A Typical Day in the Life of the Viliv S5 Premium UMPC
I haven’t done a “Typical Day” article for quite some time and I find I can use the Viliv S5 Premium UMPC for so many different tasks that it seemed like a good time to do one. Here is my day yesterday with the Viliv S5.
The day started like most, far too early, and I stumbled to get the first cup of coffee for the day. I grabbed the S5 from my desk where it charged overnight and sat down in the big comfy chair in front of the tube to catch the first news of the day.
I slid the power slider up on the Viliv and in less than five seconds it was up running right where it left off the night before. It always starts up in the same display orientation it was in when it went to sleep and yesterday morning it was in landscape, which suits me just fine. I tapped on Firefox in the task bar as it was already running and it popped right open.
There were four tabs open like I left it: these are my main work tabs. There was GMail, the jkOnTheRun site, the WordPress page for working with the site and finally, Google Reader. I tapped the GMail tab and started checking the email that had come in while I was snuggled in bed dreaming of gadgets.
I interacted with the GMail screen with my fingertip, tapping on each email I wanted to read and hitting the “Move To” button if I wanted to file it in a particular label. I determined there were only two or three that merited a response and I did that handily.
These were short replies so I hit the bottom right button on the S5, which I’ve reprogrammed to fire up the uBoard keyboard. It popped up on top of the GMail screen and I tapped out quick responses. It’s fast and easy as uBoard is configured to give me a low key-click noise so I get audible feedback when I’ve hit a key. This is important, as the touchscreen of the S5 is a very light touch and the feedback lets me know if I hit a key inadvertently. This feedback is similar to the Viliv keyboard’s Haptic feedback in function.
I am using the uBoard keyboard exclusively over the Viliv-included one. The Viliv one works well enough but the uBoard has a couple of advantages. It survives screen rotation by resizing to fit the new width, something the Viliv keyboard doesn’t do. It also has the full keyboard readily available, function keys and all which the Viliv one lacks.
With my email taken care of I tapped the jkOnTheRun tab to see if any good comments were left by you readers. Just kidding, all of your comments are good. :) I went through the comments, and there were quite a few of them, using the same finger tapping. I added a few comment responses of my own using the uBoard keyboard.
Once that was all done I tapped the Google Reader tab and started going through the hundreds of RSS feed items that were waiting for me. This is a big part of the research I do for the work here and I’ve determined that it’s easiest if the screen is longer than it is wide. I hit the D-Pad button and the lower-right button at the same time and the screen rotated to my preferred portrait mode. I’ve experimented and found that I prefer the portrait orientation with the D-Pad on the bottom of the screen.
This makes the Google Reader screen long enough that I can usually see multiple RSS items at the same time, except that the left pane of feeds takes up half the screen real estate. I simply tapped on the bar dividing the two panes and the left one collapsed, leaving the entire width of the screen to be used for the actual content. I went through a lot of items by simply pushing down on the D-Pad toward the bottom of the screen, which smoothly scrolled down the list of items. Google Reader is smart enough to mark each item as read as it passes off the screen, never to bother me again.
As I went through these items, if I saw one I wanted to come back to later I simply tapped the Star on it and it was automatically put in my list for later. This method let me go through hundreds of items in just minutes, and it worked very well on the S5 this way. The awesome Grab and Drag add-on for Firefox makes interacting with the browser by finger just like on the iPhone. This is a great experience and only lacks the multitouch zooming, otherwise it’s a matter of dragging the web page around on the screen.
I had been listening to the news on the TV in the background while I worked on these feeds but felt the urge to pick up the book I’m reading. I’m reading it using eReader Pro on the S5, which I’m finding is very enjoyable. The 4.8-inch screen in portrait makes for a very “paperback-like” reading experience as a lot of content displays on each page. The high-res screen of the S5 is more crisp and clear than that of the Kindle and I really enjoy reading e-books on the S5. I have configured the display settings in eReader just the way I like them and it’s so simple to use. I’ve configured it so a simple, light tap on the bottom of the screen turns to the next page and tapping the bookmark symbol in the upper left puts one on that page. It couldn’t be easier, and eReader is always running in the background for that reason.
Unfortunately the day insisted on getting going in earnest so I didn’t read too long. I slid the power slider up on the S5 and it slept in seconds. I headed into the office (a 30-second walk) and plugged in the S5 to top off the battery as I was going to head out later in the day. I worked at my desk as usual, got a couple of posts for the site done and then hit the shower.
Once I was nice and clean and even better-looking than before I hit the office again and got some more posting done. I caught up on my RSS feeds and email on the MacBook at the desk, which was just like it was on the S5 earlier. This is an important point: The S5 is a full computer and I can use the same tools in my hand that I use at my desk. That can’t be stated emphatically enough.
I had already decided that I needed to hit the mall yesterday to check on some things and my plan was to also get a bite to eat in the food court and then hit the Starbucks there to get some more work done. I grabbed my day bag and inside went the S5 in its case, the Plantronics 590e Bluetooth headset, the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and the Lamy 4-in-1 pen/ stylus. The iPhone went in my pants pocket, as usual ,and off I headed to the mall. I should admit that going to the mall is one of my least favorite things to do, but the ability to eat and work with good coffee tempers that a fair bit.
My shopping trip only took a little while and I didn’t buy anything, which is not unusual. Something really has to catch my eye before I’ll pony up my own money. I grabbed some mall Chinese food and chowed down. Not the best Chinese by any means, but not too bad. While I was eating I went back to reading my e-book on the S5. I just set it down on the table and made sure my page-turning fingertip stayed clean and food-free.
When I was sated I walked over to the Starbucks in the mall and got my favorite coffee beverage: a triple venti sugar-free vanilla dry cappuccino. Say that 10 times real fast. The barista made it just right and I took it to the little table outside the store and pulled out the gear and got to work. I figured I’d better get some work done so Kevin wouldn’t find out I’d been screwing around at the mall during the day. (Good thing he never reads the site).
Once situated at the table I pulled out the Viliv S5, Stowaway keyboard, mouse and the Lamy. The little stand detaches from the keyboard and the Viliv case for the S5 lets me use it by opening up the cover and folding the flap over the back of the device. The S5 sits in the little stand without removing it from the case, which is handy. I opened up the folded keyboard, which turned it on, and hit the “on” button on the Stowaway mouse and the S5 automatically connected instantly to the pair. I now had a complete desktop system with an awesome, full-sized keyboard for heavy lifting.
I used the Lamy for tapping stuff on the screen if need be; it’s easier for precise tapping and the Lamy is the best stylus I’ve found. Using the S5 with the full keyboard and the little Bluetooth mouse was simply awesome. I’m a mouse person, so having it along made the work nice and smooth. The high-res screen of the S5 was easily viewable on the table in front of me and for the rare time when a particular web page was too small to read comfortably I simply zoomed it up with CTRL + on the keyboard. Firefox is great that way as it zooms the entire page instantly and it remembers the zoom level for each page separately.
I quickly went through my RSS feeds and quite a bit of email using the system as described. I decided on a couple of items for posting to the site and I easily knocked those off. It worked so well that I decided to post the picture of the little desktop system and I took the photo with the iPhone. I emailed it to myself, grabbed it on the S5 and posted it straight away.
I worked there at the mall that way for a good while and then decided to Skype my buddy on the Left Coast. One of the major shortcomings of the Viliv S5 is the lack of an integrated microphone for VoIP calls. I found a way around that with the Plantronics 590e headset I’ve owned for a while. It’s a Bluetooth setup that works flawlessly with the S5 and provides full audio, in and out, wirelessly. I Skyped my buddy — audio only as the S5 has no webcam — and he couldn’t tell I was sitting in the mall using a sub-5-inch computer.
Since I had the headphones on I decided to listen to a podcast (gdgt), which the Plantronics and S5 handled superbly. I got some additional work done while listening to Peter and Ryan talk about gadgets. Life was good.
The Plantronics operates in two different modes: headset for things like Skype and stereo headphone for audio playback-only. Switching between them is as simple as switching the Bluetooth service in use.
After working a while longer I packed up the gear and headed back home. I know some will say that having the S5, keyboard and mouse is too many items to have to carry but the fact is they are all very small in their own right, weigh next to nothing and the beauty of this arrangement is only the items needed leave the bag. I can use just the light S5 in my hand when that fits the bill, yet I have a full keyboard and the rest when needed.
The rest of the day I worked mostly at my desk in the home office, although I will admit given the lovely spring day I spent some time working on the back deck with the S5 in hand. I read my e-book several times during the evening and kept up with email and Google Reader sitting in the comfy chair. It was a great day.
That configuration looks very familiar to me, since it’s more or less the same setup I used to use with my n800. There was something magnificent about the pure portability of it all, and the fact that no component was too big to fit in my pocket.
Tellingly, it was exactly this setup that made me so excited to get a netbook. For all that I loved the N800, for sitting down and writing it just fell short of a laptop, but since my pre-netbook laptop was a behemoth, it wasn’t always convenient. When I found a netbook whose keyboard I could actually use comfortable (HP Mini) I set aside the n800 and I haven’t regretted the change. Now, rather than a stack of pocket sized items, I have a small stack of items the size of a small notebook (Netbook, Kindle and actual notebook) and it is still very light and easy.
So it’s really interesting to see your enthusiasm for this approach, if only for the timing of it. I look forward to hearing more about your experiences with this as time goes on.
-Rob D.
I hear what you’re saying. It doesn’t surprise me how much I like using this because I use it 80% of the time in my hands. That’s not something I can do with a netbook or other notebook and why this excites me so. Sure it’s not the best package for working all day every day but it’s great to know that I can use it in my hands most of the time yet still get all my work done when I have to. That is flexibility.
That makes a lot of sense. I was looking at more than 50% usage sitting down and writing, so that usage was more important than the utility as a handheld (which the n800 was very good for, but it had…a few warts). I hadn’t considered the transition to a netbook to be related to my transition to an ipod touch for my handheld needs, but now that I think about it I suspect the two were strongly related. I also suspect that if the ipod touch took an external KB, there’s a good chance I would be using that instead.
-Rob D.
You’re really taken with this device! Do you think the novelty will wear off? Do you think there is still a market for the ‘old fashioned’ UMPC?
I do like the look of the S5 I must say! Will you be doing some GPS testing?
I will test the GPS at some point, only so many hours in the day. I can also state I am seriously considering buying one of these.
Only so many hours in a day?? Stop goofing off at the mall and in your backyard and do your job, man
Just kidding. Thanks for all the info so far.
How about handwriting recog with this. Can you show some OneNote and Office action.
Thanks!
I second the motion for some handwriting tests. I know you said you thought it would be good but since there isn’t much room for the palm to rest in the first place it might be OK for short notes. Maybe you could try OneNote and/or PhatPad.
This is XP Home, not the Tablet Edition so there is NO handwriting recognition, in OneNote nor anything else. It’s not possible.
One would have to install something like ritePen http://www.ritescript.com/Products/ritePen.aspx which says it supports XP on the bottom of that page, and came with the Sony U750P that wasn’t a Tablet (it was XP Pro). I don’t know of any other viable alternatives.
James,
have you tryed hooking it up to an external monitor yet, whats the maximum resolution it can support? for some reason i never hear any of you mobility guys talking about this which is kind of odd considering the niche popularity of the OQO. like many OQO owners, i use to love putting it in my pocket when i went out & then hooking it up to my monitor when getting home.
I haven’t tried it yet as there is no dock, something that would be better to try it out. There is a VGA out cable I don’t have either.
Can you install a trial version of RitePen to test out handwriting recognition that way? And/or install EverNote to test out ink-based note taking (regardless of whether that ink gets converted to text or not)?
I know. The conventional wisdom is that any touchscreen with such a light touch is likely to exhibit a lot of vectoring. However, I wonder if that holds true for a 4.8″ screen. It doesn’t seem like there should be room for your palm to rest on the screen. (Then again, I’m left handed. I’ve long trained myself to keep my palm off the paper when I write.)
I totally get your “hand-held” usage around the house (and elsewhere). It’s basically what I do with my iPhone (and what I want a somewhat larger-screen device for).
But I wouldn’t want to take the whole shabang to Starbucks if I know upfront that I am going there to sit and work for a while. Starring at the little screen would be just not my cup of tea. I’d take my netbook in that case (and even then I find that I am more productive if I take my Thinkpad X60t with 1400*1050 resolution.
So now the question I need to answer for myself is: Do I want to spend $600 for this beauty anyway
Resist the urge… put away your wallet… you must resist….
James gave you good advice. The letters are *small* at that high resolution on a 4.8″ screen. Read James’s preview again where he uses Ctl + to magnify on Firefox (and presumably then scrolls left-right). Think about other apps–how to magnify if it’s too small for comfort?
Your iPhone apps purposefully render stuff so it’s readable on a 3.5″ screen. Windows apps render for a typical desktop or laptop screen. This Viliv is 4.8″ at 1024×600. Windows desktops in 2002 came with 17″ monitors at 800×600.
Think of 1280×1024 on a 17″ LCD. Now imagine those things (letters, graphics) being shrunk to about 1/3 the size. Will your eyes tire looking at that?
Or at least look at such a device before buying.
From an owner of a Sony U750P (5″ at 800×600).
@Joe T. — yes, it’s a very valid concern. I love my HP 2133 with its high-res display, but even that at times is hard on your eyes. While the Viliv is certainly tempting, I think I’ll pass for now. There’s just too much other cool stuff on the horizon (incl. the CrunchPad and the rumored Apple netbook/tablet/Touch-on-Steroids) that would likely be more suitable to meet my needs.
I caught my credit card at the computer last night. It had snuck out of my wallet and googled the Dynasism website. Lucky for me the S5 isn’t for sale, YET.
Bad Credit Card!!!
The big question is, how will it work with Windows 7, and inking, (and maybe, a mini usb or wifi webcam)?
If they will let you install Windows 7, please install it and test it out, before you send the unit back.
Thanks, Mike
Preferably before 4/27, 11am PDT
The S5 sounds terrific, but I’m wondering if the screen is too small. I was at Office Depot the other day and looked at GPS devices with similarly sized LCD touchscreens. A 4.8″ touchscreen just seems too small to look at for an extended period of time, especially for reading.
For me, I’m thinking a 8.9″ (Fujitsu P1620) or 10.1″ touchscreen is ideal. I thought the 7″ LCD on the Samsung Q1 was pushing it, but it was acceptable.
This thing just looks like the old Sony U (that I bought twice)
I really liked the concept but it didn’t translate to reality.
However I will buy one as i’m a hopeless gadget junkie and JK has been dangling this thing in front of us to the point that even my grandmother would shell out the cash for one
Thanks JK…….not : )
James wrote:
> There is a VGA out cable I don’t have either.
Do you know if/where this accessory can be purchased? VGA out is a deal-breaker for me, and I need to know it’s available before I order the S5.
Thanks!
How does the (glossy) screen handle bright sunlight and/or fluorescent lightning? Please do share before April 27th.
Thanks!
James the inuse notes are great and a real point of difference to most reviews – keep it going!
S5 sounds great but my vote is on the Sony Vaio P.
Big thing for me is integrated touch typeable keyboard in the smallest possible package for customer call notes.
I know from using the Stowaway keyboard with the HTC Advantage it doesn’t beat an all in one solution. The other big attaction of the S5 is e-book reading as you have covered. As a techie being able to buy the Oreilly Computer books in e-book/pdf format makes a lot of sense with a tablet type device. Can’t help thinking we aren’t quite there and a larger but lightweight simple tablet ala crunchpad is the answer.
Thinking about e-books etc, I’m dreaming of an Apple 10 inch screen Ipod Touch like netbook.
E-books on the existing Touch are great but for Tech publications, Zinio Magazines etc on a bigger form factor would be a winner and oh so green vs distributed print.
yeah, I think that’s what I want. Maybe 8 inch screen. Six hour battery life.
I’m liking your “day in the life of” a lot – I’m thinking 3g radio – and I’m sold… sad to hear about the lack of inking though…
you guys are aware of the x70 and S7?
I think they may well answer some of the faults you see in the S5. I think I will get the x70 when it becomes available
strange that JK has not mentioned these……
have a look @
http://www.myviliv.com/eng/product/mid.asp
Hello all. FYI, Handwriting recognition is already built in (part and parcel of Windows XP) but not yet
enabled. You have to just enable the engine in control panel (deep inside date/time, language, etc) to
activate it. Since Viliv S5 is already a touch screen,
it is already capable of handwriting recognition. Just activate the handwriting engine in XP. This info
is easily available on the internet. The Tablet edition of XP has more features than just the basic handwriting engine. Just Google Microsoft XP handwriting and you will find the proceedure there.
Please feel free to correct me on this.
By the way, Viliv S7 will be out by June, 2009 according to Viliv email I received.
I haven’t tried this as I have no XP machines that aren’t Tablet, but I Googled what you said expecting somebody’s basement hack, but it’s on Microsoft’s website with all the step by step details.
I was expecting it to have been written by someone with Bunsen burners and test tubes, a bad haircut, and a Commodore 64. Although, that might be what the labs at MS look like.
bluespapa, for a second there, I thought you were talking about me: “I was expecting it to have been written by someone with Bunsen burners and test tubes, a bad haircut, and a Commodore 64.”
I just got my hair cut and was toying with the C64 this week. Luckily, I ditched my Jr. Science Lab kit ages ago.
You’re spot on: the write-up on handwriting recognition you likely found is an official Microsoft KB article. You simply have to enable the handwriting text service in the Regional Settings of XP.
Just a reminder, this XP recognition is not the same engine as that in the Tablet Edition. It is not as good nor robust.
I’ve been looking for a PMP that does the following
1. Play AVI, MP3, MP4
2. Play OGM, MKV without the need to extract the subs
3. Play RealMedia
Looks like this machine is the one, however I got my COWON A3 last year.
If I get this baby, I’ll most likely uninstall the unnecessary apps like OFFICE etc and leave it with the very basic apps to play my videos.
Just wonder if this is a bit overkill to use as a pure MediaPlayer.
Hi James,
Enjoyed reading your comments and have one on order. Is it possible to hook it up directly to a MAC for file transfer purposes, perhaps using the miniUSB port like you would on a mobile device? I saw something in the manual about a special driver being necessary but can’t locate one on their site. it also says don’t hook up to a PC – why is that a problem without a driver?
If this is not possible, could you transfer files (songs, pix, videos) using a regular storage device?
Thanks.
Andy.
My S5 has USB client software installed. Will try it with my Macbook when I get home from work.
Have you run Microsoft Office yet on this? A lot of literature on the web says that it this ability, but I am not sure I buy that. I have had 2 netbooks and neither one ran office well at all. Would love to know as this looks really nice.
Ken
I’ve got one of my Office 2007 licenses running on this absolutely fine! It’s certainly quick enough for normal Word, Excel and Powerpoint use. I’ve run a few fairly intensive Powerpoint presentations on it to try it out and it’s pretty quick.
The viliv S% has most fo the features I have been waiting for in my first UMPC.
When do you think it will be available in North America with SSD storage, 3G and a microphone.
In my above post I made a typo, I wanted to say Viliv S5
I’ve heard later this year but that’s not official.
Has anyone attempted to stream video to the S5 via either Netflix Silverlight or a slingbox?
The form factor of the Viliv S5 makes location shifting a prime use target and I’m wondering if the onboard CPU and GPU are up to the task.
Regards, John
How did you reprogram the keyboard button? I searched everywhere and can’t find the procedure. Sorry if I missed it.
James,
Wondering if you’re still liking/using the S5, and if so, how much and for what?
I do like and use the S5 a lot. Mostly for web surfing on the sofa in front of the TV. I take it out with me when I don’t plan on working mobile but think the opportunity may arise.