New, Maybe Improved Ultra Mobile PCs

I've never been sold on the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC)--an Internet-connected device that runs Windows or Linux, has an Intel processor (at least by the strictest definition), and a seven-inch or smaller screen. It's not quite a phone, it's not quite a laptop, and for a device that won't replace one of those two necessities, it's not quite in my price range. Today I saw one new UMPC and several other prototypes based on Intel's Menlow platform. They're slick, they're full featured; Menlow might make them faster. I still don't want one but am becoming more intrigued.

Samsung, which released one of the original UMPCs, and launched the Q1 Ultra last year, was showing off a new Q1 Ultra Premium that will be available next month with prices ranging from $1099 to $1599. It's only a slight revamp that claims improved battery life (Samsung says 7.5 hours) and larger, easier-to-use keycaps on the split QWERTY keyboard. Like the Q1 Ultra, it offers a 1.3-megapixel camera, touch-screen controls, a Web cam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AT&T's high-speed HSDPA cellular broadband network.

At Intel's mammoth, blue-hued booth in Central Hall, I saw a few prototypes based on its upcoming Menlow platform for mobile Internet devices. If nothing else, they looked really cool. A Toshiba prototype, of which I got a hands-on demo at the Toshiba booth, is shiny silver, weighs less than one pound, and is almost entirely filled with a 5.6-inch back-lit LED screen. It comes with either a solid-state or hard-disk drive. And with options for Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, 3G, and GPS--there are probably few places that you can't connect. On top on top of Windows Vista (it also can run Linux), the test unit I saw had a cool on-screen keyboard and optical finger navigation button. There's no pricing or availability information yet.

Aigo, Clarion, Digifriends, and Lenovo were also showing off prototypes in Intel's booth.
The unique Lenovo prototype has a long, rectangular shape with a cell-phone styled keypad, which according to Intel, is intended for the Asian consumers who prefer that method of input.

Should you get one of these new-fangled UMPCs? I don't know yet. The clinchers of course are price and performance--neither of which I can tell you about until the prototypes mature into real products, pricing information is announced, and we can test Menlow-based devices. So, stay tuned. In the past, some PC World reviewers have found UMPCs pricey, under-powered, and hard to use. It will be interesting to see if these turn out differently.

For a tour of the Toshiba prototype's unique touch-screen interface, watch this quick and dirty video that I shot at the demonstration at Toshiba's booth.

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