James Kendrick takes a good look at the Tablet Bumpcase for the Fujitsu P1610 Tablet PC in this review at JkOnTheRun.com.

Having used a bumpcase for the Motion Computing LS8000, I've been eyeing one for the P1610 as well. If I get one, I'll likely opt for the for the Convertible Bumpcase, since I tend to operate in convertible mode a lot and don't want to fool with removing the tablet from the bumpcase when I want to type.

One thing missing from the Fujitsu Tablet Bumpcase, that made the LS800 bumpcase totally rock, is a built-in stand that lets you prop it up while in tablet mode.

The grand tour continues and and while in Chicago, I had a chance to hook up with GBM Forum member Skip Coghill. We headed for a real Chicago treat, Chicago style hotdogs and Italian Beef at Portillo’s and talked about our gear. Skip is giving the Fujitsu P1610 Tablet PC a try and we drew quite a few looks with the P1610, the Lenovo X60, the Asus R2H, and the PPC6700 laid out on the table. We solved some of his vectoring issues on the P1610 (ah, those pesky fingernails), and had a great time. After our gadget and food feast we headed to an empty school parking lot and Skip gave me a lesson on going mobile with a Segway. Talk about a blast! Once I got used to the Segway, I was off and running (though at slow speed) and we filmed this little video clip to share.

Skip really knows how to use mobile technology in his work. He’s a paving contractor and uses downloaded imagery from Google Earth to work with his clients. He also uses the Segway to measure out the parking lots he’s working with. . He also has a nice rig in his car for heading between job sites. I’m hoping Skip will write up a feature for GBM on how he integrates mobile tech in his work.

All in all a great time talking tech and toodling around on the Segway. Thanks Skip for hooking up with me while in Chicago, buying lunch, and giving me a chance to scoot on the Segway.

Watch the video here (1.40 minutes 17.1mb wmv format.)

Enjoy!

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Elizabeth, Sarah, and Kim of the Neek Talk podcast share their thoughts about CES 2007, Tablet PCs, and who they want to interview while attending CES.  These girls are quite energetic and fun to listen to. They also give their Aunt Lora and Uncle Loren a run for the money when it comes to Tablet PC and UMPC enthusiasm. The audio is a little poor in this podcast, so give them a little slack.

Elizabeth and Sarah are Layne Heiny's girls, and in this episode they welcome their cousin Kim to the show, who will also be joining them at CES.

Yesterday, two 1gb memory chips and a Hitachi 100gb 7200 rpm drive that I had ordered arrived, so I spent a couple of hours doing those upgrades.

The memory upgrade was very simple: remove the memory plate from the back of the tablet, remove the old chips, plug in the new ones and reboot. 

The harddrive upgrade was a tad more complicated, but still without issue:

1. I used Acronis True Image to image my system to a Maxtor USB drive.
2. After the image was complete, I unscrewed the harddrive plate from the side of the tablet, removed the drive, removed the rubber protectors, and removed the drive from the caddy.
3. I then screwed the caddy to the new 7200rpm drive, attached the rubber protectors, slid the drive back in and attached the cover.
4. I plugged in my USB drive and my USB cd rom that contain an Acronis boot program, and followed the Acronis recovery wizard that then took the image from the USB drive and applied it to my new drive
5. The reimage took about 30 minutes, and I booted up to a much faster X60 Tablet PC!

My recommendation to the casual user is to put your new drive in and boot to the recovery disks. With Vista around the corner, I'd hold off on a harddrive upgrade until the OEM cds arrive.

I then proceeded to upgrade to Vista Ultimate Edition. To be honest, I've been going back and forth about upgrading to Vista until the official drivers and upgrade CD was released by Lenovo. However, I had a good image from my XP system, so I decided to see what the upgrade path was like and learn some lessons for the sake of team.

The ugprade compatability reported a lot of compatability issues with Lenovo preinstalled apps, but momentum was pushing me forward! Several hours later, much to my surprise, I booted up to a near perfect functional X60 Tablet PC running Vista, complete with tablet buttons, rotation, navigation buttons, and waking the tablet up from sleep by removing the pen. In addition, I do not have any unrecognized devices in Device Manager. I've also got Vista Aero running with Transparency and 3d Flip.  However, the fingerprint enrollment software doesn't work, and the Thinkpad Productivity button is now remapped to the Tablet PC settings dialog box.

I am having various issues with Lenovo preinstalled software like Client Security Solutions, Productivity Center, the ThinkVantage button, etc - they just won't run. No concern there for me at all. I can accomplish most everything I need through Vista applets, and actually prefer it that way.

Now, this is where it gets kind of messy. I decided to begin removing applications and utilities I wouldn't need in Vista, like the Zune theme, Tablet Education Pack, various Tablet PC Entertainment pack programs, Lenovo fingerprint software, Client Security Solutions, Snipping Tool 2.0, etc. Upon trying to uninstall these applications, I started getting errors telling me that XP SP2 Tablet Edition is required to install to dll and directory path errors for the Lenovo software, etc.  Bottomline: I can't uninstall a lot of software or built-in utilities because of OS requirements the uninstall routine has. Why does an uninstall routine have an OS requirement? All I want to do is get rid of it.

So, here are my recommendations on upgrading to Vista after doing this with both a Lenovo X60 Tablet PC and a Fujitsu P1610 Tablet PC:

Do a clean install ( ie - don't take the ugprade route ), but wait until the official drivers and upgrade CD is released from your OEM. There are too many issues with uninstalling old software that leaves too many things hanging around. My feeling is that when the new OS is released, it is best to start with a clean slate. If you are of the adventurous type and like living on the edge, go for the upgrade now, but be prepared to do a lot of manual clean up work.

For right now, I'm leaving my system as is with Vista - it is completely functional, fast, and stable. I'm not missing any of the functionality of the Lenovo apps that won't run, but I sure would like to get rid of them! Once Lenovo releases the official drivers and CD, I'll be installing a fresh image on my X60.

Lora has posted a good reminder to keep the RSVPs coming for the CES 2007 Tablet PC and UMPC Community Gathering. So far, hardware manufactures are dominating, following closely by ISVs. If you are an end-user, this is a great time to interact with OEMs and ISVs, along with other users across the community.

The whole GBM team will be there with some swag to give away and we are looking forward to meeting others from the community. This is your best opportunity to see more UMPCs and Tablet PCs in one place!

Here are the details and send your rsvp to ljheiny at hotmail.com

Our good friends at SlashGear.com have been enjoying the Medion RIM 1000 Ultra-Mobile PC and have posted some good shots. This looks like an intriguing UMPC - I like slideout keyboard that appears to have more tactile feedback than the UX180P

Here are some specs, check out SlashGear.com for more info and more pics.

Update: GBM reader Kevin Hamilton passed along this link to a YouTube video of the RIM 1000. Thanks, Kevin!

CPU: Via 1.0 ghz
Memory: 512mb on board
Media card: SD/SD-IO/MMC
Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g
Resolution: 6.5" wide, TFT, WVGA (800x480)
Hard Drive: 20/30/40gb 4200rpm
Battery Life: 4-5 hours
Web Camera

TechSmith’s Betsy Weber and OneNote MVP Kathy Jacobs have put together a pretty nifty screencast on OneNote 2007 that gives a nice quick overview of this note taking and organizational tool. Good intro to OneNote 2007 and don’t forget the GBM Inkshows on OneNote 2007 as well. You can find them here.

Always interesting (to me at any rate) when the main stream media takes a second look at mobile devices, and this article from the Washington Post certainly is one of those. The reporter, Dennis O’Reilly, takes a look at the Asus R2H and the Samsung Q1B and likes what he sees here especially with the Asus. Nothing really new in the article, but I find it interesting timing given that we are looking at what is called Vistagami, (or a newer round of UMPCs timed for the Vista release or thereafter.) I just hope the hype machine on these newer UMPCs don’t get as out of control as the first round.

I don't know why we have not covered this issue in an InkShow before, but pens and styluses are one of those things that you have to experiment with to find just the right one. Considering how much we interact  on a screen with a pen, issues of comfort, weight, button placement, and eraser head become even more important.

Fortunately, there are a myriad of choices when it comes to active digitizer pens and styluses. In this InkShow, I take a look at the collection of pens and styluses that I've accumulated over the years and tell you why I like them so much, and which ones I don't care for.

Share with us links and descriptions of your favorite digitizer pens and styluses, and stay tuned for another contest for your chance to win the Microsoft stylus I demoed in this InkShow.

• Watch the InkShow ( 28:08, 154mb, .wmv streaming or direct download)

• Visit Cross.com

  • Digitizer pen demoed retails for $49.95. Out of stock at the moment

  • The cross matrix stylus pen is no longer available ( check ebay ), but Cross sells other stylus pens here

• Visit Thinkpad.com

  • digitizer pen demoed retails for $49.95

• Visit MotionComputing.com

• digitizer pen demoed retails for $34.99

• Visit TabletKiosk.com

• 2 pack styluses sell for $15.00

• Visit Fujitsu.com

• 5 pack styluses sell for $29.00

• Visit Gateway.com

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Okay, I picked up this in my email, and just had to pass it along.  Please note that we get nothing from a post like this other than hoping someone takes advantage of the deal!

For many years I have been saying that when Tablet PC's became comparably priced with regular notebooks, the adoption rate would climb.  I know -- it's not exactly rocket science.  When I saw this promo for a new Gateway CX210s Tablet PC for only $899, I realized that the time had come.  Now I know this is not the top of the line, screaming demon bursting with tons of memory computer we would all like to see for this same amount, but get over it and look at what you are getting!  Tablet PC's are still premium priced for premium models (but so are notebook computers), but this is a way to get into a Tablet PC without breaking the old bank account!  It also includes a Windows Vista upgrade, OneNote, and Microsoft Works.  Check out the specs:

Specifications:

• Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2050 (1.60 GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2)³
• Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition²
• Microsoft® Works 8.5
• $200 instant savings (reflected in price, limited time promotion)
• 512MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-256MB modules)
• 80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive⁴
• 7-in-1 media card reader (Memory Stick®, Memory Stick Pro®, MultiMediaCard™, Secure Digital™, xD Picture Card, Mini Secure Digital™, RS-MultiMediaCard™)
• Modular 24x/10x/24x CDRW and 8x DVD-ROM combo drive
• Notebook Value Service Plan -- 1 year parts/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support⁵
• (1) Type II PC card slot
• (3) USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), VGA
• 14.0" WXGA TFT Active Matrix (1280 x 768 max. resolution) with rotating hinge for tablet functionality
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Full-size keyboard and EZ Pad® pointing device
• Gateway executive stylus pen w/ Continuous Sensing Technology™
• Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and microphone jacks
• Primary 8-cell lithium-ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty⁵
• Integrated V.92 56K modem
• Integrated Intel® 10/100/1000 Ethernet adapter
• Six months America Online® Internet access⁶
• Integrated Intel® 802.11a/b/g wireless networking card
• Adobe® Acrobat Reader® 7.0 and Google Toolbar
• Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet (SP2) Backup CD
• No Security Subscription Selected
• Answers by Gateway Per Incident support card
• Microsoft® One Note, Microsoft® Experience Pack and Microsoft® Education Pack

I have owned a Gateway M280 Tablet PC for a while now, and have to say the Vista experience is pretty darn good.  With this updated model, I would expect the same.  14 inch widescreen, 1280x768, DVD, etc. -- all for under $1,000.

If you've been on the fence on a tablet puchase and on a tight budget -- I say go for it!

For all you UMPC users out there longing for GPS, this just might be the gadget for you: the Spectec SD/SDIo GPS Receiver - a 20 channel GPS tracker that fits in an SD Card slot. In addition, it has an internal slot to hold a 2 gigabyte microSD. Plug that fella in your SD equiped UMPC or phone and you have instant GPS. No word on pricing.

I hope these guys will be at CES, cause I want to see that gadget.

From GearDiary via Engadget

Road Trip! The bags are packed and all the the testing of new mobile gear is complete. We’re headed to Chicago for the annual holiday pilgrimage to visit family and friends before heading on to Vegas and CES. Chicago and Wisconsin will be home from Dec 28 through Jan 4 and if any GBM readers are interested in hooking up, drop me an email or leave a comment. No guarantees we can make anything work, as family comes first on this trip and plans always change. But if I can find the time it could be fun. I’ll be checking in sporadically over the next couple of days with reports of any mobile adventures we have.

First there was the HTC Athena, now Tatung is jumping into the mix with another “looks like a UMPC but runs Windows Mobile” device. Carrypad has what little info there is (and there isn’t much) so I’m guessing we might see more about this at CES.

So, I’m just asking, remember back late spring/early summer when there was a discussion bouncing around as to what exactly qualified as a UMPC? If I’m remembering correctly, I don’t think anyone thought that running the Windows Mobile OS as the sole operating system qualified.