UPDATE, 19 Aug 2009: Windows 7 totally rocks on this thing!!! It seems even peppier than XP somehow.
- Buy.com has some more good photos **AT THE BOTTOM**
- Here's some of my own photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Beej2020/SamsungQ1UV#
- Samsung's Q1U landing page
- (Interesting, they _just_ (Sept. 19th, 2008) withdrew their links for the Vista model that I got --for obvious reasons-- looks like the new "Premium" model with a beefier CPU is the currently promoted Vista solution)
Samsung Software & Drivers Page
Specs on the model I got:
| Model | Samsung Q1U-V (NP-Q1UA000) (official spec PDF) |
| Weight | 1.52 lbs |
| Display | 7" 1024 x 600 touch screen LCD (exceptionally bright!) |
| Standard Battery | 4-cell Li-Ion Battery, 29.6wh Capacity (~4.5 hours) (I've picked two additional 6 cells = 16+hrs total time) |
| OS | Windows 7 absolutely rocks on this thing!!! |
| Dimensions | 8.96" x 4.88" x 0.93" (think of a letter size sheet of paper, portrait orientation, folded in half, top to bottom) |
| HD | 60GB 1.8” 4200rpm PATA ZIF (Toshiba MK6008GAH) |
| Wireless | 802.11 b/g (Atheros AR5006X specs, drivers) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth® 2.0 + EDR |
| USB | 2 x USB 2.0 |
| CPU | Intel® Ultra Mobile A110 800MHz clock 512Kb L2 cache/400 MHz FSB |
| Video Chipset | Intel GMA950, 128MB shared memory (specs) |
| System Memory | 1GB DDR2 400MHz stock (upgraded to 2GB) |
| Memory slot | SD/MMC |
| Audio | HD Audio, SRS TruSurround Sound |
| Cameras | Front facing low res web cam & rear facing video & still (1.3MP) |
| Speakers | 2 x 1.5 Watts |
| Wired Ethernet | 10/100 Base TX |
| VGA 15 pin out | Max resolution 2048 x 1536 (nice) |
| Headphone out | Yes |
| Microphone | Dual Array |
| RJ45 (LAN) | YES |
| Warranty | 1 Year Parts and Labor |
| Fingerprint Reader | NO |
UPDATE, 29 Oct 2008: Unfortunately my touch screen went all whacky exactly like I've read about:
- A Samsung rep (apparently) even fesses up to a bad batch of screens: Q1 Ultra Screen Issues
- Problem with screen in Q1 Ultras
- Mine went bad on me while I was using it quietly on my desk... tried everything suggested with calibration tools... small improvements but nothing usable
- Could've been due to cramming it in a tight backpack through airport few days prior so I'll be a little more delicate with the new one
- Servicing seems to be very speedy, turnaround is days not weeks... waiting for it now... will advise
UPDATE, 12 Nov 2008: Servicing totally fixed the touch screen tracking problem.
- They even went ahead and loaded the Samsung XP baseline rather than bothering with Vista they even
- And swapped out the "Designed for Windows ___" sticker, nice touch.
- Turnaround time was excellent.
- It is definitely a new screen, old one had a telltale scratch on it already... very nice to ditch that in the process.
Highlights:
- Adobe Reader has some nice features I never realized
- it'll rotate the page so that rather than rotating the whole Windows Vista desktop (which is way slow) I can just rotate the document in Reader so that portrait viewing utilizes the longest dimension, awesome!
- You can also flip Reader into full screen mode to get rid off all scroll/nav bars/buttons and take advantage of full real-estate...
- an example Macworld is fairly readable a full page at a time...
- you're essentially shrinking an 8.5 x 11 inch page of text down by approximately 50% so while it is still technically readable, I think it'd give any normal human a headache after prolonged reading text that size...
- what is working out quite well is to 125% or so and then just using a finger to drag the page around into view... it's very usable and intuitive this way
- I am VERY glad I didn't cave in for a cheaper unit in the popular 4"-5" screen size category (Nokia n810, etc.)... this is absolutely the smallest you could work with for reading full pages... and honestly, a little bigger (9"??) would not go to waste.
These units have been out since late 2006 in various models so there's a nice amount of solid info out there. The reviews from a year ago when it was nearly twice the price were a little more scathing... it's a tricky product genre to review because peoples' expectations are all over the board in this new of a niche. If you read between the lines and focus on what you want they stack up pretty darn good... Everybody immediately recognizes that Vista is a too much for these baby CPUs... and just like everybody else, I dropped back to XP Tablet and it runs great. Don't forget to load up XPLite and trim it all down to the bare minimum.
I see that there are basically three distinct model lines out there
1) The old original Q1 (distinguished by no keyboard on the side panels)... basically old enough to scare me away
2) The 2nd gen Q1U's I'm most interested in... (U = "Ultra") of which there are several sub-models ... but the biggest difference is that the cheapest "EL" model does NOT have the Bluetooth, Camera or SD slot that all the others do... otherwise the others vary by presence of fingerprint reader and hard drive size (40/60/80 GB)
3) Finally, most recently, they've released a Q1U-P (Ultra + P for "Premium") which is even more expensive but of course comes with the most hardware pre-loaded (faster CPU, 2GB RAM (an easy upgrade for the Q1U), a high speed cellular card (also a doable upgrade for the previous model), etc) … a year has now passed and I’m seeing refurbished Premuim models going for $700 range… that is totally awesome.
Notable Accessories
| Bluetooth Keyboard
| This BlueTooth keyboard is pretty nifty... actually managed to get my hands on one from eBay for $65 ... it looks like some idiots acquired that company and nixed the whole keyboard product line so they're no longer manufactured... it does have a good feel and the case is slick. Naturally something this small can’t be very sturdy… I’ve lost a screw but it’s holding together ok. |
| Otter Box case
| This protective case by "Otter Box" looks pretty sweet in the ads but after having it for a while I don’t really recommend it. It’s not a very polished product. I’ve logged a years worth of hiking and biking miles on this Samsung now and I never take the Otter Box. Just get a couple screen protectors since that’s really all that needs protecting. I do wish RAM-Mounts made an “Aqua Box” that was large enough for a full waterproof solution (http://www.gpscity.com/aqua-box-mount). They had to make it generic enough to handle a couple different units with different features. It winds up being a clumsy mix of rubber hole covers at various points around the main plastic case. The plastic part is two pieces that snap together around the tablet (front and back) with typical "pressure clips", 2 on top and 2 on bottom/ Those clips held up just fine under the jostling of a hike... kinda worried about wearing them down taking the tablet in & out between hikes. The rubber feels hardy… it covers the back almost entirely... I wish the whole thing was made of that thick rubber and no plastic! I'd say the biggest disappointment is the thick flexible clear plastic cover for the tablet screen and side buttons. It really isn’t that good of a fit which makes using those little keyboard buttons even tougher so the onscreen "dialkeys" software keyboard is even more necessary. One bummer is that you can’t leave the case on and still use the charging cradle. Taking it on and off isn’t the speediest process. It comes with a hand strap that can be mounted on either left or right hand side with allen screw holes that might come in handy for other mounting scenarios. It does add about 12 ounces. |
| RAM-Mounts handlebar mount
| "RAM Mounts" is mounting nirvana... all kinds of mounting parts to perch this tablet on a ball pivot above bicycle handlebars, etc. Both of these RAM-Mounts parts are absolutely top notch. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HOW THESE STAND UP TO REAL BANGING ON THE ROAD. |
| RAM-Mounts custom cradle | GPSCity has been very good with solid inventory, fast shipment and competitive prices on the whole RAM production line… they have a nice body of customer reviews to get a good feel for how most parts stand up in real usage. Make sure to search for shopping cart discount codes. This one gave me 10% off: RAMGUF5285 |
| Sierra Wireless MC8781 HPDSA/3G Cell Modem + GPS
| Going after one of these now…
|
| PhotoSmart 1.8” ZIF V2 SSD
| WOULD LOVE TO ROCK ONE OF THESE! :)
|
| Super High Capacity Universal External Battery Pack - BP150
|
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| AverMedia QuickPlay PC VGA to TV | Results vary wildly on this since it depends on which signal format you’re able to go with… single composite video is not so hot… but “YPbPr” composite has turned out very crisp for me on a recent display. If you’re ready to bundle up a bunch of cables and be happy that you have a connection at all this unit is “ok” for $70 street price… that’s a little steep for what you get out of this so don’t go any higher. |
![sierra1[1]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XlySlDLkdOc/Sqi14YO7SOI/AAAAAAAAEks/3WSvciVEnPk/sierra1%5B1%5D%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800 "sierra1[1]")
Misc Links:
- Showing Ubuntu loaded up
- Cheapest vendor I've found for the Q1U’s
- How to get the bugger open for upgrades (RAM, etc.)
- jkontherun.blogs.com - tons of good hands on mobile hardware info including the Samsungs
Nifty:
- When it's just sitting there in its charging cradle, throw on Google Photo Screensaver and it doubles as one of those nifty wireless photo picture frame screens that are all the rage these days ;-)
- It's naturally a great mp3/avi player for planes, etc... Remember to take headset(s) and a Y-splitter if there's a better half in your equation
- It's nice to empty out your digital camera's mem chip and look at pics on the tablet's bigger screen at end of day
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