He's going to focus on x86 based devices and is considering removing RISC based devices, including the N800, from his fantastic UMPC Product Portal. On one hand, I can understand where he's coming from. The "New Internet" has a lot of demands from the end-user's browser. Devices like the N800 have a hard time keeping up with the VIA C7M or Intel's new McCaslin chipset. On the other hand, sometimes all a user wants to carry is a less expensive Gmail/MySpace portal, chat client, PMP and news reader in their pocket.
This came not long after an article for UltraMobileGeek.com. In it, I give the run-down of smartphones vs. internet devices vs. UMPCs vs. Laptops. Looking at all that, I can understand that there are WAY too many devices in the market for one site to track. The line must be drawn somewhere.
I beg you, Steve: Please do not remove these devices from the portal. Even if all your news, features, and reviews are for x86 UMPCs, it would benefit the whole market to see the non-x86 options out there too.
6 comments:
I imagine he'll be eating humble pie in 9 or 12 months time when the x86 UMPCs still have a CPU consuming 10x the power of an ARM. There will be two categories of UMPC, the x86 and ARM catering to different markets chiefly determined by battery lifetime and also weight (since a bigger battery will be needed by the x86 devices in order to match the longevity of the smaller and lighter ARM devices).
He's making a mistake and jumping the gun way too soon - leave him to it, he'll add support for ARM devices when it's clear that x86 can't compete on battery life+weight.
Mind you, who reads UMPCPortal anyway? His decision is not a big deal really!
He may be, seeing as how technology is changing. However, I am going to ask you to eat a little pie of your own. I have a pretty popular pair of blogs, but UMPC Portal blows me away in traffic. Most of that is because, in addition to a blog, Steve has excellent resources like that product portal.
If you're looking for a mobile internet experience, I can't honestly say that the E90, The N800, the HTC Advantage, the Sharp Em-One (I'll miss you) or the Uber-PMPs are going to bring you complete Internet happiness. What do you think? RISC out, x86 in? If you've got reason to believe that the RISC browsers are going to pull through, let me know now because, for the interests of the UMPC-focused visitors here, I'm very close to pulling all the RISC/ARM devices out of the database.
Yes its a bold move and as I said above, i'm looking for proof that there's a RISC-based UMPC out there. I've been reasearching it for months and hoping, hoping that one of the RISC-based devices will give me the full internet experience. Ithasn't happened yet.
There's RISC rechnology coming through that is capable of providing the power (although its arguably not RISC when there are new complex instructions set extensions and co-processors thrown into the mix.) but there's the problem of software to be addressed too. Its behind and needs money and manpower behind it. A lot of people are moving to x86 now (Intel threw out Xscale, Pepper moved to x86, HTC are even starting to use it)
I hope that I can change my decision in the near future. (I won't be eating humble pie because today, its the right decision for an Ultra Mobile PC portal.) I'll be very happy to present RISC devices as ultra mobile PC's as soon as they offer the full internet experience.
Millhouse is right on one thing though, my decision is not a big deal. I'm a comparatively small portal on the net and I don't expect my decisions to be making big waves. I am, however passionately focused on bringing the right UMPC info to customers and I want those customers to be as well informed as possible. All I hope is that the portal helps peoples personal decisions about UMPCs.
Thanks for the positive comments about the portal Thoughtfix. Working hard to make it better every day!
Steve. N800 owner. Great device. Not a UMPC!
Oh, one other thing. At some point in the near future, the power consumed by a processor will become irrelevant. When it goes below 4 watts then you've got the ability to provide thin, small, pocketable devices. Does it matter that a RISC processor would only take .3W because the screens, wifi and 4G will be taking most of the power anyway. RISC devices could lose all of their advantage.
I've always appreciated UMPCPortal because it wasn't a Microsoft fanboy site. Chippy always seemed to give fair consideration to a broad array of devices. He even likes the Pepperpad 3 (with linux on board).
I can understand his choice to focus on X86 specific devices, but that will make his site less useful to me. But then again, maybe I'm not his target audience. I own a zaurus, N800, and returned a pepperpad3. I am still looking for my perfect device -- only now I won't be able to find information on all the likely candidates in one place.
chippy said: I am, however passionately focused on bringing the right UMPC info to customers and I want those customers to be as well informed as possible. All I hope is that the portal helps peoples personal decisions about UMPCs.
An ironic statement, given that you're talking about narrowing the list. Is the "right info" limited to a single platform?
And I have to add that feelings about "the internet experience" are mostly subjective where the devices in question are concerned. If the device fulfills the users expectations (and for many the N800 does) then what's the problem?
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