Updated: Intel shows off pocketable UMID M1

By Nick Mansell on Fri 09 January 2009

So the "purse friendly" and ever-so-slightly over priced Sony Vaio P not for you? How about this for size, then? It's the UMID M1, currently doing its thang on Intel's stand at CES.

Sporting a 4.8in 1024x600 display it certainly fits the jacket-pocket-bill and runs full-blown Windows. Don't look for a trackpad or pointer, though, it uses the old touchscreen and stylus trick instead. And, since it's so small, you won't find any USB ports either, which makes us wonder quite what you would do with it.

Update:  Photos and a hands-on video of the UMID M1 from the CES show floor after the cut.

Still, we're impressed with the shrunken QWERTY array that keeps much of the feel of a netbook keyboard while being thumb-friendly enough for in hand email tapping.

Inside is an Atom Z520 or Z530, 512MB or 1GB RAM and a 16GB SSD. It runs Windows XP as standard or can stretch to Vista if pushed.  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSDPA are all on-board, plus optional GPS for a spot of sat nav action.

We're told it'll be out in the US by June for an as yet unknown - but not too high - selling price. No indications of whether it'll be crossing the Atlantic and appearing in the UK but we'll keep an ear out.

Update: We spent some time with the UMID M1 MID at the Intel CES stand earlier today. We’ve yet to see a MID we didn’t hate from the get-go, but the M1 is surprisingly likeable. By sticking to a traditional clamshell laptop design rather than some ridiculously unergonomic and unwieldy shape, UMID appears to have come up with the first MID that’s actually usable.

It reminded us of the Psion Series 5, partly because of the comparatively large keyboard, but this is no PDA – it runs Windows XP or Vista and the 4.8in 1024 x 600 screen copes well. It’s not a computer you’d want to spend all day working on, but for email, web browsing and a few of your favourite Windows applications, its ideal – and far more portable than any netbook (even the Sony VAIO P Series…).

We’ll stop short of proclaiming it the first MID we’d recommend, since we don’t know the price, but it’s one to keep an eye on. Here’s our rather murky hands-on video with an Intel employee extolling the virtues of the Atom processor in the background.

[Intel]