The Samsung Q1P Unboxing

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I have always had a passion for gadgets, and it seems that I am always the guy with the newest, most cutting edge device. I have been intrigued by the concept of the UMPC since its inception as the Origami project. I had only once had the chance to play with one and it was the 1st Generation one based upon the Celeron processor. I was not impressed enough to drop my hard earned cash for one. With the introduction of the Samsung Q1P, based upon the ultra low voltage Pentium I decided to go for it. I asked Judie if I could do an unboxing for Gear Diary, and she generously agreed. [Ed. note – it’s more like Steve generously offered to do the unboxing, and I happily agreed! 😉] Since I don’t have a video camera, pictures and a short write up will have to do. Hope you enjoy it.

The device came, as you can see, not very well packaged in my opinion. I ordered from Dell because I got a good deal, but Dell did not get any points with me on packaging.

This is the box from Samsung. Anyone that saw the original Q1 will remember that there was very sturdy chest style box instead of on like this. No more, that is gone. Now it is a normal box with inserts.

The specs of the Q1 are on the side of the box. I ordered the Windows XP version because I have a multi-computer license for Vista Business, and I did not want to pay the extra money for Vista. Also I had read about performance issues with Vista, so I figured I could upgrade later and save a few bucks.

Upon opening the box the first thing you see is the documentation.

Take out the getting started guide and you get your first view of the actual Q1; first impressions are excellent.

Lifting out the device – and the cardboard insert it sits in – reveals another box, this is the accessory pack.

Taking everything out of the box, you can see that pretty much everything you’ll need is included. Documentation is abundant, and the box includes software restoration discs, battery, ac adapter, a neoprene type sleeve case, a wrist strap, and a very nice micro fiber screen cleaning cloth.

The battery included is a three cell, rated at 2600mAh.

As an added bonus the battery is fully charged straight out of the box. I love the lights that show the charge level.

So here is the Q1 itself. Great piano black, high gloss finish…it’s a fingerprint magnet, though.

On the right side of the device’s screen are several buttons. The top one is similar to a directional, but each direction can be defined as a function. In a long document they can be used to scroll up and down, while the middle button is an enter key. The bottom button is defined to bring up the Samsung menu with special functions. In this picture you can really see the high gloss of the device because of my hand’s reflection.

The left side has the mouse pointer thumb stick, though it does not really act like a mouse. The button below it is used to quickly change the resolution of the screen between three choices, 800×480 (default), 800×600, and 1024×600.

The left edge of the device has (from the top), a special power port for the external USB ODD, a USB 2.0 port, headphone port, volume button, hold switch, and the loop for the hand strap.

The back has a built in stand. It looks flimsy but it is actually pretty sturdy, and there are two positions. The one in the top picture and a much harsher angle great for watching video where the device is nearly flat on the table.

On the top of the device, on the right side, (viewed from the rear) is the RJ-45 Ethernet port.

On the left side are the heat vents and the power switch.

On the left side of the back is the stylus; it is really a cheap flimsy thing. Samsung could have done much better with it.

In the top center is the CF slot.

The right edge of the device has the VGA out port, another USB port, and the power port.

Stylus: a cheap, plastic, weightless thing.

Along the bottom left edge are the status LEDs, there are: HDD light, wireless LAN, charge status, and power status.

This is the Windows Setup wizard with the onscreen keyboard. It gets in the way because you cannot reposition it to actually get to the wizard. Luckily you can change the resolution here if you need to.

This is the standard Start menu. Nothing special here, although there is a lot of preinstalled custom Samsung software to leverage the Tablet PC side of the device.

The Q1 comes with a 90 day subscription to Norton Antivirus; here you have to accept the License agreement.

The calibration wizard allows for left or right handed use. The Q1 is a true touch screen device, you can use the cheapo stylus or your finger.

Out of the box the device’s hard drive has about 5.5 gigs used and 47 gig free.

First impressions are very positive: the device is very snappy and I have not experienced any overt delays in use. It is my travel companion, web surfing, and email device. So far, so good, but after a few weeks I will give more details on my use.

I also ordered the Samsung Q1 Organizer and Samsung Q1 USB Keyboard. The organizer is very well made, sturdy, and it holds the Q1 tightly. It has a great built in stand for viewing, and it also is has a spot for the keyboard. Here are the pics.

The bottom is for the keyboard, and the clips you see at the top are for the Q1 itself. The Organizer holds both very nicely. To the left, mostly out of the picture is a fold-over keyboard cover with a rigid insert to protect the screen.

Here are two shots of the stand, it is magnetic and will not flop about when not in use.

This is the close up of the mounting bracket for the Q1.

This is where the keyboard snaps in. The little round thing is a Velcro fold-over that can either hold the stylus or the keyboard cable.

The keyboard is expensive for a USB keyboard, but it does have some unique Q1 features. I’m not sure that they were worth the extra money, but you only live once. I was impressed from the moment I saw the box; it was very nice and very professionally done.

The keyboard come with an extra rubber pointer for the mouse and a neoprene slip case for the keyboard, for those that do not have the organizer case. The are small touches but very nice ones. The keyboard will impress from the time you open it.

As you can see the keyboard is of the same, very classy, piano gloss black plastic. It’s fingerprint heaven, but it looks stunning.

The mouse pointer is slightly different than most laptops, in that it is flat and has a criss-cross pattern on it to give it texture; I like the feel of it.

Here you can see the thinness of the keyboard. While it is extremely thin, it still feels very sturdy.

Finally, here is a view of the keyboard in the organizer case, both without the cover in place and with it in place.

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