FUJITSU FMV-U8240:3 days with the Fujitsu FMV-U8240

One of the many aspects of technology as a whole has always been to make things smaller, and possibly faster and better, but the size is the main thing for our product of the day.

Right now the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) is getting quite popular, but companies like Toshiba (Libretto 50/70/100) or Sony (Vaio U) have been offering such products for quite a long time, leading the category. As usual the first versions were pretty expensive, until Microsoft decided to turn to the UMPC as a "standard", therefore opening the door to other companies... as a result, the choice is wider, and from 900 to 2000€ (appx 1200 - 2700$) most of us can find something to match our needs.
Among those is the all-new Fujitsu FMV-U8240.


FUJITSU FMV-U8240 - Video
(DivX 6 HD 720p Direct Download "Right click, Save as…")
FUJITSU FMV-U8240 - Video
(DivX 6 HD 720p Torrent "Right click, Save as…")
FUJITSU FMV-U8240 - Video
(DivX 6 HD 720p, Hosted by Stage6)

Presentation
As you can see on the specs sheet, this 171x133x26.5mm and 580g baby is a real piece of high tech, talk about compact! My first concerned was about the CPU though... no Centrino, no Celeron, but an Intel A110 that I never had the chance to use. 512MB or 1GB RAM are available to help things out, all good if you use XP, but probably a bit short if you plan on using VISTA; the disk space varies from 20 to 40GB, again pretty "light", if you plan on using Windows VISTA... last but not least, the graphics card is an Intel 945GU, featuring 128MB of Shared Memory.





Next very important part: connectivity.
Well the U8240 delivers just what you would expect, that is: B/G WiFi, Ethernet (1), USB (1, ok that's below expectations), D-SUB (1) and a 56k modem. Once installed on its base you can benefit from 2 (life saving) additional USB ports, and other things I didn't mention, an SD SLOT and a CF Type I/II.
The screen now ! Fujitsu equipped its baby with a 5.6 inch "wide" monitor, featuring a max resolution of 1024x600 that you can rotate pretty much like a Zaurus or Tablet PC, and it's a Touch Screen!
The keyboard is fairly good and easy to use, not much to say about it except maybe the TrackPad and right/left mouse click on each side of the FMV-U8240, very convenient.

Hands on and 1st impressions
Before going into further detail, you have to know that the version I had wasn't considered as a final build, perhaps a way for Fujitsu to claim the possible flaws would be fixed in the retail version? Anyway, the handling feels right. First problem? The rotating system of the screen; why? Simply because the pins that you have to "lock" it in a certain position are just too small, and almost useless... a shame.
No matter what, this UMPC will feel at home between your hands; it reminded me of a PDA or PSION 3 series for example (3, 3A, 3C, 3MX), and in no time you'll be able to type all sort of things with your thumbs, or control the TrackPad/Mouse. If you put it down and decide to use it like a notebook, you'll probably need a bit of "getting_used_to" before making clean, error less messages, but in the end I must admit that the U8240 really is easier to use than a Sony VAIO UX.

Performances and autonomy
Time to check how the Fujitsu will react to our CPU tests... let me remind you that I never ever had the chance to test this CPU (Intel A110 @ 800MHz), so I really didn't know what to expect... another thing you need to know, I used XP and 1GB RAM.
As I don't have proper testing tools, I decided to go for applications that require a lot of power, such as HD videos (DivxHD), DVD (Mpeg) and WMVHD and there... BIG surprise ! Once all the codecs and softwares were installed (VLC), everything ran as smoothly as it possibly could; only the WMV HD showed many hiccups (basically impossible to play); but for example, an ISO DVD from an external HDD played through VLC was just perfect, and the same goes for MPG videos and 720P DivX HD videos... impressive !!
Of course this type of product has got a limited use (WEB, WORD, EXCEL, MAIL, VIDEOS) compared to a "real" PC (Desktop, Notebook) but honestly, being able to enjoy 720p DivX HD on such a small device is really sweet and should make 99% of the Geeks happy.




While Fujitsu claims 4 hours of autonomy, I'd say it is more around 2.30 to 3.30 depending on the use (videos, internet...)

A couple more informations
This is a well made and well "thought-out" product with, for example, 2 LED's to light up the keyboard at night or in dark areas where ever you are. A simple feature or even a detail, which helps making this U-8240 even more interesting.
Another cool feature is the "Side Bar", available at any moment, and allowing you to access the PC settings; this little menu was so useful that I kept it on all the time!