The UMPC: Still Evolving! Still Pointless!
As my colleague Narasu Rebbapragada has blogged, among the eight zillion products here at CES in Las Vegas are some new iterations of the Ultra-Mobile PC, devices the size of a paperback book that have touch screens and run Windows Vista. I didn't see 'em all, but I did check out Toshiba's technology preview of a UMPC it's working on (seen above). What Toshiba is showing is an early rough draft; the company won't say when the device might go on sale, and the demo shows one being powered by a fuel cell, something that's not going to happen any time in the short-term future.
The Toshiba UMPC packs a number of advanced input technologies, including motion sensors that let you scroll around by tilting the entire device around. The company is working on unique finishes that could make it better-looking than any UMPC before it. All in all, it's an impressive piece of next-generation technology.
And yet it looks like it'll be just as crippled as all its predecessors, because the whole UMPC concept is based on a fundamentally bad idea: putting a full-blown copy of Windows on a device with an undersized screen and no keyboard.
The Windows Vista user interface was designed to make sense on PCs with large displays and lots of pixels. On the Toshiba, text is barely legible, and the icons in the System Tray were so small I couldn't figure out what they were, period. Like other UMPC companies, Toshiba has incorporated workarounds to deal with this, like a mode that magnifies part of the screen so you can actually read URLs as you input them into Internet Explorer. But that's inherently kludgy-shouldn't the default type size on a portable computing device be large enough to read?
The situation is similar with input. The Toshiba has the aforementioned motion sensors, several buttons for performing mouse-like maneuvers, a mode that puts a virtual touchpad on the screen, and an onscreen keyboard that's broken into sections on each side of the screen. Most of which merely compensate for the fact that Windows Vista is designed to use a mouse and full QWERTY keyboard-items which UMPCs don't have room for. I've never seen a UMPC which rethought how you interact with a small computer from the ground up, rather than trying to work around Windows' deskbound origins.
As I got a demo of Toshiba's prototype, it dawned on me that one company has managed to make an ultra-mobile personal computer that leapfrogs past all the ungainliness of all the other ones on that market. No, I'm not talking about OQO or FlipStart--I'm thinking of Apple and the iPhone. The iPhone is pocket-sized, which makes it infinitely more portable than the not-quite-pocket-sized UMPCs out there. The multi-touch user interface is different from and better than the pseduomouse features on UMPCs. The iPhone's menus make everything legible. The onscreen keyboard is far from perfect, but I haven't seen a UMPC that does QWERTY better.
Of course, UMPC supporters might bring up one seeming point in that platform's favor compared to the iPhone: UMPCs run full Vista and can therefore run just about any Windows application, while the iPhone's simplified version of OS X isn't compatible with Mac apps, and Apple is only now getting around to letting third party developers write iPhone programs at all. But it seems to me that the manifold compromises and limitations of the UMPC largely negate the value of full Windows compatibility. UMPCs can run a lot of software, but it can't run it very well at all.
That's why I'm not optimistic about the future of the UMPC platform-but am intrigued by the upcoming Windows Mobile 7, which, if this post at InsideMicrosoft has its facts straight, will go a lot further towards rethinking Windows for small devices. And I suspect that both the iPhone and Windows Mobile will flourish long after the UMPC quietly vanishes from the market...
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I belive you are missing the point - you need to appreciate the UMPC as one unit in a complete mobile solution that includes several other devices. Think of UMPCs as glorified thumb drives with a screen - they are part of a computing solution that typically consists of one or more locations where a wide screen HD monitor and keyboard are permanently located, such as at home and in the office.
The UMPCs role is to allow the user to always keep his complete desktop with him wherever he or she goes. Most of the computing tasks that require a keyboard and larger screen are done when the UMPC is docked. When docked the limitations you describe are no longer valid.
As a road warrior, I use a 12" small form laptop as my UMPC when away from my office, but it would be nice to have an even smaller true UMPC form factor device in that role. I am just waiting for the power of the UMPCs to strengthen to the point where they can run Photoshop as well as my laptop.
Right to the point! The iPhone does most things you need for just being off quite well - and what?s the hassle of carrying a 3-4 pound subnotebook that has everything and really works well, when your are away for real??
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"the whole UMPC concept is based on a fundamentally bad idea: putting a full-blown copy of Windows on a device with an undersized screen and no keyboard."
yes, put that way, the concept is utter crap. just like any concept built around windows. but if you take out of the equation windows and the "no keyboard" idea (who gave it to you anyway?), you might get a very useful device in the end. what would take to be successful?
- screen 7"-8", over 800 pixels wide
- hardware keyboard, foldable or retractable
- wi-fi, etherent, usb and card readers
- most important - 7-8 hours battery
- the OS is irrelevant (toss a linux in, take OLPC as model).
the good part is that asus eeepc, olpc and the nokia n800 come closer and closer to a successful UMPC, so it's just a matter of time to get a really useful device - I guess the battery time is the tough one to get.
UMPC desings are all wrong and the weak 350K 2007 sales proves that. What mobile buisness users want is just a simple computer with a touch type keyboard that runs full windows OS but what we want is a computer than can fold and fit into a jacket pocket. If a UMPC just used the clamshell designs such as the Psion 5mx/Revo or the HP Jornada 720/278; millions would buy one.
Those clamshells sold over 2.3 million a year before MS pulled the OS to go after Palm. Now that the technology can enable that small form factor the ability to run full windows I am shocked that no company realized the right form factor? When has the mainstream users ever wanted to input full windows via a pen? none, how about a thumb keyboard? none. Full windows is inputed via a keyboard that is touch type. There are over 113 million laptops sold each year and the natural compliment to that successful form factor would be pocket laptop yet it has never been created yet.
I agree with the direction of the article. It is silly to "blame" Windows...it is an OS designed for traditionally configured computers: Addequate screen real-estate, a pointing device, and a keyboard...UMPCs simply do not have the form factor that would make this a very practical translation.
That is not to denigrate ultra-small information devices, PDAs and the like, they have their uses, but, performaing most, or all of the functions of a notebook to desktop sized system is just not pragmatic.
The UMPC's could provide a practacle computer for the mainstream and provide good functionality similar to a laptop if they used a clamshell design. The Psion is the perfect design to build from as even today it is probably one of the smallest yet fastest touch type computer form factors.
I do agree MS has a lot to blame as they are so large and they told the OEM's what they should build and the followed like blind mice.
I agree with a lot of the comments. Just make it a simple handheld with a normal keyboard and make it fit in a large pocket. Why is that so hard to do? I would like to see one about 7" x 4" x 1" with a normal keyboard and about 4 hours or more battery life with wifi, bluetooth, VGA out, and ample storage card slots, ethernet, and USB slots.
I do not see any big plus for a 7"-12" screen as then they are too large if they can not fit in a coat pocket so you then might as well just get a subnotebook or laptop. I can see paying a bit more if it were coat size only but it must have decent input not thumb keys.