I have to confess with this all UMPC concept I do not see me buying any pc desk anytime soon. But... if I have to buy one I really will consider one like this one in this AVING USA News.Since the launch of 'Origami' in March 2006, there have been many varying reports about what an Ultra Mobile PC is and why someone might buy one. This guide has been written to help those looking at ultra-mobile PC's with a view to buying one. Its a long report but we guess that if you're considering spending over $500 on a UMPC, you'll want to read and learn as much as you can.
Recently I read somebody complaining about the fan noise in a Q1. Let me start by saying that my Q1 fan works quieter than the fan on my eo v7110 and a lot quieter than the one in my Compact notebook. To be honest I can't even notice the noise of the Q1 fan, but some people are ready picky with that. Well there is a solution. Samsung has added an option in the MenuUI called "Etiquette Mode". This option decrease the fan speed in half and that reduce the noise almost to nothing. Of course, expect your Q1 to work warmer.
One of the best news I have read today was coming from UMPCPortal where Steve is showing some of the UMPC prototypes shown in IDF: Fujitsu is entering the UMPC market.
i7210 owners can install the eGalax driver released here. Unchecking the box in the Power Tab of the driver fixes part of the problem with Stand By and Hibernation. This does not mean that with this driver all the problems that the i7210 has with Vista are going to end according to tests done by JKK but at least we now know that none of the problems come from this driver. In another words, we have taken one more variable out of the equation.First off, let me say that I do not put much stock in many of the Q1 reviews out there. It made me nervous to see all the negative reviews when I first bought my Q1. I was waiting for it to arrive and I kept seeing many of the negative reviews in major PC magazines, and it honestly made me wonder of I had made the right choice. I did, however, notice that many reviews from individual users were very positive. After using the Q1 for a few weeks I can see why users like it so much.
Last week I went to Lean Six Sigma (LSS) certification training, to finish my certification requirements. Lean Six Sigma is the adoption of two business theorys that center on 1. reduction of waste and 2. reduction of variation (mistakes) in a process. It is a pretty intense training course and the classes have many requirements that make a computer a very handy device to have. Since the course was off-site, and there were several large books that were needed for the class, the UMPC is a perfect choice for this training.
in LSS training one must take copious notes. There is a great deal of formulaic data that is used in the LSS business philosophy, so having detailed notes is a must to pass the course. I had purchased the Q1 organizer and keyboard from CDW before the course and I am glad I did. I can certainly type faster than I can handwrite and the decent sized Q1 keyboard was very useful. I worried that the pointing stick, nestled between the G,H, and B keys, would get in the way from time to time (I have had this problem with laptops in the past) but I never even felt the thing while I was typing. I have noticed that many compact keyboards are a challenge to type on when you are not looking at the board itself, but I found this keyboard did very well and I had no problem typing while watching the presentation slides go by.
If I had needed, I could have used the touchscreen to take notes. As a test I did take notes on Windows Journal during one of the last sessions and found it quite easy to do. I will admit that it takes some getting used to as most of us are used to the physical feedback from putting pen to paper. The touch screen is so smooth that it doesn't feel the same at all. But one quickly finds that this only makes writing faster, and once you are used to using the touchscreen, it is a breeze.
During the course, we also have to do many calculations. I found that OpenOffice Calculator was a perfecct spreadsheet program for these calculations. Many people in the class simply used a calculator, but I was much faster since I could simply put the formula in a cell then just type in the parameters in the appropriate cells. This saves a ton of time that most used up when they had to redo the entire calculation on their handlheld calculators.
We had several graphs and charts that we needed to make during the class and the touchscreen capability was perfect for this task. A few people had laptops in class, and they used them to set up their charts, but I noticed it took much longer to do compared to the touchscreen.
One of the things that is a requirement for passing the class is a presentation to demonstrate our understanding of key LSS concepts. I was able to put my presentation together during the class instead of waiting to do it on my time each evening. When it came time to conduct my presentation I was able to simply unplug the Q1 keyboard and take the Q1 itself up to the front to plug into the projector. Most who had to do presentations found it necessary to load it on a USB drive so that they could load it onto the instructors PC. The touchscreen was great for writing out the formulas, circling important points and demonstrating the concepts I was trying to present. It seems that the Q1 ended up getting more attention than the presentation, but I was more than happy to show off my new "toy."
Many of the negative Samsung Q1 reviews seem to result from reviewers who try to compare it to a full blown desktop or laptop PC. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who want to compare it to a Pocket PC. Sure, in either of these comparisons the Q1 is going to loose. It does not have the latest super mega-monster processor, so it may not run 15 major tasks as well as the latest laptop design that hit the market. It is a bit large for pocket carry, so it looks too big in comparison to my iPAQ hx2795.
What the reviewers fail to notices is that the UMPC sits nestled right between these two types of devices. It occupies its own niche, therefor it deserves to be reviewed and compared in that niche. If I were to write a review on my CBR600F4i and compare its cargo carry options to a Ford pickup, it would not do well. If I compared its fuel efficiency to my Cannondale bicycle it wold also do poorly. But for what it is, it is a great motorcycle. The Q1 is like that, it does well within its own category.
Since buying the Q1 I have added a CD-rw drive by LaCie. I know many have complained about the lack of CD drive on the Q1, but that addition would defeat part of the mobility purpose of such a device. Sure, there are all kinds of extras I could add to a UMPC to give it more usable features, but then I might not be able to carry it in a coat pocket like I can with the Q1.
Since buying the Q1 I have become a total UMPC fanatic. I am interested in the OQO model 02 and the new Q1 Ultra, and would love to have either one. However, I cannot say that I am disappointed in the Samsung Q1's performance. If you have a need for mobility and you are looking for a decent device to use for business, I highly recommend the Samsung Q1.
Microsoft HID driver is causing the i7210 issue when the unit is coming back from hibernation or standby. A test using an earlier version of a beta eGalax Driver revealed that if we disable the option in the power tab of that driver that allow the PC to turn of the touch screen to safe power the hibernation and standby issue disappear.
To turn the touch pointer on or off in Control Panel
1. Open Pen and Input Devices by tapping the Start button , tapping Control Panel, tapping Mobile PC, and then tapping Pen and Input Devices.
2. Tap the Touch tab.
3. Under Touch Pointer, select or clear the Show the touch pointer when I’m interacting with items on the screen check box.
To turn the touch pointer on or off from the taskbar
1. Use your finger to press and hold the taskbar.
2. Point to Toolbars, and then tap Touch Pointer.
3. To turn the touch pointer on or off, tap the Touch Pointer icon on the taskbar.
The PC Decrapifier is designed to remove a specific list unwanted software in an unattended fashion. Before running, the user may select exactly what software should be removed. Currently, it is targeted for use on most Dell machines; however it will theoretically run on anything that has the software listed below.
You will need a USB keyboard attached to your Q1.
Boot into AVS mode (make sure you have turned off from your last use of the Q1, nt hibernated).
After the AVS logo screen you get a screen with the progress bar filling along the bottom. Whilst on this screen press F8 and you will be presented with two options, 1 is to continue and 2 is to delete stored settings.
Choose 2 and continue.
You should now have AVSNow back!
ClearType manipulates the Red-Green-Blue sub-pixels directly. The order in which these sub-pixels occur is called striping. The default striping for most LCD displays is RGB (in other words, Red followed by Green followed by Blue). In both Vista and XP, ClearType assumes by default that it is dealing with RGB striping and happily tweaks the pixel components using this assumption. Unfortunately for some of us, the default striping on some (many? all?) 7" UMPC displays is BGR (Blue, Green, Red – inverse of RGB). When you run Vista (or turn on XP-ClearType) on these BGR machines, instead of crisp, clear text, you get fuzzy, multi-colored, rainbow-fringed text! To a sensitive eye like mine, this basically sucks. The good news is that ClearType can handle BGR striping just as well as RGB striping – but you have to tell it to do soJ. The bad news is that there is no inbuilt UI in either XP or Vista to tweak this settingL. But the really good news is that you can run the ClearType Tuner from the Microsoft Typography web site to fix this. Run, don’t walk. (This tuner has recently been updated for Vista. Hooray!)
This utility runs in the background (no visible/configuration UI) and pops up an on-screen scrollbar whenever it detects a non-resizable dialog taller than the available vertical working screen estate. The scrollbar then allows you to nudge the dialog up and down, so you can access the dialog buttons that would otherwise be inaccessible. See the 'readme.txt' in the zip file for more information.
