It is n’t often that Microsoft harbinger a completely new conception in computing , but at CeBIT 2006 in Hanover , Germany , the software program goliath at last uncover detail about its Origami Project to a worldwide consultation .
Microsoft create the Origami Project to develop ( with various computer hardware and software partners ) a new eccentric of computer that falls in - between the size of it of a typicalPDAand tabletPC , uses a received Windows operating organization and cost less than $ 1000 : the Ultra - mobile PC , or UMPC .
The Microsoft team originally used " Origami " as a computer code name , and they like it so much that they kept it for the projection ’s public residential district Web land site . One of the program ’s managers was concerned in Nipponese culture and wish the name , which refers to the art of intricate newspaper fold sculptures .
intelligibly , there is a want for a lowly human body cistron than the traditional notebook computer PC . organizer do n’t run standard WindowsOS , and many tablet are too cloggy to carry around all the time . Gartner , an IT research vane internet site , postulate that the UMPC space should have the following advantages :
These are all worthy goal , but the initial UMPC units wo n’t deliver on all of these point at first . In this article , we ’ll show you what Microsoft has plan for the UMPC and what is still to come . We ’ll also verbalise about how these fresh information processing system will work and how they differ from tablets and PDAs .
Ultra-mobile PC Software
The UMPC is unique in that it runs even Windows o – it currently runs Vista and a suite of software call Origami Experience [ author : Microsoft ] . While there are many personal digital assistant and PDA / phone combinations that lead Windows Mobile ( such as the Palm Treo 700w ) it is n’t the same as running the stock XP OS load onto jillion of background andlaptop computers . Windows Mobile requires new variant of diligence to be compatible with that OS , and the applications have to take advantage of the modest screen on these devices . The destination of UMPC is to run off - the - ledge Windows applications , with no medications whatsoever other than supporting the pad / touch screen features .
The UMPCs that Microsoft foretell are low twist – they count less than two pounds and have seven - column inch picture screens . This puts it in a new mart segment not currently served by any picky manufacturer . It is modest than the smallest pad of paper microcomputer that are currently usable from Motion and Fujitsu , and lighter than the Aopen MiniPC ( a screen background framework that does n’t include any screen at all ) . It is also bigger than the OQO PC . The other differentiation is that the UMPC will be less expensive than the distinctive tablet .
" Origami is n’t aniPodkiller per se , it ’s rather a new class of machine that will compete with other devices that be about the same , " says Michael Gartenberg , an analyst atJupiter Research , using the original code name for the UMPC . " That means portable media actor , game simple machine , GPSunits and the similar will present some young challenges . Much like there were PCs with TV tuners long before MCE , the power of MCE was really the 10 - invertebrate foot UI . The magnate of Origami is really in the 10 " UI . "
Ultra-mobile PC Hardware
This is n’t the first clock time that Microsoft has tried to promote ghost - screen tablet : Windows Tablet PC have been around for near a tenner . But the UMPC is another step in this development .
Inone report , Bill Mitchell said , " The tinge - enhanced display can be used as an on - screen QWERTY keyboard [ using Dial Keys ] to navigate , or users can engage a stylus to input handwritten info . They can also input content with a traditional keyboard , linked either by USB port or wireless Bluetooth connectivity . "
Not all implementations of all UMPCs will haveBluetoothports , but the initial harvest of trafficker have promised this , along with support for various USB and BTkeyboards . This is very similar to the tablet PCs that are currently on the market : some come with keyboards and all offer support for either penitentiary or keyboard comment gadget .
Other stimulation ports are design for the devices , admit :
There will be units with a mixed bag of central processing unit , including the Intel Celeron M , Intel Pentium M and VIA C7 - M. No AMD chipsets are in any of the announced plans yet .
Microsoft ’s goal was to use off - the - shelf displays that are in vulgar consumer electronics gadget to keep the price down . They settle on 7 - inch VGA displays that had 800 x 480 aboriginal resolution and can handle 800 x 600 with some loss of quality .
" The form element was based around a 7 - inch video display panel , a size of it that is presently a standard sizing in the electronics industry due to broad adoption of that size of it display in the portable DVD role player and automotive markets , " state Microsoft ’s Otto Berkes in a paper interview . " Why use some fresh custom size when a potentially dependable one already survive ? "
These plans for the UMPC take issue from the survive Motion Computing tablets . The Motion displays use mellow - line , non - glare , active analog-to-digital converter , mean that the pen sold with the tablet is the only way to enter data . The UMPC displays are general touchscreen that can work with a finger or any other object for remark . " We designed our 8.4 - column inch showing to play the need of legacy enterprise diligence , because many of these applications are contrive for SVGA ( 800 x 600 ) resolving , " said Bert Haskell , a product manager for Motion Computing . The UMPC presentation are plan for exhibit widescreen pic .
UMPC Battery Life
One of the gravid issues for any portable twist is how it use power and whether its batteries can run an intact eight - 60 minutes day without having to be recharged . Before its departure , there were indications from Microsoft faculty and from analyst that it would be a very powerfulness - hungry twist . Part of the problem is that 7 - inch screen door , which ingest a expectant deal of power . dissimilar configurations vary depending on the specification of the machine , but battery liveliness for most UMPCs order from 2 to 6 hours .
Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research write in his web log , " What is omit ? Battery living . Right now these machines really need to be sold with a high capacity shelling if you ’re extend to use one as a liveliness style gimmick going through the day . "
There are legion notebooks available today that pop the question three or more time of day of battery life , include 1 from Sony , Fujitsu and Motion Computing . Of naturally , these are all larger form factor and thus able to have bigger batteries included to last longer .
To counteract this progeny , Microsoft has tried to finesse thing by offering more advanced great power management on the UMPC . Like many of today ’s more forward-looking multimedia system laptop , the unit will have a special straightaway boot successiveness that will bring up an embedded osmium to run picture or play music file cabinet .
Dustin Hubbard at Microsoft writes in his web log , " The Samsung unit of measurement actually has 2 iron boot mode on a 3 manner power switch - On , Off and AVS Multimedia ( that ’s their name for this mode ) . AVS Multimedia can do near split second on by reboot into what is likely XP Embedded ( as far as I can assure that is what they are doing ) and allows you to dally movies , medicine and photos without need you to boot into full XP . That gives you 2 advantage ; presumptively better battery life by not having so many services running in the background and truehearted insensate boot inauguration for medium only consumption . "
Touch Pack Enhancements
Microsoft has formulate a special serial of operating system sweetening to the pill OS to take advantage of the UMPC platform . Called the " Touch Pack , " these enhancements will optimize the touch projection screen experience . It has five applications : a program rocket launcher , a series of touch improvements to the normal Windows UI , a Brilliant Black skin for Media player , a Sudoku game , and Dial Keys , a thumb - based on - screen door keyboard for inputting textbook .
" Currently the Touch Pack is uncommitted only to UMPC dependent computer and only as an OEM pre - install , " says Hubbard . " The Touch Pack was designed specifically for small form factor PCs . "
Microsoft ’s Mitchell say , " Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows XP software optimizes the soupcon screen drug user user interface for UMPCs to simplify pilotage and ease - of - utilisation while on the go . The Touch Pack ’s customizable Program Launcher get up software programs into family , and uses large clitoris and icon to make it well-heeled to find and open your preferent coating . "
Most of the marketing materials that show screen shots of the UMPC lineament views of this software .
There are several components to the Touch Pack . The first one is " Touch Improvements . " This utility cause about 10 different options changes to Windows such as widening the scroll bars and enlarge the minimize and maximize buttons , evidence folders in thumbnail view . Next is a Modern skin for Windows Media Player called " Brilliant Black . " This skin fills the screen on the devices with big buttons to navigate the media ascendency such as play , give up and volume .
The third Touch Pack program is " DialKeys . " This course of study , built by Fortune Fountain Ltd. , is a fashion to input text with your thumb . Dial Keys makes it well-situated to enter universal resource locator , e - mail name and address , et cetera .
" DialKeys essentially call for a standard QWERTY keyboard layout and splits it in two halves . It ’s a little hard to describe the layout but there are lots of screen shot of DialKeys to show what it look like . The introductory idea is that you declare the gimmick in two hands and use your pollex on the screen to type in textual matter . It takes a little acquiring used to , but people are always astounded once they expend it a day or two how good they get at typing with it , " read Hubbard on hisblog .
The final product in the Touch Pack is a Sudoku game . The edition is optimize for touch and the pen .
Next , we ’ll look at who will be manufacture the UMPC and how much it ’s likely to cost .
Manufacturing and Cost
UMPCs from Samsung , Asus , and Founder are based on Intel microprocessor . PaceBlade Japan announced a UMPC , known as the SmartCaddie , that uses a VIA Technology chip shot .
Samsung ’s Q1 went on sale in the second tail of 2006 with a maker ’s suggest retail price of $ 1,099 . Another UMPC , construct by AMtek and available the United States as the TabletKiosk eo v7110 , retail for $ 899 . Asus ' and Founder ’s UMPC should be uncommitted later this twelvemonth . One vendor that has n’t announced any UMPC yet is Motion Computing , although the company sells a variety of tablet PCs in various shapes and sizes .
" We see it as validation and reinforcer of where we were maneuver with tablet PCs , " say Bert Haskell of Motion Computing . " We were drawn into the radical - mobile lozenge by our client who wanted a high tier of mobility . It is nice to see that Microsoft is creating the same type of vision for a consumer - tailor product . "
Motion sells its tablets for the enterprise , and through the reseller channel , for the most part aimed at equip sales event violence and hospital staffs . " We have a significantly different nidus in that we are looking at high up - powered enterprise computation , " says Haskell . Motion sells their pad with in high spirits - end component , such as with Pentium M CPUs and 60 GB hard disks with 1 GB of RAM . " We are set up to read and serve the needs of the enterprise customers . We do n’t presently aim consumer market . If and when we decide to make that transition , it would be a fairly important alteration for us , " he said .
Microsoft has promised that once Vista ships that the UMPC will be able to track down some edition of Vista as well , but since the fresh OS is n’t yet end it is hard to make any classical claim in this area . " The Vista demand are n’t out yet , but realistically if the units have the ironware specifications that Vista requires they should be capable to run it , " says Microsoft ’s Hubbard .
Just because the UMPC start the tablet version of XP does n’t have in mind that every pad - based app is deserving running on it , however . " To be clear though not all pill - enabled apps will make sense on a UMPC and not all UMPC apps will make sense on a traditional pad , " says Hubbard . " The pocket-sized shape gene and touch interaction of UMPC means that to have a really great substance abuser experience you need to design your UI to really take advantage of those plus . " So chances are if UMPCs do take off , we will see differentiated software program over time that take reward of its touch - cover features and enhancements that Microsoft is building into the unit .
UMPCs overall are expected will cost less than most tablets and more than most organizer . It calculate on what configurations the various vendors will ab initio extend and how they will be priced in local markets . Price is definitely an outcome that has gotten some analysts going about the new units .
" To me , one of the most important things about this , is Mary Leontyne Price , " stated Bob O’Donnell , program vice chairman for clients and display at IDC . " If it ’s under $ 500 , it ’s a fancy gizmo . citizenry drop that much on iPods . So there ’s this sense that , at a low Leontyne Price point , it could be very interesting and very appealing . Think about all the free WiFi networks that are out there now that you could use this thing with , and it impart you a full browsing experience as opposed to assay to browse on a two - in cellular telephone phone , which is a horrendously useless experience . And yet people are getting more and more used to let information access almost anywhere they are , at almost any fourth dimension . "
Scott Fulton ofTGDaily.com , sums thing up the best about UMPC ’s defect : " But what we have instead is something that ’s larger than the average air pocket , that ca n’t dial out , that does n’t have a discrete way to connect to the outdoor cosmos , is jolly expensive , and perhaps most unanticipated of all , is office - thirsty . "
So what will happen with the UMPC ? Only time will tell . If maker can get several hours of battery life , if the costs can drop way below $ 1000 , if the soupcon experience works out for many newfangled drug user , and if the right distributors pick up the products , this could be a bring home the bacon production for Microsoft and its OEMs . impinge on all of these target area wo n’t be well-heeled , to be sure . But there is plenty of interest in UMPC and the size of it of the machine is very likable .
Ultra-mobile PC Marketing
Microsoft is a marketing machine , and it take over a year to ramp up a credible marketing hunting expedition for the UMPC . They used a combination ofblogs , messages at various Bill Gates keynote and a short TV designate off a concept of the UMPC that was widely distributed – unintentionally , it seems .
As we said earlier , " Origami " was the codename that Microsoft used for the project prior to the announcement at CeBIT , but it has proved so pop that many vendors continue to concern to UMPCs by the code name , and Microsoft continue to practice the name in itsteam blogand community site for the UMPC .
To take advantage of blogging ’s popularity , Microsoft used the squad blog from various UMPC project member to ramp up buzz and excitement over this new machine . The web log was part of the viral marketing run , a way to build biotic community and converge on solutions from a wide group of disparate players around a vernacular platform . The team is still blogging off and the entanglement site has an fighting word forum deliberate various topics , including the features promised for the first several unit .
In the Origami blog , Dustin Hubbard , Microsoft Mobile microcomputer manager , stated : " When we came up with this approximation a few month ago , this was intended to be a small , grassroots effort to render some interest in the UMPC . Boy , did we do that ! Overall , the campaign was successful beyond our wild expectations and frankly maybe a small too successful . "
harmonise to the Microsoft project team , it was pure coincidence that they announced the UMPC on the same 24-hour interval of a big Apple announcement . When they settled on the promulgation engagement of March 9 , they need two weeks prior to build up the bombilation and that was the same day of the month ( February 23 ) that Apple picked for one of its announcements .
Part of the buzz centered on the " Digital Kitchen video " which was grow by the production radical Digital Kitchen as a concept piece ( and has since been removed from YouTube for rape its term of function ) . This television was more than a year old by the meter it got a good deal of play in the press . It has many faint statement , with just a few close - ups of what appear to be the UMPC in various everyday USA , such as mixing euphony , play games and depict picture . Microsoft originally intended it for national Microsoft viewing only .
A scenery in which a exploiter seems to be wager the democratic Halo telecasting game on a UMPC - similar gadget draw in the most attention . " The telecasting , which was mean for view by Microsoft employee only , showed our ultimate goal of running all Windows computer software on this ultra - mobile class factor . However , in this first release , you ’ll probably be in the main trammel to casual games , " enounce Dustin Hubbard .
Microsoft say that the hype surrounding the video was completely unexpected . Hubbard write in the UMPC blog : " No one at Microsoft even knew that video was publicly available until someone posted it after finding it by doing an Internet hunt . Both of those events may have wrick out to be serendipitous I presuppose , but it was n’t be after if I ’m being reliable . The discovery of the video was what take our bombilation campaign from a tech partizan travel along to mainstream media . "
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