This weekend I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Samsung Q1 UMPC for some development I’ve been working on. (I see I wasn’t the only one; Mark Polino got a Q1 this weekend too–although he gets to keep his. Mark has some great indepth first impressions of the Q1 here.) Unfortunately, my time was limited with this unit and I’ve already had to send it back to its “real” home. I thought I’d share some of my impressions here, though.
This is the first time I’ve had a chance to use, let alone see up close, a Q1. In short, I was impressed.
First, the Q1 looks smart and it “feels” relatively light and comfortable in my hands. The black, glossy finish on the front side of the Q1 did show some smudges and fingerprints as expected–particularly in bright, outdoor light. I didn’t notice them inside, however.
Since this was a loaner unit, I didn’t use the stylus that much for fear of scratching the display (there was no screen protector on the unit). Instead, I used my fingers to navigate most of the time. With the Q1’s 80g built-in digitizer this was effortless. I’ve used other units with 120g digitizers in the past (such as the TabletKiosk eo) where you need to use your fingertip or fingernail to push on screen buttons. With the Q1 scrolling and the like seemed a little bit easier–in part, I’m guessing because of the Q1’s more sensitive 80g digitizer. This may be due in part to a faulty memory though.
Since I was focused on development while using the Q1 I didn’t get a chance to thoroughly check it out. I didn’t even configure the WiFi, for instance.
I did check out handwriting in Journal for a bit and it seemed to work much better than I had expected. I didn’t have one false detection with my wrist. My hand is big enough that when writing I’d simply rest my wrist on the bottom of the Q1’s case and leave my hand above the screen. I tried writing with the stylus and with my fingernail. I found it much easier to write with the stylus–even though it is extremely thin. In a pinch a finger would do, but I don’t think it would be something I’d rely on. Using a finger to write definitely produces writing more legible than that with a mouse, but it still doesn’t look that great–at least for me.
I took the Q1 outside for a quick test and at first I couldn’t see anything on the display. The Tablet settings dialog had the brightness slider disabled and it took me a couple minutes to figure out that I could press the button on the bottom left of the front of the unit to get a pop-up menu in which the display brightness options are located. I turned up the brightness to 100% and then I could see the display fine in the shade. Not bad I thought.
That was the extent of my outdoor test though.
Back indoors I kept finding myself learning little things that surprised me. For instance, I kept sliding the On/Off switch the wrong way. I guess I don’t know how to read internationalized icons :-). I also wasn’t so hot at using the “joystick.” I’m not enough of a gamer I guess. Instead I just tapped and slid things with my fingers. I didn’t use the stylus all that much. I didn’t find that I needed to.
I never noticed any heat problems. The fan did kick on at one point though–at least I think I heard a fan. 🙂
OK, here’s the $1100 question: Would I buy one for myself. Hmmm. If it included EVDO and a webcam (OK, if there was a nice USB webcam that would be good enough), I’d say yes. In a heartbeat. I really like the form factor and the idea of having something that fits in between a PDAish phone and a notebook. Without the EVDO I’d need to consult my bank account statements first.
It’s not that $1100 is way too much for such a nice unit–especially if you look around at other devices on the market–however, would this be my first choice? I’m not sure. Right now, I still like the Founder unit I played with at Mix06 the most. Maybe it’s that I don’t know how much the Founder unit costs that makes it so easy for me to think this. The Q1 definitely looks nicer, but I really like the built-in webcam of the Founder. Call me silly. I also liked it’s joystick a bit better. At least I think I did. I really need the units side by side. The TabletKiosk eo, though, in terms of my every day use is also at the top of my list. Why? Yes, it’s less expensive. That’s part of it. But also, I like the 120g digitizer in the display. I imagine when I’m writing my hand can be more relaxed for extended periods of time since the less-sensitive digitizer allows you to apply pressure on the display outside of where you’re writing. I think though, after using the Q1, I imagine that I’d use the stylus more on the eo because of the 120g digitizer.
I guess it all depends on how I’m going to use it. So far I give the Q1 top style points, the eo top handwriting points, and the Founder top joystick/button points. Now that I think about this, my decision is getting more difficult by the minute. Will I have to buy all three???