Basics
As it is visible from the lead-in, we still don’t know where to put the UMPC category exactly. The subject of our current review is small for a notebook and definitely large for a mobile device, moreover the designers tried so heavily to cram everything in it, that we think that we received a freak. As it is obvious from the previous lines, my greatest problem with the device is related to its size.
But let’s not be so hasty. It’s worth mentioning that Amtek is not such a beginner company in the UMPC segment than we would think. The U560 is the third device of the manufacturer. The first was the T700 model, which appeared first on the market as an Origami model. The T770 followed last year and at the beginning of this year the subject of our current review has been presented, which was provided to us by MobilX.
“Size does matter – so does the well-known saying go, but unfortunately Amtek’s product oversteps the mark. The device is literally huge. UMPC would mean to me, that it’s a device that I can hold in my one hand, while controlling it with the other. Well I would surely have to build up some muscle in case of the U560, as this “little” sweetheart isn’t a really light piece of machinery with its 675 grams. This value is further emphasized by its size, as it is nearly as large as a subnotebook. It is true, however, that it doesn’t fall much behind them in features, but still It would expect a smaller size from a UMPC.
The box contained a bit few accessories for me, as I would have a liked at least a memory card or a docking station, but I only received a headset and a case with the device and its charger.
Hirdetés
Externals
When closed, most of the space is taken up by the 4.8” large touchscreen, which in theory has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t manage setting this value larger than 800 x 600. On the left of the screen the buttons representing the left and right mouse buttons are placed, along with a 5-way controller, resembling the navi-pads from cell phones, which, in my opinion, cannot be used for anything, as on the right of the screen we can find the well-known stick cursor. I felt the latter one as having a quite low sensitivity; I had to make a real effort to work with it. The OQO, reviewed earlier, proved to be much better in this. Much better.
Continuing the analysis we take a look at the right side of the device, as this is the control center. This is where we can turn the Bluetooth, the WLAN radio and the device on or off. We also find the 2 USB ports here, which can be used as full and complete connectors. Only the headset’s connector is on the left side (yes, headset, as the device uses a single jack port for the mic and the headphone, so a special headset is needed for it, but of course we won’t be able to make phone calls with it), while on the top we can find a disappointment, the slot of the CF card. I would have been much happier with SD-support; I don’t know what do You think about it, but in my opinion the CF card is not really a tool of our time.
Sliding the display upwards the QWERTY keypad and some shortcut buttons are revealed. Let me sniff a bit at this. Not even after two weeks of active use did the keypad become a handy tool, although the keys have an adequate size, there is a right amount of space between them, but the hotkeys placed in the center have disturbed me a lot, moreover the keys are extremely far from the mouse, so browsing was uncomfortable if I didn’t use the stylus.
I find two things worth to be mentioned, regarding durability. One of them is the slide used for moving the display – I found this very cracking and difficult to move even now and I was worried about it. The other thing is the rotatable webcam, which is a joke. A sticker is put near it by default, warning us not to rotate it too strong as it might brake, but unfortunately this is absolutely true. There is nothing to block the possibility of destruction; practically an unguarded user can easily break it, so I was very afraid to give away the gadget.
Interior, other
The model we received had an 800 Mhz Intel processor and 1 GB of DDRII RAM, along with a 40 GB hard drive. These parameters can be adjusted, for example in the offer of MobilX there is a model with half as many memory. Unfortunately there is no optical drive with the device, not even an external one. The docking station has one, this can be purchased separately.
Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to run Fraps on this UMPC either (ideas anyone?), I don’t know what can be the cause; I could have made a nice video of Half-Life or OpenTTD: these were running without problems. Of course I didn’t try any serious games, as the video card is not up to it. What really is surprised me was that even at a full load (gaming, surfing the web, WiFi turned on) the device was online for two hours with one charge, thus it can be an ideal choice for a media player. It is true, however, that it has a higher price than most PMPs, but for double the price, we get more than double the features.
WLAN and BT were functioning flawlessly, I even tried the USB modem, the device recognized it in moments and from than I could surf the net with that. In conclusion I can say that the device has its downsides (use of materials, keypad, mouse), but it is a UMPC with one of the most advantageous prices, so if someone decides that he needs such a thing, he will have no reasons to complain. I would like to ask those who do have such a device, to tell us in the forums what he uses it for. Maybe we get a bit smarter.
This report has a detailed list of the device’s specifications.
Polacheck
Translated by Szaszati
The device was provided by MobilX.
The device can be purchased online at www.mobilx.hu .
Info line: +36-52-501-868
