Origami Much?

Information has been trickling out slowly about Microsoft’s Origami Project. By last week, it was pretty commonly believed that this was something like Intel’s Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC). Today shows that to be the case. The unveiled mobile PCs are made by three manufacturers. Samsung is already getting press for releasing the first phone with a built in 8GB hard drive and announcing the Samsung YP-Z5 which I talked about a few days ago. The others will be built by ASUS (the company that is powering my PC right now) and a Chinese company called Founder. Rumor has it that LG Electronics, Acer, and Averatech won’t be far behind.
Built on the tablet PC platform, the UMPC is essentially a small touch-screen laptop without the keyboard, although Intel has shown a prototype for a version with a fold-out thumb keyboard much like what we see on Blackberries and PDAs today.
Now, Bill Gates has been talking for a while about his dream of a device available for under $500 that will be wearable, usable, and always on, meaning enough battery life to run all day. It doesn’t look like the Origami Project met his goals, but it comes close. At $600-$1000, it’s much cheaper than a laptop or the much talked about OQO and not much more than a 60GB iPod + iTrip and case. The battery life of 2.5 hours is certainly not all day, and that will have to improve. Still, I’ll add one to my wish list.