U810 Review

Now that Project Origami has been around for a little while, the market for UMPC’s has grown quite a lot over the last year. More and more manufacturers are designing their own products attempting to make the perfect portable UMPC. But because UMPC’s have not been around for awhile, it may be tough as a consumer to really figure out what makes a UMPC a good one or bad one. So here are some tips to help you narrow the field of potential purchases.

You will first want to figure out what you are going to be using it for. Are you going to be using it to type a lot? Are you going to be having a lot of video or audio playback? Do you have a hard time seeing small characters? Do you have small hands or large hands? These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself before you go out and purchase a new UMPC. Here are the tops features that if you don’t decide what option you want most with these features, then you may be making a big purchase mistake.

1) Keyboard: The keyboard on UMPC’s vary greatly. Each UMPC has a different style keyboard and each keyboard requires a different style of typing to use it. This is why you need to ask yourself what type of typing you are going to be doing with it. If it is just for quick text message length sentences, then maybe a small thumb-type keyboard will work. But if you plan to do longer typing sessions, then you should opt for a much larger keyboard that may lend itself to easier touch typing.

2) Screen size and resolution: The screen size dictates a lot of things on a UMPC. First off, whatever size screen it put on a UMPC it usually determines how big the device is overall. A device that has only a 4 inch screen will be much smaller and weigh less than a device that has a larger 5.6 inch screen. But that smaller device will also have much less desktop and screen space to work with and will also display smaller text sizes on the screen. So if you have a hard time seeing objects on the screen, then a smaller screen is obviously not a good choice to go with.

3) Connectivity options: This is another option that you will want to place great consideration in. If you plan on traveling with your device a lot and require internet usage at those time, then you will want to make sure you purchase a device that has quality connectivity options. A WLAN connection would be required and handy to have in many situations. You will find that more UMPC’s have built-in WLAN features. But what varies greatly with UMPC’s is whether or not they have Bluetooth and an ethernet port. Bluetooth can come in handy if you have a lot of external Bluetooth capatible devices you wish to use. You can also use Bluetooth to tether a cell phone to your UMPC and use it as a modem. Also, because many hotels don’t offer wireless, but offer an in-room ethernet connection, then you will want to have an option for ethernet on your device.

4) Input/Peripheral options: Finally there are your input and peripheral options you will want to look into. If you have a lot of devices you want to use with your UMPC, then you will want to make sure that your UMPC has enough USB ports to handle what you require. Many UMPC’s come with one USB port, but if you require more than that, then you will want to shop around for a UMPC that has multiple ports or perhaps even opt to purchase an additional docking station to add more. If you like to take pictures, you might like to have a memory card slot like a SD slot for using with your camera’s memory card to quickly load the pictures you took from your camera.

These are all things you will want to consider before purchasing your new UMPC. Take each of these areas into consideration and you will be sure to avoid purchasing mistakes and you will have a good UMPC to use for many years.

If you are using Microsoft Vista on your Fujitsu U810, then you will be able to take advantage of the Vista Tablet Input Panel. This is a great feature and I feel it is a lot better than the pen input features that Windows XP Tablet Edition had.

First off, the handwriting recognition for it is amazing. I have never used a better recognition software before. I have sometimes made some of the most awkwardly written letters and it still picks up on them. It uses its internal dictionary to make an educated guess as to what the word is and it will pick up on what you were writing. But this is not like a T9 type of recognition, so you won’t get it trying to fill your word in with guess that are totally off mark. It only makes guesses on what is similiar to what you have just typed in. For example, it won’t attempt to pluralize words if you didn’t write an ‘S’ at the end even if you normally type that word in plural.

Another nice feature of the Vista Tablet Input Panel is that you can backfill a word if you forgot a letter. In the past with many handwriting recognition software, if you forgot a letter in a word, you would have to delete the entire word and start from the beginning again. But with the Vista Tablet Input Panel you can fit a letter into the middle and it will slip the letter into the word right where you wrote it. This prevents unnecessary and time consuming retypes.

It is also very easy to use, which is a big help for the Fujitsu U810. When using the pen and writing in a field or form, when you place the cursor in the field a little box will appear that when clicked will bring up the Vista Tablet Input Panel. From there you can just start writing away. It is a nice feature that adds to the functionality that without it would make the device a lot tougher to use in tablet form.

So Solid-State Drives (SSD) have been out for a little while now and their prices are starting to come down more. Some of the limitations with current UMPC’s make SSD’s a very appealing upgrade. With a lot of UMPC’s, you can’t upgrade the RAM that is in them. With a SSD, you can increase the page file on the system and have access to it at the blistering speeds that a SSD provides. If you are still looking for a drive to purchase you can find a 1.8″ SSD here. Just make sure that the SSD you purchase is 1.8″ instead of the standard 2.5″ drive size and the interface on it is UATA.

You will start off the installation by removing the back panel on the U810. There are 4 silver screws that hold on the back panel. This is the back panel that has the product information sticker on it. Once this is removed you will expose the hard drive that is currently installed in it. Disconnect the connector on it and remove the hard drive from the bay. Compare the new SSD and the old hard drive and you will notice that the new solid state drive is slightly larger than the old hard drive.

To make the SSD fit in the drive bay, you will have to remove the metal casing around the SSD. Once you remove the casing you will expose the circuit board with the memory modules on it. Place this unit inside the drive bay and use some double stick tape or tape with foam on it so that it is snug inside the bay. You can use another method for securing it, but just make sure that it is secure inside the bay so that it does not move around. Once the drive is secure, connect the UATA connector to the drive. Then close up the back panel and you are all set! Install an operating system on the new solid state drive in your Fujitsu U810 and you are ready to start experiencing the blistering speeds of a SSD.