Ultra Mobile PC platform launched





The UMPC platform (aka Origami Project) was launched today by Intel and Microsoft.


It is not a specific device but rather a standard for low-powered, Centrino-based mini TabletPC's.
Just like the TabletPC, Microsoft and Intel will define what is an UMPC and let hardware manufacturers produce them.

So, what is an UMPC?






It is a new kind of PC designed to fill the gap between PDA's and standard TabletPC's both in size and in price. UMPC's should cost between 700 EUR and 1000 EUR.




Asus' UMPC


Samsung and Asus will ship the first UMPC's maybe as early as April. They will closely follow the minimal specs of the UMPC standard, quite bulky 7" units but this picture of prototypes/concepts for possible future models show even more interesting developments:



A possible future UMPC design.


A typical UMPC would weigh in at 900 grams (or lighter) and have a 7" touchscreen (or smaller), a hard drive, an ultra low voltage Centrino CPU, USB2, WiFi and Bluetooth. The operating system is Windows XP TabletPC Edition 2005.

The manufacturers are free to include extensions such as GPS or mobile phones in their UMPC's.

It's not a new concept, Sony and OQO have produced smaller XP tablets since 2004 but establishing a standard will help spreading this form-factor at a lower  price than the first machines.

Have a closer look at the first Samsung and Asus models:

{imggallery 24}

Click the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures.

The guidelines:

UMPC's are lightweight computers, mainly designed for content access.

They have no or small keyboards but large touchscreens.




UMPC's run a fully-fledged OS , allowing users to access their familiar applications.

They run a standard XP softwares under Windows XP TabletPC Edition 2005.




Because Microsoft prefers the users to access a simplified interface, applications shortcuts are embedded inside the above software launcher interface. Hopefully, it can switched off and replaced by the standard XP Tablet desktop


UMPC's will have a large autonomy and will run on an Intel architecture.



The CPU is an Intel Centrino with very low power consumption.
Being Centrino-based computers, one can expect good audio/video processing capabilities and even some 3D.

Of course everything has a price: the brighter the screen, the more gaming, WiFi and webstreaming are used, the smaller the autonomy.


UMPC's will be affordable.

UMPC's would cost +/- twice the price of a PDA, around or below 1000 EUR.


Where and when to buy an UMPC?

ultranote.com will resell UMPC's as soon as the first models will be available.
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Continue to our UMPC FAQ.