5.6-in Fujitsu LifeBook U820 Mini Tablet Hands on

Fujitsu LifeBook U820 went on sale in USA in early November 2008. So, it is very nice to get more idea about its advantages and disadvantages. Fujitsu LifeBook U820 costs around $1000 as expensive as twice the price of a $400 or $500 10-in netbook, while it comes with a very small size 5.6-in screen (half of the size of a 10.2-in screen). So, it makes me curious to know what special features this mini tablet provides that makes it more expensive than a typical netbook. Also, what limitations it has that purchasers should be aware of them.

Notebookreview could have his hands-on this UMPC and had reviewed it in deep details. Here, I am just mentioning a rundown of the review and some of its benchmark results. you can read the whole review here.

The unit was reviewed features: Atom Processor Z530, 1GB 533 MHz SDRAM memory , 120 GB Toshiba 4200 rpm hard drive, 5.6" WXGA Crystal View display with touch screen (glossy, 1280x800), Integrated Webcam and Fingerprint Sensor,
Built-in GPS receiver and integrated Garmin Mobile PC, 10/100 Ethernet (through breakout cable), Atheros XSPAN (802.11a/b/g/draft-n) and Integrated Bluetooth wireless, weight of 1lb 8.3oz, 4-cell battery and Windows Vista Business 32-bit.

(Pros):
- A sturdy rugged-style alloy chassis covered by a plastic shell. The rotating hinges are solid
- Great readable Screen with vibrant colors and good contrast and perfect viewing angles comes with high resolution (1280X800) more than what you find on Netbooks (1280x600)
- The screen is readable indoors and outdoors
- The pointing stick is very practical for normal uses
- Built-in GPS with Garmin MobilePC software
- The internal GPS receiver works best NOT using the included external antenna and works well even indoors.
-Over 8 hours of battery life
- Contains a VGA port and a SD-reader and CF-slot

(Cons):
-Clicking on the rough passive touch-screen is some difficult
- One USB port
-The combination of Intel Atom and GMA 500 graphics and the slow hard drive feels sluggish and slow
-Keyboard is very small
- A weak mono speaker,

Benchmark results:

wPrime test: Fujitsu LifeBook U820 scored 123.679 seconds which is a bit better than the score of HP Mini 1000 ( featuring1.6GHz Atom ) (125. 788sec), and Asus N10 laptop with 1.6GHz Atom CPU (126.047 sec) and Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (with 1.60GHz Atom CPU ( 127. 172 sec) and Acer Aspire one with 1.6GHz Atom CPU (125.812sec). However Asus 1000HA with 1.6GHz Atom CPU (117. 577) performed better than this UMPC.

PCMark05 test: all the netbooks mentioned above performed some better than this LifeBook U820 (scoring 1038 PCMarks); (except HP Mini 1000 that the result had not been mentioned in the original article).

3DMark06 test: LifeBook U820 only scored slightly better than Asus N10 laptop but other netbooks scored better results than this UMPC

Well, as you see if you are searching for an affordable small computing device with long battery life up to 8 hours, GPS-ready and different network connectivity options, Fujitsu LifeBook U820 is a good choice for you. But, remember you will have to sacrifice the affordable price, the large screen, good keyboard, and better performance of a 10-in netbook like Asus Eee PC 1000HA or popular inexpensive 8.9-in Acer Aspire One.