Android Tablet

photos: Jon Harsem

So last night I carried out my monthly "Tablet Guy" duties with the Sydney Windows Mobile User Group. For anyone that hasn't attended the group...you should. For those of you that can't, well for you it's important that you know two things about SWMUG, lots of geeks, and lots of Pizza (oh, and lots of geeks).

photos: Jon Harsem

Last night there was a guy from Vodafone Australia (sorry forgot the name) who probably wishes he hadn’t come. Between Dr. Neil and I, we managed to intimidate the socks off him and perhaps think twice about coming near a Microsoft User Groups again. It was more in jest than anything else but what do you expect when “data bundles” and “content management” were what he put forward as topics. We also had the enigmatic engineer/salesperson (in his own words) Stephen Gray from Seratec. In he’s eyes Seratec could do no wrong and provide no harm; I decided to see him again for coffee as anyone this optimistic should surely be a hoot to spend time with! At half time the “real geeks” left the room and joined James Mccutcheon from J3 Technology on a quest into some really cool coding stuff; I stayed for Vodafone Guy and Stephen, oh well!

photos: Jon Harsem

Earlier that evening I arrived at the Microsoft building with a real sense of accomplishment and excitement. Not only had I arrived with the only eo Ultra Mobile PC currently in Australia but on this occasion I also had the only Samsung Q1 too. Now if you've ever heard me "Talk Tablet" you'll know that sometimes I find it hard to stop; on this occasion with both the eo and the Q1 in my pocket it was always going to be special.

photos: Jon Harsem
Although my chat was brief and somewhat interrupted by our uberly time-protective leader, Roger Lawrence, I did manage to squeeze in a brief history of UMPC, an Aussie roundup of the UMPC success and failure and the future...imagine if Roger actually gave me three minutes instead of two! What was interesting after the close of the evening was the enthusiasm surrounding these devices. I still can't work out if it's largely due to the viral marketing campaign that pervades the blogosphere, or due somehow to reality.

What I know is this: "umpc remains a form factor that seems to hit-the-spot in the corporate arena. Not so much for it Tablet qualities but mostly for its size/computing ratio. Its success will revolve around getting it on the internet and its demise, as we all know, will revolve around the battery life. If the device carried 6 hours battery life and had a PCMCIA slot then the device would surely hit-the-spot we all want it to hit. For know between software developers, and enterprise mobility teams, it seems as though we're all trying to understand just where does UMPC lie in our arsenal of devices. Only time will tell.

photos: Jon Harsem
Stay tuned as I bring to you more thoughts, reviews, pics and videos on these magical devices.

The FedEx man has earned a very intimate spot in my geekish heart. It seems that every time he comes calling I am left with an exuberance that is unequalled by almost anything else on the planet...almost! Today as I signed his Symbol RFID scanner I knew that life would never be the same again. What was inside the box? Just the Samsung Q1.

Today I spent the day in and out of meetings, the daily chore type, and yet nothing could keep me from thinking of Samsung. Knowing that I had the Q1 to play with made today all the more cumbersome. I'm just about to sit down to dinner but in the wee hours of the morning, come 1am and 3am, both eo and Q1 will start to get intimately acquainted. What makes the experience all the more unique is that I have both the eo and the Q1 Ultra Mobile PC’s under the same roof, at the same time. From what I know, which is sometimes little, this is a first in Australia. When I told the Samsung Product Manager in Australia that I had the device he was shocked!

If anyone wants me to check anything for them I'll be happy to do so (don’t forget to checkout Kevin Tofel as he is running constant updates on his experiences). If you're in Australia I'll be running my monthly “Tablet Talk” at the Sydney Windows Mobile User Group (SWMUG) at the Microsoft Head Office in Ryde; both eo and Q1 will attend with me! If you’re in Canberra I’ll be running another event there too.

Have a great day/night.

PS. Maybe Frank Arrigo will shout me another coffee so he can see how Soduko runs on the Q1 vs. the eo.

I’ve never been one to say no to some naked action (my pictorial of Sahara intestines), so when Kevin C. Tofel published his playboy styled look at the Q1 I couldn’t help but link to it. First it was Kevin’s fantastic Video look at the Q1, albeit with a webcam on a shoebox (remarkable Kevin), and now this great peek at some Q1 internals.

Enjoy this look at the latest run of posts from the enigmatic Kevin C. Tofel; I’m going to keep visiting to see any further updates.

Snipping:

Brace yourselves, because this isn't pretty. It's one thing to have an unboxing video of the Samsung Q1, but viewing the UMPC stark naked is a whole 'nother matter. In fact, just to keep it clean for those under 18, I've only put a thumbnail pic here; a virtual UMPC peep-show if you will. Assuming you're of age, you'll have to click the jump for the full thrill ride.