any i440s in the wild?

[Steve S]

Has anyone seen or received an i440 (T or D, presumably with XP)?

If so, what do you think of it?

[Msmekal]

Hello Steve,

The bulk of our released units have been shipped to our enterprise customers who were notified of this unit prior to the public release and acceptance of web orders, so except for Hugo Ortega in Australia, I believe few in the forums have seen these units in person yet... However our production snags and procurement issues are being cleared up so you should start seeing forum participants with these units in the next few weeks....

-M

Martin J. Smekal
TabletKiosk

[Steve S]

<<...you should start seeing forum participants with these units in the next few weeks...>>

Martin: IMO, and considering the delays up to this point, this needs to happen as quickly as reasonably possible...!

Thanks as always for your informative response.

[Msmekal]

Hello Steve,

Couldn't agree with you more, and I assure you we are losing money each day these units are not shipped to customers who have them on backorder, but we feel it is critical that the quality does not suffer to meet a self imposed deadline. We cut corners last year with our UMPC product to meet a deadline and paid for it dearly.

I'm actually in our Taiwan office this week and will be personally checking to make sure we have our supply chain operating at optimum performance to assure a timely delivery for our customers currently on backorder.

-M

Martin J. Smekal
President & CEO
TabletKiosk

[JOE H]

On a related note, when can we expect to see some demo units in the hands of the tabletscape? I am very interested in the 440d, and look forward to hearing the guru's thoughts.

Also, does anyone know if alltp plans on making the 440 available for their 48 hour demo?


JOE

[Steve S]

<<...does anyone know if alltp plans on making the 440 available for their 48 hour demo?..>>

Joe: AFAIK, yes. However, for whatever the reason, they don't feel that they can start that program quite yet.

Now that 440's are being shipped (at least to commercial customers), I would think that a 440 demo program can't be too far off...

[JOE H]

Steve -
I heard a rumor that you are getting a review model in the near future - are you planning on posting your thoughts anywhere?

JOE

[Steve S]

Joe: Thanks for asking. Yes, I'll be getting the same unit that Rob Bushway previewed several days ago. I should have it in a couple of days, and will be running some applications to get some real-world experience with it.

I hope to have a short addendum to my original review within several days thereafter...

[JOE H]

Steve - can you post some info on battery life? I received word on the official specs, and a note that the extended battery will be available later in the summer, and I would like to know how long the i440 lasts.

Battery power is on e of the biggest catches for me in my current search for a new tablet - I have an electrovaya scribbler that is battered from work and travel. She used to get 7-8 hours on a charge. Now she is down to 3. I can't stand short life on portable batteries. I really want to hit that magic spot f battery life and light weight. I'm trying the i440, the p1610 and the x60 from alltp - these look like the best balance of power/weight.

JOE

[Steve S]

<<...can you post some info on battery life?..>>

Joe: My informal test resulted in 3 hours, 20 minutes from fully charged to 5% left. During this period, I kept the 440 running, either doing web surfing or OneCare tune-ups. Caveats are as follows:

<> This unit is relatively new; the battery may not have very many cycles on it and therefore may not be quite doing its best...

<> To the degree that I could, I tried to use the slate in a way that would be "typical" of my usage. I didn't try to run multiple apps all simultaneously or anything like that.

<> Screen was at full brightness; WiFi and BlueTooth were off. HD profile was whatever the default setting for being on battery was.

<> Of course, this was Windows XP, not Vista...!