One of the highlights of last year’s CES was the introduction of the Origami Experience software for UMPCs; it was exciting to be among the first to see what the Microsoft team put together. We’re getting a sequel this year and after beta testing early versions for the past few months, I think folks will be happy with the update that the Origami Project team has put together. I suspect we’ll get a look at the final version later today at the Tablet PC / UMPC meetup, but that’s just a guess at this point. So what’s new in OE the second?

• Origami Central is the main launch-point to provide quick access with the touch of a finger to apps and services. In my opinion, the UI is more fluid and intuitive.
• Origami Now is my favorite section because you can personalize to display information that’s relevent to you: e-mail, RSS feeds, calendar events, etc… I almost think of this function as custom set of touch gadgets in a Windows Sidebar type of approach.
• Origami Picture Password secures your UMPC with fun puzzle.
• Touch settings, which we’re all familiar with from OE the first.

More official details to follow; again, I’m hoping we’ll get a hands-on of the final version later this afternoon. Meanwhile, if you have questions about the software, drop ‘em in the comments. We’ll answer them if we can and we’ll hit up the Origami Project team later today for the rest!

On a recent episode the two MobileTechRounders (Kevin Tofel and Matt Miller) and I had an unplanned discussion about the dearth of slate UMPCs being produced currently and that discussion touched a nerve with some bloggers (Warner Crocker) involved in the mobile tech scene.  That’s understandable as the death of the slate is not something that those of us who cover them want to hear but that doesn’t change the way things are.  I felt I shouldn’t leave the discussion as I did on the MoTR podcast but that I should get into the reasons why I stated that the slate is dead.  It’s worthy of a good discussion for those who follow the UMPC world.

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Rich’s note gets the nod today. He’s asking a general question that I’m sure quite a few folks might be interested in: "I use a Toshiba M400 Tablet at the moment and I am thinking of getting a Samsunq Q1. I wanted to ask…If I upgrade it to 1GB of RAM will it run Vista well? I intend to use it as a media player, and use outlook 2007 for email. I will not want it to replace my Tablet and won’t do anything too taxing with it."

That’s a great UMPC scenario as it becomes a companion device to another computer, in this case an M400.

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Russ dropped us note and asked us to help with his Q1P purchase decision. Since you can currently purchase the Q1P with XP Tablet Edition 2005 or with Vista, he’s wondering which he should get. His specific question here might shed some light:

"I am looking to really utilize the handwriting features for meeting notes, etc…  I was wondering how well the handwriting works in vista versus XP tablet edition and i was curious as to which version you would purchase in regards to vista or tablet edition? Are there any major differences in operating capabilites, handwriting recognition, etc… that would make you lean one way or another? I really liked the vista origami experience but could live without if the handwriting in a tablet form was not as good in vista."

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Congrats to the Origami team at Microsoft: the new Origami Experience software for Vista-based UMPCs got a nice shout out in the May 2007 PC World issue! Regular readers are already familiar with the OE since we’ve given it a writeup and a video review. For non-Origami crowd, the short breakout piece hits the high points of the software in terms that mainstream consumers can easily understand and appreciate. We need to see more of these in my opinion: showing the everyday consumer the benefits of a handheld tablet is something that’s sorely lacking in mainstream media. Look for the breakout at the bottom of the PC Word page and be sure to click the picture for a full size image and explanation. Heck, you can even subscribe to the digital edition of the mag and read it on your Origami device.

Just a quick, preliminary update since I had a few minutes to try the HID driver on XP (thanks again, Frank!). I removed the Touchkit software from my Q1P as well as the touchscreen driver. A manual install of the new drivers yields better looking ink, but no TIP. I was chatting with James just as I was doing this and he made a good point: the XP Tablet Edition 2005 OS was really geared towards devices with active digitizers, not passive / touchscreens. Looks like floattip.exe isn’t going away quite yet, but at least the ink sampling looks better. Above are two notes from OneNote: the top one was written last week. I re-wrote the same line underneath the original with the new HID driver installed and the ink is not as jagged. More to follow, I’m sure, but for now: folks with XP can use this for a neater looking ink experience.

UPDATE: this is now working properly in XP for me, complete with the floating TIP. I ran the Tablet PC calibration tool through the Control Panel originally. Instead, you need to create a shortcut to c:\windows\system32\tabcal.exe and run it as Administrator. Frank’s directions allude to that but his shortcut didn’t work for me originally; once I created my own, I got the TIP. Outstanding! 

Nearly a year after the first Samsung Q1 UMPC were shipped, it looks like light at the end of the HID tunnel. Ctitanic (aka: Frank) has relentlessly taken every avenue possible to get HID or Human Interface Device drivers for the Q1-series and that determination appears to have paid off. Today, he’s got a post with a driver download that enables the Q1 touchscreen to be recognized as a true Tablet PC input, not as a mouse. I suspected that Frank was working with eGalax, the touchscreen manufacturer simply because Microsoft isn’t responsible for the Q1 hardware and Samsung appears to have set their sights on the Q1 Ultra. Frank indicates that the new driver works with Vista on the Q1 but may work on XP as well. I’ll give that a try later today and report back in a separate post; it would be great to get rid of Floattip.exe even though it has served me well. Well done Frank and eGalax!

Over at UMPC Portal, Steve’s been on the hunt for pricing and availability details around the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. After some digging around with a reseller that helped greatly in the ‘investigation’, it appears that the new UMPC will see the light of day next month in Europe. The German-based reseller that Steve communicated with indicates a price of 1,199 Euros. If we did a straight conversion to U.S. dollars that comes out to a tad over $1,600, but it’s too early to say if that’s the price we’ll see here.

Assuming no conversion, meaning the price in the U.S. would be around $1,200, one would expect to see a drop in the current Q1 series, which ranges from roughly $800 to $1200 right now, depending on model and retailer. Good sleuthing Steve!

Josh Bancroft gave a heads up on Twitter last night, but I didn’t have time to dig deeper until now; sorry, nothing interferes with ‘24′ on Monday nights. Josh has an under-four minute video with Chuck DeSylva from Intel and Chuck explains why the Intel 915 graphics chipset isn’t capable of working with a WDDM driver, i.e.: why UMPCs and notebooks with this chipset can’t (and won’t ever) run the Aero Glass features of Vista.

I don’t think folks are as upset about the lack of Aero Glass as they are about losing functions like Windows DVD Maker and such. While I don’t use that function on a UMPC, I can certainly understand the frustration. Bear in mind the timing of the UMPC platform: conceptually, it was started while the coding and feature-set of Vista was still in flux. Additionally, the UMPC was always meant to be a companion device and while some of us push the envelope to make it a primary device, the intent was as a secondary device. Disappointing to be sure, but it’s nearly impossible to make a device all things to all people. Anyway, there’s plenty of good commentary and thoughts around the blogosphere after the jump.

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A few short months ago, I bought Samantha, my Samsung Q1P, for $1,299. She came with XP Tablet Edition 2005 pre-loaded but today, her Vista siblings can be had for $100 less. An eagle-eyed reader tipped us last night that Best Buy shows the Q1P with Vista for $1,199 right now. I just verified on-line and the site shows that they’re in stock. I’m not sure how this compares with the other ‘usual suspects’, i.e. Fry’s, CDW and such, but that’s not a bad deal. Thanks for the tip, Mitchell!

Given the recent announcements of the Q1P Ultra and HTC Shift, is there still interest in the Q1P with Vista? Bear in mind, we don’t yet have firm prices on either of these units.