Wibrain B1 UMPC needs a makeover
Here’s what I want to know. How can Korean company Wibrain call itself "Tomorrow’s Communicator" when the business-class UMPC it’s been talking about and is now preparing to ship in mid-October looks like this?
The in-house named B1 UMPC, with that weird pie-pan scroll wheel and larger-than-life touchpad flanking its 4.8-inch (1024 x 600) touchscreen, sports a design from neither tomorrow, today, or even yesterday. Conservatively speaking, I’d pin that look to the early 80s . . . say, somewhere between shoulder pads and aerosol hairspray?
The outdated (and frankly, downright hideous) look is really quite a shame because so far the specs are quite good. It’s got the best connectivity options covered (HSDPA, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1), a nice selection of VIA C7M processors (up to 1.6GHz), various hard drive and RAM options (up to 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM), and a very appealing price range (about $650 to $760).
At the moment, the B1 seems to be exclusive to Korea, but I’m sure if demand is high enough and importers have poor eyesight, getting one in the U.S. shouldn’t be too difficult.
[AVING USA | UMPC Portal]
God that’s ugly!
Not bad specs though… I still don’t like screens of this size though. I suppose they save the battery life that way.
Ahem, that’s called “Retro” not “outdated”
Isn’t it just called ugly? :-)
Rodfather’s comment on UMPCPortal says it best:
“If it came with a disco ball and an 8-track addon, I’m sold.”
:-)
I got the unit before the launch in korea, I have been using it for about 2 weeks and the functions are great, The speed of the unit was almost like my regular notebook PC, I travel alot around the world and was looking for a fast PC. I ran across this unit in korea, and found that the user interface like the keyboard and the dual touchpad and touchscreen was one of the greatest ideas seen so far. I didn’t have to lay it down to use it. i could do everything while holding it. The unit had great power. I think this one is a keeper.
I also heard that they are changing the color too.
This is a great unit, its fast and all you need. I have been looking over the comments on all the sights and was kind of annoyed by the fact that no one has looked at the unit and just talking about the style. I had a so called “stylish” ASUS UMPC and I lost about $200 when i re-sold it after having so much trouble with lack of performance power. I even increased the RAM but no help. I was lucky to get this B1 unit before the launch in korea, I have been using it for about 2 weeks and the functions are great, The speed of the unit was almost like my regular notebook PC, I travel alot around the world and was looking for a fast PC. I ran across this unit in korea, and found that the user interface like the keyboard and the dual touchpad and touchscreen was one of the greatest ideas seen so far. I didn’t have to lay it down to use it. i could do everything while holding it. The unit had great power. I think this one is a keeper.
I also heard that they are changing the color too.
i don’t get how its ugly. :/