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Well known (and damn good) tech blogger Om Malik recently weighed in on the UMPC movement, specifically on the HP Mini-Note.

Sadly, he was less than impressed, citing it’s weight, slow boot time with XP and most importantly to him, it’s massive heat production as deal breakers. He, like many users, came in with a lot of excitement and ended up disappointed by the reality of the device…hopefully designers take notice of such reactions. You can read his full review HERE.

The experience was not a total loss, however, as all the deficiencies he found in the Mini-note caused him to turn his mind to what qualities he would demand in a true mobile computer. One of the reason I always respect Om’s views even when I don’t agree with him is that he never snarks…he never just says what is wrong without giving an opinion about what is right, and how the two can meet. Constructive criticism like his is so rare on the net these days.

Therefore here, freshly carved in granite, are Om’s Ten Mobile Compumandments

1. Instant On
2. Doesn’t generate too much heat.
3. Minimum 5 hours of battery life.
4. Must feature at least four communications options: WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth & Wireless Wide Area Network connection to, say, an EVDO or HSPA Network.
5. Less than three pounds (Batteries included).
6. Screen size of 3.5 to 8 inches (wide-screen proportioned)
7. The primary function of the computer should be cloud-based activities that can include everything from listening to live music, reading blogs and watching videos. Writing research reports or cranking out spreadsheets isn’t the primary purpose of these machines.
8. It should cost no more than $300. This isn’t a computer; it’s a communications device. It should really be an on-the-go device. It is a device for the moments when your cellphone isn’t enough, and laptop is too much. An iPhone should qualify.
9. Its innards, ports should be geared for Internet-based activities — from making calls on Skype to consuming RSS feeds — though it should be able to handle external peripherals.
10. In the future it should move away from the keyboard and have a touchscreen interface that allows one to sift through large amounts of data (or web pages) quickly, as cramped keyboards and touchpads can be hard to use.

Personally I agree with just about all his points, though some I have more trouble with (I intend to write a good deal on any UMPC I own, for example). What about the rest of you? Is Mr. Malik on the right track? What is he wrong about? What would you add?

Zealot (446 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).