Late to the Party

I just saw this post on UMPC Buzz “rebutting” a post on Mobility Guru about why everyone hates UMPCs. Unfortunately, it seems Layne Heiny got it wrong (or did he?). His response to the quote he picked from the Mobility Guru article didn’t seem to match up quite right, so I followed the link to the MG article to check it out.

The poster at Mobility Guru was actually skewering all the “lemming” journalists hating on UMPCs, not the UMPCs themselves. In fact, on page 2 of the article on Mobility Guru, the author says he prefers to focus on the promise of UMPCs, not all the negatives that everyone else was harping on, which is quite a refreshing viewpoint to read (finally!). The rest of the article is actually a pretty fair assessment of what’s going on with UMPCs now, as well as their micro-PC competitors like the Sony UX.

So I’m a little puzzled about Layne’s blog post. Was it a clever ruse to compel us to read the Mobility Guru article because Layne in truth thinks that it’s a good article, contrary to how Layne painted the picture in his blog post? Who knows… My head is spinning just thinking about it.

…you’re listening to the latest episode of On the Run With Tablet PCs on your way home from work and start saying, “Blech! Blech! Ugh!” out loud in response to Marc Orchant saying that he’ll be using a regular laptop for work. Yes, Readers, I actually did that. Honestly, a laptop would have to be pretty frackin’ sweet for me to consider buying it*, if it’s not a Tablet PC. What can I say? I’m hooked!

*Or it has to be a 17″ MacBook Pro that I can eventually run Aperture on for my photography hobby stuff. Apple, where are your Tablet Macs???

Regular readers of my blog are quite aware at the gadget lust I have for the Sony UX50. But curiously, I’m not sold on the UX90. I am fully aware of the benefits of replacing the hard drive with 16 GB of flash memory — faster boot-up times, better battery life. However, I can’t help but think that people who buy this version of the UX will quickly be annoyed by the lack of storage space on the UX90.

This device is well-suited to be a portable media player and e-book reader, besides being a mobile e-mail, surfing, RSS reader, and whatever else device. Being a portable media player device screams for heftier storage requirements than that of “just” an e-mail and surfing device. Heck, I’ve filled over 6 GB of my tablet’s HD with audio podcasts alone, and I’m not even subscribed to that many podcasts! Add to that all of the e-mail and attachments you’ll be archiving, as well as generic downloads and app installs, and you’ll be wondering where all your storage went, right quick.

If this were 16 GB of flash memory on a PDA, this would be absolutely awesome, because PDA apps and their related files are small enough that even if you wanted to go crazy filling up your PDA with media, it would all fit fairly well. But PC software is bloated, so 16 GB of that flash memory could be pretty well-filled even before you start downloading podcasts and videos to the UX90.

Am I missing something here?

Not at my Fry’s, at least. In my previous blog post I mentioned that I went a couple places before hitting the grocery store. The first place I went was Fry’s, in search of the Q1 demo display. I was eager to see one in person, even though I had a bad feeling about the state the display model would be in, after seeing how beat up the Fujitsu P1510D display model was (a long time ago). I had read the accounts about how the Q1 was not in the same area as the laptops and other computers, so I looked all over the place, even in the TV and camera sections before I broke down and asked someone about it.

The first guy didn’t really know what I was talking about when I mentioned the Q1. He asked if it was a portable media player. I said no, and proceeded to describe it as a “small computer with a touchscreen and no keyboard”. The blog entry I read about searching for the Q1 at Fry’s mentioned that the Fry’s employee knew it as a “little computer with no keyboard” or something like that. *rolling eyes* The guy I was talking to still didn’t know. Another guy came up to the desk, and the first guy asked him about the Q1, and that second guy knew what I was talking about. At first he just said they hadn’t gotten them in stock yet, but I mentioned that I just wanted to see the demo. Apparently they hadn’t even gotten their demo unit yet. ARGH. This second guy has been watching for it to come in, so that was sort of an encouraging sign. Might have to check back later this week or this weekend.

Disappointed, I started looking for a simple notebook sleeve to use with my M200 (thinking ahead to my grocery trip). I found a simple black one meant for a Sony Vaio, and in the process saw this on a nearby rack (sorry for the awful quality from my RAZR’s camera):

In case you can’t make it out, this is a box for an auto power adapter for the Q1. GAH! So close, and yet so far…

Yesterday we finally went out to get some long overdue groceries. Earlier in the day I used MindManager to map out my grocery list. It was totally unnecessary, and major overkill, but for whatever reason, I did it. Actually, besides just playing around with MM, I had some dishes I wanted to prepare this week, so I made subtopics for them, and listed the ingredients I needed to buy for each one as sub-subtopics, if that makes sense. Anyway, I set up MM to show my list in outline form to see what it looked like, and saw it was a perfectly acceptable grocery list. *smirk* I realized that I didn’t reinstall my printer driver after I had restored my TPC a couple months ago (good sign of how paperless I am!), so I just decided that I would take the M200 to the store with me. I figured it would be interesting to see how well it works, the M200 being a lot bigger than a PDA or my pocket Moleskine, the usual grocery list repository of choice.

I put my tablet to sleep after setting up MM to display my list in outline mode. After stopping at a couple other places, we finally got to the grocery store. I found that my tablet could be propped up in slate mode in the front of the cart (the kid seat part), at a comfortable reading angle (and it wasn’t that obvious that I had a computer in the cart this way!). Earlier I’d bought a Sony Vaio neoprene case for my M200 so that I could have it covered up as I carried it into the store; it was used as a cushion under the M200 after I propped it up in the cart.

For the most part, the tablet worked very well as a hands-off grocery list, but I was very aware that I had a computer in my cart — my primary computer in my shopping cart. I was worried someone would spot it, grab it, and take off with it, so I felt more constrained, staying very close to the cart (usually I will put my cart at the end of an aisle and walk away from it to pick up items if the store is too crowded…couldn’t do that this time) at all times. I was also annoyed that I couldn’t check off items as I got them, since MM outline mode didn’t allow for that functionality. It really would’ve been better had I just written up the list in Windows Journal, or OneNote, or even in Evernote. Perhaps next time, if I can brave bringing the tablet to the store again!

I sort of had the idea to do this to see if I could just force myself to carry the tablet to places where a UMPC/micro-PC would be more suitable, partially just to see how it’d be, and partially to try and stave off my desire to pick up a UMPC-type device longer…  Can’t justify buying a UMPC if I can just as “easily” use my M200 instead. Not sure if I’d do it again, given how big the M200 is (way more obvious than carrying around a PDA), but we’ll see.