Product Review: Page (1) of 2 - 06/06/06

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Earlier this year, Microsoft began pushing an idea it called Origami, a set of specifications for small tablet PCs that would fill a niche between notebook PCs and PDAs. As the products began appearing on the market, they became known as ultra-mobile PCs, or UMPCs. One of the first available products that adheres to that specification is the Samsung Q1 UMPC, a nicely-designed tablet with a 7-inch LCD display. I tested the Q1 with a variety of video clips, WiFi, Web browsing, and various word processing functions and was sometimes delighted. But more often than not, I was frustrated.

My first impression of the Samsung Q1 was that it was well put together with graceful industrial design, with its shiny piano-black surface immediately reminding me of my black iPod nano. Samsung paid thoughtful attention to the out-of-box-experience with this unit. For example, learning from the problems people had with smudges and scratches on the nano, Samsung thoughtfully included a microfiber polishing cloth from 3M in the package, which proved itself to be handy for wiping off the easily-smudged surface of the Q1. The unit is about the size of the paperback book and weighs a little bit more than a hardcover book, but is a comfortable size for carrying around. However, it's certainly too big and heavy to be carried in a pocket.

After a brief frustration with the Hold button on the top of the unit which keeps it from being accidentally turned on, after about a minute and 10 seconds the Q1 had finally finished its boot sequence into Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. It was immediately obvious that we were dealing with a very slow processor here, the Intel Celeron M 353 running at .9GHz. That's way too slow to run today's applications, and even booting up a huge operating system such as Windows XP Tablet PC Edition with a .9GHz chip feels like a chore. I was starting to think that perhaps a Linux-based operating system would have been more appropriate. But wait. This whole thing was Microsoft's idea. Never mind.

Anyway, one the Q1 was finally booted up and ready to go, I was delighted to see its sharp 7-inch LCD screen. Its native resolution is 800x480, and there's a convenient button on the left where you can change resolutions to 800x600 or 1024x600, but neither of these higher resolutions look as good as the native 800x480, and the text and icons in those interpolated resolutions were too small even for eagle-eyed users. This resolution switching seemed like an afterthought, maybe decided upon after the unit's designers discovered how quickly you run out of desktop real estate at 800x480. 

As the Q1 sat there running, I noticed a faint fan noise emanating from within the unit, but it wasn't loud enough to be of any concern, even to someone who is quite sensitive to any sorts of fan noise. No, the upside of having such a slow processor is it doesn't generate that much heat, and subsequently didn't require an industrial-strength cooling fan. There won't be any burnt laptops or fingertips here, although I could feel a slight warm breeze coming out of the Q1's topside vents.

The design of the unit is striking, and its fit and finish are near-perfect. It is an exercise in industrial design and engineering that its manufacturers could fit so much functionality in such a small and pleasing package. If this device were architecture, it could be said to have serious curb appeal. Let's take a quick tour:

On the left is a joystick control that is easy to use and is situated in just the right place. Its surface is similar to the "cat's tongue" substance that's used for pointing sticks on laptops. Just below that is the screen resolution switching control. On the right is a four-part application launching button, a Back button, and another button which calls up a list of often-used system controls.

With the screen overlay on the right, you're able to control functions such as brightness, sound, and screen rotation, letting you orient the screen in either horizontal or vertical mode.

On top is a CompactFlash slot, and there's even an Ethernet port that has a cover on it that closes with remarkable precision.

On the right side there is a VGA port that's similarly covered by a well-designed door, as well as a USB port, one of two.

On the back of the unit there is a two-part stand, which lets you lay the Q1 almost flat, or set it up like an easel for easy video viewing.

On the left side is USB out, another USB port, a headphone jack, volume control, and Hold control.

The best attribute of the Q1: it's a superb multimedia player. Even its tiny speakers sound unusually good for their size, and its video playback is flawless. I loaded 720p and 1080i Windows Media 9 HDTV clips into the Q1, and their playback was smooth and brought out the best in this high-quality LCD display. With a pair of high-quality earphones plugged into its headphone jack, it was a comfortable experience watching an entire movie on this unit. One thing you can say for the Q1: it is a multimedia playback tour de force. 

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