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First-hand report from IFA 2006 : Samsung Q1 with HSDPA support - presented and speed tested September 05, 2006 [mobile PCs (Tablet PC, mini-PC, ...)] | By Edward J. R. Are you tired of Windows Mobile phones because they lack full-blown Windows XP OS? ... but on the other hand you are tired also of notebooks with cellular connectivity, because they have keyboard and display, that are completely unusable and too clumsy in many mobile situations? So maybe an ultra mobile PC (UMPC) with built-in cellular connectivity, including the fastest one (HSDPA), would be something for you! Actually the price difference between top notch Windows Mobile phones and UMPC devices is not so big. Be prepared for one disappointment though: UMPC with built-in cellular connectivity (still) cannot make cellular phone calls! Here we present Samsung Q1 with built-in HSDPA (and by the way: with flash memory instead of hard disk, and VIA processor instead of Intel) that Samsung is showing at IFA 2006! Samsung was clearly underlining that HSDPA is much faster than anything that was before: 
... particularly much faster than GPRS: 
New model of Samsung Q1 is not only compatible with HSDPA but also with WiBRO (Korean version of WiMax): 
The processor is: VIA Esther of speed 1000 MHz: 
Regarding the model name of this second generation UMPC from Samsung, we were a bit confused: 
... because instead of "Samsung Q1P" or something like that, the model name is obviously "Samsung Q1b"! The program used for cellular connectivity in Samsung Q1b is "GlobeTrotter Mobility Manager" from Option Wireless Technology (which is together with Sierra Wireless one of 2 most famous makers of cellular PCMCIA cards): 
As you can see above actually there is no possibility to make phone calls over cellular network (one would have to use Skype or other Voice over IP software) with this software (and thus with Samsung Q1 with HSDPa)! Fortunately at least one can receive and send SMS messages: 
... and one can optionally switch off the cellular connectivity and use Wi-Fi (WLAN) instead: 
Our own tests with Samsung Q1 with built-in HSDPA has shown that download speeds are far away from promised 1.8 megabit/second - just 649 kbit/second: 
... but these tests were carried out in a difficult environment of a trade show and obviously the "cell breathing" phenomena of UMTS/3G networks took place, where hugely increased number of simultaneous users causes significant decrease in data transfer speeds. Conclusion: Samsung Q1 is much smaller than most notebooks and it lacks typical notebook design, what means that it is usable in many situations, where you wouldn't be able to use regular notebook (no matter how big). Addition of HSDPA (fast version of UMTS) to UMPC is big improvement and it practically means that top-notch Windows Mobile phones are more and more endangered by UMPC computers with cellular connectivity. However one thing is still missing in UMPC devices with cellular connectivity: you cannot make cellular phone calls with them...  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later)
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