Samsung Q1 ultra-mobile PC

Posted by T3 Online on Mon 29 Oct 2007

Microsoft's "Project Origami" falls a little flat.

Don't call it a tablet PC, or a laptop. This is Project Origami in the flesh - the first Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), combining PDA, MP3 player, hard drive and PMP.

Everything is designed around its seven-inch touchscreen, with a finger-friendly interface launching programs. It certainly looks the part. The screen is bright and clear and the sound and colours are excellent. You get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and a 40GB hard drive provides plenty of storage space for video and music, although the unit's size precludes a DVD drive.

Most applications run, although some don't work too well using the screen's default, low-res setting. Changing it to a higher one means you have to scroll horizontally and vertically to read everything, which is annoying.

You can write words on the screen and have them converted to text, or there's an onscreen 'Dial' keyboard. This is designed to be operated with your thumbs, but is a big disappointment, being infuriating to use.

Given that it starts feeling heavy after about five minutes, you'll soon be looking for a desk to rest this on, which immediately sets you wondering why a real keyboard only comes as an extra.

A special boot mode gives you access to movies, music and photos without opening Windows, but it takes just as long to boot as proper Windows, and isn't too user-friendly. You'd also expect more than the 1.5 hours battery life you get when watching a movie, while even the 3.5 hours in 'normal' use is disappointing.

Ultimately, there's nothing this does that can't be done better by another device. PMPs trump it for video-watching on the move, while your contacts are better kept on a smart phone or PDA. For Office files, a proper laptop is a far better option. One for the bin.