Sunday 7 January 2007

Ultra mobile PC's are starting to gather steam

Ultra mobile PC's are starting to gather steam


Laptops are the new workhorse, outselling desktops for the first time last year. But there's a new challenger on the horizon. Ultra mobile personal computers are starting to make some noise, hoping to cash in on our growing need to be connected at all times. The devices are smaller than laptops yet more powerful and larger than most PDAs and can take advantage of the growing number of Wi-Fi networks.

One of the latest and most robust examples is being unveiled at CES this year by a Nevada company called Seamless Internet. Called the Seamless NeXt Generation ultra mobile PC, or S-XGen for short, the converged devices sports an impressive list of features.

The device, which runs on Windows Pocket PC edition, includes a full fold-out keyboard and eights hours of battery life on one charge. The PC is about 6 inches long, four inches wide and weighs in at 14 ounces.

The idea is that people don't always want to carry around a laptop, but still want to get full PC functions on a mobile device. With the S-XGen, you get not only a full PC, but also tri-band GSM cellular access, built-in Wi-Fi and a 20 GB hard drive. The machine has plenty of company these days as everyone from Nokia, Samsung and even the Bay Area's OQO are putting out some form of compact or tablet PC.

At a suggested retail price of $1,395 with Windows Office Suite, the S-XGen will likely first appeal to road warriors. But company officials think it won't be long before we all want our own little mobile do-it-all machine.


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