Is this the world’s first Linux-based UMPC?
Depends on who you ask, I guess, but manufacturer Beijing Peace East Technology Development, Inc. certainly thinks its H9 device is in the running for the title. And why not? Sporting a 7-inch TFT touch screen (800 x 480), integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, GPRS/CDMA connectivity, and PCMCIA and SD card slots, the H9 could easily go head to head with its peers. Assuming it had any, of course.
A quick scan of current and upcoming UMPCs reveals that the H9, despite its ridiculously meager 20GB hard drive, may really be in class of its own. Powered by a rather outdated 520MHz Intel PXA270 processor, the H9 runs Linux with a preinstalled application suite that has the potential of pleasing even long-time Windows users: mobile office, email, multimedia player, photo editor, business-card manager, PDF viewer, and some kind of recording and multimedia file manager. Okay, so those "titles" don’t tell you much, but it doesn’t really matter. The Linux community is so active that access to software is practically limitless. Other specs of the H9 include EMS memory (64MB ROM, 128MB SDRAM – this doesn’t sound promising at all, but I don’t know what EMS is), USB port, headphone jack, microphone, 4000 mAh lithium battery, and built-in speakers.
Anyone interested? Either way, the company should be getting back to me with more details soon.
UPDATE 3/16: Check out the short video demo from CeBIT 2007 here.
Interested??? Yeah! If priced right, this could be my “paper killer,” a “UMPC” device to view scanned comic books on. Please keep us posted on any details you get, I really would buy this for the right price (below $400).
Type “EMS memory” into Google. Its a method for “extending memory”…
Still Greek to me. I googled it earlier but my literacy is unfortunately limited to layman’s terms. Expanded Memory Specification is just as un-layman to me as EMS.
I’m from the “electricity comes from flicking a light switch” camp; gadget guts are from the other one. And never the twain shall meet.
If the price is right, I’ll take 2! maybe would have more people interested too.
Looks very similar to the Nokia N800, even down to the desktop software. They’re not identical, but I’d say they’re at least peers.
Looks a lot like a bigger version of the Nokia Internet Tablets (770 and N800). With a 20 GB hard disk instead of 256 MB integrated flash + a couple of SD memory card slots.
Oh Jaysus.
They went and ripped off Nokia with that UI.
Hahahhahahahah!
Ripped off Nokia? Maemo is Open Source. It’s like saying Ubuntu ripped off Redhat because they both make a linux distro based on Gnome.
They didn’t rip anything off. It is the OPEN SOURCE maemo ui that nokia helped develop. It runs on top of matchbox. Goto http://www.maemo.org and http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox/ to see more information.
Look for the debian/maemo-Linux based nokia 770…
The question is, does it run Maemo, or did they just rip it off? Just because Maemo is open source, if they are not actually using Maemo but it looks exactly like Maemo, it’s still a rip-off. A totally legal rip-off, but a rip-off none the less.
Personally I think this is a rip-off of Maemo — it has a number of themeing features that Maemo cannot do for a start.
Nokia’s “Maemo” is not actually free or open enough to be useful (Nokia is cleverly wasting OSS hackers time with an elaborate mockery of openness, probably because the possibility of genuine Free Software displacing their upgrade-every-18-months phone economy scares the shit out of them).
This thing’s UI looks very similar to Maemo, but I doubt they bothered to actually try to reuse any of Nokia’s halfassed “open” garbage. I hope not, for their sake!
However, it is always nice to see more diverse operating system choices on the market, in any case.
800×480 means many application dialogs w/be clipped…sometimes unusably so.
This is cas w/skype, thunderbird, etc.
500MHz and WiFi seems enough to use UltraVNC to control my iTunes PC.
If it comes with a “grab-and-go” style dockingstation, and the price is right (I agree, below $400 seems right), I might give it a try.
remmeber guys , its chinese , meaning 150$ is the maximum im willin to pay for it(having in mind that a nokia N95 in china costs down to 250$
if thats coming out under $400 i’m in the que for 1 of them. 100% m8
I hope they play by the rules and show us their source code in compliance with the GPL. Sure, we all know about the propery right situation in China. M$ and friends have their battles there in this respect. I would not surprise if the GPL was the next victim. And who is going to enforce this one?
This is positive. I was kind of worried when after all this time there was
a) no (usable) totally Free version of maemo and
b) no device copycats
I believe the community (and in the end Nokia) need both if they want to survive and flourish…
$400? in the no-taxes land…here in Europe (Spain!!!) it will be €500, but its cheap for the specs (GNU/Linux (GPL distro I hope), GPS, 7″ TFT, 20GB HD…how much do u think is a N770 here? €250-350 without HD, 4,3″ screen, no GPS…).
I hope chinese people would defend free sw, although only for economic reasons.
SW LIBRE YA! Free SW NOW!
were can i buy this i wanted some thing like the nokia n800 or the nokia 770 and this seems like the best but if there r others please tell me i really need 1 for my job
Hello, I bought 4 UMPC H9 devices (France). Have a look to my blog. I don’t want to keep the existent OS, since it seems not to be free… Could somebody help me ?
Regards, Nicolas