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Mbook, a good Psion S5mx alternative?

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Amrein-Marie Christophe

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Apr 21, 2009, 3:16:55 AM4/21/09
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Mike Coon

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Apr 21, 2009, 4:29:25 AM4/21/09
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Well, I like the idea of the eastern hemisphere decoration on the outside.
Does it have the (boring!) western hemisphere on the back?

Cheers, Mike.
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Frank Peelo

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Apr 21, 2009, 8:24:16 AM4/21/09
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Mike Coon wrote:
> Amrein-Marie Christophe wrote:
>
>>What do you say ?
>>
>>http://i-mbook.com/mall/mid.php?check_key=5
>>
>>http://www.journaldugeek.com/2009/04/15/une-nouvelle-video-du-umid-m1-mbook/
>
>
> Well, I like the idea of the eastern hemisphere decoration on the outside.
> Does it have the (boring!) western hemisphere on the back?

Like the form factor, don't like the power supply. They used an Atom
instead of an ARM, and TFT display instead of OLED. Wouldn't surprise me
if it got hot and needed a fan. No wonder they only get 6 hours out of
that huge battery!

Think I'll wait and see what the ARM manufacturers come up with
http://kramfs.com/arm-enters-the-netbook-market-demos-slim-linux-low-power-prototypes/

Frank

TorbenGB

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Apr 22, 2009, 3:29:01 AM4/22/09
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Looks interesting. Of course something like this turns up only a few
months AFTER I've switched to an iPhone... What do I miss on my
iPhone? A proper keyboard, like this m-book has! Yes, "netbooks" have
them too but they are no longer breast-pocket size.

Oddly, the m-book has only WLAN and doesn't have mobile Internet
(GPRS, UMTS,...). You'd think a 2009 product would have that,
especially at that price (approx €480). Then again, it would surely be
a battery drain. Also, I wouldn't want to run Windows on it, given the
experience on desktops. I would hope that the Linux version is closer
to the failsafe&foolproof Psion experience.

Put UMTS (and GPS?) into the m-book, and extend the battery life, then
you've got a serious Psion Series 5/5mx/7 replacement!

Amrein-Marie Christophe

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Apr 22, 2009, 6:16:42 AM4/22/09
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TorbenGB wrote:

> Looks interesting. Of course something like this turns up only a few
> months AFTER I've switched to an iPhone... What do I miss on my
> iPhone? A proper keyboard, like this m-book has! Yes, "netbooks" have
> them too but they are no longer breast-pocket size.
>
> Oddly, the m-book has only WLAN and doesn't have mobile Internet
> (GPRS, UMTS,...). You'd think a 2009 product would have that,

> especially at that price (approx ?480). Then again, it would surely be


> a battery drain. Also, I wouldn't want to run Windows on it, given the
> experience on desktops. I would hope that the Linux version is closer
> to the failsafe&foolproof Psion experience.
>
> Put UMTS (and GPS?) into the m-book, and extend the battery life, then
> you've got a serious Psion Series 5/5mx/7 replacement!

No GPS for now apparently but they wrote on
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/UMID%20M1/MID/ :

Specifications (base version)
Manufacturer UMID M1
Model name MID
CPU type Intel Atom (Silverthorne)
CPU speed 1100 Mhz
Graphics Intel GMA 500
OS Various Options
Display Size 4.8" 1024 X 600

RAM 512 MB
Flash 8000 MB
Keyboard YES
Mouse Pointer NO
Battery capacity 17 (Wh)
Weight 315g
Size (w/h/d mm) 158/94/19 mm

Physical Interfaces
Mini-USB 2.0
Micro SD slot
Mobile sim-card slot

Wireless Interfaces
802.11b/g
BT2.0
3G option

Additional Specs and Accessories (can vary)
WebCam 1.3mp

Optional Specs and Accessories (can vary)
Digital TV receiver

Amrein-Marie Christophe

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Apr 22, 2009, 6:44:35 AM4/22/09
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As a Psion S5mx alternative, I also read articles about the future BYD MID.
But so far, no price and nor release date:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/byds-mars-mid-clamshell-has-a-phone-on-the-back-runs-full-wi/

Mike Coon

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Apr 22, 2009, 10:18:56 AM4/22/09
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If no mouse pointer, surely these days it must have a touch screen, even if
not worth mentioning?

TorbenGB

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Apr 23, 2009, 3:58:49 AM4/23/09
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> If no mouse pointer, surely these days it must have a touch screen, even if
> not worth mentioning?

Yes, there is a touch screen and a stylus. You can see it in the image
on the "i-mbook.com" website: http://i-mbook.com/sorimaul/m1_detail_3.jpg

Warning:
Ridiculously 20.000 pixels high image takes forever to load. Hopefully
their products are better than their web design!

Mike Coon

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Apr 23, 2009, 4:31:26 AM4/23/09
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I went to that link and it is certainly too large: 7Mb! But the properties
show 27x753 pixels and although it loads quite fast (I suppose it's cached
now) and momentarily looks OK it then collapses to that very narrow version
which is unreadable! I think it consists of many stacked images, but it is
still weird.

So I support your comment about web design, in spades!

TorbenGB

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Apr 24, 2009, 4:29:56 AM4/24/09
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> I went to that link and it is certainly too large: 7Mb! But the properties
> show 27x753 pixels and although it loads quite fast (I suppose it's cached
> now) and momentarily looks OK it then collapses to that very narrow version
> which is unreadable!

Your browser resizes the image to fit inside the browser window. Try
clicking on the image once (in Firefox) or pointing on it and then
using the image toolbar (Internet Explorer). The image should then go
back to the original (huge) size.

(Yes, a halfway sensible web designer would have split the image into
many smaller ones. A really sensible one would have used real text,
and background images.)

Mike Coon

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Apr 24, 2009, 6:12:35 AM4/24/09
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TorbenGB wrote:
> Your browser resizes the image to fit inside the browser window. Try
> clicking on the image once (in Firefox) or pointing on it and then
> using the image toolbar (Internet Explorer). The image should then go
> back to the original (huge) size.

Thanks, I eventually worked out that not only was it being resized, the
"Properties" was telling me lies about how many pixels were in the image. So
I extracted and viewed, more or less as you suggested.

Agreed about the text, too. One might have a chance of translating it if not
in image form. But there was some clear English, like the bit that says "Not
available outside Korea; one year warranty but best of luck collecting on
it" (or words to that effect!).

Cheers, Mike.

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