More powerful Origami Ultra Mobile PCs on the way

New UMPC designs are already on the drawing board

The next generation of Origami Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) will boast enhanced features including longer battery life, larger screens, more powerful CPUs, TV tuners, GPS navigation and 3G connectivity.

New models are already on the drawing board, and slated for launch by the first quarter of next year, manufacturers say, following criticism of the first generation of Ultra Mobile PCs.

The UMPC platform, originally developed by Microsoft, is a handheld tablet-style wireless PC controlled with a touch screen and pointing devices. It has no keyboard, and early models have been faulted for their weight and short battery life. 

"We want to develop a UMPC with Intel's Yonah, the Core CPU, but keeping the same form factor," Stanley Chen, of UMPC maker Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), told vnunet.com at the Computex trade show in Taipei. 

The Intel Core CPU, previously known under the codename 'Yonah', comes in both dual-core and single-core versions. Intel announced an ultra-low-voltage version of the CPU earlier this week. 

Several companies are showing UMPCs at Computex, including ECS, Asustek and Amtek. ECS manufactures the H70, which is available in a variety of configurations. 

The top-of-the-line model has a 1GHz low-voltage Pentium M CPU, 1GB of memory, and a 60GB hard disk drive. In some regions, the PC is sold by Chinese firm Founder under the name Mininote.

Although all UMPCs can already connect to wireless internet networks, ECS wants to improve connectivity further by tapping into 3G mobile phone networks in future models.

The company will achieve this by adding an HSDPA card to the device. HSDPA will allow high speed internet connections over suitably upgraded WCDMA mobile phone networks.

"We also hope to offer GPS and a digital TV tuner as options," said Chen, who is a product specialist in ECS' notebook and PC business unit. There was concern that these extra components would add weight, he admitted.

As well as adding features, ECS wants to address one of the UMPC's biggest problems: poor battery life of around two hours. "We definitely want to improve battery life, ideally to over three hours," said Chen.

A larger 8in screen is another possibility, but ECS admitted that fitting it into the limited space could be an insurmountable problem.

Chen predicted that ECS could have its enhanced UMPC ready at the end of this year, and certainly by the first quarter of 2007.