Archive for the 'Ultra Portable' category
VAIO UX Review
May 30, 2006 11:15 pmIt is amazing how soon new products get reviewed nowaways! VAIO UX has just been recently announced, and we already witnessed it being dissected (see below posts) and now Digital World Tokyo posted a review of this micro PC as Sony calls it. This review is in English so you do not need to worry about using Babel Fish for translating.
I am sure that there will be more in depth reviews coming out soon once this VAIO hits the US in early July. I hope to get my hands on one as well and compare to my previously owned VAIO U750P. I am definitely interested using it with Skype like these guys do:
Or have you owned that many VAIOs:
VAIO UX at Sony’s famous Ginza showroom
May 22, 2006 3:47 am
Sony decided to show off the new VAIO UX at their famous Ginza Building, giving the many mobile geeks a chance to have a hands on test run, well before the device will ever reach anyones home. They even made sure their famous showroom attendants where on call to answer your every question. Considering that they only had one UX to show off and each person was limited to 2 minutes with the device, I am guessing that the attendants also helped to distract the frustrated crowd.
Original ITmedia article here (in Japanese)
I am wondering if the Japanese are going through the same sticker shock as we are here state side. I know that for me, $1,700 is a bit much for something I probably wont use everday. Yet, after looking at the pricing in Japan, if you go for the lowest configuration on the SonyStyle site in Japan, you can actually pick one up for 144,800 YEN. That is just $1,276 at the current exchange rate. Perhaps I might have to pick one up in Japan the next time I am there.
Yet, I still have my doubts about this device working the way I want it to. Usability is really going to be a key issue. The built in wireless is key, so is the keyboard for something like this. I could never see myself using the Origami software to try to type an email of significant length. Why do so many people love their Blackberries or Treos, its the keyboard. There still has to be some killer app, beyond just its cool, to compell me to dish out my cold hard cash. I would sure like to hear what that is.
I guess that I should have done a bit more digging around before I jumped to the conclusion that someone in Korea some how got their hands on a preproduction model of the UX. Turns out that ITmedia in Japan did their review of the VAIO UX (in Japanese) and tore apart the UX, fully exposing it’s internals to the public. Now the pre-production makes total sense as I am sure that the version that these guys had access to would be a pre-production model.
Even if you cannot read Japanese, there are a bunch of good pictures of the UX as you click through the pages.
VAIO UX internals exposed
May 21, 2006 4:57 pm
Someone, most likely in Asia, got their hands on a UX and decided they would expose its internals to the rest of the web. Oddly enough it found its way onto a Korean website, which is interesting as I do not believe these will be sold in Korea yet.
They might want to be a bit cautious about doing this though. Especially since its pretty clear that this is in fact a pre-production model. This is pretty easy to deduce since, for one, they are not on shipping anywhere yet, and the label you see under the battery, is in fact one that indicates this is not a final production model and should not be sold. I just hope that they know how to get this thing back together.
Still, its pretty impressive how the designers over at VAIO got everything into that small of a body. Sort of like a sandwitch, each piece layered on top of the other. I guess that’s why its so thick. It’s sort of a trade off really. Would you rather have it thicker, with a smaller screen, the entire thing being closer to something that is pocketable; or with a larger screen and thinner, yet having to stuff the thing into a bag everytime you are ready to run out the door. If the latter is the case, I would just rather snag myself something like the TX series, since I can much easier use the keyboard for email. I am curious what others have to say about it. I guess we will need to wait until more people have actually had a chance to play around with it.
They are all official!!
May 16, 2006 10:45 amLast two shots of their teaser
12:44 amDon’t ask me why but when I check out the VAIO UX AR teaser in Firefox, it get this Flash movie
what is an obvious reference to the Blu-Ray drive that is in the new AR machine.
However, what is funny is that if I go to the same teaser URL in Opera. I get what appears to be the final Flash movie. With the AR Digital Studio and what they are calling a Micro PC the UX.
As vaiofreak has pointed out in his comments, Sony has finally made an official press release regarding the UX MicroPC.
Looks like the specs that were previous divulged are right on. Rather than opting in to Microsoft’s Origami software Sony has added, and I quote, “Sony’s VAIO touch launcher for quick access to functions frequently used such as Internet access, e-mail, various computer applications, games and music. Just push the launcher button located on the side of the unit. ” Would really like to see some screen shots of this.
It will be using Cingular’s nationwide EDGE network. This comes as a bit of a disspointment considering that the speed of EDGE is not as good as EVDO. Then again, if you are just going to be checking email with this, then EDGE might be enough, minus the 10MB email attachments. If you want to stream video, upload some Flickr photos are any thing along those lines you will be better off heading over to the local Starbucks or Borders and hookin up with some wifi action.
Comes with a docking station that includes three 2.0 USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, iLink® IEEE-1394 interface and an AV output. No mention anywhere about a HDMI connector. Not sure where that rumor came from. Many I guess were confusing that with the HDMI connector that was seen on the AR. If this device had more hard drive space (30GB is not much) and a HDMI connector then you could perhaps use this as a video playback device. Download directly to this and then playback on any HDTV. Only problem, you will have trouble with its core solo processor; which does not do 1080i/p HD files well. I have tried. Considering the price $1,800, you would almost expect this thing to make your coffee for you while its downloading the latest episode of Lost, but no such luck.
I will have to see if I can get my hands on one of these and do a proper evaluation of it. I am sure we can expect pretty soon to see lots of reviews.
Are these the real specs for the UX?
May 15, 2006 2:31 amPictures of Sony’s new UMPC leaked!!
May 14, 2006 7:17 pmLooks like I was not paying attention. I just picked up on Engadget that someone has received some pictures of the new VAIO UX.
Supposedly jkOnTheRun was going on about the device seen in the teasers and some ananymous tipster sent him some full blown photos. Check these out.
People are going on in the comments of Engadget, making speculation about what the specs will be. Regardless, this baby looks sweet. From the printing, you can tell that we are blessed with Bluetooth, Wifi, and WWAN. To top it off, it most likely has a touch screen as you can use the thing with the screen down, covering the keyboard. From the printing on the keyboard, this will most likely have a version of Windows XP and not Vista since the requirements for the printing are different for the two. I will have to get my hands on one of these babies to see how it feels when holding it. Again, leave it to VAIO to put the other vendors in their place when it comes to feature set in a compact device like this. The only drawback will most likely be price. There is no way this thing is going to hit the price range that Intel and Microsoft are promoting for the Origami type of product. However, we really cannot put an Origami device and this thing in the same class.
