Gaming on the Go

Mobile gaming beyond the DS and PSP has really been the folly of phone owners (yay snake!). Laptops capable of running full blown windows games are either too bulky to carry for opportunistic gaming or insanely expensive. There is however a change in the the wind, hope for gamers on the go and that is the UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer).

If you've heard of these before, back when Microsoft was countdowning to the mysterious Origami , you may have joined me in the disappointment on both design, price and power of the whole thing. However, if you stopped being interested right there and gave the whole thing up as a bad idea you may want to read on because UMPC is becoming a very viable platform and perhaps a fantastic new mobile gaming solution.


OQO Model 2

It isn't the cheapest solution starting at $1500-$1850 , sans accessories it soon adds up to a fair amount of money in the end but I'll be a farmer' sex slave if it's not a lust worthy piece of kit. The necessity to have copious amounts of disposable income aside, it does have some excellent examples of what the future holds though. This device is capable of running XP or Vista. Has wireless and lots of connectivity including cellular data if you get the add-on. A 5" screen supports native resolutions up to 800x480. The GPU shares the 1Gig of system ram and you can pop in a 60 gig hard drive. This device is tiny in size, large in price and amazing in capabilities. Don't believe me? Well as well as being able to handle your usual office and windows applications how about.

Some Quake 3


Too old? Play some World of Warcraft then, it's pushing the edge of the hardware but it shows what the current limits are.


Back to something like StarCraft. This vid is worth a watch as John Gatt comments on the usefulness of the OQO2 for gaming while showing it off playing StarCraft.


This is all in a device about the same size as a paperback. WOW!

There is the question of price though, that $2000 could fleet you out with every console and portable system and probably still buy you a decent laptop or desktop PC. No we need something cheaper.

HTC Shift

Okay, I'm doubting this is going to be substantially cheaper but you may score some subsidies if you buy in locked into a cellular contract. You may not know it but HTC make quite a few phones. Until recently they'd been happy to sell on their designs to operators and other companies such as Dell who would rebrand and sell them to us willing techno junkies. As a result HTC has seen a large amount of success and now they are not only launching their own branded products but also showing a bold innovative step in the mobile computing market. The HTC Shift is the pentacle of that step.

Yet to be fully announced and spec'd, the HTC Shift will offer a larger 7 inch screen at 800x480 with full cellular connectivity and the usual wireless networking. Hard drives up to 30gig will run Windows Vista (or any other OS you choose to install) on up to a gig of ram. Whats been most interesting about this device is not only the confirmation that its using Intels ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) chipset with the A110 Stealy CPU and GMA 950 GPU, but also that it runs the 3D intensive Aero version of Vista! Obviously hands on testing is required but it looks hopeful that this could match the OQO2 in functionality but with a bigger screen and full cellular connectivity.

"Asus Eee PC 701" (included in quotes so you don't think I've headbutted the keyboard)

This is actually looking too good to be true. A more traditional laptop style, it appears its currently sharing the same intel CPU/GPU combo as the Shift, offering the wireless networking but no cellular connectivity. Its base configuration is 512mb ram and a 4 gig solid state hard drive complimenting a 7 inch screen (likely 800x480 in resolution). Doesn't sound that great until you hear its coming in August and at $200, yes TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!

Now it seems we'll be able to up the specs on the storage and likely the ram too, but if we can get 1gig ram and 16gig solid state hard drive. Run XP and many popular games and emulators, and put the whole thing away in a glove compartment or pocket in your rucksack then I'm sold! Flash presentation with some pictures of the device to scale here.

Other candidates are coming up every day in this field. I can't cover them all but here are a couple more.

Fujitsu Siemens have the FMV-U8240 (Akihabara review) which is a retro, some say Star Wars Storm Trooper style laptop/tablet. It uses the same Intel A110 CPU/945 GPU combo and miniative size, so might be worth keeping an eye on for performance sake if nothing else.


Via are pushing their NanoBook reference design that has already been picked up in Europe by Packard Bell and has several other manufacturers pushing tweaked alternatives. Base line is you're looking at between $500-1000 for another 7inch (800x480) device of similar specs to the OQO2. Most designs seem to be in laptop only format so far but I guess a laptop/tablet design isn't far off.


UMPCs, With Intel and Via seriously pushing the thresholds on low voltage chipsets that are capable of handling your average media and gaming needs I think we're definitely heading into a big transitional period where perhaps even the like of dedicated gaming devices like the DS and PSP will feel a slight pinch as people realise that compromise and functionality doesn't need to mean inconvenience or expense.