A maemo-ized UMPC
 

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

I think it's a bit cheeky for the Chinese firm to use Maemo, unless they are in partnership with Nokia and that the two firms work together rather than against each other. If they bring more devices to market and somehow avoid fragmenting the Maemo platform and concept, I'm all for it - more competition, more developers, more software, better products.

A UMPC device with built in GPS and mobile phone functionality running Maemo may have legs, although I suspect I'll take the smaller/lighter Nokia device for the time being. Built in GPS would be nice - maybe in the N900? - but I prefer having the mobile phone functionality in my mobile phone, and not in the tablet.

I vote this as a desirable move (if true) so long as the Chinese firm contributes to the software platform in a positive way. Maybe the Maemo platform will become that little bit more hardware agnostic, the very issue which blighted the transition from 770 to N800.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

One more thing, with Open Moko on the horizon it's quite possible that each far eastern manufacturer could go their own way and develop their own software platform, or attempt to standardise on one or two.

I suspect it would be good for Maemo if it were chosen by other manufacturers to avoid developers having to choose between numerous incompatible platforms.

With more and more high powered devices coming to market running Linux, Maemo must present a tempting proposition.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

I currently have a 770 and an Archos PMA400 (QPE-based pocket PVR and PDA with a 30Gb hard drive), and I find that combination very frustrating, because each of them independently is almost the device I want; I wish I could combine them and have a hard-drive-based device with the 770's gorgeous large screen, and the PMA400's connectivity (USB host and device, simultaneously, plus WiFi) plus the 770's connectivity (WiFi and Bluetooth, so I have net whenever I'm in cell coverage and can use Bluetooth keyboards). Maybe this device accomplishes that.

(Personally, I hope the N900 has a hard drive and a faster processor. I can live without powered USB host if I have Bluetooth; I can't really live without Bluetooth.)

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

I only wish my N800 would play movies as smoothly as my PMA430 (Archos are known for their loose handling of device names, but it seems that "PMA430", regardless of what they printed on the device itself, is the final name it went by). :D

Hard drives? I have 8 gigabytes in NaB00 now, and with the new SDHC kernel, 16 GB is a distinct possibility. Apparently, later this year 16 and 32 GB SDHC cards will become available, which will make the N800 not only the equal, but even the better of the PMA430, storage-wise that is.

And if (a rather big "if" right now) USB hostmode proves doable on the N800, it will have a USB 2.0 host, vs the PMA's puny :p USB 1.1 host.

BTW, the H9 appears not to have Bluetooth on board. At least, it's not mentioned in the specs. Still, there is that antique PCMCIA slot (I wonder if it's PCCard compatible or the old 16 bit stuff). Maybe you can still find a CF Bluetooth card, because I'm not sure what else you're going to use that slot for.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

By the time the N900 is out, SDHC cards will be 16GB or more in size - why wish for power sucking HDDs when you can store all your data in battery friendly flash? Also consider the Bluetooth/WiFi equipped HDD companion devices such as the Bluonyx that will allow you to carry your data in centralised storage. I would say it is a given the N900 may use a more powerful CPU, perhaps an OMAP3 but I'm not sure it's necessary right now given the level of under utilised hardware already present in the N800 OMAP2 (IVA, PowerVR MBX). We can only hope Nokia see the light on USB connectivity.

If/when the N800 acquires better media playback, it may become your ideal one-stop device (with a couple of jumbo SDHC cards!) :)

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

I can't wait!

Out of pure misery I pumped a few P910i converted movies on my card and played them with Mplayer. It went surprisingly well -- or rather: not so surprisingly, given the appalling resolution and bitrates the P910 tolerates.

In any case: If there is anyone else on the planet who is still using the SmartMovie converter, those movies will play with Mplayer on the N800. You won't like it a lot, but they'll play.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

Judging from the screenshot, it looks like the font they used is indeed a Chinese font (doesn't hint as well as the default fonts). So they should at least be able to display Chinese text; as for other Asian languages, and text input, who knows.

Very interesting development, especially as we can expect it to trickle back to the next Maemo software release.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

Was it confirmed by the manufacturer that they use Maemo? Remember that some of them are masters of copycat productions.

Re: A maemo-ized UMPC
 

So far, I already found some problem with the unit.
http://www.pocketables.net/2007/02/new_h9_umpc_run.html
According to the spec. it's powered by PXA 270 CPU 520MHz, not too bad, I wished that my N800 have that cpu instead. It run on 64MB ROM, 128MB SDRAM. Hello, that sound link the 770 spec to me. And the N800 seem like a bare minimum spec to me. And that kind of RAM ain't gonna cut it. seriously 20GB HD, common make it 512MB ram would be useful. I can't seem to find any evidence that there will be a hardware MPEG4 decoder or anytype of hardware GPU, so I have to assume that it will not, considering the price point compared to N800. At the moment, eventhough it sound cool and all, but I think I'll pass on that. RAM seem like a bottle neck to me.