Small is beautiful

GIZMO GALLERY

The ultra mobile PC (UMPC) segment is all set to get a boost with Vaio UX series, a micro PC named UX17GP. Sony UX boasts of a bright but small 4.5-inch display with SVGA resolution. That's less than half-the-size of Sony's smallest ultra portable notebook and 2.5 inches smaller than a typical UMPC.

For starters, there would be a few unlearning experiences, beginning with managing the cursor. You can either use the stylus to tap on the touch screen or place your thumb on the textured mouse pointer to the right of the keyboard while using the two mouse buttons to the left of the keyboard. The pointer takes some getting used to, but once you adjust to the sensitivity, it's fairly easier to use.

Features Presumably intended for highly-mobile professionals or gizmophiles who love to show off, this Windows XP system crams a remarkable amount of technology into its 517 gram frame.

Measuring 6 x 3.74 x 1.5 inches, the Sony UX is all jazzed up with WiFi 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, 10/100 Ethernet and a good selection of ports (some require the included docking station or dongle). Not to forget, a touch screen XBRite display, Intel Core Solo processor running at 1.2GHz, 512 MB DDR2 RAM, 30GB hard disk, a backlit thumb keyboard (64 key QWERTY), biometric fingerprint scanner and front and rear facing cameras. Whew! No wonder this puppy comes at Rs 99,910.

Design flaws Speaking personally, the UX's biggest flaw was the keyboard.

The keys are placed too far apart to type quickly. Worse, the keyboard is completely levelled, providing almost no tactile feedback. You might have to reach out for a USB or a Bluetooth wireless keyboard. Lack of a handwriting recognition tool mars the usability of the bundled stylus.

If you are looking to use the UX as your desktop for longer than 5-6 hours, then it is advisable to use the included docking station (which contains a VGA connector) that will hitch up to a larger display.

Nevertheless, a 1.3-megapixel digital camera on the back of the slide-up display and a front-mounted Motion Eye camera work well for videoconferences. The Vaio UX has decent WiFi range, though not as good as full-sized Vaio notebooks.

It's at par with the Samsung Q1 and Fujitsu 1510 (other UMPCs) and some of the stronger PDAs, as far as signal strength is concerned. For better range when far from an access point, you can use Intel's power management software to increase reception.

With a pinch of salt Its battery lasts around 2 hours on an average, which is nothing to boast about but then this is not meant to be a PC "� remember it's a mobile PC.

This can be a primary machine for those who do little more than use an office suite, the web and email. If you do any heavy work, like Photoshop or other creative tools, you will find the UX struggling to keep up.

Lastly, don't go expecting the fastest technology from this computer that's less than 1/4 the size of many sub-notebooks.