Naturally this is only my opinion based on a limited subset of UMPCs which I have tried.

When I started I hadn’t received the Sony VGN-UX380N yet, but it had always fascinated me. Upon seeing it for the first time I thought Wow!, it is smaller than I’d expected. The 4.5 inch screen is bright, but I definitely need to try increasing the font size and lowering the screen resolution to make it more readable. I don’t remember than problem so much on the OQO Model 01 I tested, nor on the Fujitsu U810 LifeBook. The Asus R2H UMPC doesn’t really count since it has a 7 inch screen, compared with the OQO Model 01’s 5 inch screen and the U810’s 5.6 inch touchscreen. Okay, the others all have bigger screens!

The layout of the keys on the Sony VAIO VGN-UX380N’s keyboard is closest to a standard keyboard layout. Unfortunately the keys don’t have enough tactile feedback. The U810’s keyboard does some unexpected sharing of keys, but is closest to typing on a regular notebook. The OQO is quite amazing because of it’s size and how well it functions as a regular PC. It also has a really neat way to check the battery charge without turning it on. Pressing an unobtrusive button on the underside of the OQO lights up row of small lights, giving you a quick visual indication of the battery’s charge.

Choosing the best one is hard. The dual clamshell notebook/tablet PC configurations of the Fujitsu LifeBook U810, along with it’s general ease of use narrowly gives it the edge. So the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 narrowly beats out the Sony VAIO VGN-UX380N.

First, an apology for the delay since my last blog posting.

The Sony VAIO UX series of UMPCs were at the top of my list of those gadgets I had always wanted, but I could not justify the cost. So I jumped at the chance for an extended look at one. The Sony VGN-UX380N is not one of the later Sony UMPCs with a Solid State Drive instead of a Hard Drive, but the specs are still impressive:

Intel Core Solo processor running at 1.33 GHz, 1 GB RAM, integrated Intel 950 graphics and a 40GB hard disk drive. It also has Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g wireless, and two small cameras. There is also a biometric fingerprint reader, one USB port, and a Memory Stick slot. All this in an UMPC that would fit in a large pocket. It is 6 inches wide by 3.74 inches high by 1.5 inches at its thickest points. It weighs 1.2 pounds.

The Sony VAIO UX380N runs Vista Business Edition, making for a very portable fully powered PC. One thing I did find some getting used to was the 4.5 inch widescreen with a native resolution of 1024 x 600. Although the text is clear, it is difficult to read. Fortunately there are two buttons on the right hand side which come in very useful: zoom in and zoom out.

MobileTechReview.com has an in-depth review of the Sony VAIO UX380N.

A bad pun: “Because you really need one“.
I had the good fortune this week to “play” with two Ultra Mobile PCs.

The first was the (Korean made) Wibrain B1S. Before seeing it for the first time, I had heard it described as being similar in size to a VHS videocassette. It is a bit longer though, and quite a bit heavier. I’ve seen a number of different models reviewed and referred to, but from CNET the size is 7.6 in wide by 3.2 in depth and 1.1 inches thick, with a weight of 1.2 lbs.  It has a 4.8 inch,  1024 x 600 pixel ( WSVGA ) screen. The processor is a VIA C7-M running at 1.0 GHz or 1.2 GHz. This is basically the same processor found in the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. CNET has specs of 512MB RAM, but the WiBrain B1 I’m testing has 1GB of RAM. It also has a 32GB Solid State Drive, which makes it run quite silently, with the exception of the fan.

A picture of the WiBrain B1 can be seen on the WiBrain.com homepage. The most notable feature of this tablet UMPC is the split QWERTY keyboard, which – once you get used to it - is actually quite usable. On the bottom left is a set of keys for scrolling, left mouse-click, right mouse-click and volume. On the bottom right is a touchpad – a fairly standard laptop touchpad. Due to the size of the UMPC, you tend to use most of these with your thumbs. Although there is a Linux and a Windows Vista version of the WiBrain, the one I’m looking at has Windows XP with a touchscreen driver. That is quite a difference from Windows XP tablet edition, but probably keeps costs down.

One the interfaces front, the WiBrain has one USB 2.0 port, built in Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless.

If Apple makes good on the features they are promising in iPhone OS 3, then it is going to be difficult to keep my iPhone Jailbroken.

If you haven’t heard of the new features, here is a quick rundown:
(Some information from CNET’s “iPhone OS 3.0: What you need to know“, other information from 148apps’ “iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement Wrap-Up“.)

MMS (multimedia) messages – finally the iPhone supports the feature which is available on most camera phones.
Copy and Paste Text – This has probably been one of the most requested features for the iPhone. The lack of copy and paste was one of the main reasons the iPhone could not replace my handheld.There are a couple of Jailbroken Apps which offer this functionality now.
Systemwide Search - This will let users search for specific e-mail messages, applications, contacts, and any other data from within those applications in one place. I have this functionality at present with the Jailbroken App “Searcher”

Other enhancements include:
In application purchases – Applications will be able to charge for additional levels or features,
Networking between iPhones with Bluetooth.
Notes created with the built-in Note application can now be synchronized back to computer
Stereo Bluetooth – for 3G iPhone and second generation iPod Touch and later.
Built-in Voice Memo application, to replace all those third party applications.

The “Official” Apple video of the Presentation is here.

With a strong aversion to Vista, I have managed to keep the number of Windows Vista machines down to only two. Of course that isn’t counting my wife’s laptop. Actually “Vista machines” may be a slight misnomer – they are Windows Vista Ultra Mobile PCs. One of them, a Fujitsu U810 LifeBook, is likely to be on it’s way soon, as I much prefer a Fujitsu U810 LifeBook with Windows XP 2005 Tablet edition.

To quickly reassure any readers who may have read my diatribes against Vista in previous Blog Entries, and possibly got tired of them: this isn’t going to be a Vista bashing blog entry. Of course, I’m not going to praise its attributes either.

The other Windows Vista Ultra Mobile PC, is the Asus R2H UMPC I mentioned in my blog posting “UMPC almost thrown at wall“. It only has 768 MB RAM, which is not enough to run Windows Vista at a decent speed. The 900MHz  Intel Celeron M Processor doesn’t help either. I’m really hoping that this UMPC has Vista Business edition, because a downgrade to Windows XP 2005 Tablet edition really would help.

After an initial blase reaction to the news that Apple is going to release version 3.0 of their iPhone firmware, I realized there could be a lot more to this.

According this article in to Ars Technica, “Apple has just sent out invitations to a special media event on March 17. The invite-only event is geared towards the new iPhone SDK, Apple says, and will give the media a “sneak peek” at the iPhone OS 3.0 software.”

Looking back, the 2.0 firmware introduced the App Store. It also really messed the ability to run unofficial apps on a “Jailbroken” iPhone. It preceded the release of the 3G iPhone.

What is Apple up to? Are they trying to counter the threat from non-Apple App stores like Cydia? Version 3.0 of their firmware could very well do this, as the firmware would need to be hacked before the App stores which require “Jailbroken” iPhones could continue.

This could also be preparation for the next iPhone - the 3G third generation iPhone. That is only a guess at what they will call third iPhone, but it will be interesting to see what it is called. Also, will it be slimmer than the previous version? I’m not the only one speculating.

See this news announcement from 148Apps.com that gives the possible sequence of events from the new iPhone SDK to the next iPhone.

The Kensington Mini Battery Pack and Charger mentioned in my previous blog posting is just one of many iPhone battery extender solutions.

Also from Kensington is the Kensington Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod. This battery pack can charge the iPhone and iPhone 3G, iPod Classics from 4th to 6th generation, and the iPod Nano 3rd generation. It also comes with a mini USB cable to charge other devices too.

Another charger that clips into the bottom of the iPhone is the “Cygnett GroovePower Now Battery Pack for iPods and iPhone“.

There are a number of variations of these chargers. The main advantage with them is that they can be used with an existing case. The disadvantage is that while is use they make the iPhone a bit unwieldy.

Then there is the Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone. When the iPhone is connected to the Juice Pack, the iPhone sits slightly elevated, allowing the microphone and speaker ports to be used. The only problem is the iPhone sheathed in the Juice Pack  will not fit into any of the existing iPhone cases.

That is where the Power Slider by Incase comes in. The Power Slider is both a battery extender and a case from Incase. It does increase the size and weight of the iPhone, but is one complete unit. Here is a review with pictures from Engadget.

It’s a well known fact that the iPhone 3G really sucks when it comes to battery life. That is something which is quite common for most full featured smartphones (I won’t get into a debate here about whether the iPhone is a smartphone or not). This battery life problem is not just limited to smartphones – PDAs with hi-resolution screens suffer the same problems.

There are a number of “common sense” tips to improve battery life. The main ones have to do with turning off features when you are not using them. Although screen brightness may not be regarded as a feature, it has a major impact on battery life - turn it down. Wi-Fi can really drain some devices – if you are not using it, turn it off. Then there is 3G on the 3G iPhone. The recommendation is to turn it off the iPhone is simply in standby mode, or you are not online.

One of the solutions with other smartphones is to get an extended battery for your device. Unfortunately you can’t just replace the standard iPhone battery with an extended battery. A number of third party vendors have come out with various battery extenders. One of the smallest is the Kensington Mini Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod. The advantage is that it can also be used for iPods.

Love it or hate it,  iTunes is the software application most people use to manage their music and video collections when they have an iPod or iPhone. It also is pretty much a must have for Apple App store applications, Ring tones, and a number of other iPod management functions. A book like “iPod and iTunes Digital Field Guide” could help you get the most out of iTunes.

I use iTunes almost exclusively to manage my iPhone and a few iPods, even though I know there are alternatives. That said, it is not perfect, and grows more bloated with each release.

There are alternatives though, some free, and some not.

Donald Bell of CNET wrote an article on “Best iPod-compatible iTunes alternatives” , covering the free ones. Wikipedia also has a “Comparison of iPod managers“, which also covers non-free ones.

Here is a sampling of the ones I’ve used, not necessarily with an iPod/iPhone:

Media Monkey – A powerful program, not as easy to use as iTunes. I currently use it to manage some of my non-iPod MP3 Players. The only other problem is that when you least expect it, a feature (like ripping a CD to MP3) is only available in the registered (Shareware) version.

SharePod – An interesting program, meant to be run from an iPod itself when the iPod is connected to a Windows PC as an external USB drive. I used it some time ago on an iPod Mini.

Winamp – This one has been around for years. I’ve never used it with an MP3 Player, but have used it to play MP3s and listen to SHOUTCast stations on a PC.

The Sony PlayStation Portable, as most of you may know, is a handheld gaming console with two 333 MHz MIPS32 R4000-based Processors, a Graphics Processing Unit with 2 MB onboard Video RAM running at 166 MHz. Main RAM is 32 MB, with 4 MB embedded DRAM.

Quite impressive specs, unfortunately a bit hobbled (depending where loyalties lie, this could also be called crippled) by reliance on optical disks, called “Universal Media Discs”, on which games, video (movies) and firmware updates are distributed. These are slower than the game cartridges used in the  Nintendo DS Lite, the Sony PSP’s main competitor.

Since this is about the latest iteration of the Sony PSP, I won’t go into the pros and cons of the Nintendo DS Lite versus the Sony PSP. I have played both handheld gaming consoles, and they each have  their good points.

The latest version of the Sony PlayStation Portable is called the PSP 3000. It adds built-in Skype with onboard microphone, and an improved screen which had several issues (see this article at CNET.COM).

The previous version, the PSP 2000, otherwise known as the PSP Slim, was 33% lighter and 19% thinner than the original PSP. The redesign also doubles the onboard RAM from 32 MB to 64 MB.