AppleUMPC

Perfect UMPC = iPhone?

Iphone_umpcWe all know that the iPhone is a widescreen iPod, revolutionary phone, and breakthrough Internet device. But did you know that it’s also a UMPC done right? Even if it didn’t end up looking like my favorite concept photo (I love clamshells!), a weekend article at Digital Trends proclaims that the iPhone, in theory, "hits on almost all of the notes that Origami missed." These sour notes in the first-gen UMPC songbook include price, size, connectivity, usability, and complexity due to full-blown Windows XP, which apparently "[gets] in the way of the ‘simple’ concept of getting access to a few core applications that would drive the device like multimedia consumption and email." The iPhone, on the other hand, is the equivalent of a five-part harmony: cheaper than a UMPC (except with less power and a two-year service contract), truly pocketable, integrated WAN, simple interface, and a virtual keyboard "that works" (assuming you’re a fan of hunt-and-peck, of course).

Rob Enderle, the author, speculates that Microsoft is "probably fuming about the fact that Apple did what they couldn’t do and created a product, to Microsoft’s own spec, that could not only transform Apple’s market but Microsoft’s as well." Microsoft’s own spec? Last I checked, UMPC hardware requirements weren’t affected when the world stopped spinning after the Macworld announcement. Then again, just about every new device is being called a UMPC these days (grr!).

The one excellent (though unrelated) point Enderle makes is this: "Sony has one of the best in the UMPC class of products today, it is attractive, sleek, and it is also stable and it now has a flash drive." Punctation issues and "UMPC" misuse aside, I couldn’t agree more.

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Jenn K. Lee

Jenn K. Lee is the founder of Pocketables. She loves gadgets the way most women love shoes and purses. The pieces in her tech wardrobe that go with everything are currently the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Sony Tablet P, and Nexus 7, but there are still a couple of vintage UMPCs/MIDs in the back of her closet.

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