Origami expectations .., and “What’s already out there?”

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I’m not gonna do any speculation in this post about Origami. I do feel the need to warn you though – don’t get confused until you know the facts. If people are convinced that Origmai is an “UltraMobile PC” (UMPC), that is probably a good assumption, and I am willing to comment on that fact. Exactly what it will do, what models, etc. will be available, etc., etc. well….. the NDA cops will not allow us to comment on that. The reality anyway is that we only know slightly more than you do at this point, and all the facts are only a week away anyhow.

However, if people think this is the only UMPC out there, they have been asleep — for a while.

They are already out there. Motion Computing has the LS800, which is a great piece of hardware. OQO has offerrings in this space as well, and although I have not had much time with this unit yet, they have promised us an eval unit soon (watch here for an exhaustive review). I’m not going to try and put a list out there for you of all that is out there right now, that will take a little research on your part. Just remember that the Origami specs you have seen are very aggressive, anyone who has seen them and understands the realities can tell you that. The specs are goals, and the realities will take some time to surface.

Here is where I want to be clear. Listening? If you think that an Origami device is going to be of the same caliber, quality, and capability of the currently available UMPC’s, guess again. They are targeted at a different group of people. For example, Motion Computing has been working on this category for a while now, introducing their LS800 I believe in June of 2005. They have had some practice with this, and the goals they had were much higher than the UMPC specs. I think they have a good V1 product. It still needs some work with thermal issues, etc., but they did a great job. When we do finally see Origami UMPC devices, and we lay one beside an LS800, you will know the difference. Whether you choose to pay the difference is up to you, but they will be different. Even when you lay an OQO 01+ beside an LS800 you will see that while they are similar, even they appeal to an entirely different group.

So keep your head on straight here amongst all the hype. Different strokes for different folks. It’s an exciting time.