First Impressions of the Viliv S5 Premium UMPC
Viliv S5 Premium
I have only had the Viliv S5 Premium UMPC in my hands for 24 hours, but I can tell you it hasn’t spent much of that time out of my hands. It’s been a long time since a device has been such a joy to use, as it effortlessly handles anything I throw at it. I figured I’d better get my first impressions done, as I’m getting pinged constantly about it. It shows how this UMPC has triggered a lot of interest in us mobile-minded folk.
The Viliv S5 is a handheld PC about the same size as a PMP. It weighs less than a pound and sports a 4.8-inch screen running at an eye-popping 1024 x 600 resolution. Things can get tiny at that high resolution, but it’s pretty easy to customize things due to the Windows XP Home operating system it runs. This unit has 1 GB of memory paired with a 60 GB hard drive (1.8-inch) which handles XP with aplomb.
The review unit was supplied by Dynamism and Viliv, and I should point out that Kevin was right on with how good a deal this is. Anyone who preorders an S5 from Dynamism (early May shipping) gets the S5 Premium like the one I have, a car kit (mount and auto charger), carrying case and — best of all — a second battery. This will set you back $599, which is a good price for all you get; I can tell you, they just might get my money for one of these.
The Viliv S5 gets to work right out of the box, I found myself working away in less than 5 minutes. The box has a charger, lanyard/stylus, headphones and user’s guide, in addition to the unit and battery.
Viliv claims a 6-hour video playback on a single charge, and that’s probably optimistic — but so far I’m getting decent battery life. It’s not scientific, but my gut feeling is I’ll see 4.5 – 5 hours out of a charge doing normal stuff, so the two batteries Dynamism is supplying will easily get you through a full day. The battery covers the entire back of the device when attached.
The Touch Screen
The screen is quite nice, with good vivid colors, and that high resolution makes web browsing really nice. It’s been stormy here in Houston since the S5 arrived, so I can’t tell you yet how it views outdoors. I am happy to report that the screen can be rotated into all four orientations with just a button combination. The rotation happens in just a second, and it’s extremely useful to be able to handle the S5 in whatever manner fits the task at hand. Browsing the web in portrait rocks on this thing.
The touchscreen is a resistive digitizer, but it’s so light touch that it feels very much like a capacitive one. Manipulating the screen via fingertip is very similar to the way it works on the iPhone, for example, which is very nice. The required touch is so light that it’s a good thing Viliv included haptic feedback on the on-screen keyboard. It’s very subtle feedback, but it’s absolutely necessary when using the keyboard so you can tell when you’ve pressed a button. More on the keyboard later.
Operating the S5
Viliv has obviously taken a lot of care with the design of the interface of the S5. The buttons on the front of the device are placed well, and they light up for easy viewing when the unit is active. A lot of the buttons have dual functions when pressed in conjunction with other buttons, and the end result is you can perform a lot of functions with just the buttons on the front. Screen rotation works that way, but you can also adjust the screen brightness via buttons along with other functions.
Windows XP runs well on the S5, as you’d expect, and I’m finding that the special Viliv Cube interface is a very nice launcher. The system launches with the Cube active at start time, but you can change it to only run when you want it to, if you prefer. I leave it running, as it’s a simple way to launch programs by touch. You can put any program you want on the Cube, so it’s pretty useful once you get it set up the way you like. I did change the XP taskbar to not auto-hide, as I like to see it all the time to switch between running programs. I do that a lot, as I find the S5 handles multi-tasking very well, and I just leave my programs running all the time.
The S5 handles standby and resume nicely, and it only takes a second or two to sleep the system and wake it up. I don’t know how Viliv does this, but the device seems to use no juice at all when sleeping, so their claim of 200 hours on standby may have some merit. It means you can just sleep the system and forget about it, knowing that you can just pick it up later right where you left off. It’s almost instant-on in that regard, which approaches the mobile computer ideal.
Haptic Keyboard
The S5 has no keyboard, which I like, as a tiny keyboard is not very useful for me. I prefer handheld devices that do not waste weight and space on them, so I like the S5 the way it is. Viliv put a lot of effort into the on-screen keyboard that can be invoked with a simple button push. You push the button when you want it and push it to hide it again when done. The keyboard is semi-translucent, so you can still see what it on the screen underneath it when it’s active, something that’s important as it takes up half the screen when invoked.
The buttons are very light touch, so the haptic feedback is mandatory in my view. Without it (it can be turned off) it’s easy to accidentally press keys, as the lightest touch will do so. The feedback lets you know instantly when you’ve inadvertently pressed a key and I find that useful. The keyboard has two modes, the QWERTY mode and then the symbol/ numeric mode. It’s toggled between them by tapping the MODE button on the keyboard, which works well for most tasks. There are some special keys too that are useful, such as the .COM key for entering URLs.
Sadly, the on-screen keyboard doesn’t survive screen rotation. When you invoke the keyboard in portrait orientation you only get the right half of the keyboard, as it doesn’t resize to fit the new width. You can use the part of the keyboard that you see in portrait but not all the keys are there, so the usefulness is very limited. I find the keyboard doesn’t always come back correctly when orientation is rotated back to landscape either, and it sometimes requires a full reboot when that happens. I hope Viliv can address this with an update.
Real-world Use
The first thing I did was install Firefox on the S5. I live in the browser all day, and it’s important for me to get it set up to meet my needs. Once Firefox was installed, I added the XMarks add-on and synced in my bookmarks, passwords and toolbars. My setup now works the same on the S5 as it does on all my systems, and Firefox runs nicely on the device.
The next thing I did was install the Grab and Drag add-on for Firefox which lets me drag web pages around with my finger. The touch screen of the Viliv is so light touch that it’s a breeze to drag pages around this way. It greatly extends the usefulness of the little screen, and I highly recommend it.
Web pages can be hard to read given the high-resolution small screen, but Firefox lets me instantly zoom in and out via the CTRL +/ CTRL – keys. This makes browsing on the S5 a real joy, and I am having a blast doing it. I often rotate into portrait orientation for web browsing, which is enjoyable as I can just drag the page around with my fingers as described. I made this zoom process easier by adding the XP on-screen keyboard to the Start Menu. The zoom key combination can be hard to do on the fly using the S5 keyboard, but it’s easy to do using the XP keyboard. It’s the only way to hit F keys, too, as the Viliv keyboard lacks them.
I find it a breeze to work with my Gmail on the S5, and realized I haven’t reached for my iPhone to do that since the S5 arrived. The on-screen keyboard is sufficient for quick email responses and the like, and that’s what I’ve been doing a lot of with the S5. On-screen keyboards are a very personal thing, and it will depend on the individual whether they like it or not. I like it just fine.
I have successfully watched several Hulu shows in HQ, which is the first time I’ve been able to do so on an Atom-equipped device. The video played pretty smoothly and the audio didn’t skip at all.
I also installed eReader on the S5, and it is a wonderful e-book reader in portrait. The screen is beautiful, and it’s a simple tap on the bottom of the page to turn the page. I really like reading on this thing.
Little Desktop
I pulled out my old Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and paired it up with the Viliv. It really brought me back to my roots to be using the S5 with a full keyboard and mouse, and it’s a joy to use. I wrote this entire review with this setup, and it’s quite long, longer than I intended when I started.
This configuration takes almost no space nor weight in my bag, and I can easily see myself heading out to the coffee shop with this arrangement to get work done. I have also successfully used my Verizon USB727 3G modem with the S5, so it’s a complete system even though the S5 lacks integrated 3G.
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- Viliv S5 Premium
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- Left front
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- Right front
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- Size comparison with Nokia N800
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- Size comparison with my friend’s OQO Model 02
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- Thickness comparison with OQO Model 02
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- Stowaway keyboard, S4, Lamy 4-in-1 pen stylus
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- Right side
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- Left side
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- Back (battery)
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- Top view
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- Littlest desktop
Summary
I need to wrap this up, but I intend to do a full HD video review of the Viliv S5 soon. So far I am impressed with the utility of the S5 and am enjoying the heck out of using it. These are my two most important criteria with mobile devices, so I am leaning heavily toward spending my own money to get one of these babies. That’s pretty much my highest endorsement. :)
James this is a 3 hour Ustream recording of live walk through of the device.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1233089
Will
3 hours? I get bashed for my 20 minute videos.
Want.
Only thing I wish it had is an SD memory slot.
Nice review.
First of all, MIDs and UMPCs are over priced in this age of netbooks. After reading the review of this particular device at UMPC Portal, I think its manufacturer has made some fatal design errors, I know they’ve turned me off from the device immediately. Namely no SD slot; no mic or mic in (I’d expect to able to use VOIP with a device costing this much); no battery meter; no joystick or other way to control the cursor while using it as a handheld; no webcam. I don’t expect this thing to sell very well. I’m sticking with my decision to buy a Lenovo netbook this year. If I really wanted to spend more, I’d buy a Kohjinsha SC3 or VyeS41 (if I really wanted an internal CD/DVD drive). They’re truly more innovative and useful with keyboards and swivel screens that turn the devices in to handheld tablets. By the way, if the posting at allasus.com is right, Asus has made a decision not to export the T91 to North America. (Allasus.com was taking pre-orders but then cancelled them with a note that Asus has decided not to ship these to North America. http://www.allasus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=740&osCsid=5fnbaunrbrmqcbaj6pgoj4fsp0 What a shame; North America keeps getting left out of many new innovations. I don’t know if this decision is in anyway related to exiting patent issues. We need to reform the patent laws in this country as well as the curb the power of the International Trade Commission, especially in light of it’s recent order to block the import of Vizio HDTVs despite the fact that the US Patent & Trademark Office has rejected the patent claims of Funai, the company seeking the to block imports of Vizio HDTVs into the US.)
JKK pointed to a video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT03_vAciRQ
This is Viliv S5 pared with Logitech diNovo Mini. Not sure how the keyboard attaches to the PC, but looks useful.
Hong.
Thanks for the article and the many pictures (may I suggest some sort of slideshow feature or at least “Next”/”Prev” links below each full picture?)
The Dynamism site talks about an optional TV out cable. Is that included with yours, and if so, what does it connect to on the TV side? I think you mentioned an external monitor adapter in the early video. Is that for VGA?
I don*t have that cable so I assume it*s extra.
Looks very good, nice job JK – you answered one of my critical questions right off the bat (rotation to portrait mode). I’m considering ordering one meself. Do tell, does the small stand in your pictures come with the device is were you recycling some other piece of kit?
Anyway, thanks for a great review, looking forward to your next video on this baby !
That stand is part of the keyboard.
Rotation, touchscreen, small, decent battery life. Save your $350 budgeted for an e-book reader. You have a device here that should be a very capable e-book reader (albeit backlit rather than e-ink) when you pair it with the free/donationware e-book management software Calibre: http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/
Want to read magazines and newspapers for free? Calibre. OK, not as convenient as Whispernet-delivered, and not as consistent in quality, but greater selection, even giving you the ability to create your own (and tweak with Python or ask for help on mobileread forums), and free. Remember, “free is good.”
Want to read various ebook formats, like LRF (Sony) EPUB, LIT, MOBI, FB2, PRC, etc? Calibre.
Select output as EPUB, and you have a button for toggling fit-to-full-screen, resizing buttons, and convenient page-turn buttons on the left side of the screen you’ll touch with your thumb. And it’ll be faster than any e-ink e-reader.
How do I know this? I do this with my 5-year old Sony U750p (thanks James).
I am enjoying the heck out of reading with eReader on this thing. Great screen and good battery life make for a good experience. It’s better than reading on the iPhone for sure.
James when you get a chance. Watch a HD video in full screen and let us know how well it plays. I know you mention that the video played pretty smoothly, but was that full screen or just in the small box? I personally don’t really care for 3G built in devices, because I always pair my BB to all my devices for 3G on the road. I think your going to buy one.
I know when I got my Aigo P8860 I was really impressed how portable it is. Now that you have the Viliv S5 its one of the most powerful Pocketable UMPC that is out so far.
I haven*t tried video full screen yet. I intend to do that but don*t think it will handle it. HQ YouTube doesn*t work well at all.
HG,
it doesnt matter if its full screen or a small box, the video’s built-in rez/bitrate/codec decode in the exact same way (resolution is not down-converted on-the-fly).
If its not hardware then in full screen will drop frames. James did say it plays pretty smooth so it might not play full screen.
James, will you be trying Windows 7 on it? according to this article the Viliv is compatible with W7 even with the XP drivers
http://www.slashgear.com/viliv-s5-mid-gets-windows-7-2038341/
I haven*t decided yet, it depends on how long I have this. I*m not sure what advantages Win7 will bring over XP anyway. My concern is screwimg up this good power management.
James, will you be trying Windows 7 on it? according to this article the Viliv is compatible with W7 even with the XP drivers
http://www.slashgear.com/viliv-s5-mid-gets-windows-7-2038341/
James,
Can you rotate the screen 180 degrees for those of us who mouse with our right hand? Thanks,
–Kevin
Disregard – I think you addressed this and I missed it on the first read (“…the screen can be rotated into all four orientations”).
–Kevin
On Dyna, it shows a video (the GPS one) that also seems to show “wireless” audio (i.e. music from the device playing through the car speakers).
Is this done via FM Transmitter?
I ask because, at least for my car, I don’t have any other “inputs” available (outside of the CD, LOL).
With its GPS etc, this could be a great option if I could play music from it through my car too.
How sensitive and accurate is the screen input? Could you use this for taking ink notes with MSFT OneNote for example?
Thanks (and great review)
I haven’t tried inking but I can almost guarantee it won’t work. The digitizer is a very light touch and you’ll have palm artifacts all over the place I am certain.
JK, your thorough preview reminds me of the Sony U750P days, which helped launch you into prominence. Excellent stuff.
Your pics vs. the Nokia N800 made me look up the dimensions of the Creative Vision W 30GB PMP. They’re only slightly less:
Viliv S5: 6.00 x 3.30 x 0.96
Vision M: 5.27 x 2.95 x 0.87
I’d like to hear your thoughts as to using this as an iPod Touch or Zune HD substitute. How bulky is this in one’s pocket? It seems to be a decent smashing together of a PMP and GPS, not even considering that there’s also a full Windows computer in there, for everything else you might want to do on the run (excluding camera and phone functions).
The S5 could easily handle these tasks but for me I’d find it a bit too big for that. It’s pocketable but just and I’d be concerned I’d break the screen if I carried it in the pocket all the time.
Thanks for your thoughts. But after some thought, I realize it wasn’t a good question, because I was thinking it would be delightful to have video podcasts full screen with speaker. But that wouldn’t be the case. Testing some vidcasts downloaded via iTunes and Zune Software on my PC, I of course get a tiny screen. Upconverting or changing the S5’s screen resolution would be laborious and make the video look bad. So no go for video podcasts (until maybe HD podcasts).
chippy from umpcportal listed the following shortcomings:
* No keyboard
* No mouse pointer
* No MIC or MIC in
* No SD slot
* No Webcam
* battery life indication
* No HDD light
For me the mic and camera are the reasons for not preordering.
This type of “cons” are what we say when we point out that mobile devices like this are very personal. What some find a deal-breaker others won’t find important.
I would like to have all the things that chippy mentions but not at the risk of making a bigger device, or especially one that gets worse battery life.
I don’t miss the mic and webcam as I wouldn’t use this for Skype anyway. Now that Skype is on all the major phones they are better at making calls anyway and that’s what I use.
An SD slot would be nice but I just use my mobile card reader in USB which works fine.
Battery life indication can be handled by free utilities like Battery Bar we’ve covered in the past and there is a free HDD indicator utility too.
No keyboard is a plus on the S5 for me, not a con.
I totally agree. it was a personal observation and not something that should make everyone disapprove of this device.
In fact I am totally into the theoretical one device strategy thus skype is a must. until that can happen i would just go with a simple cellular and a powerful 5″ umpc.
What I really look for is the late July Archos-Android device which might be the first umpc with cellular stack.
I don’t believe android will make it to a successful netbook, even if some will give it a try, but it can will the umpc market, and later on with cellular capabilities such as that of the archos device, win also the future smartphone market. Its a long run strategy but it makes sense, … to me
Yeah I see why Viliv left out some things to get better life. I think by not having SD card reader was because it has a 60GB hard drive so no need to have a SD card to install programs. I see this in other MID’s that only have 4GB, 16GB SSD with SD or microSD because of the limited space. Like the Aigo I have, I install programs to the 16GB MicroSD. Since the Viliv does have BT, you can always use BT to BT over pictures from your phone, or exchange files from one computer to another if you don’t want to use a USB flash to do this. Just like James and I agree said, everyone will like certian things and some won’t like certian features. I really like the Viliv, but I will just hold on to my Aigo for now.
James do you know if the Viliv has A2DP? I haven’t seen the specs for this. The only device that has that besides the Storm, is the Sony P and really like how it works to pair it my Car Stereo and play iTunes, and listen to MoTR Show through the car stereo.
“”I have successfully watched several Hulu shows in HQ which is the first time I’ve been able to do so on an Atom-equipped device.”"
I have an Atom-equipped Acer Aspire One that plays Hulu (and Youtube, NBC/CBS/ABC) videos just fine. However, play them full-screen and the video freezes solid after a few seconds.
based on review and comments if inking not possible would be a serious deal breaker! guess we have to wait for next gen with palm reject.
Thanks for the info! Looking forward to getting my hands on one of these little guys. Maybe it will become a better long-term OQO replacement for me.
James, what is the video card of this thing? Is it the same as VAIO P?
Hi James,
Great first impressions review. I was wondering if you could give your impressions of the Viliv S5 compared with the Sony Vaio P. I know you liked the Vaio P and was just wondering if you are finding the S5 performing better for you than the Vaio P. I know its tough considering the Vaio P runs Vista. Im in the market for something really small and was looking heavily at the Vaio P, but then the S5 came onto my radar thanks to you and not having touched either I would like your opinion.
The S5 performs better at most tasks than the VAIO P due to having XP. The processor is slower too yet it still performs better as Vista is not the best for the Atom processor.
james,
can you please try using this Intel Embedded Video driver for the GMA500?
http://forum.pocketables.net/showpost.php?p=20545&postcount=66
James if you can, check out the GPS/navigation functions. I would like to know if this would be a good replacement for a stand alone GPS/Garmin unit. I know you used the Verizon Navigation service to your benefit recently.
I intend to but all the good ones cost money. I’m not likely to do that unless I buy one of these S5s, something that is getting pretty likely.
Hi James, is it possible to take some pics or a video (even better) of the ereader?
How hard do you think it would be to open the case? I was thinking about installing an ssd drive.
You can refer to http://www.umpcfever.com/viewthread.php?tid=5576
Note SSD does not necessary improve battery life (read a comparision performed for hdd macbook and ssd macbook)
James:
Can you try inking, just to see?
Am I correct that this is vanilla XP, not XP Tablet?
James: You mentioned the screen would not be good for taking notes. I was looking to get a few of thes for in filed floor plan drawing. Can you please elaborate on the screen drawing vs. a standard tablet pc. Thanks!
>Namely no SD slot;
I use my mobile phone as a card reader. Stick the card in, then connect via Bluetooth, or USB tether. Bluetooth is more convienent, but if lots of data, USB is faster. No problem.
> no mic or mic in (I’d expect to able to use
>VOIP with a device costing this much);
Again, bluetooth headset to the rescue. Works great with Skype. Also, just about any USB headset will work as well. Both Bluetooth and USB options offer sound and mic. No problem.
> no battery meter;
What? Do you mean an external one? XP clearly shows you the battery level. Not sure what you mean here. I might be misunderstanding the issue, but I do not see a problem here.
>no joystick or other way to control the cursor
>while using it as a handheld;
It’s a touchscreen. Open your mind to something new Grasshopper. Seriously though, I prefer the touchscreen for this. I don’t use a mouse or keyboard anymore, I find them quite awkward actually. For me anyway, No Problem.
>no webcam
Ok, I’ll agree on this one. This would be nice.
Also, someone posted about how the streaming music to a car stereo works. Simple, it works via Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP. This is not a new feature really, many auto head units already support this, and just about any PC with XP/Vista and bluetooth can do it. I do it with my Windows Mobile phone and my car all the time, works great for audio books and tunes. I used to do it with my OQO as well, which sadly won’t boot anymore and I’m not sure OQO is going to fix it under warranty before they go south. (Now that’s a problem, but not with the Viliv… one I’m hoping the Viliv will solve for me)
Can someone please comment on using the onscreen (the included included one) keyboard for more than just entering a URL or search term into Google? I mean, like writing something longer such as emails, posts like this (which isn’t long, but is a normal thing to do frequently), etc. The OQO keyboard excelled as this type of thing, and I’m hoping the Viliv keyboard can be a reasonable alternative.
more s5 information and video!
http://www.myviliv.com/v3_event/2009_msn/eventCheck.asp?event_key=0721329-683367-4637178
and click left characters.
James,
Is it possible to upgrade the memory on this device? I really am intrigued but think as the move to Win 7 happens it would be better with 2gb. Thanks.
Hi James,
I’m considering upgrading from a Nokia N800 to a Viliv S5. I’m curious if you’ve used the N800 and could compare the onscreen thumb keyboards between the two. I do OK with the N800, and I’m concerned about the size of the S5 keys – are they smaller or larger? Thanks.
Wow! truly some ignorant ppl here. It’s like complaining a Porsche 911 can’t tow your trailer.
“SD slot; no mic or mic in (I’d expect to able to use VOIP with a device costing this much); no battery meter; no joystick or other way to control the cursor while using it as a handheld; no webcam.”
That’s what a USB port is for, a SD usb reader that’s really small cost you $10. A mic?! you pussy are complainting about a mic? use a freakin bluetooth headset man, its 2.0+EDR, forgodsake! “battery meter”?! I rest my case… joystick, when you have a whole screen to touch.
Webcam…I have 3 usb ones in my drawer that can hook up to it…bu I won’t…coz I like most people….don’t need to carry a webcam/webcam-capable 24/7.
ON THE OTHER HAND, of all the other alternatives you stoneage ppl mention, can any of them run XP and fit in the pocket?
you mention rotating the screen with a simple keypress. however you don’t tell us what keys to press to make this happen. i have not found this function. pls give us more detail on screen rotation.
James, what software are you running on your S5? I know that you have Firefox. I got mine today and now letting it charge. Plan on starting to play with it later this evening.
Is there a decent email and calendar program that can use the small form factor? Outlook perhaps or T-Bird/Lightning? Or I suppose I could also use Google apps since my calendar is in Google.
Just so people know.
The S5 does indeed have a mic input. The jack that is labeled for headphones is actually for a headset. It is the same jack used on the iphone. If you go and get any of the headsets designed for the iphone, it works fine. I use a Sure headset adapter and the ear buds that came with the S5 and have no issues with skype and other voip software.