Product Reviews

Microsoft's Origami concept - also known as the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) - is designed to plug the gap between small but underpowered Pocket PCs and powerful yet larger notebooks. Samsung's Q1 is the first example.

It is small and light enough to fit into most bags, and uses Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. However, there is no keyboard. It can be used in several ways. There's a touch screen and stylus, which can be used with the standard XP Tablet Edition handwriting recognition and onscreen keyboard software. There's also Microsoft's DialKeys application, which lets you type with your thumbs. It is possible to use the Q1 without the stylus, as the left of the screen has a joypad that functions like a PC's arrow keys. There are four short cut buttons on the right of the display, which can be set to launch programs or emulate any key or key combination on a normal keyboard.

The Q1 has a 7" screen with a native resolution of 800x480 pixels. There is enough width for most Windows applications and web pages, but the screen's reduced height means Windows programs such as the wireless networking control panel don't fit onscreen. But a button on the left of

ADVERTISEMENT

the display lets you specify 800x600 or 1,024x600 pixel resolutions. These resolutions are higher than the screen's native resolution, so image quality is poor, but there's more room for applications to fit. Even so, it would have been better if Microsoft had written the operating system to work within the screen's native resolution.

The screen is very bright, though a bit grainy, and horizontal viewing angles are wide. There's also plenty of contrast, so video files look great. The Q1 has a stand so you can watch it at a distance, but the built-in speakers aren't loud enough to do a film justice. Sound quality through our reference pair of headphones was impressive. As it runs Windows, the Q1 can play any video type as long as you install the correct codec, making it a versatile portable player. But there's only a VGA video output and no composite or S-video to connect to a TV.

The Q1 has a 900MHz Ultra Low Voltage Celeron M processor and 512MB of RAM. While its score in our benchmarks is nothing spectacular, it can cope with normal Windows tasks. It failed the PCMark04 test as it doesn't support PCMark04's required resolution. Battery life was mediocre at just under three hours.

Samsung's Q1 would be perfect for web surfing, editing documents or watching films on the road, but it is shockingly expensive and has poor battery life. The same money would buy you a light notebook, with the advantages of a larger screen, a keyboard and an optical drive. The Q1 is a great toy, but is impossible to recommend at this price.

Samsung user guides, reviews, FAQs and downloads at Know Your Mobile