Monday, March 13, 2006

First Look at V-700 UMPC

We were fortunate enough to get our hands on a pre production unit of TabletKiosks new V-700 Ultra Mobile Tablet PC. As we share our thoughts and experiences in this first look please keep in mind that this is a "First Look" of a pre production unit, its not a full review. But rest assured that we will be posting a full review of a production unit as soon as they become available.



First Impressions :

The V-700 is fun to use, so much so it's addictive!
Easy to grab and go.
Small Size and light weight are an advantage that allows you to take it anywhere without being weighed down.
Because of the size and weight the V-700 is amazingly useful and convenient to have and use.
Bottom line is that we loved it.

We were also amazed by the versatility of the V-700. Having the full Windows Tablet PC operating system combined with pen, touch and handheld controls in a single piece of equipment makes V-700 a very versatile piece of equipment. We found ourselves using it in places we don't normally take a Tablet PC with us. We found it hard to put down, and very hard to part with when we had to return it!

Origami was the code name for the project to develop a computing device that was small in size and packed with features. The end result of the Origami Project is the Ultra Mobile PC.

That said the Origami name goes away and the official name is the Ultra-Mobile PC is here to stay. The TabletKiosk V-700 is an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).

Tablet Kiosks V-700 Ultra-Mobile PC runs the full Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, touch enabled screen, full pen and ink capabilities and allow users the ability to, access the internet, communicate with others, listen to music,view movies, take handwritten notes and play games.

Encased in sleek, shiny high gloss black the TabletKiosk V-700 UMPC measures 8.75” x 5.75” x 7/8 in size, has a 1 GHZ VIA Processor and a crisp clear 7 inch TFT display. (Full Specs below) Initially the units will come in black and white, but we expect the V-700 to be available in multiple colors down the line.

Having the full Windows XP Tablet PC Edition OS allows users to have fun and be productive at the same time The V-700 is particularly well suited to those who are on the go all day long and want to cary one device that can, go from the office to the board room, out to lunch, on a plane, outside in the yard and inside on a desk. Users will find It's will be a nice chance of pace to be able to be able to travel with one small lightweight device that can do everything we need it to do.

We used the V-700 with the included stylus, for writing and taking notes, even though it was small in size, we found it comfortable to hold even with long finger nails. We used our fingernails for opening programs, inputting text from the "Tablet Tip" and surfing the web.

We used the right and left mouse buttons and jog wheel found on the left side of the unit and the more familiar red joy stick button on the left side. Having multiple options for input methods is a feature that will be appreciated by both left and right handed users. Our input method changed with our mood and with what we were doing, but the majority of the time we used the stylus or a fingernail.

Our initial concern with not being able to see a 7 inch screen wasn't a problem. One button access for changing the screen between 800x480, 800x600 and 1024x600 allowed us to quickly and easily chose the best resolution for our eyes.

As one of the questions people want to know is if they can in fact play games with UMPCS - while we did not install any games of our own, we did connect a USB keyboard and checked out the graphics with the installed 3D pinball game- the graphics were great, and the speaker produced decent sound as well.

Verdict

All in all, this product has lots of promise. The price and battery life issues need to be addressed before I would buy one of these however. Wait for version 2 at least before going out and buying one.

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