UMPCportal was able to perform crystalmark benchmark test on the UMID. Here is the screenshot showing the results obtained thereof:
MSI Wind U110 Eco with 9-hour Battery Life
Looks like a lot of netbook manufacturers are now finally focusing on improving the battery life. Asus has already announced a battery pack for EEE 1000HE, which should give you 9+ hours of battery life. Now, MSI has launched Wind U110 Eco, which offers 9-hour battery life. Here are its other specifications:
Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz CPU- Windows XP/ Windows Vista
- Ati Mobility Radeon HD3200
- 10″ 1024×600 LCD Panel
- 1.3MP (2.0MP optional)
- 160GB or above (2.5″ SATA HDD)
- 1kg (with 3 cell battery)
Did you observe that it includes an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics card? Wow. MSI, please do not spoil the whole package with a 3-cell battery. I hope they make the 6-cell battery as standard for it. Otherwise, you will very soon be hearing the complains of the people about the crappy battery life.
[MSI]
Doraemon Netbook by Kurokids
A Taiwanese company named KuroKids have released a netbook named after a Japanese cartoon character, Doraemon. Hardware-wise, it is based on Intel’s classmate PC. It comes with a familiar Windows XP OS and will cost you around $500.
That is a pretty expensive price for an OLPC-based netbook though.
[via CheapLaptops]
OLPC wants Windows 7 for ARM
Looks like the rumors of OLPC opting ARM instead of Atom processor were true. The OLPC has finally decided to go for the ARM platform. The current XO-1 is very power-frugal and uses just 5 watts of power on an average, which is really efficient for an X86 machine. That said, if the company opts ARM, it would nearly triple the battery life of these devices with the same capacity battery. ARM has much better power management features and also has built-in WiFi. However, the desktop version of Windows does not support ARM processor, which means no XP or no Windows 7.
Continue reading “OLPC wants Windows 7 for ARM”
HTCbutton – Skip songs via button [Windows Mobile]
In Touch Diamond/Touch Pro, the wired headset only allows you to control the playback of WMP mobile. Unfortunately, it does not allow you to control the playback of the TouchFlo3D’s media player. HTCbutton is an application which allows you to skip the song or play or pause the music being played.
Note: please note that you will need CF 3.5 to run this application. Most of the cooked ROMs comes with CF 3.5.
The developer of this application was generaous enough to make his code open source.
Mouse Computer unveils its Dual-Core Atom Nettop – EGPA33DR32XP
The Mouse Computers have added a new product to their netbook/nettop range, a Dual Core Atom Nettop named EGPA33DR32XP. It uses the mighty Atom 330 processor with 2GB of RAM, 320GB HDD and uses XP Home as its OS. Mouse Computers have also thrown in a super DVD drive to make the package even more attractive. Price? It is going to cost you less than 400 euros. For the common man who does not do heavy video editing, this nettop can do everything you throw at it.
Most of us (except heavy gamers) use our computers for basic web-surfing; for managing media and office-editing. For such people, these nettops, especially the Dual-Core Atom processor ones are more than enough to do the job. The obvious question that immediately comes into my mind is: where does the market for cheap PC go from here?
[mouse computers (japanese)] [via akihabara]
Difference between EEE 1000H and EEE 1000HE
READ THE FULL REVIEW OF EEE 1000HE here
I had a chance to play with the EEE 1000HE today. Being the user of 1000H, I could not stop myself in comparing the two and justifying, if the EEE 1000H should upgrade to the 1000HE. The EEE 1000HE brings minor, but useful advancements over the EEE 1000H. In this post, I’ve enlisted and explained the differences between the two and if you will gain anything by EEE 1000HE over 1000H.
Keyboard: Immediately when you open the lid, you will see that the keyboard has undergone a huge change. Gone is the small right shift key which was placed at somewhat awkward location. The keys are chicklet styled and have more space between them. Also, The placement of right shift key is more natural now. The location where the right shift key was present in 1000H is now taken by another function (fn) key. The ASUS representative there told me that this will let the consumer use the PageUp and PageDown buttons with one hand. Although, I doubt that one can hold this 1.4kg+ machine for a long time with one hand.- Battery: The EEE 1000H was quite famous for its great battery life thanks to its huge 6600mAh battery, which promised 5-6h of continuous usage. The EEE 1000HE comes with even more capacity (8700mAh). I expected it to be a lot bigger than the 6600mAh one, but it was marginally bigger than it. ASUS claims that it should give 8+ hours of usage and I agree with them.
- Processor: The EEE 1000HE comes with a N280 processor, which is 60MHz faster than the N270 that is used in the 1000H. I did not feel any noticeable difference though.
To me, the biggest change is the keyboard. After using it for 3 minutes, I had already become accustomed to the new location of the right shift key. Does the new shift key arrangement makes a difference to me? No. The reason is that I do not use the right shift key much. I made the required change in my typing habits ever since I got my first EEE, which was EEE 701, which also had the small right shift key. So, when I moved to 1000H (I still have my 701), the right shift key did not bother me much.
So, the question arises, whether you should upgrade to the new EEE 1000HE. The answer is simple. If you own an EEE or another netbook, where you find the right shift key annoying and you cannot work without it, then you may go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, if you are accustomed to the right shift key or do not use it much, then you should instead get an extended battery for you existing netbook. However, it is different story if you have few hundred dollars begging to be spent.
Video of EEE 1008HA shell
Folks at Registerhardware have posted a nice video of EEE 1008HA. In the video, ASUS representative have shown the concept and theories behind the 1008HA. I really like the improved keyboard and the slim design. They claim that they have made a lot of improvements on the software side too, where they particularly mentioned the new EEE dock. I do not think that it is very useful. I would have appreciated a custom shell for the Windows instead.
ICQ BETA for Windows Mobile now available
ICQ is very popular IM service on Windows PCs. But, it neglected the Windows Mobile devices from the past couple of years and did not released any updates for its IM client for Windows Mobile. Now, the ICQ is trying to revive its Windows Mobile client by releasing a BETA version.
The new BETA has updated interface and looks very promising for sure. The installer is in the form of a CAB file which is meant to be directly executed on your device. Copy the file using activesync and execute the cab file on the device itself.
[download]
J&W launches Minix Netbook
Looks like every single computer manufacture wants to have a netbook under their company’s name. Same is the case with the J&W, a motherboard manufacture. Unlike other companies, which just rebrand the netbooks of other companies, J&W are going to manufacture the netbook themselves. As a result of it, chances are that it will end up being cheaper than the other netbooks. It has the usual netbook specs:
- Intel Atom N270 processor
- 1GB RAM
- 945 chipset
- Windows XP (Ubuntu version in talks)
- HSPDA (optional)
- WiFi, BT
- webcam (1.3MP)
It comes with a keyboard cover that will prevent your device from getting destroyed in case you spill some liquid over it. Although that does not make it special at all as several 3rd party accessory makers sell these cheap keyboard covers for the netbooks. Personally, they do not provide enjoyable typing experience. So, I generally do not keep the liquids and my netbooks too close.
But, does not it looks too much like the MSI Wind U100? Even the specifications are similar to the MSI Wind U100.
[via]