The Gadget: WiBrain’s B1E UMPC, a slightly wider (and much thicker) than PSP-sized UMPC with full QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen, trackpad and on-board webcam.
The Price: $699
The Verdict: Meh. The keyboard feels great and the trackpad works about as well as a standard laptop trackpad, but the speed and quirkiness set this thing back a bit. It’s decent enough when you’re just browsing the net, but startup times and shutoff times are atrocious. CNET says it’s the slowest UMPC they’ve tested, which we agree with. The 4.8-inch screen’s 1024×600 resolution is sharp, but renders text so tiny that anyone over the age of 30 will not be able to read it.
We also had trouble getting the webcam to work with Skype, which might have been just us, but we had a lot of trouble doing a lot of other things (Wi-Fi connection, Windows Update) with it as well. It’s definitely not a great Windows machine. The relatively low price of $699 may make this worth it to you if you need an XP machine on the go, but we’d recommend a small laptop instead of the WiBrain if you don’t mind the extra space. [WiBrain]
