Samsung Q1 Ultra A110: Extra Slim and Compact UMPC

The world of ultra mobile PC (UMPC) was dominated by companies like Taiwanese manufacturer Asus, soon Samsung decided to jump onboard and tap this new market by launching the Q1 in 2006. The Q1 drew heavy criticism for being overpriced and relatively underpowered. Samsung soon realised its folly and after careful evaluation and research launched the Samsung Q1 Ultra A110.

Updating the ultra mobile to run on Intel processor from the A110 series it registers a speed of 800 MHz. This newly designed chip is of the low voltage variety and consumes less power. The Samsung Q1 Ultra A110 features 1 GB of DDR2 RAM. It has a 7 inch LED backlit WSVGA screen with a maximum pixel resolution of 1024 x 600. The updated screen is brighter and delivers richer images. This sleek looking machine has a set of QWERTY keys on one side and YUIOP keys on the other. A joystick type 8-way direction button features on both sides and controls the cursor. The spilt keys are a welcome addition though the small Blackberry styled keys are not a great feature for people with larger fingers. A 0.03 mega pixel camera has been integrated into the UMPC for video conferencing purposes, while a 1.3 mega pixel camera has been placed at the back to for clicking photos on the go. This UMPC offers 60 GB of hard disk storage space which seems relatively okay. It offers Ethernet connectivity, 2.0 Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection that enable you to log on to the net even while on the move. Two 2.0 USB slots and a 2-in-1 card reader appear on the side of the UMPC. The inbuilt speakers are tolerable though not the best thing to resort to while using it as an entertainment platform, instead put in a pair of decent headphones to get better sound quality. Windows Business Vista operates the Q1 though the inherent quality of the Windows OS to render any PC slow makes the recent upgrades in the chip rather useless. The six-cell battery pad of the 690 gram weighing device increase the battery life from about 4 hours to 6 hours.

This ultra mobile PC tries to improve the festering problems from the earlier model and does so with the inclusion of a keyboard and a brighter screen but due to the burdening Windows Business Vista the underpowered performance nuisance still exists.