I know that the ultra mobile PC has not yet found its niche, but I have the Samsung Q1 Ultra, and so far I’m loving it. It’s far from perfect, I admit: the keypad leaves a lot to be desired, and I wish the keypad was backlit, and it’s no speed demon, but it’s extremely convenient.

I carry this with me just about everywhere. It lets me sneak out for some focused study time at the bookstore or Starbucks, and it’s great for late night reading in bed. The sound is decent, and video is crisp (especially for dnrTV). And it’s basically a tablet PC. I’m constantly amazed at the accuracy of Ink recognition, and do most of that with my fingernail. But I would not use it for any heavy typing (like posting on the blog) or coding, unless I hook in a real keyboard and monitor. But I still have my trusty Sony TR3A for that.

Why, you may ask, do I need an UMPC when I have such a tiny laptop? Well, I find it a lot more comfortable to use in bed and at a small coffee shop table when all I want to do is read or watch videos.

And it’s cute and cool. There. I said it. 🙂

So I think there really is a niche for UMPCs. But they really need performance improvement if they’ll ever truly catch on.