UMPC Review: TabletKiosk v7110

Bob Ensminger, Ensminger Appraisers

I probably have one of the oldest UMPC's, the TabletKiosk eo. It is a neat little device and draws attention whenever in use. But it is a toy. I works well for playing games or keeping track of a meeting agenda or manual where you continuously scroll through text. Most pictures imbedded in the text as in a screen shot in the alamode manual don't show well enough to read. Column formatted text isn't easy either because one has to scroll down the page and then back up and over to read the next column. A 20" wide screen it isn't although it does have a wide screen format. One problem I found with WinTOTAL is when in the split screen mode (addendum or worksheet) only the top screen will show and I couldn't get to addendum or worksheet. I could get to the addendum through the contents section of the forms power view but not to the worksheet without going into Excel and manually transferring info into the form.

The screen is just about useless outdoors. One has to be in deep shade to be able to read the screen. Even on a cloudy day the screen can be difficult to read. The on-screen input is cumbersome at best. I bought a cheap usb keyboard for use in the car. The eo does have 2 usb ports and a docking station port but I don't have a docking station. In the office I can print to any network printer through the wireless connection. Any programs that I add to the UMPC is done over the internet or from my desktop CD drive mapped to the network. I was able to install MS Office. All components work reasonably well except for the lack of a decent input device.

Battery life is about 1.7 hours with Wi-Fi off. I typically use the Wi-Fi capabilities in the office. I use the 12-volt charger in the car. This puppy also gets HOT and is very uncomfortable to hold on your lap. The fan is very quiet. Reports will sync with WinTOTAL. I haven't loaded DaVinci and at this point I am not planning to. While it works well with WinTOTAL the I/O interface is almost unworkable in a mobile application. As I write this I'm thinking I should try my Dragon Naturally Speaking program. That works well on the desktop and there is no reason that I can think of offhand that would keep it from working on the eo. Then again, the resource hog programs run pretty slow compared to the desktop!

Overall, it works OK but I still prefer my PPC for my Outlook calendar and Mapopolis maps. It fits in my shirt pocket, has a camera if I need it, and in short, has all the stuff I need to carry around with me. The eo is a toy, my PPC is (still) a productive piece of equipment.