Lunch at Pieros- gadgets on the way stay tuned

Will CES be spoiled by a rotten Apple?

I'm boarding my plane for CES in a few short minutes, but can't get one particular thought out of my mind. Last year, Apple completely deflated the CES balloon with the iPhone announcement at the same time as the show. Those in attendence at CES will likely attest: it was as if the Earth stopped spinning for a few minutes at CES and the show was definitely in the shadows as opposed to the forefront.

In 2008, MacWorld is a week after CES, but I still suspect a masterful PR move from Apple this week. Nope, I don't expect any new hardware announcements as those will be reserved for next week. I said it before, but want to go on record now: I think Apple will provide a killer upgrade to the iPhone this week if at all possible. We've already seen a build of the iPhone firmware 1.1.3, but I wonder if we've seen all of the features in the final version. I could be way off base here, but that's my guess... folks buzzing about new iPhone software with at least "one more thing" in it that we're not yet aware of. Full support for Microsoft Exchange perhaps? Could we see some off-the-cuff comparsion to MIDs with Apple suggesting "hey, that's nothing new... we've had a MID out for quite some time..." Thoughts?

CNET has the ultra-portables

One of the most popular categories of technology at the CES each year is the ultra-portable device category and this year was no exception. OQO announced it's Model 02 at CES and they were everywhere, the SX-Gen from Seamless Internet was all over the place, Samsung had a bunch of Q1s at a lot of the events, and newcomer Black Diamond was showing off their ruggedized UMPC, the SwitchBack.  C/NET has a short video showcasing all of these devices that is worth a look if you like little things.

CES 2007 impressions and gear review

The big show (CES 2007) has come and gone and I am back home and I have been giving a lot of thought to the gear I took to the show and how it performed in the field.  It is important to realize that this show is mammoth, the main show floor is in the convention center and is acres large.  You could take a day and a half to try and cover all of this floor but it's not all there is.  There are a lot of exhibits in the Sands Expo which is a cab ride away and then a lot of the press conferences and OEM exibits are in the Venetian Hotel and other similar locations.  There is a lot of walking of course which means you want your gear to be as light as possible but there is also a lot of cab or bus riding from one venue to another so you also want that gear to be as small as possible.  So how did my gear hold up?  Read on after the jump to find out.

Tablet Kiosk's new Sahara Slate PCs

We met over lunch with the Tablet Kiosk folks yesterday and they've got some exciting news. Availability of their new Sahara line of slate PCs is just weeks away and all of the product specs and details are on their site. Gail Levy from Tablet Kiosk explained that there are three models in the new Sahara line: the i412T, i440T and i440D; each of which weighs a tad over three pounds. Based on what Gail told us, these three models should provide something for everyone if you're looking for a new slate....

Active vs. touch: what I learned at CES

You know what I learned the most about at CES this week? It wasn't about a new UMPC, a hot new handheld nor was it about some software. What I learned the most this week was that the UMPC concept has ultimately and forever changed my computer usability preferences. Due to a minor incident with my Samsung Q1 the day before the show, I had to leave the unit behind and take my ol' Toshiba M205 Tablet PC with me. What an enlightening experience to use an active digitizer this week after eight months of touchscreen computing.

Windows Home Server: nice UMPC companion

At the Bill Gates keynote, we got first word of the new Windows Home Server that HP will first offer; more OEMs will follow. I chatted with a Microsoftie on the floor about the WHS because as much as I like the product I had a concern. The product is great when you're out and about with connectivity. What about when you're not; say you're using a UMPC on the road, don't have 3G at the moment and are far from a hotspot?

My concern was from a companion PC standpoint and synchronizing files that you took "off-line" from the WHS. Maybe you pulled down a Word doc from the WHS on your UMPC at the local Starbucks. You make file changes later in the day and when you later connect, what happens? Does the WHS resolve the changes in the files?

It turns out that the Windows Home Server won't natively keep those files in synch, based on our discussion. Then again, it's really not an issue because I figured that Vista's Sync Center features could handle this task: sure enough, I guessed right.

You'll need to set up a partnership in Vista for the files and folders you want to keep in synch, but once you do that and gain connectivity to your WHS again, Vista will keep everything up to date. The added benefit of the WHS is that you can have your remote machines completely backed up, which I find to be a huge benefit while on the road: no need to connect external drives or burn optical media backups! Remote controlling those home PCs on your network is another boon for us mobile peeps while you're connected.

Microsoft is still finalizing the Windows Home Server software (although the demos I saw looked pretty solid) and once they do that and provide it to HP, you'll see these little self-sufficient boxes for sale. The expectation I heard was the second half of 2007, but we're sure to hear details before then.

Medion UMPC: best integrated keyboard yet

James is in the air returning home and I think 90% of the show is too. Hopefully, they're not all on the same plane. Since I've got the day to myself, I meandered around a much quieter show floor and found the 1.5 pound Medion MD RIM 1000 UMPC in the wild. The device has a smaller footprint than most of the current UMPC models, partly because the screen is a slightly smaller 6.5-inches in lieu of the standard 7.

The screen slides smoothly, revealing something that I wouldn't want in my UMPC. At least that's what I thought. The keyboard is the most standard looking and feeling keyboard over anything I've seen yet, and we've seen 'em all here. The keys have a nice feel and travel; just like a standard keyboard, only much smaller of course. You'll be using your thumbs, but I have to say after using the device for about 10 minutes: you can quickly get used to the approach and start tapping out text faster than you'd think.

Navigation was also painless with both the directional pad and the small mouse touchpad at the bottom right of the device. Once again, the Origami Experience running on the Via-based machine was zippy and enjoyable.

The Medion should hit market by end of month, coinciding nicely with the Vista launch; I couldn't get many more details, but if Medion comes in at or under a grand in price, they'll likely sell a bunch of these. More pics after the jump.

The Microsoft Origami team really does listen!

It's clear by the new Origami Experience that the Microsoft team does listen to user feedback. We were floored when we got the above picture from Sears Young on the team; we just saw the new interface and sure enough he was listening to MobileTechRoundup on it! These guys have put a ton of effort in the new UI for Vista and I can't reiterate it enough: this might be the killer app on a UMPC running Vista. As much as I enjoyed the Bill Gates keynote and all of the great Vista features they demonstrated, I wish the Origami team got to demo this app at the keynote. It's as innovative as any other keynote highlights!

We got a 33% discount on the S-XGen foldy thingy

Hey, maybe everyone else will too based on the conversation we had at the S-XGen booth. We flipped, folded and even fondled the unique Windows Mobile handheld phone and then inquired on the price. We flat out asked about the rumored $1,400 price tag and were immediately told by the Seamless Internet folks that unit will be less than that. We couldn't pinpoint an exact price, but the numbers shared were in the upper $900 range.

Not sure if there's a solid market for a Win Mo phone that doesn't appear to have a mic and speaker. We might have missed those on the device, but even if we did, the booth folks indicated you need a Bluetooth headset for the phone functions. Still, the 20-GB drive and rubberized chiclet keyboard might be compelling enough for you to pick this device up; we heard that it will be available at Buy and Amazon. If we get more deets, we'll put out a quick update.