5" Folding Screen could Help take smartphones to the next level.

In the Gates / Jobs interview at D5 last year, Gates said that flexible displays were about 5-years out if my memory serves me correctly. Screen-size is one of the stumbling blocks getting in the way of smartphones moving into other product categories, including personal computing, and if the problem was solved it would only leave processing power and battery life issues to be solved before smartphones really could become the only device you need to go mobile with.

IDG New service is reporting today about a 5" folding screen that could be one possible solution. PC Advisor is running the story and reports that the concept design, by European design company Pilotfish, is based around a real, hinged screen developed by Taiwan’s publicly funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI.) The interesting thing about the screen is that the hinge is actually a display element. Apparently a touchscreen version is in development which just leaves the issue of a customer to find. We’d estimate a 3-year timeframe before you saw this on any device but I’m sure smartphone ODMs will be interested in this one in order to take their portable device to the next level. See PC Advisor for another image of the device ‘closed.’

Chrysler offers 4 mobile devices for $2000. But are they the right ones?

Chrysler are introducing a ‘web-edition’ mobile Internet device package for their cars which comprises a Wifi/3G router with one year of 3G data contract, a Sony PSP, a Dell Mini 9, an Apple iPod Touch and Eye-Fi wifi/sd card. The option price is $1999. Mobile Internet Mobility!

It got me thinking, given $2000 and assuming you had no mobile devices, what devices would you choose? You’d need to cover the following mobile scenarios.

• PC Computing (screen, keyboard, storage, desktop OS)
• Handheld web browser and e-book reader
• Media (video and audio) playback
• Photography / Video
• Gaming
• PIM
• Navigation (with turn-by-turn)
• Connectivity (voice, data, wifi, 3G, BT)

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HD720P videos from YouTube Tested on UMPCs.

An article on Wired yesterday alerted me to something I’ve been waiting for for a long time. High Quality H.264 videos on YouTube. Medium quality stereo H.264 vidoes have been available for some time using the fmt=18 trick [example] and you can even download them with an easy-to-use Firefox toolbar add-on but the availability of the 1280×720, possibly original-format versions, is a great step forward and with a tweak of that download toolbar, you can download them too which allows netbooks and other ultra mobile PC’s to play the files that would otherwise struggle trying to play  through the built-in H.264-enabled flash player. (Video below)

IMMR Report: One in three to own a MID by end of 2011.

In a recent ‘Thought Leaders’ study by Phil Hendrix of IMMR, a number of (US-based, I believe)people were asked the following question:

Three years from now, among individuals who own or use a PC, cellphone or smartphone, at home or work, what percentage do you think will have purchased a MID, again, by Q3 2011.

The average prediction is that by Q3 2011, 33% of these people will have a MID.

I know what you’re thinking. ‘No way.’ That’s what I thought until I read their definition of a MID. The IMMR definition of a MID is:

MIDs, or Mobile Internet Devices, are a new class of devices/PC’s that offer many of the features of a PC, but at 1-3lbs. are lightweight and portable enough to easily carry and use virtually anyplace, at any time.

Its not the definition that Intel use but its certainly the definition I’m hearing from ARM, Ti and others that regard even netbooks as mobile Internet devices. Based on that definition, I totally agree with the ‘Thought Leaders,’ whoever they may be.

A complimentary copy of the report, titled ‘The M in MIDs stands for Mobile’ and sponsored by GigaOM,  the GSMA mobile Innovation Market and InMobile, can be downloaded from the IMMR website at www.immr.org and it’s an interesting read covering more than just the penetration question. There are some quotes from the respondents included too like these two that I hear a lot: "Someone who has an iPhone right now, essentially has a MID already" and "With smartphones taking on 80%+ of MID-type activities, it will be tough to convince people to carry yet another device."  So if the iPhone is a MID and more voice-enabled MIDs are on the horizon, what are we arguing about? Based on this segment of the market alone I’d say we will reach 30% penetration by end of 2011. Add netbooks into the mix and it’s almost a certainty but for me, the even nicer thought is imagining the hundreds of variations of mobile Internet-enabled devices that will appear.

Related article: MID, a definition that is hard to ignore.

Aspire One utility provides functionality that doesn’t come standard

I was baffled during my review of the Acer Aspire One [Portal page] at the apparent lack of power management software that should have been included with the netbook. Aside from some hardware toggles, there were no settings beyond the default Windows power options to help get the most from your battery. I reported a while back on a nice utility that allowed users to control their Aspire One’s fan, but there wasn’t much more in the way of power management.

Luckily there are people out that who are passionate enough about their technology to spend time making good software for them. Take a look at a small freeware utility called a1ctl. For its tiny size, this utility has a lot of features:

(continue reading…)

Happy Samsung NC10 Owner’s New Blog

The Samsung NC10 is currently riding high. High in the UMPCPortal charts, the most searched-for laptop on a number European price comparison sites, number 2 on the Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de computer chart and rising quickly in many other countries. In my opinion, based on my hands-on and the numerous good reports out there, its one of the best consumer notebooks, yes, notebooks, there is and when I go to the UK in Dec, I’ll be keeping an eye out for a black NC10 with 160GB drive, BT and built-in 3G. If I find one (fingers crossed that this combination of specifications launches soon) then I’m swapping out my Gigabyte M912M and Medion Akoya. I’ll be sad to let the fast, touchscreen M912 go but battery life is more important for me and the NC10 has oodles of it.

Someone that has already bought one is Jez, a regular reader from the UK who I’ve been emailing with recently to find out about the status of the device in the UK. He bought it last week and immediately started to log his experiences on his ‘Unofficial Samsung NC10 blog.’ He’s also been kind enough to write an introduction just for us so before you pop over to the NC10 blog (and possibly never come back!) take a look at what Jez has to say about the NC10…

Take 20 to learn all about SSDs

JKK kicks off his ‘SSD-Week’ with a highly recommended 18-minute video introducing solid state disks (SSD), their advantages, the difference between MLC and SLC, explaining wear-levelling and the different connectors available. He gives some recommendations about read and write speeds to look for, talks about SSD life and gives some nice demos. He also teases us about some new device that he has lined up for later in the week.

View the video over at JKKMobile.com

UMPCs Killed by The Cellphone, says Wired.

I guess Wired are still hooked-up on the original Origami device definition and forgot to take a second look to see how things are evolving rather than dying. From UMPCs came Intel’s dedicated McCaslin platform and then Atom, of which the next iteration will be voice-capable and will span phones to netbooks. Meanwhile cellphones have been trying to become MIDs, UMPCs and netbooks by advancing in the other direction. The real story here seems to be that personal mobile Internet devices are being born!

I have to admit, I’ve thought of changing back to the original ‘Carrypad’ name a few times in the last year and if weren’t for the mobile laptops and MIDs, we’d probably have gone under a long time ago! The Origami-style UMPC market does indeed remain niche.

Thank goodness its all about ‘personal’ computing though and that the ultra mobile space covers a wide area, is growing like mad and will offer exciting choices for everyone. Every device is a winner for someone, even if Wired say they’re dead!

Five gadgets that were killed by the cellphone.  (Via Loren Heiny)

Aigo MID. Browsing and Video Experience.

As you might have seen from the initial hands-on review, the Aigo MID brings a new level of Internet browsing to the pocket.

The results beat a previously tested set smartphones and other pocketable ‘Internet’ devices by an average 9 seconds per page. In terms of Internet browsing performance, it blows the N800/N810 out of the water and even the iPhone only averages 20 seconds per page over WiFi. [Aigo averages 12 seconds] The only pocketable device that gets close is the new Archos 5 with an average, over a similar set of tests, of 15 seconds.

It does pretty well on video playback too with higher-bitrate files really taking advantage of the high-quality screen. Its just a shame that the media software is so basic. In my opinion, Video, Search and Browsing are the most important elements of a MID’s capabilities so lets see how the Aigo P8860 performs. Videos and notes below…

Offer: 5% discount on Aigo MID at Mobilx

After you’ve checked out our new video presentation, take a look at our hands-on report and at other peoples opinions by checking out the river of links for the Aigo MID. Pocketables and JKKMobile both have reviews and videos in the can. The reason I say this is that the Aigo MID device may not be for you. It’s not a bad device at all, I’m loving it more every day, but I just wanted to warn you that this device is something that will appeal mostly to the hardcore mobile Internet fans, mobile Linux developers and gadget-lovers out there. If you want a device, a platform and a software stack that offers you the best Internet experience and an exciting Linux-based playing field, the Aigo is a superb choice and arguably, the only freely-available choice today.

OFFER CODE: 14I6-U7AR-Y6HK-CARRYPAD

Mobilx have very kindly set-up a 5% discount code for us that you can use by clicking through the image above and ordering in Euros or Dollars using the code shown. The device is in stock right now and Mobilx can ship one out, globally, via DHL Express.

Coming tomorrow: Aigo MID video performance demonstration. (My notes are here if you can’t wait.)

UMID Clamshell. More info and Pics.

Umid of Korea have kindly sent over a set of new images and the official specs of the nice looking clamshell device we saw a few weeks ago. It’s due for official launch in ‘early of 2009′ which hints towards CES or CeBIT. Pricing is unknown but with those pro-level specifications I would expect it to be more than the Aigo MID variants.

We’ve added all the details to a new UMID product information page so feel-free to browse the specs, the gallery, the links, see what devices are similar in specification (Fujitsu U2010 is probably the closest competitor in terms of form-factor but the Aigo MID comes closer in size) and take note of a few things. 1 - The battery is 17Wh which, given the lower processing power and smaller screen when compared to the U2010, should give it a 4hrs+, active-online battery life. 2 - The size. It’s much smaller than a U2010 so this one should be easier to slip in a jacket pocket.

Thanks to UMID for sending the details over. The device isn’t on the UMID website as we publish this but there’s obviously a placeholder there. No pricing or territorial info available at this stage.

JKK’s SSD week.

You’ve read the theory, now hear the reality about how SSDs work together with modern netbooks and UMPCs.

JKK has a bunch of SSD articles lined up this week in his sites ‘SSD Week.’ Testing, Q&A and from what I’ve heard, maybe a new product or two!

SSD Week, all this week and JKKMobile.

dmedia G400 MID for early 2009

The MID market is really starting to build up steam in and its fairing-up to be an exciting Q1 2009. Here’s the latest entrant under the ‘next-gen PMP’ banner as presented by Pocketables. With a possible ARM-11 core, this may not be the powerhouse required by many pro-mobile users and if the media experience isn’t up to scratch, it probably won’t compete well with the Archos 5G but it at least proves, again, that mobile devices are evolving towards a better mobile Internet experience.

Read what Pocketables have uncovered here.

Flash 10 coming to evolved Smartphones and MIDs

Following through behind the ARM / Ubuntu announcement last week is another shot in the direction of Intel’s MIDs. Adobe’s Flash 10, probably the most commonly used multimedia plug-in in the Web world and a significant part of the full web experience, is coming to the ARM architecture. Not only will you be seeing full Flash 10 support on the next generation of evolved smartphones and mobile Internet devices based on the ARM Cortex core which are starting to trickle in now via specialist devices such as the Archos 5, Open Pandora and the next generation Nokia Internet Tablet but existing ARM11 architectures will also see a port. In addition to the Flash 10 announcement, Adobe have announced that AIR will be available so applications like twhirl and the ebay app could end up in your hand within the next year.

The press release talks about being able to ‘remove the barriers to publish content and applications seamlessly across screens.’ and points towards the website - Openscreenproject - that was announced earlier this year.

“Adobe Flash is the leading video format on the Web today, and this collaboration with ARM is another important step towards bringing the complete Web experience to mobile devices worldwide,” said Gary Kovacs, general manager and vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe.

Read: TGDaily

Read: ARM Press

Aigo MID video demo.

Thanks to Mobilx.eu I’ve had the Aigo MID for a few weeks now. I put a fairly lengthy post up a few weeks ago explaining where this device fits in but now it’s time to give you an overview of it in action.

Here’s the video, made with very little preparation so you get to see a few problems with the device too.