Origami Unfolded: the demise of the UMPC – Analysis

Origami Unfolded: the demise of the UMPC – Analysis By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla It’s been two years since Microsoft made a bid for Ultra Mobile Computing or UMPCs with their then codenamed Origami Project. The UMPCs were next generation devices which would offer full PC computing power in a slate-like device between the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and the TabletPC form factors. UMPCs were aimed at savvy users who wanted lightweight portables that would replace their notebooks. UMPCs were also designed to have enough muscle to be used as desktop machines when hooked up to external monitors, keyboards and mice. It was an exciting proposition and some of the early prototypes offered a compelling feature sets for a traveling computer that’s no bigger than a paperback book and which can manage communications and basic computing. Already there were micro-computers from OQO and Sony which were pushing the envelope on how small a portable device could be but these specialty devices were too expensive for mass consumption. Continue for the rest of the story. Enter Origami Soon, devices from Samsung, TabletKiosk, Raon Digital, ASUS and others showed up running Vista on low-consumption VIA, Intel Celeron and AMD Geode processors. The prospects looked good and interest was apparent. The reality, however, was that the ultra-mobile platform left a lot to be desired. For one thing, the slate form factor without a keyboard was a challenge for new users who were not too familiar with the TabletPC interface. Battery life, a biggie, proved to be another stumbling block. Many of the devices shipped with batteries that struggled to cough up two hours of usage. Considering that these devices relied on Bluetooth, wireless Internet and batteries to be truly mobile, the impact of compromised battery life was palpable. There was also a wide variety of form factors, most UMPCs were slates but a number of them integrated thumb boards or keyboards but due to their diminutive sizes were hard to use. Still, small keyboard is better than no keyboard, especially if you consider that these devices are primarily for email, instant messaging and communicating via the Internet. Expectations unmet We personally had the chance to review some of these devices. While there was no denying their compact footprint, the novelty soon wore off. Working with a stylus is not for everyone and certainly not for journalists, students or anyone who needs to input large amounts of text. Cost was also an issue with most of the UMPCs, many tipped the $900-dollar ceiling that most people were willing to shell out for a “tricked out” PDA. Some of the current models cost double that, tipping the scales at close to $2,000.00 – clearly within premium notebook territory. The high cost, underpowered performance and meager battery life spelled disaster for the UMPC niche even as newer models espoused the ability to run Vista and integrated faster processors, SSD (Solid State Disk) drives and the ability to run on EDGE networks via SIM cards. The entry into the market of affordable netbooks, the first wave of which sold at the fraction of the price of UMPCs gave users a more affordable option for secondary computers. Netbooks offered keyboards, functionality that was closer to traditional PCs and lightweight Linux operating systems that managed basic computing tasks and lowered the purchase price. Two years later, the big story is the ascension of the netbook. Manufacturers are falling all over themselves trying to come out with the right mix of price and features. With all the sub $500 netbooks on the market, similarly outfitted UMPCs, often selling for three times the amount, are left in the wayside as curious odds and ends that appeal to a shrinking niche market. A Blurry future for UMPCs The fate of the UMPC is in the balance. Microsoft has not actively updated the platform and this is likely because of Vista’s perceived weakness and the introduction of the upcoming Windows 7 OS. The new OS, which is essentially Vista done right, will hit stores by fall 2009, it will be interesting to see if Origami or UMPC initiatives will be tied into this new release. You have to think though, that by 2009, the netbook phenomenon might be hitting critical mass. That, and the cloud computing direction that Microsoft hopes to take with its Microsoft Azure online services initiative might have something else in store for us. UMPCs are partly responsible for the ramping up of usable, low-consumption components and the commoditization of the computer into a personal device. All the R&D that went into Origami and UMPC certainly did not go to waste, you only have to look at the $300 netbooks made by the same manufacturers and realize that they simply paved the way for things to come.

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Nikon D60 – Prosumer and Pro Fun - Review

Nikon has been very busy these past two years securing their foothold in the consumer and prosumer DSLR market. Its popular D40 line of cameras introduced DSLR photography to legions of non-professionals and made it easy for them to take amazing photographs. More after the jump. As a replacement to the famed D40 line, the D60 offers all the benefits of the Nikon system but adds a number of fun features to make photography less technical and much more enjoyable. Nikon’s focus for this segment of the DSLR market is on creativity rather than technical expertise and we believe this will attract even more users to the D60. Rocking a 10.2 Megapixel resolution, a new lens, an innovative dual dust reduction system and enhanced performance features like an orientation sensor for horizontal/vertical shooting, the D60 is well on its way to being the new crowd favorite. Nikon listened to its users and made a list of features and improvements that went into the D60. While the camera body of the D60 is very similar past models, the included lens seems a bit bigger. This is because the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens now comes with vibration reduction technology that ensures fewer blurred photos and missed opportunities. There is also an eye sensor that saves the batter while the LCD turns on or off when it senses the proximity of the users eye. Fun features abound in the D60 and include a number of photo color and effect filters that simulate the more expensive screw-on versions and a stop-motion movie mode that stitches 100 JPEGs into short movies for an interesting time-lapse effect. The D60 utilizes Nikon’s aptly named EXPEED technology to maximize image quality and processing speed. The camera also offers creative features that are designed to allow the optimization and adjustment of images without the need for a computer. Image optimization is achieved through functions like Active D-Lighting (which compensates for strong shadows), and the automatic correction of false eye color when using the built-in flash. With its software, Nikon has essentially removed the tedious process of altering images with programs like Adobe Photoshop and given users the ability to create interesting images on the camera before they even reach a computer. We have used the Nikon D60 and its sibling, the D40 here at The Canadian Reviewer for the past two weeks and love the ease of use, sturdy build quality and the amazing pictures we've been able to take. The D60 is a very capable DSLR which is thoroughly enjoyable to use and is perfect for those who are seriously considering getting into DSLR photography for the first time. The D40 may be simpler but it would be a better choice for a first time DLSR buyer. Black's Photography recently had the D40 body on sale for $329. Canadian - a great bargain for a great camera. Inheriting a lot of the technology found on more expensive DLSRs, the Nikon entry level DSLRs D40 and the D60 offer first time buyers a great package and many easy ways to take amazing pictures while learning the intricacies of DSLR photography.

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Unibody MacBooks Arrive

Apple finally decided to refresh its notebook line encasing it in aluminum to unify it with the look and feel of its MacBook Air slimbook and the iMac. Bright LED screens, now encased in black glass, mirror the black chiclet-style keyboard as well as the slimmer, tapered profile are evident everywhere. It seems that when Apple released its ultra-slim MacBook Air early this year it was also ushering in a new era of styling and notebook construction. Called the unibody, a term most associated with car manufacturing. Apple’s new notebooks are chiseled to perfection from solid slabs of aluminum, reduced and refined until they are of the desirable weight. Lift one of these babies in your hand and you will feel zero flex and complete rigidity that can only be likened to handling a well-machined and substantial handgun. The new process, which uses laser and high-pressure water to cut the material, results in unbelievable accuracy in production. It is also friendlier to the environment as the aluminum is constantly recycled. The LED screens are also instant on and use up less battery life. Apple has also eliminated harmful materials from the process making these new notebooks the most environmentally friendly ones yet. Consumer Portable The MacBook, Apple’s consumer portable, has finally earned its Aluminum skin and now is almost identical to the MacBook Pro save for the lack of a FireWire 800 port, ExpressCard slot and the second NVDIA GeoForce Graphics processor. The new models are thinner and more efficient than the plastic clad predecessors since they have fewer parts but faster and more updated innards. Batteries are newly designed as well and are much easier to access than ever before. The new MacBook, is worlds apart from the old one. Aluminum, cooler to the touch and eyes than polycarbonate plastic, feels great and sturdy. The new LED screens are instant on and extremely bright. The only problem is the glass covering is totally reflective. Be prepared to see your face staring back at you unless you angle it properly or turn up the brightness. The MacBook screen has a better tilting angle than previous models so you can move it back further, which helps combat the awful reflective glare. Wi-Fi reception isn’t as good as the plastic MacBooks and possibly because the new body is less conducive to wireless signals. The new NVIDIA 9400M graphics chip is 5 times faster than the previous Intel integrated graphics and you do feel the difference. In the iTunes visualizations, movement and color is incredibly fast – while nowhere as impressive as the Pro’s dual-graphic card ensemble, the new MacBooks certainly offer gamers and graphics pros a viable option. Users will notice that the speaker grilles are gone on the MacBook, the reason is that the speakers, now larger and better sounding, reside under the keyboard. This makes for a cleaner and sleeker design. Another new feature available on the MacBook and MacBook Pro is a glass trackpad, which doubles as a button. The trackpad has been developed over countless hours to have a surface similar to past trackpads but now accepts new gestures that make computing a lot easier. You can use up to four fingers now to enable short cuts – it certainly takes some getting used to. Other things we love are the backlit keyboards on the higher end MacBook (with 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo and 250GB Hard Drive), faster DDR3 RAM memory and system bus as well as the easy to upgrade Hard Drive which can now be swapped with a SSD (Solid State Drive) or a larger SATA drive. Another curious but useful fact about the MacBooks and the Pros is that the SuperDrive is also SATA, which means you can possibly swap it with a second hard drive. We like the fact that the new 45-nanometer Intel Montevina processors are so quiet and run so cool, when in truth they are absolute beasts in terms performance. The previous MacBooks and Pros had fans that kicked in often and sounded like tiny jet turbines, these new ones seem to be more subdued and definitely quieter. Temperatures are more tolerable in the current batch of MacBooks. All in all, the new alumimium MacBook is as good or better than the previous entry-level MacBook Pro but in a smaller size, cheaper price and with some updated components. It is a compelling and strong, all-around notebook and at 4.5 pounds a great traveler. Pro to Go The MacBook Pro is one Apple product that hasn’t really changed back from its days as the PowerBook G4. Hints and nuances of the original Titanium PowerBook G4 could still be seen in the previous iteration that makes its design, technically, a 7-year-old dinosaur. The only thing connecting the new MacBook Pro with its Titanium grandfather is the black keyboard scheme. Everything else has been redesigned to a greater degree. Sharing the unibody enclosure of the Air and the MacBook, the 15-inch MacBook Pro is a thing of beauty and unbelievable strength. Beauty isn’t all skin deep, however. The Pro has a unique dual graphics card setup that enables it to run as economically as the MacBook (five hours) with the NVDIA 9400M but power up its graphics chops with the NVDIA 9600M GT discrete card for processing video or animation. The only downside is that you cannot enable this on the fly and have to logout and log back in to kickstart the faster GPU that runs the battery down in four hours. The new Pro is two-tenths of a pound heavier than the last version, a wee bit wider but is substantially thinner with the tapered edges a la the MacBook and the Air. It is available in 2.4Ghz, 2.53 GHz and on special order, a mind-numbing 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo. It’s hard to grasp how much processing power these skinny notebooks pack until you see one in action playing games or running graphic intensive tasks. Even if it is almost identical to the MacBook, the new Pro feels a bit more polished overall. The keyboard is a little stiffer, with less give and the LED screen seems a lot better in terms of clarity and color reproduction. I am inclined to think that the Pros are using a better or more expensive screen. Or maybe I am just jealous. Sadly, there is no longer a matte screen option on the MacBook Pro. It is glass and glossy, which may be a deal breaker for a lot of matte loyalists. I was one, but have now embraced the benefits of glossy, which is great most of the time but pretty useless outdoors and totally crappy under direct sunlight. The MacBook Pro is ideal for those who need 15 inches of high performance muscle and the ports that the MacBook lacks. FireWire 400, a big deal for mostly video editors and those who dislike USB 2.0, is all but gone. You do get a backwards-compatible FireWire 800 port that isn’t available on the aluminum MacBook but still available for the entry-level plastic Macbooks. Apple has neglected to offer multi-card readers or fingerprint reader on any of their notebooks; these are somewhat standard on cheaper laptops and even netbooks. It still is a sexy beast and with the new unibody enclosure it is also surprisingly strong. Sadly, the 17-inch MacBook has not been given a facelift and many wonder if that large-ish desktop replacement will be silently phased out, much like the beloved 12-inch PowerBook G4 that was kept on briefly and then dropped as the MacBook emerged. A new 24-inch LED Apple Cinema Display was released to complement the new Macbooks and this thin display integrates Magsafe, the new Mini Display Prot (taking over DVI) and USB 2.0 port) to act as a sort of dock for the portables. The displays now come with Apple’s iSight camera built in, which is a great perk. Conclusion Powerful inside and out but with a few niggling compromises, the new aluminum MacBook and MacBook Pro usher in a new era of performance, portability and cool to Apple’s notebook line. Improved processors, stronger construction and sleeker bodies, innovative glass trackpads, bright LED screens and the intelligence and power to run OS X Leopard as well as Windows and Linux make new Apple MacBooks runaway picks this month’s Pole Position.

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