will be the Samsung Q1B.

This is definite must see and hope he is safe during the entire journey. If you haven’t visited The Solar UMPC Blog, I’d suggest reading Steve’s articles from the beginning to get a background to all the steps it took to get to this moment.

Link