MobileTechReviews posts impressions of the Q1
In the first of several posts about the Q1 UMPC, MobileTechReviews.com begins their first impressions. This review takes a bit of a different spin than the other reviews out there.
Their user interface impressions remind me of when I tried out the eo – there is much work to be done regarding the smaller resolution and touch interface. Here’s hoping that Vista helps address many of these issues.
Overall, MobileTechReview.com begins by offering a very balanced and fair review. I’m looking forward to the continuing series and final full review.
The screen, which I first saw at the Samsung Q1 Launch event last week truly was and still is beyond my expectations. Tablets don’t always have the best of displays (that’s the current nature of digitizer technology), but the Q1’s is very bright, extremely color saturated and has a viewing angle comparable to traditional notebooks (much better than the Fujitsu P1510D we just reviewed, which also uses a passive digitizer touch screen). The included stylus is small and cheesy- get a nice convertible PDA/pen one to replace it. Or use your finger when not doing fine work such as placing the cursor in a document or working with images. Movies look fantastic!
The screen really washes out in direct sunlight so don’t expect to bring it along for a Geocaching on a sunny day and really see those maps.
The built in speakers with SRS surround sound are incredibly loud and decent in terms of sound quality.
We’ll get into usability in our next installment. Suffice to say that Microsoft isn’t known for getting user interfaces right the first time. Though the device runs the now relatively mature Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005, somehow no one at MS who came up with the suggested 800 x 480 base resolution noticed that the OK, Cancel and other buttons in interactive dialog boxes sometimes fall off the screen. Fortunately the resolution quick switcher button comes to the rescue, but really– should we be in need of rescue after shelling out the bucks for such a nifty device?
