The dimensions and weight of the two devices are similar, with the N5 being slightly larger and heavier, not surprising since it has a hardware keyboard. What is surprising is the major difference is the width, not the thickness, perhaps because of the wide bezel on both sides of the touch screen.

*Specs from UMPC Portal Product Database

The N5 has some clamshell competition: the UMID BZ (aka M2). Pocketables and MIDMoves have some information and photos on the UMID device.

I’m sure we’ll learn more abut the N5 and BZ as CES progresses.

Guess who’s coming? Hint: Look at the category of this post.

James my friend, I dunno about this. My experience with the HTC Advantage x7500, a similar device except the OS is Windows Mobile, is that this form factor may not be pocketable, unless you walk around in a lab coat. Think also about your (and my) Viliv S5. It’s also a similar device with the 3G option, except it doesn’t have a slide out keyboard. I wouldn’t want to carry that mini-brick around as my phone.

Does a 4.8” phone make sense? And what implications does this discussion have for the upcoming 4.3” HTC HD2 (aka Leo) and the Archos Android phone?

Another Twitter friend,  Steve “Chippy” Paine of UmpcPortal, questions in Are MID-Phones Too Big to be Buddies? whether even a 4.1” phone is too big. His point is a bit different though. A 4.1” phone is pocketable, though still pretty big in your pocket. Chippy believes that the 4.1” screen is still too small for browsing, perhaps not much better than, say, a 3.5” phone which would be much more comfortable in your pocket. “800×480 in anything less than 4.8” is going to be sub-optimal for full web browsing. [With a smaller screen] either you bump the font sizes up on and reduce the screen real estate or you suffer with a time-consuming zoom operation.”

Chippy’s reference to the 4.8” size brings us back full circle. Web browsing is OK, but 4.8” likely is too large to be pocketable. So under his analysis, 4.3” may be a “tweener”, too big to be comfortable pocketable, but too small for good web browsing.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, based on my lust for the HTC HD2, but I hope Chippy is wrong about the 4.3” form factor. But I just don’t know because I’ve never had a 4.3” (or 4.1”) phone. There’s really no way for me to tell without some hands-on experience with that form factor.

The optimum phone size is an interesting question that likely will be further discussed in the coming weeks since the HTC HD2 will be available later this month in Europe.

I shared the pessimism of the guru of this issue — Frank Garcia (aka CTitanic) of UMPC Tips – whether a driver update to a non-USB-HID compliant touchscreen could enable tablet features. However, having learned that “never say never” often applies to what’s technically possible, I could not foreclose the possibility (“though this isn’t 100% certain”).

True Tablets was posted only a few days ago. What a difference a day or two makes … 

Non-USB-HID compliant touchscreens have been the focus of the Viliv X70 is not Windows Touch compliant (HID/eGalax) thread on the UMPCPortal forums. Yesterday, one of the forum members, Mongoose (I’m ElJeffe there), advised that he had obtained from Dynamism support a new driver with HID support. CTitanic hosted the driver. I downloaded it, and installed it after uninstalling the prior drivers, rebooting early and often, etc.

Did it work? Yes! Here’s the findings so far:

• No on-screen keyboard in the profile logon screen – FIXED!
• no floating tip, or focus on text field after opening tip – FIXED!
• Tablet PC software missing in accessories (Vista) and not accessible (including Control Panel applets) – FIXED!
• No Ink support in Office – - FIXED!

Update: Not only do I have ink support in Outlook 2007. I also can use ink Appointment, Contact and Task forms with Tablet Enhancements for Outlook.

True Tablets mentioned other issues. I just haven’t had a chance yet to test some issues (e.g., pen flicks), and other issues necessarily take time to verify (e.g., automatic learning from your handwriting). But all of the issues I did test have been fixed!

True Tablets quoted CTitanic: “Installing W7 in a touch screen device without HID Support does not make too much sense to me because you are missing the best part that W7 brings to these type of devices. Without these features you better stay with Windows XP.” Now there is a point in installing Windows 7. Further, my Viliv X70 now is far more usable, particularly with the ink support, floating tip for text entry, etc.

While I applied this new driver to my Viliv X70, the implications go well beyond this particular device. AFAIK, there’s no reason a similar driver could provide similar functionality to the Archos 9, for example.

Of course, a resistive touch screen can’t provide as good an inking experience as an active digitizer. But there’s no reason why a resistive touch screen can’t be the best it can be. Now it appears the non-USB-HID compliant touchscreens can have the same functionality as their USB-HID compliant touchscreen cousins. Exciting times!

There’s now more information on two of the devices, the phone and the 9” “tablet.” I’m becoming even more excited about the phone. But I may pass on the 9” “tablet” for the reasons why the word “tablet” is in quotes.  

Phone

Archos Android Phone Tablet introduced on video (the source of the picture) has a video of the phone. The video is in French. But hey, you don’t need to know French to watch.

The phone is an impressive device, particularly with a 1GHz ARM Cortex processor. Still a lot of questions though.

Touchscreen is resistive or capacitive? This phone’s main competitor, the HTC Leo (or HD2 as it now appears to be called), has a capacitive screen. 

US 3GSM bands supported? If so, which ones? The HTC Leo reportedly won’t support US 3G bands, at least initially. Disappointing, though not unexpected, given the same was true of the HTC Touch HD. This is a big issue for me. Why spend a lot of money on a premium phone that limps along on EDGE?

Performance? Android hasn’t been a ball of fire on phones. Then again, neither has Windows Mobile, the Leo’s OS. The 1GHz processor certainly will help.

Price? Just curious. Hey, it’s only money, and you can’t take it with you.

Availability? Let’s face it. I want it now!! (If it supports US 3GSM that is). Alas, I’ll probably have to wait for further word until just after the New Year at CES 2010.

9” MID

Archos MID and 4.3” 3.5G Phone also talked about Archos’ Windows 7. 8.9” resistive touchscreen running an Intel Atom Z515 1.1GHz processor. Archos 9 release announced at IDF, October 22nd, $499 tells you the price and release date of the 9” Windows 7 device. Good price and available soon. But I may pass.

First, storage is a hard drive, not SSD. A good SSD makes a performance difference. Also, an SSD’s lack of a HDD’s moving parts makes it more reliable. From what I read, it’s possible Archos may release a later model with an SSD. So this reason may change.

Second, the Archos 9 is not a true tablet, as explained in True Tablets. As explained there, that’s OK with me for smaller screens, like the Viliv S5 (5”) and X70 (7”), but not a larger screen device such as the Archos 9. I doubt any further release from Archos will change this.

Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet

This is a 4.8” (800 x 480) MID with an Android OS and an 800MHz OPAP3440 processor. At first blush, it seems to be a direct competitor to the Viliv S5.

Like the S5, the touchscreen is resistive, not capacitive. Disappointing, since many Android devices sport capacitive touchscreens. However, Slashgear hands-on and video, which has a lot of information, pictures and a video, reports: “the touchscreen lacks a little of the feather-touch precision we’re used to from capacitive displays, but is still very sensitive for a resistive panel.”

This device has WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. However, since the description talks about tethering, it apparently doesn’t have built-in 3G, which is an option on the S5. For more information, see the full specs and these articles from the usual suspects: UMPCPortal, BGR, Pocketables, and jkOnTheRun.

Reading these articles, maybe this tablet isn’t a competitor to the Viliv S5 after all, but instead the iPodTouch? If so, it’s a very different comparison.

Android Phone

Archos Phone Tablet tipped: 1GHz Android 4.3-inch smartphone outs a 4.3” (854 x 480) touchscreen phone with a  1GHz ARM Cortex processor. This seems to be a direct competitor to the HTC Leo. This GSMArena article discusses how the new Android 1.6 Donut OS supports the high screen resolution on this phone. 

There’s not a lot of information yet on this device, which may be officially announced just after the New Year at CES 2010. In particular, it’s not clear if the touchscreen is resistive or capacitive.

This phone has 3.5G HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity. However, it’s unclear is if or which US 3G bands will be supported.

This phone definitely is on my radar screen. Particularly if the touchscreen is capacitive. Then the choice between HTC Leo and this Archos phone may come down to Windows Mobile vs. Android. Nice choice to have to make. 

Archos 9 PC Tablet

This is not a newly announced device. We’ve talked before about this Windows 7 8.9” touchscreen running an Intel Atom Z515 1.1GHz processor. However, Slashgear (them again) has an Archos 9 PC Tablet hands-on with some further thoughts on this device which may be a competitor to the smaller (7”) Viliv X70

I’m also thinking about this tablet, which should be available soon, as the ETA is Fall 2009.

Viliv MIDs – I’ve talked a lot (too much?) here about my Viliv X70. I’ve talked very little about the X70’s little brother (4.8” vs. 7”), the Viliv S5. I’m still learning both devices, and will be talking more about them soon.

Bluetooth Speakerphones – I’m basically happy with my BlueAnt Supertooth 3. Nevertheless, I just purchased the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone VM-605. I really like it so far. I’ll be writing soon on my comparison of these two premium speakerphones.

Bluetooth Headsets – While I’m happy with my Bluetooth speakerphone(s), sometimes I need a Bluetooth headset instead. I just picked up the newly-released (and highly-touted) Motorola Endeavor HX1 at the local Sprint store. While there, the BlueAnt Q1 gave me a “come hither” look. The Sprint store rep offered 20% off for the purchase of a second device. I needed no further encouragement. Actually, two headset make sense, one for car, one for work. Or so I rationalize. Anyway, I’ll be talking about and comparing these two premium headsets soon.

Zune HD – I’ve already told you I pre-ordered it. The ship date is next Tuesday, September 15. Did I choose next day shipping? Do bears sleep in the woods?

I haven’t been writing a lot because I’ve been working a lot. On top of what I was doing before, the semester started last week. While I enjoy teaching, in particular tormenting my hapless students with my stale, recycled jokes (laugh if you want an A), it still is work, albeit very enjoyable work. Nevertheless, I’ll start writing soon. Promise!

Viliv X70 – Windows 7 Update told you that I’d successfully installed Windows 7 RC on my Viliv X70. I also told you I’d try to document the process this weekend when I have some free time, and after I had resolved some remaining issues.

Well, I’m not there yet. Partly because work got in the way. And partly because I’m trying to hit a moving target.

Viliv X70 Drivers and Software Now Online and Viliv X70 Online Drivers and Software Update told you that Viliv’s online downloads now include drivers and software for the X70 as well as the S5.  However, these downloads didn’t resolve issues I had with Viliv Manager and the Cube. Today, Viliv posted a new download for Viliv Manager (simultaneous Bluetooth and 3G!) and the Cube. Also included are installation instructions (about time!).

I haven’t yet had a chance to try out the new software. I will soon of course, and report back. Promise!

Update: The Viliv Manager indeed now supports simultaneous Bluetooth and 3G! Near as I can tell, also simultaneous WiFi and 3G.

Maybe Viliv heard our complaints in Viliv X70 – No Online Drivers or Software. More likely they heard emails from Chippy of UmpcPortal and JKK of JKKMobile. Regardless, Viliv’s online downloads now include drivers and software for the X70 as well as the S5. Check out #s 34-39 on page 1. This is as of 8:30 pm Pacific time on August 10. I suspect there will be more later. This should make easier my plan to upgrade to Windows 7.