You've got to be brave to release an Origami Ultra Mobile PC. The early efforts from such luminaries as Sony, Samsung and Asus have received excited, but ultimately disappointed, responses. It's been suspiciously quiet in the sector for a while now, but two very different companies have just released their models to market -- Medion with its RIM1000 model, and Samsung with its much-anticipated Q1 Ultra.

The trouble is that every Origami device we've seen has felt like somewhat of an experiment; an attempt to get over the problem of manipulating an operating system that's not really designed for a touchscreen interface. To count as ultra-mobile, these devices also need to be more portable than a laptop, have long battery life and enough power to cope with proper computing, and all at a price more akin to high-end mobile phones than traditional computers.

And the Medion does take some meaningful steps forward, borrowing from either side of mobile-phone/laptop divide. We're happy, for example, to see the use of a mini-trackpad (on the bottom right), which works like that on most laptops and, despite being a quarter of the size, is actually quite effective in combination with mouse buttons on the opposite side. We also quite like the solid-feeling slide-out Qwerty keyboard, reminiscent of several recent mobiles, such as HTC's S710, although it does stretch the limits of sensible size.

So, using just your thumbs, you can reasonably replicate both a mouse and keyboard. If you happen to have a solid surface in front of you, you can even type using your fingers -- you won't get up to anything like normal speed, but the keys have distinct edges, so you get some tactile feedback. The large number of shortcut buttons are a huge help when it comes to getting on with a UMPC, and there are various other methods of data input (see box) too -- some which will take a bit of getting used to.

One thing that won't get better over time though, is the RIM1000's appallingly slow performance. It's not something we find ourselves saying often these days, but this is a very slow computer -- VIA's C7-M 770 ULV processor is simply underpowered and even struggled opening the Start menu. The integrated graphics can't cope with the Aero interface either -- pretty unheard of from a contemporary graphics chip. That's not the end of the world, but we'd expect some upsides to this.

Instead, we soon found that the RIM1000 became uncomfortably hot, even when it wasn't doing much. So much so, that it soon becomes unpleasant to hold, which rather defeats the object. Battery life proved slightly more forgiving, with a light load ticking over for about three hours. That soon drops off once you push it though, and we only had to watch it lurching through a DivX video for 140 minutes before it gave up the ghost -- naturally, there's no optical drive on-board for watching movies.

There's yet more bad news when it comes to the screen. A resolution of 800 x 480 on a 6.5" screen is hardly generous, and many applications end up simply hanging off the bottom. To get back control, you can raise the resolution to 1024 x 640, but it ends up looking awful, with distorted text and graphics. And while it's great that Medion has resisted the urge to put on a showroom-friendly, but highly impractical glossy screen, the finish causes the stylus to scratch along in a thoroughly unpleasant fashion.

It all just feels like a first generation product. Despite some of the nifty usability touches, such as the keyboard, trackpad and multiple shortcut buttons, the tactile experience is frustrating. The heat, weight (at 740g it's heftier than you'd think) and disappointing screen are bad enough, but when that's combined with the glacier-like performance, it's impossible to recommend the RIM1000. Even for UMPC enthusiasts, the fact that Samsung's Q1 Ultra is the same price is the final nail in the coffin.

Specifications

VIA C7-M 770ULV (1GHz), 768MB DDR2 RAM, Unichrome II (XXMb) graphics, 30Gb SATA hard disk, 6.5" screen (800 x 480), 2x USB 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth VGA, SD memory card
Size 190 x 29 x 121mm
Weight 740g
Battery life 3h 02m (Wi-Fi off)
DVD battery life 2h 20m (Wi-Fi off)
Recharge time 1h 54m

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