Samsung Q1 Ultra Video

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Created: 07/06/2007

Video description: The underpowered Samsung Q1 Ultra is best for on-the-go Web surfing, but there are better and cheaper devices for that specific task, despite improvements to the previous model.

Samsung Q1 Ultra Video Transcript

[ Music ] ^M00:00:01

>> Hi, I'm Dan Ackerman senior editor at CNET.com and this is the Samsung Q1 Ultra. This is a UM PC ultra mobile PC. Samsung has come back and redesigned it. It looks mostly the same but it's got this little thumb pad key board right here kinda like you see on a Blackberry. The keys are kind of the same hard shiny black material as the rest of it. So, when you type like this it's kinda hard to get a grip on them, would've liked to see more rubberized keys. In the Q1 Ultra's favor however it's about half as much as a lot of the other UM PC's we've looked at like the OQO model 2 or the Vulcan Flip Star, or Sony's UX. This isn't the bigger however, it's got a seven inch screen, makes it good for watching media file and movies and streaming video online. Unfortunately the poky processor inside means that you get a little bit of stuttering when you read the streaming online video or if you download a video file to watch later. In order to control the Q1 Ultra you've got a little mouse thumb thingy right over here kinda like on a think pad. And you got your left and right mouse buttons over here and some arrow keys that are kinda like the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also use your finger and control the little touch screen just like that. Or, you can pop out the style list and also use that. so, some combination of the thumb keyboard, the little mouse pointer, and the touch screen actually makes it kinda easy to use once you get used to using all three input methods together. It's got this wrist wrap action so you can snap it on and run around town with it. But, the little tie on the wrist wrap is suspiciously similar to the little thin one on the new Nintendo Wii remote and if you remember those always broke at very inopportune times. There's a UM PC on the market right now that's really gonna stand up as your main computer, Samsung by bringing the price down to about 1000 bucks certainly takes a step in the right direction and this could maybe be your second machine or something you take down the road just to surf the web with. I'm Dan Ackerman and that's the Samsung Q1 Ultra. ^M00:01:55 [ Music ]

Samsung Q1 Ultra (Vista Home Premium) Review

Editors' rating

6.1

out of 10

Price range

$693.15

Tech For Less, Inc.

See all 1 stores

The good: Appealing, polished design; multiple input options, including a QWERTY keyboard; lightweight; big, bright screen; inexpensive for a UMPC; relatively roomy hard drive.

The bad: Poor performance limits its versatility and appeal; battery life is still short of what's needed for a UMPC; no cellular broadband; the keyboard is an improvement over onscreen keys, but typing is still a challenge.

The bottom line: Despite making improvements to its UMPC, Samsung still has work to do. The underpowered Q1 Ultra is best used for on-the-go Web surfing, but there are better and cheaper devices for that specific task, including that new device from Apple you may have read about recently.

Read full review