Welcome to our newest Monday feature — Android Ecosystem! Last week’s news was generally dominated with the launch of the Motorola Droid and Eris, so this week will likely present some longer term impressions with both devices. I’ve been thorough enjoying watching Dave Winer with his new Droid — he even started a new community blog for the device!  James has used his loaner Droid for several days and offers more insights while I read an interesting article from Computerworld — Galen Gruman feels that the Droid Eris is better device. Considering that you can save about $100 by purchasing the Eris and the Droid’s hardware keybaord — missing on the Eris — isn’t gaining rave reviews and he raises a good point.

True, you’re dealing with Android 1.6, but you’re gaining a slick UI with HTC’s Sense. Besides, HTC has reported that Sense is coming to Android 2.0 on the Hero, so it’s not a stretch to see the Eris (essentially, the same phone) gain an Android update with Sense from Verizon in the near future. Going back to the point about saving money for a sec: you can nab either the Droid or Droid Eris for even less through Wirefly — the Motorola Droid is reportedly $99 while the Eris is free with a new two-year contract.

Getting away from phones, it’s worth a mention that the Android-x86 project continues to make progress with Android porting to x86 computers. I recently used their build to get Android 1.6 on my 1.33 GHz Intel Core Solo powered Samsung Q1UP UMPC. Since that build, the project team has incorporated several new features including support for Bluetooth. I’ll be taking another look at it in the near future because I’d like to use a Bluetooth keyboard with my device — rumor has it that the button next to the CTRL key is the magic “Menu” button in Android. While I wait for the next build, here’s a look at how Android functions on such a device.

My first reaction to Samsung keeping the Q1 UMPC series alive was a giant “meh!” I couldn’t understand why they’re trying to introduce a new model when for all intents and purposes the UMPC is dead. I do believe that as a concept it moved us forward and had much input to the current netbook craze, but that doesn’t merit a fourth go-around for the niche device.

LAPTOP Magazine just gave the Q1EX a review, and now I’m scratching my head even more. The price is down quite a bit over the Q1UP model: $750 as compared to around $1,200 when I bought mine. That’s great… but expected unless the hardware is beefed up. Doesn’t look like that’s the case with the CPU replacement nor the battery shrinkage.

The 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo went away in favor of a presumably less expensive 1.2GHz VIA Nano. The old 6-cell battery loses 33 percent of its capacity, with Samsung opting for a thinner 4-cell unit. You’d think you’d lose around 33 percent of your single charge run-time, but LAPTOP could only get around 2 hours and 15 minutes. By comparison, I routinuely saw 5 hours of solid use on my older model. Didn’t we learn our battery life lessons in the first or second iteration of these devices? I’m probably sounding harsh (again) but after owning the three prior models, I’m disappointed to see this next one apparently take two steps back.

After owning three Samsung Q1-series UMPCs, it’s fair to say that I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for the devices. That’s why my next statement may come as a surprise to many: I really don’t see the point of Samsung’s new Q1EX that just ran through the FCC gauntlet. I’m not suggesting that they won’t sell a few models at the expected $775 price. But that’s all they’ll sell: a few.

Why? Sadly, the UMPC market was niche to begin with back in 2006, and it’s more of a niche today. Netbooks and smartphones are all the rage, so investing time, effort, and money into a receding market simply doesn’t add up to me. Having said that, if the device is appealing to you, have at it, and I wish you well. I’m not impressed because I see little that’s new here from my Q1UP that’s more than a year old:

• The 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo was pulled in favor of a 1.2GHz VIA Nano
• A SiRF Star GPS receiver was added
• Battery capacity dropped from a 6-cell 7800mAh battery to a 4-cell 4000mAh power pack.
• Gone is the split QWERTY keyboard, making for a minimal slate look.

The UMPC still runs Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition and offers nearly all of the same features of the prior model. Again, the die-hards out there might find some appeal here. I don’t, and I consider myself one of those same die-hards. If there were some innovation here I might feel differently.

I’m still futzing with Windows 7 on my Samsung Q1UP, but wanted to give an update. The install was no different than on any other device I’ve put Windows 7 on. Right out of the gate, most everything is working, either through the installation or the first run of Windows Update:

• Sound works fine. I can also adjust the sound through the two Volume buttons on the device. I don’t have the Samsung-specific software installed, so I don’t see the on-screen indicator of volume adjustment. However, the Speaker icon in the System Tray does show the volume change.
• WiFi is working perfectly fine with the Atheros card. Ethernet also works.
• The split keyboard, trackstick, and all other navigation buttons the face of the unit work properly. Even the Mouse/Internet ring around the trackstick works, so I can alternate between navigating the cursor and scrolling the screen.
• The display works fine in either 1024×600 or 800×600. There was an optional updated Intel driver found by Windows Update, but the display worked prior to my installing the update.
• The touchscreen and inking do work, but there’s a minor gotcha that I need to address. The screen wasn’t calibrated well out of the box, which is fine. However, running the calibration tool in Windows only lets me use around 95% of the screen. As I approach any of the four sides of the display with my stylus, the cursor stops short by around one-quarter of an inch. I’ll be looking into a fix for that, of course. Inking seems unaffected by this issue, which makes sense because I’m not inking near the display edge.
• Observation: Even with the 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo, Windows 7 isn’t all that fast on the 512MB of RAM I have in the unit temporarily. It’s not unusable or dog-slow, but it’s noticeably slower than on the MSI Wind with 2GB of RAM and the 1.6GHz Intel Atom.
• Device Manager in Windows 7 sees the two integrated USB cameras on the device, but they’re not working yet. Remember, it has one in the front and one in the back. I’ll hit up the Samsung download page and try the Vista drivers.
• The dual-array microphone works very well out the box, based on a Skype test call.
• I have yet to test any battery life or power drain, but will get some software on there to have a look.
• Sleep and Hibernate work flawlessly; the device resumes perfectly fine. People using other UMPCs have indicated issues in this area on their specific devices.
• Like the webcams, the integrated fingerprint scanner appears in the Device Manager with a little yellow question mark. Again, I’ll give the Vista drivers a shot.

I’ll keep playing with the UMPC to see if I can get things working 100% and will post another update and/or answers to any other questions.

One question I’ve already seen a few times is how much I’ll be letting her go for. She’s got a minor, but noticeable, scratch on the directional pad and I think I’ve taken her apart one time too many. There’s a small ripple effect in one area of the screen the size of dime: When I touch the screen, the LCD shows a small, round wave. It’s not terribly annoying to me, but I need to mention it. Other than that, she’s in good shape. I’ll buy a 2GB RAM stick to put inside her, which goes along with the two 54 W/hr batteries and a fresh factory restore to Windows XP Tablet Edition. If you’re interested, click on my cartoon head and shoot me an offer that includes shipping via e-mail.

I’ve had a long and storied love affair with the Samsung Q1 series of Ultra Mobile PCs, but I think it’s time to break it off. After all, I’m recently married, so affairs understandably don’t sit will with the spouse. With the netbook craze upon us, I find that I’m simply not using my Q1 Ultra Premium these days. In order to replenish the gadget fund,  it’s going to be sold in the near future.

As a last hurrah, I’m finally getting around to installing the Windows 7 beta. This effort will likely appeal to current Q1 owners only since I don’t see any new UMPCs on the horizon from Samsung. No, that Samsung MID running Windows  Mobile 6.1 isn’t even in the same league. Actually, it might be since I appear to be out of extra RAM… I’ve stuck a 512MB stick in the Q1UP this morning as a result! I’ll have to dig around because I’d like to use 1GB of memory with Windows 7 as that’s the norm for this UMPC to begin with.

So the install is running and the floor is open: Got any questions about Windows 7 on a touchscreen UMPC?

Due to personal challenges over the past week, I haven’t spent nearly the amount of time I would have liked with the Acer Aspire One I purchased. Sadly, I’ve spend enough time with it to decide that I’ll be returning it for a refund, minus the 15% restocking fee. How can I make that determination without truly reviewing it for a majority of my time over the last two weeks? There’s a few key reasons… and bear in mind that they only apply to me, or people that have similar computing needs to mine. The Acer Aspire One can be a great solution for folks that want a simple and quick out-of-box computing experience; in fact, it excels in that case.

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It could be true based on the CrystalMark benchmarks that Everun provided to UMPC Portal. I just checked the numbers against the ones I ran on my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium and the Everun Note shows significant potential. Bear in mind that Everun ran the testing, not a third party; I’ll be more interested when the product actually gets some play time and testing outside of the Everun labs.

Regardless, these are impressive numbers for a UMPC. It certainly helps performance when you tuck a dual-core AMD Turion 64×2 1.2 GHz CPU in there. What will that high-power do for run-time? Everun says three hours on the 19.2 W/hr battery, but I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that as tested in the benchmarks, the device will see two hours at most. That remains to be seen until we see more information of course, but I don’t recall the Turion 64×2 being a power sipper. Steve should have his hands on a test device in the near future, so I can’t wait to see his experience.

So I’m nearing 60-days of living in a web browser. Yup, for 97% of my time over the last two months, I’ve been using Firefox on my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium UMPC and have been quite happy. There’s still a few activities where I need a client application and perhaps the UMPC is overkill for my usage scenario. Then again, maybe it’s not. Remember that I’ve upgraded the RAM from 1- to 2 GB in my device, and it does have a 1.33 GHz Core Solo that runs for 5 to 6 hours. This setup actually works quite well for me when I’m out and about or when I’m at the home office driving a 24-inch monitor at 1920 x 1200 resolution. There’s times when things seem to come to a halt, but it’s not that often. Overall, the experience has been more positive than I expected and I don’t fell like I’m missing all that much in terms of apps or functionality.

So now I’m on the fence with all of the netbooks out there. In fact, I’m wondering if I need one at all at this point due to a few questions I have. Will an Intel Atom or VIA Nano device perform as well as my Core Solo or will Firefox be choking on my my all-day, multi-tab usage? How many netbook batteries will I need to have the same 10 to 12 hours of runtime that I enjoy today with the two 6-cell batteries? Part of my web-only challenge was to see if a meager netbook could actually meet my needs, but perhaps the activity has proved to me that what I’m using today is more than adequate.

I’m still in the early evaluation stages at this point, especially because the netbook market continues to grow wildly in terms of product choices. I do know that I really don’t need a Core 2 Duo notebook for what I do. I have that in the MacBook Pro, but that device isn’t nearly as portable, nor does it run for hours and hours. I love my MBP, but it’s effectively become a desktop replacement for me: only getting used at home and even then, just for limited activities like podcast and video production plus photo imaging. But even photo imaging is starting to migrate to the cloud for me.

Honestly, any netbook right now will be hard pressed to beat my UMPC. The biggest difference between any netbook and my current device is the price: the UMPC cost me between two and four times any of the netbooks out there. Still, I enjoyed the Asus Eee PC 701 while I had it and comparable, new devices are much improved, so I’m still tempted. I’ll definitely be waiting to see what Dell releases in a few weeks, but for now, I’m making a list of pros / cons / needs. I know that’s the logical thing to do, but I’m afraid that when all is said and done, my current mobile device will meet or exceed everything on that list!

GottaBeMobile caught the Samsung press release that introduced two new UMPCs in the Q1 line. And by "new" I really mean "old models with slight tweaks". Have a look at what I mean:

• Samsung took the Q1 Ultra (not Ultra Premium) running XP and added integrated HSDPA for the AT&T network. I thought I read the press release wrong because I can’t see why they would refresh the Ultra line that uses the older Intel A100 and A110 processors. Yet, my eyes aren’t deceiving me since the Samsung press release says "the model boasts the same specifications as the industry standard Q1 Ultra XP model launched in May of 2007". Somehow, I don’t see the $1,499 MSRP justified…
• The Samsung Q1UP-V is something I believe we reported back in April: it takes the Q1 Ultra Premium that I have, runs with 2 GB of RAM and Vista Business. I took my Q1UP, carefully swapped in a 2 GB RAM module and installed Vista Ultimate for basically the same package; the only difference I see is that I have the Media Center functions. Samsung is expecting to sell these at $1,449, but I’m sure you can find the original Q1 Ultra Premium for less and then upgrade it yourself.

So not much "new" really, is there? And that reminds of the model that we should have seen, but didn’t yet. At CES 2008 back in January, Samsung reps told us that the Q1 Ultra Premium would see a unit with an SSD drive in the first quarter of the year. We’re now in the third quarter and all we’re seeing is minor refreshes that are priced too high. What’s even stranger to me is that Samsung themselves manufacture SSD drives. Am I missing something?

TechRadar offers up the first installment of a three-part interview with a Samsung R&D Engineer who shares news of Samsung’s UMPC plans. The company isn’t abandoning the UMPC market by any means and will continue to tweak the Q1 line with a refresh in the first quarter of 2009. There’s no detail on what will or won’t be in the refresh, but there are plenty of opportunites and possibilities here from where I stand.

• CPU options: Samsung can offer a variety of choices here. Both the Intel Atom and VIA Isaiah should be fair game, although I personally would still like to see a configuration with a true notebook processor like the 1.33 GHz Intel Core Solo model I currently use.
• Samsung ought to consider a button or switch that disables/enables the hardware keyboard. Today, you can do this in the BIOS or through Device Manager in Windows. It should be easier to do because when you hold the device with two hands, it’s easy to hit keys by accident.
• Two gigabytes of RAM should be standard with any Q1 model that runs Vista.
• An active digitizer would be nice, but as much as I’d like to see it happen, I’m not expecting to.

These are just a few of my thoughts. How would you improve the Q1?