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There surely is one massive advantage to living in Australia, i.e. the time difference. We are one of the first nations to see the sun and one of the first to see the moon too. On this occasion the orientation of the Globe has allowed me to scoop a bit of news regarding Korean based manufacturer, Raon Digital.

Raon Digital rose to fame by launching the Vega UPPC (Ultra Portable PC) in mid 2006. While not officially a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) the Vega still ticked a lot of boxes for users, i.e. resistive touchscreen, full Windows XP Operating System, 7 hr battery life and more. Where it fell dramatically short was its lack of inbuilt Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and its poor array of input methods, namely no keyboard.

On this occasion it seems as though Raon Digital has heard many of the requests made by first generation owners of UMPC and UPPC as they have gone back the drawing board with their latest release. So it is with great pleasure that I can provide specifications and pictures of the new Raon Digital entrant, dubbed the EVERUN! (Cool name)

· 4.8” Wide VGA 800 x 480 resolution / Touch screen / Auto rotation & brightness control

· AMD 600MHz Geode LX900 Processor or 500MHz LX800

· Microsoft Windows XP Home

· Various storage options including a 60G / 30G HDD and/or 6G SSD

· Integrated full QWERTY keypad

· Integrated 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0

· Integrated HSDPA with Data & Voice or WiMAX (optional)

· Over 7 hours of real battery life with the standard battery (Max 12 hours with large battery)

· Easy to hold or pocket (170(W) x 83(H) x 25(D)mm) 460-500g (with standard battery.

I’ve heard that the initial release will be targeted at the Korean market (obviously) in the middle of July with overseas markets to follow shortly after. I for one think this looks awesome. I still remember unboxing the Vega and just loving the screen quality and overall size and functionality of that device. The EVERUN looks far superior and will be worth a look at by any discerning buyer. The great news about Raon Digital is that often their devices are priced rather aggressively in the UMPC/UPPC market...so here's hoping.

Here is what the Raon Digital VP said:

“More information is available at our home page www.raondigital.com and also from the attached file. This new model will be available for delivery middle of July and the retail price will be fixed soon. You can see the actual working model at Computex (June 5~9, Taiwan) at AMD Booth (HALL 4, booth #TF1I+T105)

I hope you like this machine and do not hesitate to contact me for any question.”

Here we go with another GBM podcast. At least here two of us go. Dennis is missing in action (for good reasons) but Hugo and Warner carry on gallantly in Hey dude, what happened to my battery? Show. Yep, we spend a lot of time talking about Battery life and how to best optimize its effectiveness; and we also cover off burning topics like the sale of "The Buzz" and more.

This show, like every show, is packed full of laughs and GBM goodness. If you pay close attention Hugo drops a bombshell - new device in his house for over 4 days and nobody knew - and Warner shares some real life Tablet usage scenarios from the Theatre. Sit back and enjoy as we cover News, Forum Topics and delve into the Topic of the Day. For your enjoyment here's Podcast #20.

Notes for show #20:

• 
  

  News Items

  
  
  
  
  • Loren Heiny’s Wish List for UMPCs
    
  • Tablet PC Buzz Sold
    
  • Linda Epstein: Via Processor Gives UMPC Longer Battery Life
    
  • Win A Samsung Q1 Ultra and Support For Your School
    
  • 2GB Memory In Asus (and other UMPCS)
  
  
• This Weeks Hot Topics In The GBM Forum
  
  
  
  • User: i440's Release Date...? - (SteveS)
    
  • User: What's Your Preferred Screen Size? - (Warner Crocker)
    
  • User: Software for writing on PDFs - (SegalSegal)
    
  • User: Anyone find an exact fitting case for the P1610? - (j0r0b0)
  
  
• Main Topic
  
  
  
  • Battery Life and what are our optimization techniques

Direct download or listen to the podcast here. (55mb 47.33 minutes mp3 format)

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I think most of you know that my Tablet PC geek-iness is so far out of control that it is almost irreversible now. I still remember vividly a video I shot demonstrating how The Origami devices would work well before they had been released. It caught a lot of attention and highlighted two things:

• We can create Virtual Hardware experiences and still learn a lot;
• People will go to extraordinary lengths to make the intangible tangible.

Why all this rhetoric?

Recently I was pinged by a fellow Aussie and passionate follower of bleeding edge technology who had gone down a similar path to me, i.e. creating Virtual Hardware. I thought it was so amusing creepy intriguing enthusiastically replicated that I had to share it with all of you. For the record his name is Paul Stanway and his passion is papier-mâché sculpture origami Gadgets!

Oh…and so you know…NONE OF THESE DEVICES ARE REAL. ALL ARE MADE FROM HI-RES PRINTOUTS FOLDED TO SCALE TO REPLICATE ACTUAL DEVICES ABOUT TO HIT THE MARKER. LOL.

Apple iPhone, Nokia E90, HTC Shift

Q1 Ultra, OQO 02, iPhone, Nokia E90, HTC Shift

Q1 Ultra, OQO 02, iPhone

G'Day from Downunder! My name is Hugo Ortega and yes, I am an Aussie! It is with great pleasure and much enthusiasm that I join the GottaBeMobile Team and provide you with this - my first GBM InkShow.

When faced with the challenge of picking my first topic I couldn't resist the opportunity to showcase my latest UMPC, i.e. the OQO 02. Since unboxing my “shiny” new OQO two-weeks ago I felt the time was right to Vlog my thoughts. This device has captured the imagination of many and had lots of us salivating since its unveiling at CES 2007. As you can imagine I was somewhat excited to receive it and after spending the last 16 days with it as my fulltime machine I felt compelled to break my silence.

In this video I cover the following topics:

• The Pen Experience (including a look at inking in OneNote 2007 and using the TIP)
  
• I do a brief UMPC comparison (side-by-side view of the OQO and 5 other UMPC)
  
• We get intimate with the OQO 02 DVD RW Docking Station (including a sneak peak at how I replaced my desktop with this device)
  
• And more…
  

So if you’re at work make sure your boss isn’t watching (or maybe make sure s/he is). If you’re at home pull up a chair, get comfy and grab some popcorn. The next 40 minutes are designed to inform, enlighten and most of all entertain!

The Model in the video is the one OQO terms the OQO 02 -Best with Windows XP Professional. I performed my own manual upgrade (not a clean install as my device did not like that) to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and bought the additional pen to utilize the included Active Digitizer screen supplied in the 02.

Enjoy.

[Ashamedly I forgot to mention battery life in the video: “on the std. 3 cell I am getting a pinch under 2hrs, and on the 900omAh I get a pinch over 4hrs. That’s with “some” Bluetooth and “some” wireless.]

Watch or download the High Res version (47:59 minutes, 367mb, Windows Media streaming or direct download)

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This post has been prepared throughout my working day using nothing but my OQO 02 with Dopod 838 pro for connectivity. I am not preaching or teaching; only telling you how I use my OQO. It is my desktop, notebook and Mobile PC. So far so good.

• 6:00 am – wake and check email (docked and connected to Ethernet)
• 7:00 am – reply to emails and read comments on blog (still docked)
• 8:05 am – show me boarding pass to the front counter and ask for a print out.
• 8:11 am - check emails at the airport and reply to three emails urgently
• 8:16 am – finish a conversation with one of my blog readers (using ink on Messenger)
• 9:04 am – on flight DJ822 heading to Melbourne typing this
• 9:11am – read an interview, in the Virgin Blue Magazine, of Toshiba General Manager Mark Whitttard. Quote: “I think eventually the keyboard will disappear and forms of input will be handwriting and voice. We see that in maybe five years’ time there will be flat, slate-style products without keyboards that will be very portable and compact. We actually have a prototype that folds up – imagine an A4 sheet of paper and fold it into thirds as if you’re putting it in an envelope to mail it. We’ve developed some very flexible LCD screen technologies.”
  WOW…straight from the horses mouth! Maybe true Origami is et to come!
• 9:40 am – finished preparing my PowerPoint Presentation (titled: UMPC, past – present – future)
• 9:42am – remembered that I needed a background image for the PowerPoint so I fired up Photoshop and created a quick JPEG. (still on the plane)
• 11am – arrived at Melbourne CBD checked emails and replied to three urgent emails. Met a friend for coffee and reviewed my PowerPoint presentation.
• 11:55am – transferred the PowerPoint presentation from me OQO, via USB memory stick, and sat in a meeting taking notes on OneNote.
• 12:20pm – dropped the standard battery and popped in the extended.
• 2pm – went back into meetings and kept taking (OneNote)
• 2:10 pm – went to lunch and came back to check/answer emails. Read blog comments (favourite part of the day) and watched some YouTube.
• 3:00pm to 5pm – met with Victoria Government and talked UMPC. Answered more email. Entered notes. Updated contact details and used Outlook Instant Search to find some attachments I referenced in the meeting (spontaneously).
• 5:45pm to 6:42pm – sat at the Virgin Blue lounge and answered emails, replied to readers on my blog, answered more emails, made more phone calls and took more notes on OneNote. All connected to wifi this time.
• Now – heading to catch my plane and on my way home. Yeah!

I know it has been a while between posts but I have been overwhelmed with work commitments, family commitments, fun commitments, and to top it off the migration of my life onto the OQO 02 took a bigger toll than I initially expected.

So without delay it is my absolute pleasure to announce that I am 100% fulltime OQO-ing! As this picture might suggest I have solved the screen size issue, I have found several preferred input methods and my Internet connectivity is near perfect.

23" running Outlook and Blog,

5" runnning OneNote and Messenger

Here is what I am running on the OQO currently:

• Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (manual installation as I had bought the XP Pro version
• Office 2007 Ultimate Edition (I love that name)
• MYOB v.12 (Accounting Software)Adobe Photoshop 8.0 with Image Ready
• Castblaster
• and several other mandatory apps

I plan to install:

• Cyberlink PowerDirector
• Tablet Enhancements for Outlook
• Minjet Mind Manager
• And more

It feels like I have turned a corner in my mobility and it might be really hard to turn back. Today I answered emails while watching my son at Swimming Training - not impressive to some of you I know - but I also caught up on some YouTube, I finished of a PowerPoint Presentation for tomorrow, and, I reviewed and amended a Pricelist using Excel.

Let me know your questions I will do what I can to answer them via video, photos and text throughout the next few weeks. Tomorrow I am on a plane to Melbourne for the day and plan to give my new Mr. Mobility persona a good run for its money. With my Dopod 838pro (in my left blazer pocket) and my OQO 02 Best (in my right blazer pocket) mobility has never been so literal.

Firstly I need to express my humble appreciation for YOU, my readers. I have worked diligently on and off the blog to provide the best support I can. Be it Video, Podcast, Text or Business I am constantly looking at how I might best serve your needs. It is with sincere pleasure that I do this and look forward to continuously finding new ways to make use of my passion, and commitment to teaching.

Why this comment?

Microsoft runs a Monthly Profile on a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) of their choice named MVP Insider. Now the list of great MVPs is by no means exhausted, and the quality of candidate so varying that Microsoft must have a tough time choosing each month. For whatever reason however this month they have chosen me, Hugo Ortega.

So if you are interested in knowing more about me, or wish to read Profiles of other MVPs dating back to February 2004, then head on over to MVP Insider now. For the others I have pasted together a JPEG of the page. Interestingly as you flick through each month you might notice that I am the first Tablet PC MVP to be profiled and the first Australian too; a double win for Tablet PC and Oz!

Hugo Ortega: MVP of the Month, May 2007