UMPC - TabletKiosk EO i7210
There are people who will never see the point of a UMPC (ultra-mobile personal computer). These devices don't have the portability of a smartphone or PDA and they don't have the processing power or storage of laptops. So what good are they?
That's missing the point, however; and using the TabletKiosk EO i7210 made us believers.
For those times when carrying a laptop is too much of a burden and working with a smartphone is impractical, a UMPC is just right. The i7210 weighs 1.8 pounds and measures 8.9 x 5.7x 1.0-inches, so you'll hardly know you have it on you, but when you need to work you have the power of a full computer at the ready.
Design
The i7210 we tested has a handsome black design that looks both cool and business-ready. (It also comes in silver.) The front offers a 7-inch TFT LCD that gives you a big view of your work, although occasionally not big enough. Some menu screens are too large for the screen and the on-screen buttons aren't visible.
There's no keyboard, naturally, but you have other input options available so you can find a combination that works for you. The rear upper-right corner holds a stylus and the screen is touch-sensitive. You can choose on-screen items as you would with a mouse, or tap an icon to call up an on-screen keyboard. And it allows you to call up an input field where you can write naturally.
The i7210 has convenient combinations of buttons placed for the left and right thumbs, which let you perform common actions. The left buttons let you make left and right mouse clicks or control media playback; the right buttons let you mouse around or scroll up or down.
In addition, the right-side buttons also let you call up the i7210's camera or video camera, which is placed on the upper right corner and faces the user. The i7210 has a 1.3MP CMOS camera capable of 15fps video capture. While we like the idea of including it, so that the device can be used in videoconferencing, we weren't crazy about the camera itself, which produces a dark, pixilated image.
The other buttons and ports are placed along the top of the machine, so that you won't press them accidentally during use. The top holds the Power button and a Hold slider, as well as status lights. The left top and side holds two USB 2.0 ports, which are covered by a thin rubber flap. The upper right side holds the volume controls.
There's no room for a CD/DVD-ROM slot, unfortunately, but the i7210 does offer a 4-in-1 memory card slot on the top, that supports SD, SDIO, MS, and MMC formats.
While the i7210 has less power than a notebook, it's not as much less as you might think. It runs off a 1.0-GHz Intel Pentium M chip, with 2MB of L2 cache, and offers 1MB of RAM. It can also store plenty with a 60GB hard drive running at 4,200 rpm.
Battery life is crucial with a UMPC, and we were happy with the i7210's performance. We used it for about 2 1/2 hours between chargings, which is a bit lower than a notebook could do, but not by that much.
The i7201 is as much a communication device as a work device, so it includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v1.2. We were able to connect quickly in our testing with either wireless system.
In use, the i7210 performs exactly like a Windows PC or notebook, right down to the third-party anti-virus software that's been no-so-helpfully preloaded (and warns that your computer might be at risk every time you start up). You'll find the usual set of applications, which include Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, and the Microsoft Office Suite.
This being a tablet, you'll also get several tablet apps that makes work easier. When you start up the i7210, you get the option of going through several tutorials that help familiarize you with tablet work. A desktop shortcut called TouchKit helps you set your stylus preferences, while another called Program Launcher lets you see your installed apps broken into categories. Also, a video capture tool allows you to see what's on your tablet's camera and record video from it.
Open the Start menu and you'll find three software collections for tablets, called the Education Pack, Experience Pack, and Touch Pack. With them, you can customize the launcher, draw on your tablet using a variety of brushes and pens, and play a few fun games like Hexic Deluxe and Sudoku.
The only problems we found when using the tablet is that the back gets hot after a while, making holding it uncomfortable, and preference windows often don't fit on the screen.
Accessories
You'll get a generous amount of accessories for your money, including a docking cradle (see top picture) and a slip case (see below). For chargings, we found it more convenient to simply use the power cord rather than the docking cradle, but the cradle serves other purposes, like holding the i7210 up at an angle so you can read off it. The cradle also lets you plug your tablet into an Ethernet cable or connect it to an external display with a VGA or S-video cable.
The slip case is better than most free cases, as it has a zipper, a handle and a little bit of padding. If you want to upgrade your case, you can find others on the TabletKiosk site.
You'll also get a printed guide that we wish had been a little longer and more detailed. The i7210 comes with a one year warranty.
Other optional accessories include a keyboard attachment and a disk drive attachment.
If you're looking for something more portable than a notebook that can help you with light computing on the go, the TabletKios Eo i7210 is a terrific choice. It's small enough to go anywhere, but powerful enough and fully-featured enough to handle whatever tasks you need to throw at it. We've seen the TabletKios Eo i7210 listed for between $1400 and $1,500.
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