Gizmodo
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Sony must be red in the face right about now. Looking like a bigger version of the UX390, Gigabyte will debut its first UMPC next month at CeBit. Dubbed the U60, the handheld will come with a built-in QWERTY keyboard that slides out of the main body (like the UX390). Also on board is a 6.5-inch screen, which is bigger than Sony's 4.5-inch display, but a tad smaller than the 7-inch LCD found on Asus' R2H. Pricing hasn't been set yet, though more details should arrive as the launch date nears.
Gigabyte U60 UMPC to be Announced at CeBit 2007 [Unwired View]
Comments
UMPCs are too expensive and just don't meet a large market need. For my money I'd rather have a 5"-7" touch-screen on a twist-n-flip (with standard laptop keyboard) that runs some handheld OS like Palm, Windows Mobile or Linux. If the Nokia web pad were a little more robust in the PIM and productivity side of the software and it came with a simple keyboard, I'd probably buy it.
Until someone comes up with some fancy new battery tech, like those carbon nanotube electrode thingamajigs, or those fancy fuel cell batts (cheap and readily available ones, mind you), or those "super-iron" that use ferrate salts, or those wicked ass genetically engineered virus batteries... anything, anything, just get us tons more juice thinner than ever before!
That thing looks like it has a few chromosones missing.
I will buy one of these if it costs $750 or less...
How can you guys forget the OQO as the very first slider UMPC with keyboard? (And Sony has several UMPCs - UX280, UX380 and UX390). OTOH, the Sony's screen is higher res than most UMPCs out there (practically all UMPCs under Microsoft's "origami" thing is 800x480 resolution, while the Sony is 1024x600. My Toshiba LIbretto has the best at 1280x800 (720p capable, yahoo!)).
As for whether it's better than a PDA - with battery life, no, but flexibility, yes. In PDAs, I've found stuff like web browsers stink, even though they've got ample computing power with lots of RAM. It seems that the "pocket" versions of common applications are quite limiting, even though tney have processors that can cope with last-generation software for desktop PCs. The only PDAs I've seen come close are Linux ones, and that's because you can run the desktop apps recompiled.
So no, they're not replacing PDAs, but they're certainly encroaching on PDA territory.
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