I knew from the moment I saw the Sharp NetWalker PC-Z1 that I'd have to get my hands on one as soon as I could. The 5-inch WSVGA touchscreen, optical mouse, mouse buttons, 6-row keyboard, 800MHz ARM Cortex A8-based Freescale CPU, compact clamshell form factor, and easy conversion into English were just too much for me to resist.
Conics.net received their supply of Netwalkers last week and began shipping them from their offices in Japan on Friday. A weekend flight, a quick check through customs, and here it is at Pocketables HQ in Hawaii just a few days later!
Packaging
Contents
Quick Look
UMID mbook M1 comparisons
Stay tuned for some additional size comparisons, first impressions, web browsing speeds, and my full review.
Today was a good day, wasn’t it Jenn?
I’m glad to see the contrasting color looks more like a burgundy or wine color, because it tended to look like light copper in other photos. So is just the top cover glossy?
Look forward to your thoughts on it, so get busy!
This is what the Umid M2 should have been? Except for the CPU>
Makes me sort of want to bring my U2010 out of storage…
that price may be a bit much, but i sure do want one…
not sure about the size of the number and fuction keys tho…
Man, it’s amazing looking. I just have no idea what I’d do with one that I can’t do with my NIT…
Err… and function, of course. That counts for something, right?
I’ll be very interested in seeing how this device performs, particularly with regard to the CPU and battery life. The CPU is similar to the one in the Nokia N900 Maemo phone, the Freescale netbook, and the Open Pandora. I’m also curious to see what they did with the OS.
I’m glad to see that you’re interested in this one. The major gadget blogs were extremely skeptical and dismissive of the Sharp Netwalker. What they don’t know is that Japanese speakers routinely carry around an electronic dictionary that is about this size, not just to translate English, but to better understand and write in Japanese itself.
The Sharp NetWalker looks very well built. We will have to wait and see how the NetWalker works for you. Between the UMID and the NetWalker which has better screen.
I still dont get that form factor. It has the useless laptop form factor (non-tablet) yet it doesnt have any of the pros a laptop has- wprst of both worlds IMO. Something like the viliv S5 is a much nicer form factor
I’m not familiar with either the M1 or the Netwalker devices because I still think the software optimization for these platforms isn’t there, but regardless of that would the M1 loaded with linux essential be a Netwalker?
interested in:
* video performance
- SD, HQ , HD youtube videos (on both fullscreen or not)
- SD HULU videos
* software availability/compatibility w/ regular ubuntu
* actual BATT life
* wakeup from standby time
* BATT drain if left hibernated overnight
TIA
*
I don’t think that keyboard will be any good for thumb typing. For that I still maintain that you need seperated keys. I managed to get hold of a Nokia N97 yesterday to play with and I actually found the keyboard to be better than my E90 (which has no gaps between the keys). There were fewer mistakes. It only has 3 rows, though, whereas the E90 has 5.
I quickly checked it at a store here in Tokyo.
My initial impressions: mouse use is quirky, application loading time is verrry slow… Even after 20sec, openoffice was not finished to load yet. Too bad, I’ll keep my tweaked zaurus
Nice, Jenn!
I came very close to ordering a black one too, until I read about new M2 just as I was about to order…
So, very interested to hear more….
I ordered the Netwalker in Black Friday, and just got the request for payment at PayPal this morning. I’m hoping I can get it in my hands by next Monday! It reminds me so much of the Sharp Zaurus SL series (I have had four different versions over the years). I actually compared the two, including drawing the Zaurus over a rendering of the Netwalker and the only problem I see is the screen size. For the extra size of the Netwalker, it could easily hold a 5.6-5.8 inch screen using the same amount of bezel as the Zaurus. I could even see a screen up to 6.2 inches fitting the lid.
Even with this beef, I still think that this has potential, and am supporting Sharp by my purchase in hopes that future versions will have a larger screen and better processor (another disapointment to me). I would also like to see 16-32 gb SSD, 1 gb RAM and Windows 7. But I guess these items would drive the cost near the $800-$1,000 mark at this time, so I will take what I can.
I look forward to your review, and also receiving my black unit!
Amazing, how much people are into looks. Just because this thing looks good, then they forget all about what it can do. Beautiful piece of garbage, like the Willcome D4.
If it can play H.264 HD, or do any serious job other than web browsing, then come to hang me.
The UMID is so much better, perfect actually, but people all bash it because it does not look like a pretty girl.
Folks, it’s a computing tool, not a girl.
Well, to the untrained eye, this little fella doesn’t seem to be too bad of a choice.
http://www.promwad.com/technologies/freescale-imx-family.html
I am looking forward to seeing more of these sleak smartbooks — especially watching mobile tv, using apps, video calling on smartbooks
There are choices for everything. This is not the perfect device for everyone, but neither is the UMID.
The Umid is just as susceptible to the cute girl relation. Some people might want this because it is not the same old Intel Atom GMA 500 crap. Not that it is better, but just that they don’t want to support intel.
This is probably one of the best non intel devices in this size out there right now.
P.S. I’m posting this on my netwalker. =P
I have one also. First impressions:
- recognised my 3g usb modem out of the box!! (no tweaking)
- very fast compared with previous gen devices (eg n810, zaurus)
- batt life much less than 10hrs. Left it in suspend mode all night and then kept it on for approx 7.5 hours the next day before it died
- suspend mode is pretty much instant on (maybe 1-2 secs)
- keyboard hard to type on (on par with umid)
- screen is beautiful (better quality than umid)
How do these keyboards compare to the old Psion Series 5?
Does this come with SSD?
Is the case OK/easy to open ??
Warmest regards,
Lenny.