Samsung Q1 Ultra review.
When first released, the Q1 did not receive rave reviews. The general attitude amongst many hardware vendors seems to one of ‘we know best’. This approach by the manufacturers simply doesn’t good business sense. Would you build a product and then refuse to listen to the consumer? I didn’t thinkso.
Fortunately, Samsung made the right descision and took the time to listen to consumer criticism and make good. But how far did they go? Actually, comparing the version, a very long way. Let’s take a look.
Design
I admit, the original Q1 looked good, really good. It was enough to set heart racing of even the most cynical technophobe. But there were problems from the outset. Looks are simply not enough to entice customers to buy. Usability is key. This was the original Q1’s downfall. The non-existent hardware keyboard made the device a nightmare to use, just like the Nokia N800 (but resolved in the Nokia N810). When adding a hardware keyboard to the Q1 Ultra, Samsung took a slightly unusual approach. The QWERTY keyboard is split in half and positioned on either side of the screen. At first, typing with just your thumbs seemed a little odd but, af ter a little practice, we actually found this to be very easy. An ideal layout for the ‘text generation’, I think.
Manipulation of the pointer has been massively improved. The original Q1 featured a joystick for cursor movement whilst the point was moved using the touchscreen - infuriating. The Q1 Ultra now sports a joystick that acts just like a trackpoint - why Samsung didn’t build this into the original version I’ll never know. That said, if you like the original design of the Q1 you can simply select the ‘mouse’ button located above the joystick and you’re back in cursor key manipulation mode. In addition, the Q1 Ultra features a virtual keyboard laid out in either corner of the screen. This is accessed via the ‘Dial key’ mounted below the joystick.
Below the joystick, on the right hand side you’ll find a four-way rocker and an Enter button. The rocker can be configured to carry out tasks based on your preferences i.e. web browser scrolling attributes can be tailored to your needs. Underneath the rocker you’ll find the left and right mouse buttons.
The 7″ touchscreen dominates the Q1 Ultra. Native resolution resolution of the original Q1 was 800 x 600, very poor. Once again Samsung listened. The Q1 Ultra screen resolution comes in at 1024 x 600 but playback of some movie formats wasn’t great i.e. HD. Mounted above the screen are four buttons: volume up and down, UDF for configuring the rocker keys and a menu key. When pressed, this last button brings up an on-screen menu where you can scroll through options such as screen rotation, mute, WLAN activation and battery charge level. A nice addition.
The two microphones mounted below the screen provide adequate quality capabilities to internet-based calls. Unfortunately a standard microphone jackis not fitted so you’ll need to use a USB based headset for privacy.
The D-SUB port, Ethernet port and USB 2.0 port are mounted on the right hand side of the Q1 Ultra under a flexible plastic flap. The power socket is also fitted on the right. A headphone socket, 2nd USB port and SD slot are fitted on the top of the Q1 surround. On the reat of the casing is a folding stand; ideal if you want to watch movies. Below the stand is the battery housing. This will accept the standard 4 cell battery or a highter capacity 6 cell battery. In testing, the 4 cell battery gave about 4hours life with the 6 cell providing 6 hours uptime. Quite impressive.
The Q1 Ultra features two cameras: one front mounted above the screen for apps that use a webcam and one on the rear panel for taking photos - but only at 1.3megapixels.
The Q1 Ultra is both shorter and slimmer than its predecessor (227 x 124 x 24mm) and, with the 4 cell battery fitted, lighter at 685g.
The low power, low heat Intel A110 processor (800Mhz) is an ideal CPU for the Q1 Ultra. Not the fastest processor in the world but more than adequate. Who knows, maybe we’ll see the next version of the Q1 sporting an Intel Atom. The Q1 Ultra is fitted with 1Gb of RAM - great if you’re using Windows XP but this variant comes with Vista installed. Hint - don’t enable your pretty 3D graphics features in Vista on this device as performance is poor.
What we really like is the hard disk - 60Gb platter. Plenty of storage although an SSD would be nice (are you listening Samsung?).
Connectivity is very good. 10/100Mb Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 are all there. Rumours of a HSDPA variant were circulating but hasn’t been included in this model.
Conclusion
I’m impressed. Samsung really have listened to consumer views and made huge improvements to the Q1. If Samsung listen to future feedback and incorporate more requested features I think they’ll be onto a real winner.
Specifications
Intel A110 processor 800Mhz
1Gb DDR II SDRAM - 400 MHz - PC2-3200 memory
60Gb hard disk256Mb flash memory
Screen 7″ 1024×600
1.3 Megapixels camera
Ethernet 10/100Mb
WLAN a/b/g
Bluetooth2.0
USB2
Headphone socket
Downside
Playback of HD movies leaves a little to be disired. The 1.3 Megapixels camera really isn’t up to scratch; you’d be better off taking photos with your mobile phone. Keyboard layout - but this won’t take long to get used to especially if you regularly text. The price - at around £800 this is not a cheap device. Hopefully Samsung can emulate the Asus Eee PC and bring down prices in the next iteration.
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