TabletKiosk has a UMPC for sale on their website called the eo, which sports a 1GHz processor, a 30 or 40GB hard drive, and to start out with 256 or 512MB RAM. The surprising thing to me is that the eo is upgradable to 1GHz of memory, and there is already a slew of accessories you can buy to supplement the eo, including a USB modem, an external CD-ROM/CD-RW drive, and others. The eo has a 2.5 hour battery life or 4 hours with the optional extended battery. That's a decent battery life for a first model, and this will only continue to get better as the next generations and other OEMs come out with their renditions. Granted, $800-1000 bucks is a bit expensive for a UMPC, but remember how expensive tablets were (still are) or laptops were when they first came out. Honestly, laptops have had a long incubation period, and now prices are down. It just takes a while. UMPC's will get there.

So I'm a guy, and as with most guys, oh how can I put this...I consider the water-closet, or the restroom, to be my kingdom, my domain, my sanctuary. If you're a guy, or know a guy, you probably know what I'm talking about, right? Well, nothing is perfect, and there's trouble in paradise. I never have anything to read in my "kingdom." I have read all the woman and baby magazines 1000 times, and today I have simply had enough of 10 things you should do if your baby is inextricably gassy. I feel disgustingly indoctrinated and helpless against the mind-numbingness (if that's a word) of it all. I try to read my PHP5 book or other massive manuals on such things as ColdFusion, ASP.NET, MCSD, *NIX, hacking, hardware mods, and sometimes even Grey's Anatomy (the medical reference not the TV show) but the books are too heavy to hold for more than five minutes. 

Enter Origami. What if I could read e-books, watch IPTV or web video, my favorite episodes of sci-fi shows, and even surf the internet, all within the comfort of my "kingdom?" That kind of a device would make me happier than if I had that killer gaming rig I still haven't built with all these piles of cash. I mean two things I consider sacred, my kingdom and my entertainment all in one place. Now that is the 21st century in technology. The only thing I won't try on origami is most likely video-conferencing. Yeah, that's right, not pretty.

Here's my list of what would make the Origami or UMPC a major killer app for me:

1. 100GB-300GB Drive (4200-7200 RPM).
2. 1-2GB DDR Memory.
3. 2-4GHz processor.
4. 128MB nVidia GeForce4 or equivalent. (Gotta have halo)
5. Ports and slots (2 USB, SD/MMC/SM/MS, VGA/DVI, Mic, Headphones, DV, IEEE 1394, S-Video, Ethernet).
6. Wireless, Bluetooth, GPS/Sat. (perhaps the latter will also allow DirecTv reception?)
7. Digital camera for both stills and video conferencing. (pricey models will have an integrated video-camera?)
8. Prop-stand. I think this is essential because it will make so many laptop-hostile environments suddenly UMPC-friendly, for example: on a plane, places where there is no table, or no chair, small booths at a restaurant, cramped kitchen counters, narrow hall table, bathroom counter, nightstand, top of your piano, need I go on?

Yet even more reasons Origami could change our lives:

8. My brother is a musician. Origami would be perfect for him because he could cart it everywhere to hook into the sound system and record everything. Origami essentially would act like a very advanced mobile storage device with a screen and almost everything else. Origami combines so much functionality into one device.

NOTE: We will have to wait for a nice sized hard drive in an Origami until generation 3 or 4. I want a 160GB - 300GB drive in an Origami device which would prove its usefulness as a media device.

9. My sister is a nurse and she goes to a patient's home to provide hospice care every day. Origami would be perfect for her because she needs to take readings of blood-pressures and cholesterol levels. She could bring all her games, home-work, music, e-books, pictures and other content with her everywhere. With a built-in digital camera and video-conferencing, she could collaborate with colleagues from her company in real-time to help diagnose problems with patients or with documenting cases for later research.

As you can tell, the list just keeps going on and on with the potential uses for Origami, or the UMPC as some are fond of calling it. Whatever you call it, with some careful engineering, and the right mixture of functionality, hardware, and software, I really think Origami will be a hit with high school and college kids, consumers and gadgeteers. Maybe one day soon Origami will even wow the critics or even those who right now think a UMPC is a big joke.

 

Even more ways Origami could change our lives.

5. Recipes in the kitchen. Perhaps a laptop used to do this job, but wouldn't it be nice if Origami could display a recipe while you were cooking? Even the "simpler" recipes like when I was a bachelor and tried to make mac-n-cheese. Two words, dis-aster. My wife came up with the idea, so I know it's not just one of my half-baked ideas (no pun intended).  Imagine also being able to take the recipe "tablet" to the store with you to do your shopping. A PDA just doesn't have the size to bring all your recipes on it, and who would fight with a laptop at the store, especially if you have to bring kid(s) with you? Origami may be the shopping killer app. It will be in our house, to me it just makes too much sense.

6. Automotive multimedia. You cannot yet take all your media with you in your car, SUV, truck, van, whatever unless you are somewhat gifted like the contributors to hack-a-day. The mobile entertainment market just hasn't hit critical mass yet. XM, iPod hookups, and rear-seat DVD players have done a lot for the genre, but it's not quite there. With Origami, you can take all your media with you (I'm dreaming of a 200GB Origami far down the road) including movies, music, TV shows, even video games.

7. As part of the mobile audio/video genre, what about taking all your media with you to the beach? When you are done swimming, it's nice to relax with a good book (e-book on Origami perhaps) and some smooth tunes. Sun-bathing is one of the top activities at the beach. What if you could read, listen, play, and in a perfect Wi-Fi enabled world SURF the net while you watch others surf the waves? Or play your favorite games, bejeweled, insane aquarium, dynomite, sodoku, mah jongg or {insert your favorite game here}? That sound like summer to me.

Ultra-Mobile PC’s would be great in medical applications. I think they would lend themselves to a unified patient records information system. Doctors and nurses alike would benefit from the take-it-anywhere, smaller form factor. In the medical field information is a big problem, I’m sure you’ve seen the news on it, and it isn’t getting much better. What I often wonder is whether a product like Microsoft’s Origami is the solution, but I tend to lean more towards the software, networks, and security protocols as the bigger issue. Hardware has little to do with the overall picture.

Typically medical professionals are good at what they do, medicine, which doesn’t include information technology. No one expects medical personnel to be good at IT, but everyone expects someone to be good at it for everyone’s benefit. Not to say that medical IT people are not cutting it, they are top notch. A lot of problems stem from budget concerns, and thus older technology is used way too long, which in turn requires more IT people to manage it, and more money to hire them which is the problem in the first place.

Will Origami and the likes of it help the medical profession? Perhaps it will lend a hand, especially with the current major paradigm shift from wired to wireless. This kind of connectivity allows easier access, and may alleviate some of the headaches associated with information not being where it needs to be and when. Maybe UMPC’s won’t be the end of this problem for medical professionals, but at last now you can move information with you wherever you go, which is a step in the right direction.

Continued....more ways Origami could change our lives.

3. Ergonomics. Laptops are not in the least ergonomic. You put them on a table, which is always too high or too low to type without hurting your wrists. The screen is never close enough to you, and especially on the plane you have to do some acrobatics to even use the dumb thing. Origami will be a big enough screen to do much of what you do now, except with a much more ergonomic friendly form factor. I love the Samsung which includes the prop stand. This will tremendously improve mobile computing.

4. I can imagine only one place where you can't take Origami, which is a real bummer for me, because like many people, I do my best thinking in there, the shower. Other than that, you can take it anywhere. I wonder how Microsoft and partners will handle the elements, as people will have these devices out with them everywhere. Will we have waterproof Origami? Will we have rugged torture-proof ones for that dangerous African safari you've always wanted to take? Who knows, right now, everything is just starting. Give it a year, and we'll see what happens.

The fact that Microsoft has produced the UMPC emulator shows an attempt at helping developers get on top of the new form factor and see how Windows will run on it. You can download it here. My first spin on the UMPC emulator didn't seem to really do much for me, because I tried to change my display resolution while running it. Other than that, it looks pretty decent. I am actually writing this post while using the emulator.

It looks like most applications will run fine on the UMPC, but a few may not right out of the box, the biggest issues being screen size and resolution. The good news is we're looking at a Windows XP-based machine, not a more proprietary system such as Blackberry or even Palm OS. Windows Mobile 5.0 in all its glory would not be able to take full advantage of this new medium's greatness.

Origami is obviously a big deal if Intel and Microsoft are putting a lot of money, talent, and time into it. I remember seeing Bill Gates talk about these devices years ago in a video about cutting edge technologies, and wondered what happened to them back then. Since by most estimations (at least in my professional opinion) they will be here to stay, I have been pondering the ways that Origami devices may make my life easier. Consider the following:

1. Every morning I boot up my laptop to check email, get the latest  news, pay a few bills, and do computer maintenance all before I go to work. I guess you could say I am a real go-getter. Origami will allow me to do all the same tasks faster. How? I can take Origami all over the house and set it down when I am making breakfast, or making coffee, or grooming, and getting ready for my day. Origami makes computing more accessible, kinda like the remote control. Origami is bigger, so it won't get lost in the crease of the couch though. Is that a bad thing?

2. Usually I pack up my laptop, big boat that it is (totally my fault, but I wanted a desktop replacement) and cart it off to work. While I realize my hypothetical Origami device (that I obviously don't have yet) won't exactly be a desktop replacement, it will be close enough for me. I can prop it up on my desk, and attach my own keyboard and mouse (or bluetooth it) and I am good to go. Origami will make me the Ultra Mobile IT manager, meaning I can take it anywhere with me on the job, to troubleshoot a PC, reboot access points, and much much more.

Microsoft's OrigamiProject.com is updated, not that week 3 contained much we didn't already know. There are however, a few links to new information which is very helpful and informative including Origami's main page and GottaBeMobile.com as well as Intel's Video. Microsoft's official UMPC website has a lot of information including specs, typical uses for Origami devices, and even some flash-based "product tours" for the Samsung and ASUS models. Intel has some info, more from a highly technical perspective as is Intel's tradition.

The big debate right now is whether Origami is even a viable device. Many blogs don't think so, but I think it has great potential. Does anyone remember the first iPod? It was nothing like it is now, even abysmal compared to 5th generation iPods. Origami needs time to unfold. The first devices look much better than the initial speculative reports. They contain digital cameras for video-conferencing, media card slots, a prop stand on certain models,  and it runs a full version of XP Media Center Edition. Microsoft's touch-pack will enhance the device even more.

Origami may not support the latest in gaming, but it will do gaming, and for the skeptics, yes it will play more than just solitaire and minesweeper. It may not yet run Halo all that well, but it depends on the hardware. Halo may become available when better devices emerge from the shadows. My guess is that Vista will run on even current models of Origami devices, but will run better in the future. There is no doubt in my mind that higher-end games will run on Origami soon. If that isn't good enough for hard-core gamers, there is always the Xbox. The big plus is most of the software you already have can be loaded on it.

This is only the beginning.

More reasons why Origami has good potential:

5. Devices such as the OQO are so far very popular, but have mostly lacked the marketing power to get the word out. Many mobile professionals I know personally hate how big and heavy their laptops are, and can't very well watch DVD's or do any work on the plane. Origami could offer a solution to this for those who travel often.

6. Getting through college. Those who can't afford a laptop, or don't want to lug one around, will love Origami as well.

7. If Origami has satellite or GPS of any kind, Microsoft is instantly in the TomTom market for GPS navigation.

8. Developing Nations. Everyone is talking about the elusive $100 PC for emerging markets and educational opportunities in remote locations. Origami may be a good solution to that as well, provided the price is knocked down and runs a tabletized version of Vista starter edition. Satellite capability would also lend itself very well to this. It would simplify the use of a PC for those who have never used one before.

Why buy a portable DVD player, a Sony PSP for gaming, an iPod for music and pictures, a PDA for mobile apps and internet, when you can have it all in one device that will allow you to it all and then some?

My deal-breakers for Origami are:

1. No keyboard or other shall we say "high-speed" input method.
2. No way to dock it or hook up at home to use a bigger display, mouse, so in short, extensibility.
3. Not enough muscle to be the kind of laptop/PDA/portable DVD killer it claims to be.

So to the point, is Origami worth it? You decide. Let me know below. Also a huge shout-out to Engadget, the podcast and site totally rock. Happy 2nd birthday!

I just finished listening to the latest Engadget podcast, and the discussion on Origami, including why or why not Origami is even a viable device. Meaning no disrespect to the guys, here are the reasons I think Origami has at least the potential to be a big player in the portable computing market. Please note that this (like everything thus far) is also speculation, but provided Origami turns out to be what it looks like in the prototype videos, these are the reasons:

1. Origami has a big novelty factor. I agree with Engadget that this isn't the best device for the mobile professional, but I think if Microsoft does this right, the Origami device will appeal more to the iPod/ Sidekick and mobile entertainment crowd. Many people tell me they have a hard time with video on an iPod because it is too small.

2. Free VoIP calling courtesy of Microsoft. As wireless LANs proliferate across metro areas and further than that, FREE VoIP will also pick up steam as well (especially if it's free). FREE VoIP and wired college campuses is a match made in heaven.

3. Mobile gaming. Origami could evolve into Microsoft's answer to rival Sony's PSP in gaming. Some reports indicate that origami will not play games, or be powerful enough to hack it, so that would be a major bummer, but once again, all speculation.

4. DVD capability. Instead of having to buy the overpriced PSP versions of DVD's, I think Origami may offer a way to take media with you in a managed-copy scenario (as mentioned in Bill Gates' keynote at CES 2006) so everyone can take their DVD's content with them without having to buy PSP versions, effectively cutting down some (or a lot) of Sony's business.

continued in my next post...

Will Origami be unveiled at CeBit? It seems almost certain. What will we see however? Will it be the kid-brother prototype to some kind of advanced device that we will see mature in say 36 to 72 months or will it be sleek and sexy like a Twinky in a yellow polka-dot bikini lying next to a Dual SLI card from nVidia? If you are a geek  and just got a head-rush there (I know I did) I must at this point ask you to breathe, and read on...

There is little debate on whether Origami will be the end-all device, which I doubt, however I think if done right, it will be a very good mid-way point on the yellow-brick road to perfection. Perhaps I think much differently than most, but for my part, I would love a pen-based tablet that can have a keyboard added if needed, plays games, movies, music, yada, yada, yada.

I agree with a few commenters who state the device will not be great to cart around for iPod-like music listening, but I think this is a great "around-the-house" device that a lot of people will like because it can be or do just about anything on the go. Think vacations, think in the car, maybe some kind of college student / blogger / audiophile / technophile / IT manager / web designer person with a family to run like myself. I will definitely let you know how it goes it I should ever shell out the cash for a nifty device like Origami.

So if Apple is the one who is freeing the Intel chip to not be stuck inside dull little boxes doing dull little tasks, what is Origami? Another little dull task? I don't think so. Intel chips will also power Microsoft's Origami, which has potential to be the silver bullet to kill the iPod. Many consumers want everything in the same device, running a substantial OS (compared to the iPod) that will play games, connect to satellite (hopefully), and be almost a laptop with a greater focus on media and entertainment. If Origami is anything like the ad (that is now reported to be a year old and merely a concept design) it will give Apple at least something to think about, if not a run for at least some of their money.

 

 

Check out OrigamiProject.com. It has just been updated with more cryptic information. There are a few images that make me wonder if satellite is the hot ticket for Origami. You'll see what I mean. Can you say geosynchronous orbit? Origami looks like it will have at least wi-fi, but may even have a GPS/satellite connection as well. Perhaps Microsoft is trying to get people in the Origami mood (which took me all of 3 seconds) by releasing this new gorgeous device in mid-March to whet our collective appetite for a Vista based one later. The next (and final) update on the Origami site will be March 9th. The year 2006 will be a big year to see if Microsoft can bring it to the show like a marshmallow at a chocolate party.