Fujitsu's Fold-Out Ultra-Mobile PC

Tue Apr 4, 2006 3:32PM EDT

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Microsoft's "origami" platform has as many naysayers as it does adherents, and a new concept machine from Fujitsu will probably be just as divisive.

Origami, aka the "ultra-mobile PC" (UMPC), is a lot like what we've seen in older products like the OQO Model 01: A full-fledged PC jammed into a tiny form factor. Previous UMPC designs have been tablet-like, with a stylus and touchscreen in lieu of a keyboard. Now comes the first UMPC with a keyboard, and a folding one at that.

Pictures speak a thousand words, so I probably needn't explain how this device (again, this is still a concept) works. The one big problem, of course, is actually using it on the go. You couldn't type on that keyboard without a table, and if you had a table, you'd be using a laptop.

What do you think about UMPCs?

Comments on Fujitsu's Fold-Out Ultra-Mobile PC

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  • 1 Posted by dahlia_qi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:34PM EDT Report Abuse

    What do I think of really tiny (cant do graphicsandmusic) PC's? --------------I think I want one.------------------------ I keep looking at the tiny fons that do wireless. Can they handle textfiles? I ask. Yes for some that use tiny Windows versions. There's something like an M250 at T-Mobile. It might be a Samsung. I am having limited luck searching on it since the meaning of Wireless" is duplicated. It means cell phone as well as wireless-g service, sigh. There is no need to lug a hard-fullsized keyboard around. As well as tiny keyboards, I understand there are infrared, and rollup textile keyboards (perhaps with a backboard (hard in pieces or blowup) for special situations) around. I'd love to review these things. But I hesitate to post an email here alas. yahoo profile dreamervrouw

  • 2 Posted by alexguada on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    The design reminds me of the Apple IIc which was a great design. Designing something that is between a desktop and a laptop is hard in itself and so it becomes a design problem. I think UMPC will someday be the "desktop" as prices go down.

  • 3 Posted by timtillator on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have gone through two PDA's recently - an older Palm unit and a newer Pocket PC. While I liked both of them, for different reasons, I still find myself craving the full functionality of a full-sized system, but don't want to haul around a six-pound monstrosity of a laptop, especially when I need to use the restroom. :-) I keep coming back to the UMPC's - the OQO and a few others. My only issue now is the price - and getting my wife to allow me to buy one, when I have a "perfectly good" PDA & admittedly, what I do with that is limited to reading books, doing calendar functions and playing a little music. If I had a UMPC - what would I do? Probably the same thing, but I might also start doing e-mail, maybe some writing, both of which just aren't really possible on a PDA without a keyboard. Truth be told, what i'd really like is a UMPC that could morph into a laptop's full-size keyboard and a full-sized touch-screen monitor, when i wanted it and could be a smaller formfactor when I couldn't use it - Now THAT would be my ideal system. Too bad I probably won't live that long.

  • 4 Posted by bratface8 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been using my old Palm PDA with a separate, folding keyboard for years. But I then have to beam what I write into my newer CLIE, synch into my home computer and cut/paste into a document. If this UMPC keyboard could lock into place to allow typing on my lap I'd use it all the time.

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