They have launched a Tablet PC of the year award for 2006 and included some very bizarre devices. I’m not so much upset with what they included but with what they omitted! Here is their list (with my comments in brackets)…
[Update – it seems as though the readers pick the entrants. (Can someone confirm this?) If this is true then the previous comment applies to the ones that nominated. Next year I will follow it more closely!]
- Fujitsu P1610 (Correct)
- Gateway CS210 / M285 (If price is your only concern, and Tablet features are secondary)
- Kohjisha SA1F00 (Not sure it deserves to be there – if you speak to Chippy I'm sure he’ll tell you otherwise)
- Lenovo X60 (Be more specific Engadget!)
- Toshiba Portege M400 (Not for me – nothing award winning other than its great consistency towards Tablet manufacture)
- Fujitsu P1610 (Best small Tablet with PCMCIA…um…only small Tablet with PCMCIA.)
- Fujitsu T4210 (Best package specs and accessories for MSRP)
- Motion LE 1600 (For best Slate design)
- Lenovo X60 (Specifically the Multi-Touch for its all purpose functionality)
- Motion LS800 (Best small slate – other than UMPC)
Then Engadget decides to place UMPC in the category of Handhelds! Up against DS Lite and PSP! What the…are they not listening to what we are trying to do!!! UMPC is UMPC, nothing else.
Here is my list:
- Samsung Q1B (Best value for money and features)
- ASUS R2H (Best all inclusive UMPC that support Pen features)
- EO i7210 (Most capable UMPC for replacing a desktop)
- Motion LS800 (Best built, most capable of imitating a Tablet PC, UMPC) [yes, I would call it a UMPC here]
- OQO 01 (Best aesthetics and function in a UMPC) – NB. OQO 02 was released in 2007
So where does my vote go? For me it has to be the Fujitsu P1610 (for best price and features) on Engadget’s list…Lenovo X60 with MultiTouch (for best features and neat package) on my list…and Q1B (for value for money) on my UMPC list.