What is an Origami PC?

An Origami PC, also known as the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), is a PC that runs the real version of Windows, like Windows XP, or Windows Vista. It's larger than a PDA, but smaller than the smallest laptops. The screen on most of these PCs will be around 7 inches.

So is everyone excited about these devices? Yes and no -- there are many who will sing songs of praise but there's no dearth of skeptics as well. Everyone does agree though that there is so much more evolution down the road for these Origami PCs.

As CNET news says -- Bill Gates' vision of an ultramobile PC seemed like a winner: a device with all-day battery life, yet small enough to fit in a pocket and much cheaper than a laptop. But as devices begin to come out a year later, reality still trails Microsoft's ambitions. The first generation of devices, being announced Thursday and already featured on Microsoft's site, are bigger, pricier and more power hungry than the software maker had hoped.

Echoing in the same voice, Vnunet reported how the companies behind Microsoft's Origami ultra-mobile PC project were unable to demonstrate it successfully at a recent news conference in Seoul.

PC Magazine was not too much more enthusiastic in their review of Samsung's Q1, one of the first UMPCs released, but it did look at the good aspects as well -- at first glance, the Q1 looks like a pumped-up Sony PSP. Even the scroll button resembles the joystick on the PSP. The big difference, of course, is that the Q1 is a fully functional PC loaded with the Windows XP (Tablet Edition) operating system.

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