Microsoft Origami unveiled

The Microsoft Origami project was finally unveiled today, and some real images of Origami machines were posted.

The third “episode” is up on the Origami website, http://origamiproject.com/, and there’s also a new community site at http://origamiproject.com/default.aspx.

The proper name for the product is “Ultra-Mobile PC”, and the official site is http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx. So it seems this is not a product Microsoft will make, but rather a standard, like PocketPC and Tablet PC, that hardware vendors can implement. The picture above is lifted from the Microsoft site, and is apparently the ASUS UMPC.

It seems Intel are the ones that have created the hardware platform, see more at http://www.intel.com/design/mobile/platform/umpc.htm. There’s also a picture there (a mockup I presume) of what an UMPC could look like, and I posted it here.

The first real machines (from Samsung and ASUS) aren’t that cool looking, but I’m hoping some more machines will be available soon. I definitely want one of these.

This seems to be the same project that was mentioned about a year ago, when Microsoft talked about a mini Tablet PC with a screen of about 8 inches. The UMPC standard seems to have a screen of about 7 inches and a resolution of at least 800 x 480 pixels. I hope some more high-res machines become available soon. I’m going to get myself one if they do.