Unlike CES, there is no shortage of newly announced UMPC devices here at CeBIT.
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S. -No, that's a jokey Sony UX UMPC to the right, not the still-unseen Foleo.
ENGADGET: Palm Foleo and Linux OS for summer is what Hawkins is announcing at D?
"Mini-notebooks, " which include the hardback-book sized UMPC standard engineered by Intel and Microsoft (and manufactured by Samsung, OQO and Asus), sold fewer than 350, 000 units worldwide in 2007, according to IDC data.
Most intriguing, however, was the "optional high performance integrated graphics" that could reportedly be included on the same processor die, which could certainly prove interesting if crammed into, say, a UMPC.
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Besides portraying the device as a UMPC-style tablet with sliding QWERTY keyboard, one of the pictures clearly shows the words "Bluetooth, " "WLAN, " and "WWAN" on the screen's bezel when viewed full-size.
Companies like Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) and Samsung haven't been able to bring the UMPC to the mainstream, but the Foleo's price could give Palm an edge.
The best news for dreamers that've been holding out for a true Newton successor all this time is that the chips provide plenty of juice for a UMPC-type device should Apple choose to go down that path.
ENGADGET: Apple prepping devices based on Intel's Silverthorne chip
"Mini-notebooks, " which include the hardback-book sized UMPC standard engineered by Intel and Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) (and manufactured by Samsung, OQO and Asus), sold fewer than 350, 000 units worldwide in 2007, according to IDC data.
Maybe it's a bit early to call the UMPC some sort of failure, but with the prices as they are, and the current usability so lacking, we're not really thinking Microsoft and company hit much of a home run here.
Now, even if those aesthetically challenged pictures of that supposed Origami device we saw yesterday are the real deal, keep in mind that if indeed Origami is just a UMPC device like we speculated before, then several manufacturers should be in line with product.
ENGADGET: Intel UMPC details begin to emerge -- products coming on 9th
Raon didn't exactly knock it out of the park with its first foray into the UMPC market -- largely due to its curious decision that integrated WiFi and Bluetooth weren't all that important -- but it's now having another go at it, introducing its new-and-improved Everun UMPC.
But since Silverthorne isn't expected to be ready for prime time until a few months in to 2008--Intel is expected to shed more details on the chip at another San Francisco conference in February--it is unlikely that whatever MID or UMPC Apple has planned will be detailed at Macworld.
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