Over the weekend, my friend Charlie Lu was able to get his hands on the Sony and Samsung UMPC. After getting some hands-on time, here are some of Charlie’s comments on the UMPC’s:

• Resolution is so high – 1028×600. The “hello from sf” message you see on the screen – I wrote it in 50-point font.
• Having a keyboard (thumboard) makes a big difference, even when the keyboard isn’t that good (it’s hard to reach letters in the middle unless you have big hands – but if you have big hands, the keys may be too small). Still, typing an URL was easy enough.
• It is a lot smaller than it seems in photos (the Samsung is just the opposite), and it’s tastefully constructed. (Samsung’s chrome plastic buttons don’t look too good in comparison..)
• Unlike any other touchscreen I’ve used, writing/drawing on this screen renders perfect strokes. No weird, jagged lines. I was really impressed by this – you can make a sketch almost as good as you could on a piece of paper. It’s probably because of the high-density screen, and a good software (I can see that its smoothing effect is software-assisted, but it is really good.)
• Like the Samsung, this one has been crossed out on my wish list. The keyboards is not good enough, and EDGE is very slow.