Do you like me more for $699?
(Credit: CNET Networks Inc.)At its starting price of $1,999, the Vulcan FlipStart was egregiously overpriced when we reviewed it last spring. A $500 price cut last fall failed to impress, so yesterday Paul Allen and company lopped more than half off the price, lowering it to $699.
Tell me, are you more likely to consider a UMPC (FlipStart or otherwise) for $699 or do you feel that still too much to pay?
Coincidentally, I'll be posting a full review of the Wibrain B1 later today (covered previously on Crave here and here), which is the cheapest UMPC I've seen--priced at, you guessed it, $699. The review will be live later today here.
Note: This blog has been corrected to reflect the new price of the OQO Model 02.
I wonder if it's OK to feel bad for UMPCs. They're cute, cuddly (OK, maybe not) and perhaps even useful, but unfortunately, not very practical. The PC industry wants us to buy them, but very few of us are biting so far. Part of the problem is how expensive they are--more than twice the price of the cheapest notebook--which is why the price drop of the FlipStart is fairly good news.
(Credit:
FlipStart Labs)
Not great news, though. Chopping $500 off a UMPC that was originally $1,999 is nice and all, but it's still $1,499 for a palm-sized computer.
OQO also recently lowered the price of its Model 02 ultramobile PC just a few months after its launch, bringing it from $1,499 to $1,299.
The FlipStart debuted earlier this spring and keeps its same feature set: it's still a 6-inch-by-4.5-inch miniature notebook, with a 1.1-Gigahertz Intel Pentium M processor and a 30GB shock-mounted hard drive.
It runs the full version of Windows XP Professional or Vista Business and has a variety of cool inputs, but it's difficult to figure out why exactly the mass consumer would need one of these in light of options of powerful smart phones that are much cheaper and more portable. And if power plus mobility is what you want, notebooks are getting smaller and easier to lug around.
(Credit:
FlipStart)
Remember that nauseating scene in Total Recall when the secretive rebel leader reveals himself as a mutant growing out of his brother's stomach? That was the first thing we thought of upon seeing this hybrid camera stuck onto the lid of Vulcan's FlipStart ultramobile PC.
The FlipStart "Snap Camera" is a $150 shooter that snaps onto the lid of the UMPC and takes images "up to" 5 megapixels, as well as VGA-quality video, according to the company. It connects wirelessly to the computer, which uses its screen as a viewfinder for its parasitic friend, and thereby make it a bit easier and faster to save, edit and email photos.
There's just one catch: Who wants to lug around a UMPC just to take pictures? The camera itself weighs only 1.8 ounces, but the combined Frankensteinian contraption doesn't exactly make for easy storage, let alone an attractive design.
It's been a big month for the handheld ultramobile PC, or UMPC. We reviewed not only the clamshell-like Vulcan FlipStart, we also got our hands on the sleek and sexy OQO model 02. Both these pocket-sized systems run full versions of Windows (either Vista or XP), and fall somewhere on the gadget spectrum between an ultraportable laptop and a PDA-like smartphone. The same could be said of two other second-generation UMPCs we've looked at recently, the Sony VAIO UX390 and the Asus R2H.
Sony VAIO UX390
Of course, the story is rarely as simple as that, and the much-hyped UMPC platform mostly fails to live up the industry's (perhaps unrealistic) expectations. Thanks to clunky interfaces, high prices, and poor battery life, we have yet to see one that we'd consider useful in day to day real-world situations. My colleague David Carnoy says much the same thing in his column, provocatively titled, "Why you'll never buy an ultramobile PC."
The UMPC is still largely an idea in search of a purpose, leaving us with a series of concept pieces that look nice in a showroom, or as executive toys, but other than that, we're hard-pressed to figure out who the target audience is.
Each model we've reviewed has positive aspects as well as one or more fatal flaws. If someone could magically pull together all of the best parts of the different UMPCs on the market, add a decent battery, and also not make us feel like these delicate devices will fall apart if we look at them funny -- we might be on to something.
Sony's VAIO UX390 is an excellent example. The slide-up keyboard is handy, and we liked the multiple input options (keyboard, touch screen, and pointing stick), as well as the solid state hard drive. The device as a whole, however, is expensive, offers limited battery life and is a little too big for easy toting.
OQO model 02
The OQO model 02, has a great slim form factor and a large (for a handheld device) bright screen. Its keyboard is one of the better thumb keyboards around, but a pointing stick is your only mousing option. The battery life is very short and actual performance is somewhat sluggish compared to other UMPCs, making this a device that has the look down, but needs some work in the other categories. Even worse, the Sprint and Verizon WWAN-enabled versions have just been further delayed.
The Vulcan FlipStart, the long-delayed UMPC from a company started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, takes a different approach. This device looks almost like a shrunken laptop. The blue clamshell design offers more protection for the screen and keyboard than the other models, but as a whole, it's a pretty big brick to lug around. It did however have one of our favorite features--a tiny 1.5-inch touchpad, which turned out to be the easiest way to manipulate the mouse pointer on any of these UMPCs.
Vulcan FlipStart E-1001S
In truth, all these machines are fine for Web surfing, which is what most people seem to use them for. From personal experience, working on a Word document (perhaps writing a product review) is a chore on any of these keyboards, but possible in a pinch.
While we await the release of the newest much-hyped ultraportable PCs--the Samsung Q1 Ultra, and the HTC Shift--we'd like to challenge system makers to combine the OQO's slim design with the FlipStart's touchpad and the VAIO UX390's solid state hard drive, plus a decent battery and a dual-core processor. Too much to ask? Of course it is, but we can dream, can't we?
(Credit:
PCMag.com)
The Vulcan FlipStart, an ultramobile PC first announced in 2003, is apparently a little closer to store shelves, despite a longstanding reputation as vaporware.
The gang over at PCMag.com actually have a full review of the not-yet-released FlipStart E-1001S--a system that looks more like a shrunk-down ultraportable laptop than a Sidekick-style UMPC such as the Sony VAIO UX.
The E-1001S flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a 5.6-inch screen with a 1024x600 resolution. With a Pentium M CPU, a 30GB hard drive, and only 512MB of RAM, it's probably not going to be your main notebook, but for basic Web-surfing and e-mailing, we'd be willing to give it a shot. Other cool extras include a secondary display on the lid for checking e-mail while the lid is closed, an EVDO antenna, and both a touchpad and pointing stick.
Vulcan was started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, so the company has a serious technology pedigree. There's no release date yet, but PC Mag says the E-1001S will go for $1,999.
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