The Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC or Origami) is a full fledged PC running a modified Windows XP Tablet PC edition operating system. Making it capable of running any application made for Windows XP. The UMPC, previously known by its codename, Origami, is being jointly developed by Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, ASUS, Founder and others. Manufacturers will design these devices according to Microsoft's base standards. Microsoft intentions are to make these devices "small, lightweight, carry-everywhere hardware designs" Measurements of the 800x 480 resolution (minimum) touch sensitive screen are reported to be 7 inches (20cm).

All UMPCs will be less than 2 pounds and under 2 inches thick. Meaning they will be significantly smaller than a regular tablet PC but certainly larger than a PDA. The Origami devices are expected to be The UMPC will include touch-screen features such as a virtual keyboard called DialKeys from its Windows Touch Pak Interface software. Touch Pak Interface will make the use of styli or fingers on the Ultra-Mobile PC convenient and modify installed applications to fit the small form factor of the UMPC. The price is expected to be below the $999 sweet spot, however recent reports suggest this will not be possible until the next generation of UMPCs when the price is expected to come down to around a $500 tag.

The Ultra-Mobile PC will operate on a 1GHz Pentium M, VIA C7-M, or Intel Celeron M processors. RAM and hard drive space will be 256MB and 30-60GB respectively. Origami devices will have a plethora of popular technologies supported, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and USB 2.0 ports.

The UMPC could be off to a bumpy start, but the future is bright for the device that will soon support webcams, memory card readers, GPS, fingerprint recognition, and TV tuners with an upgrade to the Windows Vista operating system in 2007. The Ultra-Mobile PC is a whole new category of mobile computing. Stay tuned as we cover more information on Project Origami!

Andrew http://www.umpcscene.com