iriver D50N handheld/mid/e-dictionary/(whatever you may want to call it) is soon going to land in Korea. It comes with a respectable 800×480 resolution 4.8-inch display and 16GB internal memory. For connectivity, it comes with built in WiFi and for expansion, a microSD slot. Battery life is also pretty good with 16 hours of music playback or 8 hours of video.
The price of the D50N is going to be around $370 although its release date for US is not yet known.
[iriver D50N official webpage]
[via]
If you go to expansys to order the 1.86 GHz version of the OQO, you will find that the expansys is showing that product has been discontinued. This makes us wonder as the product is barely few months old. This can only mean one thing: OQO is going to launch the revision of its flagship model. It can be that OQO is preparing the revision of model 2+ with Intel Atom 2.0 GHz (Z550) instead of Intel Atom 1.86GHz (Z540).
It may be noted that the power consumption of Z550 is same as Z540 even with the speed jump. Also, it makes sense to equip the flagship model with the best available mobile processor.
[via oqotalk]
Samsung is all set to launch SWD-M100 (Mondi) in the US. The design is similar to Nokia N810 which is also a slider MID. I am personally a big fan of slider MIDs as you can hide the keyboard when you do not want to use them. However, there is one thing that sets the M100 aside from the rest of the MIDs available in the market. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1. It will come with Opera Mobile for the web-browsing as the IE in WM 6.1 is only good for mobile websites. Here are its specifications:
It will only be available from Clearwire in the US.
Commentary: The main question that comes to minds of a lot of people: Is it going to be successful with Windows Mobile 6.1 as its OS? Personally, Windows Mobile is not a bad choice at all especially with so many productivity applications under its belt. Perhaps they should go with the WM 6.5 which offers IE mobile 6 and better interface.
[via]
The SmartQ 5 MID from China, costs just $130 (900 Yuan) and runs ARM-based Ubuntu. It has a 4.3-inch display with WVGA (800×480) resolution. The display should be crisp at that resolution. It also comes with built-in BT connectivity and WiFi b/g/a. It also comes with some pre-installed applications (StarDict dictionary and FBReader ebook reader).
It may not be running the best CPU around, but we should not underestimate ARM-processor, which powers more than 80% of the phones that we use in our daily life. Also, I need not reiterate the fact how less power the ARM processors consume.
[via itechnews]
I do not think if it is a good idea to walk with a UMPC around your neck though.
Although I could not understand anything as it was all Chinese, but you can easily see the advantages of using UMPC as a mobile device. Also, one more thing is for sure: Chinese and Japanese people are more aware of the term UMPC than any other country in the world.
Also, since it comes with a 2600mAh battery, I doubt you can have all that fun throughout the day that they girl is having in the video.
[via jkkmobile]
OQO customers are facing a lot of problems in providing services to the OQO owners located in Asia. Look at this reply to the customer’s repair query:
Unfortunately we are unable to ship outside of the US. If you could provide a US address that you could use then we would be able to set up an Out of Warranty RMA, but you would also need to have a credit card issued through a US bank in order to pay for the repairs. If this is not able to be done than you can go through Dynamism where the original purchase was made and they will send it to us and they will bill you. Thank You, OQO Customer Care
So, you need to have a US address + Credit Card issued via US bank.
The horror stories do not end there. It took one customer nearly 2 ½ months (living in Asia) to get his power adapter replaced. And to get the replacement, he had to specify a US address even though he had bought the device in the US itself.
Due to the poor customer support, there is no doubt that OQO has lost many of its potential customers. Those have now shifted their minds towards other netbooks/UMPCs. However, we must understand that OQO is not a big company. Most of its resources are outsourced for parts and repairs. And it is quite natural that the customers who buy these $1500+ devices are going to be angry when they will not be provided with the service they expect. Although, it may sounds a little unfair that the US and EU/EFTA countries enjoy direct OQO support while the rest of the countries have to undergo grueling and time-consuming process to get their OQO repaired.
[related OQOtalk thread]
visit OQO official webpage
