And while the M1 costs $US600 with a 1.33Mhz processor 512MB memory, the upcoming M2 is expected to be $US400 when it arrives around November.

UMID has also updated the case design to improve the screen angle, add an optical mouse and mouse buttons, and switched to USB ports that don’t require dongles.

A non-working prototype is felt up in the video below, but we should see the M2 running Windows 7 at IDF later this week. We’ll let you know if it’s up the task. [Pocketables and JKKMobile]

The OQO drama began to unfold a few weeks back, when a combination of leadership changes, message board rumours and canceled pre-orders through a large European retailer led people to surmise that the San Francisco-based UMPC maker was on its way out. They then admitted that they were courting potential buyers, but left it at that.

And now this: Chippy, he of UMPCPortal fame, has received word that all pre-orders for the lauded Model 2+ have been cancelled, though he hasn’t heard from the company itself. With a shipping date set at May 22nd and the company in distress, a delay might have been expected, and even excused. But a cancellation? That sounds an awful lot like a death knell. [SlashGear]

Sascha of Netbooknews.de got to muck around with the beta-version of Asus’ T91 tablet netbook. While the UI is still rough around the edges, it looks to be a promising addition to the tablet family.

[UMPC Portal]

The video shows Windows 7 on an Amtek U560, a relatively wimpy non-Atom UMPC with a sliding touchscreen. The device was only assigned a Windows Experience Index score of 1.2—lowish, but higher than with Vista. More importantly, performance was tolerable, and most of the drivers worked out of the box.

In the end, Windows 7 might have call for effective minimum specifications closer to XP’s than Vista’s, meaning that for many, upgrading to the newest version of Windows (for once) won’t demand anything more than a software purchase. [Slashgear via BBG]

We already knew about the S7, but when it was announced this summer, no specs or hands-on time were released with it, so it’s nice to get some solid data on the little guy. The S7’s 1024×600 screen is only 7 inches, but the sides are stretched out to a nearly Sony Vaio P-esque length:width ratio to make room for a usable keyboard and a very substantial battery. The screen itself is a swiveling touchscreen, like a traditional tablet, and Viliv brags that the battery can last a whopping 7 hours of video playback.

Besides that, it’s got the standard netbook guts: Atom proc up to 1.86 GHz, 1 GB of memory, 60 GB HDD/16 GB SSD, and Windows XP. Price and release date are still unknown, but it’ll probably hit Korea before making its way west. UMPC Portal got a hands-on, embedded below.
[UMPC Portal]

[OQO]

The leaks confirm the 1.33 GHz processor, and specifies it as a Z250 Atom, as well as the ultra-sharp 1600×768 8-inch screen. It’ll be packing 2GB of memory as well as GPS, which suggests it’ll at least have an option of Windows Vista. But the juiciest detail is the price: 700 Euro, which comes out to about $US970 ($A1370). That’d make it one of the most expensive netbooks out there, and aside from the screen, it’s not a huge bump in specs over HP or Dell’s offerings. These are still unconfirmed rumours, so we’ll have to reserve judgment until Sony rolls out the official announcement. Here’s hoping that price isn’t quite right. [UMPC Portal]