Microsoft officially unveiled its Origami form factor and software bundle, a compact, wide-screen PC with a virtual touchscreen keyboard operated by the user’s thumbs.
Prototype units were demonstrated by several companies at the CeBit trade show in Germany, but Samsung is the first to bring Origami to market. The company is taking preorders now, and has invited journalists to a launch event on May 1.
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Features & Specs
[ul]
[li]Intel Celeron M ULV running at 900 MHz[/li][li]Intel 915 integrated graphics[/li][li]7-inch 800x480 display[/li][li]Single SO-DIMM memory socket[/li][li]512 MB of RAM[/li][li]Internal Storage - 20 to 60 GB[/li][li]10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless mini-card, Bluetooth[/li][li]8-way directional pad[/li][li]Four user-defined buttons provide input[/li][li]Touch-sensitive virtual keyboard[/li][/ul]
Samsung claims the unit will get 3.5 hours of battery life under typical usage, or 1.4 hours playing back a DVDâ€â€presumably ripped to the hard drive first, as there is no optical storage in the unit, which weights 779 grams (27.5 ounces) and measures 227.5 x 139.5 x 24.5 mm (9 x 5.5 x 1 inches).
Software supplied with the unit includes Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, with additional applications that provide the virtual thumb-keyboard and organize media files. The media interface is kind of a cross between Windows Media Center Edition and the Sony PSP, which will draw the inevitable comparisons between Sony’s gaming product.
Price
Samsung has not yet announced final pricing on the Q1, but has said that the European model will start at around US$1,200.
At that price, the unit will find it difficult to appeal to most consumers. It will also be compared to devices such as the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, which offers many of the same features, albeit in a lower powered unit, at a greatly reduced price (the Nokia 770 retails for US$359).
[break=Top execs fumble Origami PC demo]
[B]Top execs fumble Origami PC demo
The demonstration gremlin strikes again[/B]
The companies behind Microsoft’s Origami ultra-mobile PC project were unable to demonstrate it successfully at a recent news conference in Seoul, the Korea Times reported.
Senior executives from Microsoft, Samsung and Intel all fumbled their on stage demonstrations of Samsung’s Q1 handheld, which will go on sale in two weeks. Microsoft has emphasized ease of use as a key feature of Origami handhelds, but the executives struggled to control their new touch screen device.
Samsung’s PC division vice-president was unable to turn to the second page of his Powerpoint presentation, the paper said. Then the device’s battery expired only a few minutes into the presentation. The Q1 is supposed to have a battery life of between two and three hours.
The president of Microsoft Korea fared even worse, reports said. He was unable to start his own presentation on his Q1, until staff assisted him, and then was unable to navigate through it successfully, curtailing his demonstration.
Finally, the CEO of Intel Korea tried his luck with another Q1 Origami prototype, but he too was unable to run a PowerPoint presentation without help from underlings.
The Q1 will be officially launched on May 1 at a reported price of around $1200. The Q1, like other prospective Origami PCs, runs the tablet edition of Windows XP. The 800 gram Q1 has a 7-inch touchscreen, a 900 Mhz Celeron M CPU, 512MB of memory, and a 40GB hard disk drive.