Samsung Q1 reader questions (and answers)

As I've previously mentioned, I don't want to over-saturate this space with personal Samsung Q1 UMPC posts; one a day is probably more of Kevin and "Sammy" than most people can take. We did just get a few jkOTR reader questions specific to the UMPC device, so I'll air them here with the hope that other Q1 owners and potential owners can benefit.

Albert and David both had good questions, so I'll share them after the jump. It was also interesting to note that the first thing that both of them said was "I couldn't find Kevin's e-mail address, so could you please forward this to him." As much as I like having James be my personal e-mail butler, I suppose we should cut him a break. ;) Although I can't guarantee a personal response due to time constraints, I welcome your e-mail at kctofel@gmail.com. Now for the questions...

Albert actually sent this in through our MobileTechRoundup podcast address, but it's a valid concern: "I spend a lot of time writing down notes at work and at school  I was worried that the vectoring will make using the Q1 unpleasant.  I also like the idea of using the Q1 for presentations at meetings."

Here's my opinion based on using the Q1 as my primary mobile device for the past four days (yes, I put the M205 in temporary "dry dock"): I think this device is ideal for taking notes and I've used it in several work meetings for that very purpose using Windows Journal and OneNote 2007. I will caution you on the vectoring; if you're not careful, it will happen. I've made some adjustments to my inking to compensate, but it's already second nature for me to rest my wrist on the device bezel around the screen.

From a presentation standpoint, the Q1 is at least as usable for them as any decent laptop. I've used the VGA output to connect to an external monitor in a presentation simulation and "Sammy" worked like a charm. There are multiple display options for a second monitor ranging from a clone of the screen, to an extended desktop or full output to the external monitory. The touchscreen on the Q1 still works for navigation and pointing in these cases, which is a nice bonus! By all means, I recommend trying one of these devices for inking if you can once we see them in Best Buy.

David also reached out to us with the following: "I saw from your Video of the Q1 that you could rotate the screen, did you have to do anything special as it doesn't work on mine? "

I've seen this happen several times but haven't contacted Samsung support just yet, simply because I can fix the problem. I'm not sure if this is related to Microsoft Update or not, but every few days, I lose the ability to rotate the screen. The simple, short term fix is to reinstall the Intel Graphics driver found at the default location of C:\Program Files\Samsung\Graphics Driver\Setup.exe. Although this appears to be a temporary fix, it will restore the functionality. I'll be looking into the actual root cause, of course.

David continues, "I tried you floatingtip.exe suggestion and while it works fine, I now cant seem to get the correction window to pop up, so if I tap on the recognized words under the writing in the TIP nothing happens. If I don't load floattip.exe the it works fine, tap the recognized work and the window pops up to select another match."

I haven't had this problem, so perhaps something glitchy is going on for you, David. My hope here is that others who use FloatingTip.exe on a touchscreen Tablet PC can give us an assist. Up to this point, I don't think I could live without the program!

-kct

Comments

[Anton P. Nym]

I run Floating TIP and I haven't run into David's problem myself. Sometimes the TIP itself hiccups over forums with odd page arrangements (TIP and Flash don't play well together is my guess) but if my TIP is working at all it shows the correction suggestions as normal.

(And thanks to Kevin's post, I now have an itch to go into the training room at the office and hook my Q1 up to the projector just to give it a try.)

-- Steve

[unknown kernel]

Tip is a great help - thanks for the heads up. I couldn't get this to work with either firefox or opera,one of which will be my preferred browser on UMPC. Has anyone got it working with either?

[Alslayer]

Sweet you answered my email. I feel so special.

[Matt Smith]

I want one of these devices really bad, but I'm concerned about being able to really use it as my primary device. I just can't decide between the Macbook and the Q1.

[jk]

For using the TIP in Firefox you need GeckoTIP because the TIP by itself doesn't play with Firefox well. GeckoTIP is free and works great!

http://geckotip.mozdev.org/

[Brendan]

Would love to see Vista running on it... And iTunes, especially streaming to an airport express... And a full res movie... Hahaha, not asking for much am I?

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Brendan, we've got you covered on item number one: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/05/vistagami_next_.html ;)

[Crunch]

Beetween Macbook Pro and the Samnsung Q1, I choosed Q1 !

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Crunch, glad to hear you took the plunge and I hope you're happy with the decision.

Matt, in my mind the choice is all about your computing needs. If you'll be doing intensive computational or graphical chores on the PC, perhaps the MacBook is a better option. For most people, I think the current UMPCs will be companion devices. It works for me because I can take anywhere I go and complete the tasks that I do most often: blogging, RSS reading, web browsing and e-mail. If I were a PC gamer or graphical designer, I probably would not have gone this route. It all comes back to the question: what will you be doing with the device (and where)? Hope this helps a little.

[Dimitrios Scott]

How do you get your phone to work as your Modem,
I have the AudioVox 6700 PPC,and do you have any other
tweaks tips. Thanks.

[Matt Smith]

Dimitrios,

He's probably using PDANet to access EVDO with his 6700. That's what I used when I had the Treo 700w. It works great.

Kevin,

Thanks for the feedback. The problem right now is that my mobility needs change from week to week, so picking one option over the other is tough. Thankfully I'm in a job where I can choose between windows and mac without any real impact to my work, so either would work. I have the Macbook and love it, but now I'm thinking I'll pick up a Samsung and give it a dance. Worst case scenario I can return or sell one of them.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Dimitrios, Matt is correct. See: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/05/q1_connectivity.html for some additional info.
Matt, choice is good because in mind there isn't a perfect device for every situation!

[Matt Smith]

Kevin, I ordered the Q1 last night. Question for you. Who's making screen protectors for them? Do I even need screen protection, or is it pretty durable?

[Dimitrios L Scott]

Thanks for the feedback, But I called sprint and they said to use your Phone as a Modem is $39.99 A month.Thats just to much so I called Samsung and they said theres a CF card coming out that will have phone sim card support. So I'll just wait. But Again Thank you.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Dimitrios, PDANet is software that you pay for one time and can use your phone as a modem; no charge from your carrier. I'm sure the carriers aren't happy about this, but for the moment, it is currently an option.