Say Hello to Origami

Mentioned before on our forum and now finalized, Microsoft has, for some reason, decided the newest must-have item for your everyday consumer- a portable handheld.

Yes, everyday consumer. For some reason, the Microsoft theory has turned from "Come up with something unique" to "Find what everyone else is doing and do it, except with Windows". From the XBOX to Windows Media Player, Microsoft has now decided to move into a field we had honestly prayed to God they would not go into: Handhelds.


Literally known as the "Ultra Mobile PC" (Or, as I refer to it and is commonly called, "Origami"), Origami is simply a mini PC. According to the Microsoft information site, every model sports the following specs:

- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 OS
- Approximately 7? diagonal display (or smaller)
- Minimum 800 x 480 resolution
- Approximately 2 pounds
- Integrated touch panel
- WiFi- and Bluetooth-enabled

Well, not bad. So what we see here reminds me quite a bit of of the PSP- we have a screen-centric multimedia center with a sleek design and some awesome features. Microsoft has signed with different companies on this deal, meaning that different UMPCs will feature different layouts and styles, the two that will be presented to the American market being from Asus and Samsung. Of course, typical of PDAs, some Tablet PCs, and the Nintendo DS, the Origami PCs will feature a touch screen to replace a mouse, which has proven interesting and quite useful on some systems, while fatal to others.


Origami is essentially, as much as I can describe it, a media center PC in a small package. Features will include web browsing, instant messenging, music playing, movie playing, image viewing, the works. Some talk of gaming on the platform has been discussed, but with only a 900 mhz Celeron-M processor, Origami will not be a hardcore gaming PC, which is obvious anyway due to the control scheme of the system.



Now time for a good old fashioned thoughts on the system. Ever since the PSP was announced, I knew something bad was going to happen. The industry seemingly works like a bunch of dominoes- one moves, they all move. So, when Nintendo has the DS, Sony has the PSP, and Apple has the iPod, where does that leave Microsoft?

Completely emptyhanded. That's a problem, at least according to them. See, Microsoft, as I've said before and in quite a bit of articles I've written, likes to be led around on a leash, following trends in the market. Apple starts moving toward portable media devices? Off goes Microsoft with Windows Media Player and whatever MP3 players they could sign up to recieve. Nintendo announces the Gamecube? Microsoft has the XBOX. Firefox becomes popular due to tabbed browsing? The new edition of Internet Explorer will feature tabbed browsing. It may be low, but it continues to keep Microsoft afloat, still somewhat suffering from the fact that their main sellers, Windows and Microsoft Office, are being challenged by newcomers almost daily.

Think of them as a monopoly or a well-off company, it doesn't really matter, it all ends up being the same problem- one big company, very little innovation. So, actually, this was something I had mentioned to friends way earlier, to the effect of "I bet Microsoft is gonna try some sort of handheld crap". Well, I was right, to some extent (The "crap" part is debateable). Microsoft's Origami will, indeed, feature gaming. And that's why it's on here.


The systems are going to be equipped with basic games- Minesweeper, some sort of array of card games, you get the idea- and will, as advertised, be able to play Windows Games. Of course, that could also be said of my XBOX sitting in my room, but that doesn't mean it will run them well, so that's something that may take a little experience before we find a decision on that. It does tote an impressive 40 gig hard drive and 512 Megs of ram, though on the downside, you'll be clocking at only 900 mhz, which is roughly equivelant to a PC in 2000. So, you might be able to play a game like Diablo II on here, but put Half Life 2 on here and expect frames so slow you might as well draw them.

I wish I could say my opinion on this was neutral, but it's not. First of all, I don't think any system with 900 mhz trying to advertise itself as a PC is really a good idea. Let me boil it down for a lot of Microsoft Junkies: This system is a glorified PDA. It features a touch screen, a cut-down Windos, attachments like a Keyboard, a tiny resolution, and negligable use. Yep, that's a PDA, son, they just went and turned it on it's side. I'm not saying it's not interesting or fun to look at, I'm saying that it's nothing original or innovative. Microsoft again has failed to impress me with their previews. Let's hope they pull some rabbits out of their hats or fold some paper in fancy ways to make this more than a glorofied PDA.