If you are looking at getting the most out of Outlook 2007, then you might want to take a look at Marc Orchant’s new book, The Unofficial Guide to Outlook 2007. Knowing Marc and his knack for the detail, I’d be surprised if anything was left uncovered.

Marc Orchant runs a ZDNet blog called Office Evolution, is a Micosoft Tablet PC MVP, and is co-host of OnTheRun with Tablet PCs Podcast.

Congratulations, Marc and thanks letting us know that it is finally shipping!

Now that I’ve got Vista working with the new drivers on the Asus R2H, I’ve been using the device for note taking during rehearsals of our next show, Stones in His Pockets, which opens tomorrow night. Things have been going reasonably well, although I’ve hit a few bumps in the road.

For some reason, the device is throwing a USB driver error when it returns from Sleep Mode and causing a blue screen. I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I’ll have to check into it. It might have something to do with the fact that I did not install the Power4Gear power manager that Asus includes as its power managing application.

If I put the device into hibernation while in the high res mode, it will randomly return from hibernation with the device in pan and scan mode. Switching it back to low res mode quickly fixes this, but it is an interesting and frustrating random occurence.

Those are two events I’ll need to investigate further. But in the mean time, I noticed in a comment to this post, that GBM reader Dave just received his Vista upgrade package from Asus that inlcudes a new driver disk. It will be interesting to see the reports from users as they do this upgrade to Vista.

Business 2.0 Magazine is reporting an interesting development that might just get rid of that charger on your desk. Powercast, along with a number of companies inlcuding Philips are working on a method of allows you to charge a device with electrical current broadcast through the air.

According to the article, the way it works is that you plug a transmitter that broadcasts radio waves into a wall socket, and a dime-sized receive on your device takes that radio signal and converts it into DC electricity. Apparently it works at a distance of up to 3 feet.

Interesting.

TabletPCReviewSpot.com has posted a review of the Asus R1 Tablet PC by a student, Kayla. As usual the review is illustrated with pictures and benchmarks.

Check it out here.

Don’t forget the Mobile PC SmartDraw webcast on Monday, April 2:

The Mobile PC team at Microsoft is beginning a series of webcasts geared toward teaching people how to use applications optimized for the Mobile PC / Tablet PC / UMPC.

The first webcast will be on SmartDraw, a software application that Dennis also featured in this InkShow. Check out the details below and be sure to visit their upcoming schedule page:

This new public webcast series provides an in-depth look at applications built for Windows Vista mobility. Special features include: data synchronization, power management, ink annotation, ink recognition, network awareness, data access, enhanced UI for touch, and Windows SideShow gadgets. Each Monday a new application will be presented. Please tune in – webcast schedule.
 
Join the first live webcast on Monday, April 2. To join the webcast, merely click the link provided. 
 
WEBCAST: Learn to use SmartDraw, a business graphics application, Monday, April 2, 10:00AM PT

With SmartDraw you can create professional-quality graphics with a Tablet PC running Windows Vista Premium Edition. Get an in-depth look at how SmartDraw incorporates Tablet technology and mobile PC features into its application.

What a great contest on the NOD32 AntiVirus ! We had 48 qualified entries that were received before 11:59 PM MT. Fortunately, we had to choose the winners randomly via a random number generator. If we had to choose them on content, we would be hard pressed to pick a winner because they were all sooooo good!

Our thanks to ESET.com for providing the 6 licenses. I’d encourage everyone to check them out and download the trial of NOD32, and see for yourself just how good of an antivirus application NOD32 is.

So, here are the winners. I’ll be contacting you by email to get your mailing address:

• Kevin Bals
• Travis Carnahan
• Howard Yee
• Andrew Forde
• Tony Parker
• Andrew Robulack

BTW: the time displayed on the comments is incorrect. It is a bug within our blogging system that incorrectly displays the comment time. All qualified entries were counted.

Carrying on from its LE1700 Tablet PC announcement on Monday, Motion Computing has just announced that Sprint will be the WWAN broadband carrier for the LE1700.

From their press release:

With the LE1700, Motion is first to integrate in a slate tablet PC mobile broadband capabilities with Sprint Mobile Broadband.  Sprint’s advanced Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A mobile broadband network provides wireless high speed data services in more than 220 markets; delivering increased flexibility for mobile professionals with access to business critical applications, away from wireless hotspots, enterprise networks and home offices.

Josh Einstein is the man. Not only is he the much admired developer of Tablet Enhancements for Outlook, he has now become every OneNote user’s favorite developer. He recently released OneNote Calendar, a handy application that takes your OneNote data and displays it in a calendar format. Your OneNote notes are displayed in the order of the last date they were modified. Not only is this a handy way to view your notes, it is also an excellent graphic representation of how busy you might have been on a given day or during a particular period of time.

In this short Software Inkshow, I walk through the program, its controls and functionality. This is an excellent addition to any OneNote users toolbox. Especially if you’re like me and you forgot where you might have filed away a specific note.

• Watch or download the High Res version  (4:57 minutes, 14.6mb, Windows Media streaming or direct download)
• Download OneNote Calendar
• Check out Einstein Technologies and TEO 3.0

Enjoy!

All GottaBeMobile.com InkShows are sponsored by:

I’ve been using NOD32 AntiVirus for the past couple of months on my Tablet PCs, and liked enough that I asked the folks at ESET.com if they could send me some licenses to giveway on GottaBeMobile.com. Lo and behold, 6 boxed copies showed up at my office the other day and we are ready to give them away.

This is a one day contest and will expire at 11:59 PM MT tonight. Submit a comment to this news article telling us why you want a license, and we’ll pick 6 random entries from all of those that submit comments. This is open to U.S. and International residents. One entry per person. Please be sure to leave your email address so we know how to get in touch with you. BTW: Don’t worry if the system flags your entry for moderation. It is our anti-spam system, and we will be monitoring all entries to make sure they all get counted.

You can learn more about NOD32 here. It retails for $39 for a one year subscription.

UPDATE: This contest is now over. Please see this post for the list of winners.

If you have been around this site much at all you will know our passion for Tablet PC's, UMPC's and general mobile devices and accessories.  We love the stuff.  There is so much to talk about, and we have a prety good and diverse team bringing you that news from a number of perspectives and usage scenarios.

Do you have any idea where we get all this news and information?  Through the network of enthisiasts of course.  Besides our own original content, editorials and such, we scour the blogosphere for the discoveries that others make to share with you as well. So it is easy to say that we love Tablet and UMPC bloggers!  The more the merrier we say, and we like to help promote those people who are making the effort to share their experiences and discoveries as well.  Blogging can be a lot of work at times, and by promoting each others efforts, we do indeed get the word out to more people who need this information, and nothin motivates a blogger more than knowing people have been able to read and utilize the information they provide.  Hmmm, so if I blog, and you respond to my blog, then I blog more, which equals more good information out there for us all.  Seems like a win-win to me!

It is along those lines that I'd like to share with you another new blogger that we hope will continue to produce good material.  Amrith Kandlur of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has been using Tablet PC's for a while, and recently went through an update on his M400 to Vista.  He is blogging that experience, and in particular recently challenging Toshiba's interpretation of battery time.

I personally enjoy reading of people's experience as they migrate to Vista, and Amrith is doing a good job with this so far, including his experience with a couple of his favorite applications.  Looks to me like he is just getting warmed up!

So go check out Amrith's Mobility Blog, subscribe to his RSS feed and let's encourage his efforts as well.  When he does it right, comment and let him know, and when he makes a mistake, help his education with a kindly posted correction.  I am sure he will appreciate your efforts as well.

See ya in the blogosphere.

Ok, second cajoling from me. You must subscribe to Vikram Madan’s blog. I mentioned it the other day. Vikram is on the UMPC team and is now blogging and as a former commerical artist is self-illustrating his blog. Still not subscribed? Then, take a moment, go to his blog and read: What the #@#%$ is a UMPC? Orig-ins & outs… I’ll wait while you are thoroughly entertained.

Ok. Subscribed yet? You should be.

I’ve been in communication with Motion Computing regarding the LE1700 battery issues I’ve been reporting on.

Motion believes that the experiences I’ve been having with battery times are indeed pre-production issues. For example, there were several production-level tuning tweaks / adjustments in the BIOS and operating system that were not implemented in the units I received. Once those adjustments are made to production units, Motion believes that battery levels will be up to par with what specs quote

I’m going to send my units back to Motion so they can take a look, and hopefully I’ll get some production level units to run further tests on.

The Mobile PC team at Microsoft is beginning a series of webcasts geared toward teaching people how to use applications optimized for the Mobile PC / Tablet PC / UMPC.

The first webcast will be on SmartDraw, a software application that Dennis also featured in this InkShow. Check out the details below and be sure to visit their upcoming schedule page:

This new public webcast series provides an in-depth look at applications built for Windows Vista mobility. Special features include: data synchronization, power management, ink annotation, ink recognition, network awareness, data access, enhanced UI for touch, and Windows SideShow gadgets. Each Monday a new application will be presented. Please tune in – webcast schedule.
 
Join the first live webcast on Monday, April 2. To join the webcast, merely click the link provided. 
 
WEBCAST: Learn to use SmartDraw, a business graphics application, Monday, April 2, 10:00AM PT

With SmartDraw you can create professional-quality graphics with a Tablet PC running Windows Vista Premium Edition. Get an in-depth look at how SmartDraw incorporates Tablet technology and mobile PC features into its application.

 

We’ve highlighted Dave Wallace, The LifeKludger, on GottaBeMoible.com before (here and here, among other links.) His story always fills me with optimism. Dave is a C4 Quadraplegic who can really turn heads the way he challenges conventional assumptions. Dave is now featured on Microsoft’s On10, as a part of their Geek Stories series. You should really check this out.

Thanks to Hugo Ortega for the link.

The Toshiba R400 Tablet PC has captured a lot of focus recently as the first Vista Tablet PC out of the chute, its high price, and what many consider questionable performance specs. I’m anxiously awaiting Dennis Rice’s InkShow review of the unit. In the meantime, TabletPCReviewSpot offers up a review of the R400 complete with benchmarks and a host of pictures. Check it out here.

That headline is a good question without a single answer. Bob Russell, using the introduction of UMPCs to the market, asks “What is mobile, anway?” He lays out his personal critieria. I’m sure there will be some agreement with his points, and some that are different. Battery life is high on his list. Is it on yours? How do you define mobile? Leave a comment and let us know.

Hat tip to jkOnTheRun

Welcome to the first in a series of weekly briefs on tablet-pc and UMPC how-to's designed with the new and novice tablet/UMPC user in mind. Perhaps as we dive deeper into these, we will teach a few old dogs some new tricks as well. Our goal here at GottaBeMobile.com is to help make the tablet-pc and UMPC experience, the best they can be for users of all levels. Topics we intend to cover range from tablet and UMPC application tips, hacks, to hardware how-to's, etc. The list goes on. We may even poll our readership from time to time to let them help guide us along.

GBM How-To Series #1 : Placing a voice memo or audio recording in a OneNote 2007/2003 notebook.

Audio recordings in OneNote can be a useful addition to your inked notes in OneNote in a lot of different situations. If you have ever come out of a meeting or lecture and wished you could exactly recall how or the manner in which something was said, I bet you are not alone. What about being able to verify the accuracy of your notes? I think you will find that adding an audio recording to you notes may be just the solution you were looking for.

Getting Started: First, you obviously will need a microphone to record. Most current tablets and UMPC's have these already built in, but if not, plug in an inexpensive external microphone.

When you make recordings in OneNote, they are directly linked to notes you take when you make the recording. One of the great things about this is that OneNote allows you to later search your notes for keywords or specific text that is associated with a particular recording. For example, if you are in a meeting about the late night silliness at the 2007 CES in Vegas, 'Screaming Monkeys" comes up and the speaker goes on and on about "It has been reported that Warner Crocker started this nonsense at the 2007 CES, etc", click your record icon, you can sit back and record the laughter, sorry, make that lecture and then, in your notes, ink "Warner is a Nut" to indicate the topic of the recording. Whenever you play back the recording, OneNote shows you the accompanying notes that you took. Later do a search for "Warner", and you will be taken to the recording.

It's really easy. Simply...

1. Click the location on the page where you want to place the recording — for example, beside a key place in the lecture notes or paragraph.

2. On the Standard toolbar, click the pull-down arrow next to the Record button, and then click either Record Audio Only or Record Video. Note that a time stamp will be placed on the page next to the notes that you are taking.

  Start recording your audio notes and continue to take notes as needed.

3. To finish the recording, click Stop Audio and Video Recording on the toolbar.

To listen, simply select the audio recording in the notes that you take that you want to hear and click the Play icon. That's it. 

Tips and Notes:

• When recording audio, you should always ask others for permission before you record your conversations with them.
• Remember that OneNote audio recordings are designed to supplement you note taking, not provide a studio quality recording.
• If you choose Record Audio Only, OneNote records the sound clip as a .wma file. If you choose Record Video, OneNote combines audio and video in a .wmv file, provided that a microphone is connected to your computer or is available as part of the camera. Once a video recording has been created in OneNote, you cannot separate the audio portion from the video portion in your notes.
• If OneNote is not running, you can still initiate an audio recording by right-clicking the OneNote icon at the far right of the Windows taskbar, and then clicking Start Recording Audio.
• You can share you OneNote recordings with others. 

1. 1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. 2. In the Category list in the Options dialog box, click E-mail.
3. 3. Select the Attach embedded files to the e-mail message as separate files option, and then click OK.
4. 4. Click the tab of the page that contains the audio or video files you want to send.
5. 5. On the File menu, point to Send Page To, and then click Mail Recipient (as Attachment).
6. 6. Fill out the e-mail form, and then click Send.

• If the quality of your recordings in OneNote does not meet with your expectations, try to adjust the default audio settings.

1. 1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. 2. In the Category list in the Options dialog box, click Audio and Video.
3. 3. Select the options you want

Click Here for more information on Microsoft OneNote 2007

Download the Trial Version

The OQO Model 02 began shipping today for those who ordered it with XP. (It’ll be April for those who want Vista on the tiny device.) In the interm, tnkgrl Mobile has put up a hands on video that gives you a really good look at the size of this device. I couldn’t help thinking while I watched it being manipulated in one hand (while the other was running the camera), that the Model 02 sure looks like it is crying out for a touch screen. Remember this the one non-touchscreen enabled device that Microsoft has okayed being called an Ultra-Mobile PC. Interesting.

Here’s the link to the video.

If you’re like me, it is tough to keep from eating when you’re near your computer, especially in busy times. I often eat lunch, and occasionally dinner at my desk, working the entire time. Of course one of the many downsides of this is that what ends up on your fingers ends up as residue on your keyboard or your case. Greasy fingers make for greasy fingerprints.

I’ve noticed this on the Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Tablet PC, just like I noticed it on my Toshiba M200. It is not a killer problem, but one of those niggling ones that drive me crazy every now and again.

A week or so ago I picked up this tip up from Gizmodo for cleaing cases on the Black MacBook and I thought I’d give it a try. Well, today during my lunch hour I picked up a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and gave the case a once over.

It works quite well in removing those greasy marks, especially on the space bar. Now if I can just find the self control to keep from eating at my desk.

In the category of “Why? Because I Can,” Igor has installed Apple’s OSX on his Asus R2H Ultra-Mobile PC. He’s posted a pictures and some details along with a video which is running on OnlyUMPC. Scroll down to the second video on the page after following the link.

Check it out here.

Nice development here. Ultra-Mobile PC Team member Vikram Mada has started blogging about UMPCs and mobility. Not only that, Vikram used to be an editorial cartoonist and will be illustrating his blog with his artwork. Cool! I’m subscribed. Check it out here.

There have been some comments in the forum and the news posts that I thought needed addressing with another post.

First of all, pressure sensitivity is in both the active digitizer model and the WriteTouch model. The WriteTouch model does use a different digitizer technology (N-Trig), thus a different pen; but pressure sensitivity is there. The active digitizer model still uses the wacom digitizer. I’ve got both units here and pressure sensitivity works.

Second, in regards to the convertible keyboard and extended battery. Unfortunately, the convertible keyboard cannot attach to the back of the tablet when the extended battery is used. I brought this issue up with Motion when the LE1600 first came out, and unfortunately it still has not been addressed.

Third, there have been some questions regarding battery life with Vista. I still have the LE1700 with me and I’ll try to get some examples of standard battery life under Vista. I’m suspecting it will be between 2 to 2.5 hours with brightness fixed at 50% and wireless off. I’ll post a comment to this news post with those results later tonight.

UPDATE FROM BATTERY TEST:

I just had the opportunity to run the LE1700 Tablet PC through a simple battery test. Here is the scenario

• 1.5 ghz Core 2 Duo
• Vista Business
• Standard battery
• Power plan: Motion Optimized
• 50% brightness fixed
• wireless off ( didn’t come with wireless )
• Bluetooth on
• Journal, Word, and MineSweeper running

With the above setting, I got about 1 hour 40 minutes. Pretty darn bad. Some of that is definitely Vista, and some of it is definitely Core 2 Duo, but it is hard to say which is the biggest culprit. I definitely wasn’t pushing the machine hard. In fact, my daughter was using it for about an hour of that 1 hour 40 minutes drawing in Journal.

The official specs list battery life at around 3 hours. When I was using the LE1600 1.5 ghz Centrino running Tablet PC Edition, I was getting about 2.5 - 2.75 hours. Now, with this simple, unscientific test, I get about 33% less battery life with Vista and Core 2 Duo. Again - nothing scientific, but it is certainly worth noting. Sounds like people who want the LE1700 will need to do what X60 owners are doing: get the extended battery. It is also something that Motion needs to take a serious look at.

UPDATE #2:

I ran the same scenario above with the extended battery plugged in and got about 3 hours 20 minutes, with the extended battery roughly burning at the same rate as the standard  battery test. So, the extended battery appears to add about 1 hour 40 minutes of use. This falls way short of the spec’d 6 – 7 hours.

UPDATE #3:

I’ve been in communication with Motion Computing regarding the LE1700 battery issues I’ve been reporting on.

Motion believes that the experiences I’ve been having with battery times are indeed pre-production issues. For example, there were several production-level tuning tweaks / adjustments in the BIOS and operating system that were not implemented in the units I received. Once those adjustments are made to production units, Motion believes that battery levels will be up to par with what specs quote

I’m going to send my units back to Motion so they can take a look, and hopefully I’ll get some production level units to run further tests on.

As everyone searches for the secret to longer battery life for mobile devices, maybe the answer is a sweet one. According to Dr. Shelley Minteer in a presentation at the American Chemical Society, one answer may lie in sugar as the fuel for the juice. Just about anything with sugar in it, from soft drinks to tree sap can supposedly do the trick.

Fascinating article that is worth a read, sweet tooth or not.

I've been pretty vocal about my disappointment in touchscreen technology as a primary tool for inking.  I just do not like it.  Every time I try it it feels awkward and limiting to me after all the years of using an active digitzer.  I enjoy the touch experience for navigation and object manipulation, but really dislike the ink experience.

Tracy Hooten, the full time college student who runs TheStudentTabletPC.com gave it her best shot.  She tried using the Samsung Q1 as her primary tool in college for notetaking and general schoolwork.  I really like her one comment about returning to an active digitizer:

"I felt like I was writing on a cloud when I went back to my Tablet PC with the active digitizer."

Amen, and amen Tracy.  That says it so well for me also!  Check out Tracy's whole story on this experiment!  She has lots of good info on what seemed to work, what did not seem to work.

Two weeks ago, we launched a contest revolving around mobility and the DocuPen Executive Kit. We asked forum members to submit their answers to the following question: How would a pen based scanner like the DocuPen RC800 Executive Kit impact your mobile lifestyle?

We were hoping to receive at least 50 entries, but the 30 entries we did receive were quite good, and somebody in that 30 deserved to win.

Congratulations to GBM reader Robphy on his winning entry. He is now the recipient of a $399 DocuPen Executive Kit.  Robphy, we expect to hear great things from you on use of the DocuPen.

Robphy’s entry:

As a student, I am often rummaging through  the library reserve stacks, chasing down references to numerous journal articles. Up to this point, I usually have to take a stack of thick now-hard-bound journals down several flights and over to the copier in order to copy relevant portions of  these articles. Having a compact scanner would certainly help me collect and organize these references. No more folders full of papers... I could read and mark them up on my TabletPC.

As an educator, I find that students appreciate examples and discussions taken from their textbook. With a flatbed scanner, I have often scanned in sections of the textbook, which I display and markup using my TabletPC. Having this compact scanner would certainly make this task a little easier, as well as probably prolong the binding of my heavy textbook [which doesn't like to getting pressed down onto the flatbed]. In addition, I wouldn't always have to carry that heavy textbook around.

As a physicist, while I now try to do all of my handwritten calculations on  a TabletPC, there are some instances when it's inconvenient to do  so... like on a crowded city bus.  So, I use another wireless device: a pad of paper. Thus, at the end of each ride, I have a scribbled calculation that will probably get lost in a pile of papers if I don't scan it in or else transcribe it. So, here again the compact scanner would be useful.

As a physicist traveling to conferences, a compact scanner like this would be useful in (after being granted permission) scanning in abstracts, references, and contact-information from poster presentations. The scanner would also be useful in helping to keep track of receipts and business cards.

As an amateur wine enthusiast, I shop for wine with a small paper notebook with wine-labels taped onto pages, with comments written below. Since it is been rather time-consuming to peel off the wine-labels, a compact scanner with the unique features of the DocuPen RC800 Scanner would make it easier to get the image of the wine-label. Admittedly, one could take a digital photo of the wine label still on the bottle... but it  might not be as legible as a scan. Along these lines, one could scan in labels of food products or medications, which could be used for logging in special diets or one's medication history.

As an amateur technology-evangelist, I would probably sing the praises of the DocuPen RC800 Scanner, as I have done for the TabletPC. (Over the years, I think I've done a much better job than the computer-store salesperson in showing off the TabletPC... to the point where a handful of friends and folks in my department and at some conferences have later asked for my  advice in helping them purchase the right TabletPC for them.)

And, finally, as a gadget-lover, it would just be cool to have a scanner like this.

John Hill and the good folks at Allegiance Technology Partners are having an open house on March 27^th from 9am to 4pm. If you’d like to take a look at a lot of the Tablet PC and UMPC hardware we’ve featured in our Inkshows, tomorrow would be a good opportunity.

Allegiance Technology Partners is located at 300 Welsh Road, Building 4, Suite 155, Horsham, Pennsylvania. They are located in the Horsham Business Center and can be contacted at 215.441.5580.

Take some good pictures John and let us know how it goes. If any GBM readers attend, be sure to let us know, too.

This patent from XM certainly has interesting implications for touch based Ultra-Mobile PCs and Tablet PCs. Imagine being able to use different fingers for various short-cuts, like a thumb to launch Windows Media Player, the pinky to launch email, etc. Take that a bit further and imagine the UMPC finger experience being custom for each person using it. My thumb can launch Media Player while my wife’s thumb would launch OneNote.

Well, if XM’s patent has any validity and the technology spreads to other devices besides their satellite radio systems, it could certainly make for some interesting experiences.

Read more about XM’s multi-finger patent at OrbitCast.com

Via Engadget

We’ve been seeing word for awhile about HTC’s newest Windows Mobile device that some have been calling a UMPC and some not. But at the CITA wireless trade show, HTC shifted the terrain quite a bit by introducting the HTC Shift, alongside that device, now christened the HTC Advantag, we’ve all been looking at. The Shift looks very similar to what we’ve been seeing but here’s the big difference. It is running Vista Business. That’s right, a full fledged Vista ultra-portable with a sliding keyboard. Targeted towards a third quarter release, the HTC Shift comes with a 7inch touchscreen running at 800x480 resolution, 1GB of RAM, a 30GB HD, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi 802.11g, tri-band HSDPA and EDGE. It also has a Synaptics touchpad on the right side of the screen and a 1.2 megapixel webcam. All of the above came from this PC Magazine article, which is also saying that it will run Aero Glass, but no word on the processor or graphics chipset yet.

Lots of word bouncing around about this and we got the tip from jkOnTheRun, who is running the entire press release. More info at PCMag. Engadget also has coverage. Here’s the product site.

We are very pleased to bring everyone this first look at Motion Computing’s newest Tablet PC, the LE1700, in this special launch day video review. It has been about two years since the release of the LE1600, and many people were wondering if this day would ever come. It has!

In many ways, Motion has again set the bar for other slate Tablet PC OEMs to meet. With the introduction of SXGA (1400 x 1050 resolution), Core 2 Duo, and integrated broadband, it is clear that Motion listened to their customers when designing this new version. In addition to integrated broadband (carriers unannounced at this moment), the LE1700 also supports a SIM slot for HSDPA and 3G in Europe. Theoretically though, there is no reason why other SIM cards shouldn’t work for those of us in the states. Guess we'll see as folks start buying them.

The other important addition to the LE1700 is the option for capacitive touch. Motion refers to this feature as WriteTouch. Other OEMs call it MultiTouch / Dual Mode, etc. This new option gives the user the ability to use touch and an active pen at the same time and works with the SXGA screen ( another first ), which is something we’ve all been asking OEMs for and Motion delivered. In addition to the active digizer model Motion sent us to review, they also sent us the WriteTouch version to examine. Unfortunately, the WriteTouch model we had was an early pre-production build and was not ready for a full fledged review. We hope to get a production ready model in the coming weeks and will publish a special InkShow when that arrives.

Unfortunately, the LE1700 still uses 1.8” 4200 RPM drives. This is definitely a sore subject among many who were at least hoping for 5400 rpm drives, and should be something that Motion addresses with future models. The overall design of the LE1700 remains mostly unchanged with the exception of some lights moving to a different side to accomodate the broadband antenna, a SIM slot, and the casing slightly raised up compared to the LE1600.

In this InkShow, I take an indepth look at the SXGA Active Digitizer model, go over the different digitizer versions, compare XGA to SXGA, show Aero running on it, and also look at the extended battery and the slightly improved convertible keyboard. In addition, I demo a very unique feature of the fingerprint reader that allows it to also function as a trackpad.

Thanks go out to Motion Computing for sending us the review units, and also to John Hill of Allegiance Technology Partners for his unique role in this process.

Here are a couple of notes from the show that I failed to mention during the video or bear worth repeating:

• The WriteTouch option uses a new digitizer from N-Trig, so other Wacom based pens cannot be used on it.
• The WriteTouch option supports pressure sensitivity, but the back of the pen eraser is not supported.
• WriteTouch is available in both Vista and XP Tablet Edition
• Motion is shipping the LE1700 with 120 DPI turned on, which makes the fonts and buttons bigger and easier to read. This is to help those coming from an XGA environment adjust to the SXGA screen.
• All LE1600 accessories will work on the LE1700.
• After using the LE1700 for several days, I barely noticed the fan kicking on. That said, the back of tablet was very hot to the touch when plugged in to AC and recharging.

Here are the specs, as well as a link to the LE1700 product page ,and Motion’s official announcement . You can view the PCMark05 results below:

• Intel® Core™2 Duo 1.5 GHz Processor or Intel® Core™ Solo 1.2 GHz Processor
• Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset, Intel 950 Graphics
• Integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g) networking
• Integrated Bluetooth® and infrared
• Integrated Wireless Broadband
• Integrated accelerometer to help protect the hard drive
• 30 or 60gb harddrive, 1.8” 4200 rpm
• Base RAM of 1gb, support for up to 4 gb of DDR2 RAM
• 12.1" SXGA+ TFT LCD
• Integrated fingerprint reader that also doubles as a trackpad
• Integrated Ethernet
• Optional WriteTouch dual mode to allow touch and active digitizer use.
• Optional View Anywhere for outdoor and bright-light viewing. View Anywhere is not available with WriteTouch.
• Ambient light sensor (ALS)
• VGA port
• DVI-D port
• SD (Secure Digital) card slot
• PC card slot
• SIM card slot
• Weight: 3.3lbs with Standard Battery, 4.3lbs with Extended Battery
• Dimensions: 11.65” x 9.64 x .74”
• Available to order with Vista Business or XP Tablet Edition.

• Watch or download the High Res version InkShow  (36:19 minutes, 275mb, Windows Media streaming or direct download)
• Visit Motion Computing’s LE1700 product page
• Pricing:

  • The Motion LE1700 Core 2 Duo is available starting at $2,199. 

  • The Core Solo™ starts off at $1,999. 

  • View Anywhere is a $299 upgrade.

  • WriteTouch is a $299 upgrade.

• PCMark05 results (1.5ghz Core 2 Duo, 2gb ram, 30gb 4200 rpm hd:

  • Overall score: 2467 PCMarks

  • HDD – XP startup: 3.95 MB/s

  • Physics and 3D: 62.26 FPS

  • Transparent Windows: 1442.26 Windows/s

  • 3D Pixel Shader: 8.81 FPS

  • Web Page Rendering: 1.27 Pages/s

  • File Decryption: 40.01 MB/s

  • Graphics memory – 64 lines: 151.95 FPS

  • HDD – General Usages: 2.53 MB/s

  • Multithreaded Test 1 / Audio Compression: 1430.64 KB/s

  • Multithreaded Test 2 / Video Encoding: 266.81 KB/s

  • Multithreaded Test 2 / Text Edit: 75.19 Pages/s