REVIEW DATE: 06.10.08
3.5 out of 5.0
discuss Total posts: 1
buy it here $1,199.00
by Cisco Cheng
Green Tech
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Since the introduction of the Fujitsu LifeBook U810, a flurry of affordable ultramobile PCs (UMPC) such as the ASUS EeePC 900 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note, targeting those who wouldn't want to pay the four-digit price tag for an ultraportable, has entered the scene. Fujitsu has gone and updated the U810, adding one very compelling feature for frequent travelers—a built-in cellular modem (AT&T's HSDPA). Though the cellular modem pushes the price of the LifeBook U810 (WWAN) past the $1,000 mark, it now gives you access to the Web anytime, wherever there's a cell-phone signal available.
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The U810 (WWAN) could be considered a handheld PC because you can cradle it like a BlackBerry Bold 9000. It does extend beyond the palms of your hands, but just barely. Though it comes in clamshell format, it's actually a tablet, because you can rotate the screen 180 degrees to expose a tiny keyboard. Best of all, this unit weighs just 1.6 pounds. Still, it's not as light and compact as the OQO model 02, and it's far from winning any design awards. Its dimensions (6 by 6.7 by 1 inches, HWD) are a bit clumsy, as the battery protrudes awkwardly from the back, and the WWAN antennas stick out like mouse ears. It's not small enough for the tight-jeans crowd but fine for an oversize coat pocket.
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Including a keyboard that's even 66 percent of full size is commendable on such a tiny unit, but attempting to touch-type on it takes effort. Your best bet is to cradle it and use your thumbs. The mouse buttons and pointing stick, located beside the hinge, are really hard to reach when you're typing with all fingers. Conventional UMPCs like the ASUS EeePC 900 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC have bigger, traditional keyboards that many people would feel comfortable with right away. The only oversize key on the U810 (WWAN) is the space bar, which also doubles as a Tab key when you press it with a function key.
Despite the cramped keyboard, you have a third option for inputting text or navigating the screen: The 5.6-inch screen has touch capabilities, so you can use the tiny stylus that comes with the unit, or touch the screen with your fingers. The 1,024-by-600 resolution on such a small screen makes the icons and text too tiny for those with vision problems, yet a lower resolution results in a smaller canvas to work on.
The "mouse ears" that protrude from the lid on either side of the screen may be aesthetically distracting, but the rewards reaped from their presence are immeasurable. The U810 (WWAN) adds an AT&T HSDPA modem that requires a separate AT&T account to use. Combined with 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it gives you three internal wireless solutions. As long as you can acquire an AT&T cell-phone signal, having an HSDPA modem means that 3G broadband wireless speeds are available to you at any time. As client software goes, the AT&T Communications Manager is a lot speedier than Verizon's Access Manager. You don't have to wait for it to initialize, authenticate, and then connect—signing on with the U810 (WWAN) was instantaneous. At various locations in Manhattan, I was getting 1.5-megabit-per-second downloads with only three bars. (I didn't try downloading at less than three.) At four to five bars, I was getting close to 2 Mbps down. Coverage isn't as seamless as in Verizon's networks, as I did run across some dead patches in Queens and Long Island, New York—something the rarely happens with Verizon. Though the $200 up-sell is unfortunate, having a ubiquitous wireless connection is a huge asset for frequent travelers.
The features are a little bare-bones compared with some of the new UMPCs hitting the marketplace—namely the ASUS EeePC 900, the HP 2133 Mini-Note, and the HTC Shift. Then again, the U810's features are far better than those of the OQO model 02 and the Samsung Q1 Ultra. It has one USB port, a headphone, and a microphone jack. What's more impressive are the SD and CompactFlash memory card readers. With them, you can snap pictures with your digital camera and upload them immediately to a photo sharing site like Flickr. I would argue that an ExpressCard slot (such as that found on the HP Mini-Note), in place of a CF slot would have been preferable because it enables you to use different devices such as a media card reader, FireWire ports, and extra USB ports. An Ethernet port was also omitted, although an Ethernet dongle attachment (which connects via a proprietary port on the bezel) is available from Fujitsu—both the ASUS and the HP Mini-Note have Ethernet ports built in. The system comes with the option of Windows XP Tablet Edition OS (which our review system came with) and Windows Vista.
The U810 (WWAN) comes with an arsenal of environmental certifications. Because it runs a very low-powered processor, earning an Energy Star 4.0 sticker was a slam dunk. It is also an RoHS-compliant device, which means that it meets European requirements for eliminating hazardous materials, like lead, from its production. Although it doesn't have a Gold rating, an EPEAT Silver rating is still praiseworthy. Of course, we ran our own energy tests on it as well. As measured by a P3 International Kill A Watt meter, the U810 (WWAN) garnered a 12W reading—2W below Energy Star's maximum. Because it meets all of our requirements, the U810 (WWAN) is PC Magazine GreenTech Approved.
Not much has changed from the original U810 in terms of processing power. The U810 (WWAN) runs on an 800-MHz Intel A110 processor, which isn't impressive on paper but is fast enough to run the device's bundled Windows XP Tablet Edition OS. The unit's RAM, however, is maxed out at 1GB, which is fine for XP Tablet but not as Vista-friendly as the 2GB of RAM in the HP Mini-Note. I was able to install Mozilla's Firefox and the PicLens plug-in—which transforms FireFox into a 3D photo experience—on the U810 (WWAN), and the combination worked wonderfully with Flickr. Editing photos with Photoshop Elements can be done as long as photo resolutions aren't absurdly high (you should keep picture sizes under 2MB). Encoding a WMV video to an MPEG file was dreadfully slow (8 minutes 4 seconds), but it can be done. The battery hasn't changed, either. The 39-Wh battery will net you about 3.5 hours, according to MobileMark 2007 tests. (I wasn't able to run the other performance tests on this unit, as is typically the case with UMPCs.)
With the AT&T HSDPA cellular modem, the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 (WWAN) adds a significant piece of equipment that will increase productivity and ease the lives of frequent travelers. A cellular modem is almost a must for a device of this nature (though a lot of UMPCs don't have one yet). Adding $200 on top of the $999 price tag, however, doesn't work in Fujitsu's favor when UMPCs like the ASUS EeePC 900 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note are selling for half that amount. Those who are keen on getting this pint-size UMPC for under a grand can always skip the modem.
