"The only way to be truly satisfied, is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." Steve Jobs
Once "inking" gets into your veins you will never be able to live without it. Frank J. Garcia

My Surface PRO 3 'Must Have' Accessories List

Friday, March 30, 2007

Slingbox for 119 dollars

I paid 180 dollars for mine! I can't believe that Amazon is selling it now for just $119.

This is the old model but it works very well. I use it daily and it proved to be a very useful gadget the last World Football Cub in Germany. I did not miss a game while I was away from home.

And it works perfectly in my Samsung Q1.

[Affiliated link]


Video: SlingPlayer in a Samsung Q1

About Battery Life

I have been lately reading this new blog about Tablet PC, specifically about the Toshiba M400 which is advertised by Toshiba with a battery life of more than 4 hours when the real life test shows a little more than 2 hours.

One of the funniest thing I find is that the "specialized" press has criticized a big time the battery life on UMPCs. But they have forgot that at this moment you wont find out there probably more than 2 or 3 Notebooks, subnotebooks or Tablet with a battery life higher than 3 hours.

It's a fact. We just are not that good with batteries yet. There are many things that need to be changed to get a battery life higher than 4 hours and all these things that need to be changed if you put them together in a Ideal machine, it will cost you a fortune at this moment.

are we going to see 4 hours, 5 hours or more in our mobile machines? Yes, but not this year. We still far away from having this technology cheap enough to have it as a common thing in all mobile technology.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

would you believe me?

Would you believe me if I tell you that one of the reasons why we don't have HID drivers yet from eGalax is because Samsung has not sent them yet a Q1 for testing? Another big company that has shown me what is really important for them: our money. And once they get your money you become more than nothing to them.

I'm very disappointed.

In another hand, you have Microsoft with a solution for this HID issue and you have Samsung with probably the same solution and none of them release it. What they are waiting for?

I'm very disappointed.

So far the only ones that have shown me that they are working hard are these guys from eGalax. I have the opportunity today of testing something that they had but that is not ready (no working properly yet) and damn! They are so close to a real solution! For one moment I had truly HID support, even the flicks were working on my Q1. But there were problems with the calibration. So I would like to thank these guys from eGalax. They are working hard looking for a solution.

eGalax driver is not for our Q1s

eGalax released a Beta Vista Drivers but unfortunately they can't be used in our Q1s. And it's not just because they say so, but because they just do not work.

According to eGalax you need a firmware version bigger than 2.3

Capture

And we have version 2.20H

Capture


I sent them an email asking what was going on and this is what they said:

Frank,

What the driver for Vista in our webiste is not for UMPC HID touch digitizer. Instead, that is for general application which needs touchscreen works as a mouse.

It is a "MOUSE" driver.

For the Samsung Q1 Issue, we are developing a driver to make it work as a HID digitizer which should be what you need.

eGalax release driver for Vista

eGalax has just released a beta driver for Vista. I'm at work now but I'll test it as soon as I get home.

Sony UX180P for $1099

I was updating a few minutes ago our Vista Performance Score Table with the data for the UX180P when I found that this device is being sold at Amazon (Affiliated) for just $1099. That's a good price. I'm glad to see that prices are going down for these devices.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Petition to Intel

More than 3000 people has signed a online petition to Intel asking for better drivers for 915 chipset.

Intel has stated that they will not release "vista premium" drivers for the i910/915 chipset, citing Microsoft design incompatibilities. The chipset described above is the most popular on laptop computers today and by not making decent drivers that support AERO, millions of users will not be upgrading to Vista, or will be left with a lesser experience. Intel calls their drivers "vista ready", but even vista DVD maker and Vista movie maker refuse to run on these "vista ready" drivers.
The fact is that many were able to test AERO in the earlier versions of Vista Beta, so it´s real that the 915 chipset can handle AERO. How good is it? I really do not know and I really do not care. This is one those cases where a company decides what is better for us customers and that make me feel like I´m a stupid caveman that does not know how to disable a feature if this feature does not give me the performance that I consider normal. That´s my point, and even when I do not believe too much about these online petitions I signed this one.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Vista Performance Score

Do you know that the performance of a Q1p and a Q1 is not that difference? Do you know how much the newest 7200 rpm HDD helps the v7110 performance? Do you know how good is the newest Q1 Ultra?

The answers to all these questions can be found in this table where I have included Vista Performance Score of most of the Origamis in the market that have been upgraded or are running Vista.

Capture

New Atheros Update

I'm really impressed with this people from Atheros Communications Inc, since I installed Vista in my Q1 a little more than a month ago they have released at least 3 updates using Windows Vista Update Service.

Capture

This company is the maker of the WiFi card installed in Q1s.

Stowaway Sierra BT Keyboard

Stowaway Sierra BT Keyboard from iGo.

The Stowaway Sierra BT Keyboard (affiliated link) is a portable keyboard that can be carry easily in your pocket.


P3180003

P3180005


This keyboard comes with everything needed to be used with Palm OS, Pocket PC/Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and WM Smartphone operating systems. In these Operating Systems you need to install drivers to use it. In our case I tested in a Samsung Q1 with Vista Business Installed and I did not have to install anything from the factory CD.


P3180007


The installation in Vista is very easy. You open your BT Wizard and search for a new device. In your BT Keyboard you press the little yellow "button" to switch the Stowaway Keyboard to discoverable mode.


P3180026


After a few seconds you will see your Stowaway Keyboard in your list of BT Devices.


Capture1k


The next step is to pair it, there you will be asked for a password that you have to type in that same screen and then in your keyboard, ending this action hitting Enter. I have seen in other keyboards that the manufacturer gives you a password, but in this case I selected to choose my own passkey and that option worked for me.


Capture2k


After that you can start using your keyboard.

The Stowaway Sierra BT Keyboards folds in 3 parts. The following 2 pictures shows how the hinge mechanism works.


P3180015


P3180016


Once the keyboard is put in the position shown in the above last picture the keyboard stays as a whole unique piece. The keyboard size on that way is close to a normal keyboard size and thanks to that I could reach easily a SC (Speed Coefficient) of around 0.94 after few minutes of use. Another point that I liked is the fact that once you have the keyboard paired with your UMPC all you need to do the next time you want to use it is just open it and start pressing keys. No switches, no nothing. Of course, your BT in your UMPC needs to be on for this to happens.

Another point that I liked was that it uses a Regular AAA battery that can be found in any Groceries Store. According to the brochure that came with this keyboard, this battery should last around 3 months.


P3180017


The Stowaway Sierra keyboard comes with a little stand for SPs and PDAs hidden in the back (see the first picture of the next group). That's a nice touch for those like me that use more than one mobile devices.


P3180021


P3180022


P3180023




P3180024



The next pictures show the keyboard folded ready to be taken to anywhere you go as the perfect tool for your mobile needs.


P3180009

P3180008



P3180010


P3180011


Conclusion

The Stowaway Sierra BT Keyboard is not just a keyboard very well made. It's the perfect combination between portability and usability and that can be easily seen form the very high SC reached by me in my tests. For the best portability designers try to shrink everything in the smaller size possible and that decrease the overall performance of these devices. This keyboard prove that you can have a small keyboard, very easy to carry with you and at the same time a keyboard with almost the same performance than a regular size keyboard.


P3180001


I would like to thank iGo for sending me this keyboard for this review.


The Spanish Version of this review can be found here.

Mac OS X running on a R2H

This video was posted at OnlyUMPC:



Warning: What I'm about to say is based only in what I can see on that video. Mac OS is not in any way faster than Vista when it runs in a UMPC.

Monday, March 26, 2007

I can't believe this

Samsung released the Q1p with Vista pre installed without a really full HID support. And if you don't believe me check this.
I tried to do some "flicks" and it looks like we can't do them. Everytime I tried it said cannot do flicks with mouse...even though I was using the pen. But I guess it doesn't REALLY think it's a pen. Or am I missing a setting somewhere? Can we do flicks with the Q1?

This means that the touch screen still being recognized by the OS as a mouse instead of a digitizer. The Q1p with Vista Pre installed is using a MS generic HID driver, could be that the problem?


Forget about it. This is why is that important to keep threads on topic. He was talking about his upgraded Q1p without HID Support. I still have not confirmed it this is really an issue in the Q1p with Vista pre installed.

Once again about HID Drivers

We have been talking to Hugo Ortega and it seems that we have some info about this topic that he will be sharing soon. From what you can read in the comments of that post, he has his Q1p upgraded with HID Support.

So, Kevin, we are going to get it!

HTC Shift

HTC is finally coming with a real UMPC, the HTC Shift.

htcshift


Unveiled at CTIA, the HTC Shift combines the power of Windows Vista with an innovative QWERTY-based keyboard design and 3G-connectivity. The days of compromising productivity for portability are gone. The HTC Shift provides all the power, functionality and connectivity the busy professional needs in a sleek design that is half the size and a fraction of the weight of what they lug around today. Similar in size to a couple of DVD cases, the HTC Shift comes with Windows Vista Business, includes a brilliant 7-inch widescreen touch display and a 30-gigabyte hard drive. Packed with advanced connectivity, the HTC Shift features high-speed global connectivity with Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. A multimedia maven, the HTC Shift leverages Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and photos.

“The HTC Shift is combining the power of Windows Vista with advanced connectivity in a sleek mobile computer design,“ said Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Mobile Platforms Division. “HTC and Microsoft have been innovating on smartphones for years, so it is exciting to see them bring that experience and innovation to mobile computers.”

According to some sources this UMPC will be using a VIA processor.

[Source: JKonTheRun]

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Q1 cradle by RAM

I just installed this cradle from RAM in my car and I'm very pleased. One of the best feature of RAM Systems is how many options they have, I can switch from my PPC cradle to my Q1 cradle in just few seconds without using any tool. And in the future if I buy a new device all I need to buy is the cradle, the rest will work fine. The only thing that I did not like is that it's a little hard to put the Q1 in the cradle, it's not as easy as with my PPC cradle where the device is hold in the cradle thanks to a spring mechanism. In this cradle you have to bend backward the plastic hook on the top and that's not a easy task.































Saturday, March 24, 2007

8 Gbs more for my Q1

I just found a very good deal at Amazon: 8 GB Transcend CF Card for 87 dollars (Affiliated link).

That's a little more than $10 per Gb and even when the CF slot is said to be slow like hell in our Q1s, 8 Gbs are 8 Gbs! So I ordered one for myself.

I have read in some where that this card is fast enough for Vista Readyboost, I don't think that that is going to work in my Q1 but it's good to know.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Thursday, March 22, 2007

eo v7112XT Video

JKK just posted a video of the eo v7112XT.

Woot did it again!

Once again the Q1 Celeron is on sale at Woot for 700 dollars!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spanish Company using UMPC

I have been reading a lot about possible uses of UMPCs by companies of all kind but so far I have not found anything proving that as a fact. But no any more. The Spanish Company Agromillora Catalana SA has decided to change this:

Agromillora_Antes

In to this:

Agromillora3

What a difference!

They have plans to replace around 40 PCs with CRT monitors in each of their nursery rooms for eo v7110s with the help and guidance of todoUMPC, a company specialized in this new technology.

Agromillora Catalana SA is an International High Tech in vitro nursery that specializes in the production and marketing of plantlets and young trees of the highest quality.

Tune your "Vista" Cleartype.

Cleartype on my Q1 with Vista installed looks like crap and today this issue reached the point where I could not hold it any more. So I went to this wonderful Microsoft's page and tuned it up! What a difference! Even when that page was originally designed for Windows XP it works with Vista in the same way it did on Vista.

One thing I noticed, in the second page of this tune up, the best setting was this one:

bgr

Which is marked as a very rare one.

eo TufTab v7112XT

TabletKiosk just presented yesterday to the press the v7110 successor: the eo TufTab v7112XY (What a name Gail!)

image0_thumb

  • Processor: VIA C7-M® ULV, 1.2 GHz, 5W, 400MHz FSB
  • Memory 1.0 GB DDR2 SDRAM
  • Hard Drive: 40 GB,1.8” IDE Ultra DMA PATA HDD
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista™ Business, Windows® XP Tablet Edition or SUSE Linux
  • Display: 7” LCD sunlight viewable touch screen (80 gram sensitivity)
  • Expansion: 1x PCMCIA 2.1 Type II 32-bit PC Card Slot
  • Wireless: 802.11 b/g networking / Bluetooth® 2.0
  • I/O: 1 x USB 2.0
  • 1 x SD-IO/MMC
  • 1 x Headphone jack, Built-in Stereo Microphone
  • 1 x HD15 VGA (Dual Screen Support)
  • 1 x 10/100 Mbps Full Duplex 32-bit Ethernet (RJ45)
  • Digital camera
  • Security: Biometric Fingerprint Reader
  • Weight: 1.97 lbs (895 grams) with standard 4-cell battery
  • Dimensions: 206 x 135 x 29 mm (8.1” x 5.31” x 1.14”)
  • Ratings: IP53 compliant for resistance to water and dust; Shock/ Drop/ Vibration: 75cm

Finally an answer to our HID Drivers problems

I spent a few hours Yesterday trying to have the Q1 touch screen recognized as a touch screen and not as a mouse by Vista. And I never succeeded. Every time I tried there was a mouse in my Device Manager instead of a touch screen. And once again the only way to make it work was installing the Touchkit from egalax. Noticing that I thought that my next logical step could not be anything else than contacting eGalax so I sent them an email and few hours later I got a reply from them:

Dear Ctitanic,

Yes. Both Amtek T700 and Samsung Q1 use eGalax's chip solution. Amtek T700 use serial interface of digitizer and Samsung Q1 apply USB interface of controller. However, because design of Q1 is somewhat different. Anyway, we will release a new HID digitizer driver for USB interface digitizer controller soon.

With that driver, that can meet what you want, I think. Pls just wait for a while.

Alex

So this explains why Samsung has not released any Vista drivers for our old Q1s. They just do not have a solution. This email also explain why the newest Q1p with Vista does not use the Touchkit; they just changed the hardware design to use a serial interface. That means that at this point there is nothing that we can do about it but wait for eGalax.

Probably would be good if you guys show some interest in these drivers for Vista to eGalax. They probably are looking for beta testers (I'm just speculating here).

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

More about the HID Driver support in Q1

Today I read a very pessimist comment at JKonTheRun about the HID Driver support and here what I think. Probably Kevin is right, probably Samsung won't release officially anything for old Q1s for Vista. They don't have to do so and that will increase a lot the amount of Tech Support calls. So up to this point Kevin is right. What I don't think is right is to keep pointing users to use the old XP drivers and to stay using the old BIOS and not to install the latest one version 20MA. Why I say that this is wrong? Well, because buy staying with the old XP drivers running under Vista you are ending without SRS Sound Support, with Microphones not working properly, with a MagicKeyboard program that does not work properly, a Power Manager that it's not working and wasting your battery a lot faster and on top of all that, you don't have HID Driver support and you will never have if you stay using the old BIOS.

If you install the new Q1p Vista Drivers, you are going to see, full SRS Sound support, your Microphones will work a lot better, you will get a new power management software that really works, you will get finally your hot keys working properly. On top of that you will get a new MenuUI easier to use with a new option that allows you to rotate the screen in two directions. The only thing that you don't get is HID Support. A big difference if you ask me. If staying with the old drivers and BIOS is 95% then with the new drivers seems to me 98%.

But that's not all. Yesterday I said that I was looking into more info about the HID Drivers. Today I can say one thing. Samsung wont release any HID Drivers because it's Microsoft USB HID Drivers what they are using. We are making a big mistake trying to install the TouchKit from egalax to get our touch screen functional. That's why the Touchkit is not included in the Q1p Vista pre-installed Drivers.

But before I get deeper into this, lets explain what I know at this moment:

1- The Q1p with Vista use the 20MA BIOS.

Bios

2- The Q1p with Vista does not use the TouchKit PAD, instead of using that, they let Microsoft install a generic USB Human Interface Device Driver as it can be seen in these two following pictures:

HID1

hid


Add to this that according to the experience of people installing Vista in a TK i7210, this device is recognized as a Tablet PC if they do not install the TouchPack from egalax. These two facts are telling me clearly that we don't need the Touchpack kit.

3- There were two files that we could not make it work from the Q1p CD. One of them, relative with Touch Screen calibration.

4- I have try to get the touch screen working in the pass without installing the Touchkit and I could not because I could not calibrate the screen. Wait a minute, did I said that I could not calibrate the screen? Check point No 3. Now we have a tool coming from Samsung that should be used to calibrate the screen. In that folder where the screen calibration tool is located there is another program, I checked what is in that program and I found that it has to write a pre-calibration value in the registry. If you try to run the calibration tool having the Touchkit running, you wont see anything happening. If you run it without the Touchkit installed you will get an error message. But I ran that tool from that folder, when what I should have done is to place that tool in the right location where it should be copied by Samsung Installation tool.

Conclusion

We have everything is needed to get the HID support we just do not know how to get it. In the next few days starting from today, I (and I'm sure that Jay and other guys will do the same) will concentrate my efforts in finding the way to get the HID support into our devices. The major problem that we have at this moment is that there was only one Q1p with Vista preintalled owner (R D, Thanks to you!) who has helped us in all these issues, and he is returning his Q1p to get a P1610.

What we still need?

1- We need a backup of the MS USB HID Driver, that will make easier the installation.
2- We need to find the right location where they should be copied for those two calibration files. My guess is that it's Windows\System32.
3- We need a .reg with the value written in a Q1p registry to keep the pre calibration, or what I think is the pre calibration value.

So, as you can see, I'm very optimist at this point. There is a probability that we are not going to see HID Support, but that probability is very low at this point. So, stay tunned. We are going to get it, with Samsung or without Samsung, it's just a matter of time.

Monday, March 19, 2007

No HID Support after intalling Vista Drivers

Well, this weekend we installed the Vista Drivers from the Q1p in our Q1s and discovered that still not HID Support for us. But... Do not dare to think that that's the end of the road. We still looking around for a solution. At this moment I still gathering information for I have some questions that I initially had answered and probably tomorrow I'll post all this information.

So far, we have all Vista Drivers and software working properly. The only point that still not working right is the HID support and due to this issue we still have to apply 2 workarounds and have the TouchKit installed (this one is not needed anymore in a Vista preinstalled Q1p).

Friday, March 16, 2007

Unofficial Q1 Vista Drivers

The Unofficial Vista Drivers for Samsung Q1 has been uploaded. These drivers are the ones from the Q1p. The HID Driver still not there, this means that we still need to use the "floating Tip", the hack to make the Q1 pass as a Tablet PC, and the registry hack to avoid the issue with the touch screen not responding.

The good news is that the menus have been updated and they are working now.

i-Station G43

The G43 is a new UMPC from Digital Cube:
  • sports a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 touch-screen display
  • an AMD Geode LX800/900 running at 500MHz
  • 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth
  • 30GB or 60GB disks

i-station-g43-umpc008_440


Source: Engadget

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Completely New Asus UMPC

Asus has shown at CeBit a completely new Convertible UMPC. This device will use a VIA processor and includes most of the features that made so popular the Asus R2H.

asusrugedumpc1

I would lie if I say that I like this design. It's "an ugly Mother f...." But... It's functional and Asus is well known for their very low price. The bottom line is that I'm happy to see more new UMPC coming soon. That's very good for this market.

[Thanks Jeff for sending me this tip.]

Vista Drivers for Q1

A group of Q1 owners decided not to wait for Samsung and have been hunting the Q1p Vista Drivers. Today we finally have some of them. I would like to thank Jay and R D for all the effort they have put in this adventure!

Here is the link.

You will find there at this moment two drivers, the Intel chipset and the Sound Driver. Both have been tested and they work perfectly. The Sound Driver will give access for the first time since we installed Vista to the Surround Sound Settings.

We will keep working to get the rest of the drivers up as soon as possible. If anybody has a Q1p with Vista Pre installed and want to help please leave us a note here.

Capture

More Asus Drivers

A todoUMPC User found more Vista drivers for Asus that are not listed yet at their site.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Samsung Q1 Ultra


Samsung Q1 Ultra, AKA Samsung Q2, has been found by Steve at CeBit. Still very little details about this device.

Attention Asus R2H users

Yeap, some Vista drivers have became available at Asus download site.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Bill Gates still believe in Tablets

If you have any doubt of that check this video shot by... Hugo Ortega



MVPs are in Redmond

I have to confess that for me those MVP meetings at Redmond are irrelevant. They just have too many NDA that limit them to what they can say of what they are talking on those meetings. So at the end, there is not too much judge for as regular bloggers to blog about.

But, this year there is an exception. This year, Hugo Ortega is there blogging about everything he sees. Of course, I do not expect Hugo to break any of those NDA but Hugo is a natural born showman. He has the art of converting the irrelevant into a big show. Like for example, here is this video:



Would you do it better? No way... Hugo is Hugo and can be only one Hugo Ortega. There is only one other person that can use a video camera as well as Hugo: Chris Pirillo.

We still looking for a Vista Q1p owner

We still looking for a owner of a preinstalled Q1p. If you have one and you want to help the rest of the Samsung Q1 community uploading Vista Drivers in our ftp server.

If anyone wants to help, please leave me a note here.

Monday, March 12, 2007

iGuidance 3 review

iGuidance 3 for UMPC

In the last few months I have been testing some GPS Software in my UMPC looking for the best or at least one that could be easily used in this kind of device.

The Competence

I tested Microsoft Street and Trips 2006 and it did not convinced me.It was not optimized at all to be used in a car. In another hand, simple tasks like just change the route needed to interact with multiple screens with normal side buttons that needed the stylus to click on them. In another hand, inversion 2006, there was not a full screen option so the area left for the map in the screen was too small. Microsoft changed a few thing in version 2007 but still far from being a good car companion. One thing that I did not like at all was the fact that this program did not have a 3D view. I find that the 3D view helps me a lot while I'm driving, probably is a psychological thing but I feel that by looking at that view I can have a better idea of where I'm.

The above screen shot illustrates how difficult would be to change with yourfinger any option in your current route.


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Another point I did not like of this program is that I had to load all maps in my UMPC. That took more than 1 GB of space from my HDD.

The second software that I tested was Copilot 9. This program was alot better than Microsoft's Street and Trips. Copilot was designed specially to be used in a car, so the user interface was a lot easier to use, it has big buttons so I could use it with my fingers without having to use the Stylus.

10

One of the problems that I found with this program is that it was not designed for 800x480, I had to switch to 800x600 to used. I tested it using the USB Phillips GPS that came with the software and I found that the GPS did not work not as good as my BT TomTom GPS. Phillips GPS lost the signal very easily in one occasion that I stopped for Gas even when there was plenty of clear sky view. I have not been able to see any satellites from my bedroom with the GPS close to a windows when with my BT TomTom GPS in that same windows I can see at least 4 satellites.

Another point that I did not like from Copilot is that, as you can see in the above screen shot, a big portion of the screen was used by buttons and other information and as result the space left for the map was too small. Copilot Maps have to be loaded to your HDD so that will take a big junk of it.

You can check more Copilot 9 screen shots here.

iGuidance 3

The first thing that I noticed in iGuidance 3 is that it gives you the option to load only those States Maps that you want into your HDD. That will save you some HDD space. The second point that impressed me was that it was designed to fit perfectly in a 800x480 resolution.

IG1

As you can see from the above screen, developers managed to use the whole screen including transparent messages or areas on top of the actual map. Buttons are located too on top of the map and they have a perfect side to be used with your fingers.

A Menu Button on the left side of the screen gives you access to all the other screens that you need to set your Destination, to select a shortcuts to point of interests, to look to your Itinerary or change the main settings of the program.

ig2menu


Typing an address with your finger does not represent any problem in iGuidance. The on screen keyboard was designed to be used in that way.


id3keyboard


iGuidance UI was completely designed to be used while you are driving. Something completely different than in Copilot or Microsoft Street and Trips where part of the program used the normal Windows UI which is not touch friendly. The above screen shows how easy is to change the Destination.


igdestmenu


The configuration screens in iGuidance are also very easy to use. They did not use the traditional check boxes or radio buttons; they used buttons that changed to a Gold Color to let you know what option was selected. A very clever solution.


igdisplayop


Another option that I like very much and I did not see it in any of the other two programs that I checked is the Demo option. iGuidance lets you to virtually go through your route like if you were in your car connected to your GPS. The above video shows you the demo mode running and it can give you a very good idea of how this program works. The voice in this video does not feel as clear as it's in real life. Another thing that I noticed is that the arrow went out of the route in the corners, something that does not happen in real life when you are using the program connected to your GPS.

Video: iGuidance running in a UMPC



Conclusion

iGuidance from iNav is so far the best GPS software that I have tested for UMPC. For a little more than 100 dollars you receive a DVD with versions of the program for Pocket PC, UMPC, and Laptop. If you want to have these options from Copilot you will be asked to pay for each one of them. I found Copilot to better than current version of iGuidenace in just one point, Copilot 10 includes Real Time Traffic Report if your UMPC is connected to Internet while iGuidance only includes Real Time Weather Report, of course, having Internet Connection in your Car you can have a traffic report by switching to Google Maps, a free service recently added by Google.