7" Raon Everun Note lurks in hinterland between Netbook and UMPC

Raon's original Everun was a strange but solid handheld computer. The sequel, called the Everun Note, is a more attractive affair that strikingly embodies a fantasy computer familiar to anyone who writes: one no bigger than the smallest reasonable keyboard.

Powered by an AMD Turion chip and up to 2GB of RAM, the Note will be $900 or thereabouts and weigh 1.6 pounds. XP, not Vista, comes pre-installed. Like the original, it's not a Netbook. It's a sort of budget UMPC, which means higher performance in a smaller package (the display, for example, is only 7 inches), accounted for by a price tag intermediary between those typical of each class of device.

A few frills, spotted in the spec sheets, suggest something special might be on its way. It has a uSIM slot, which implies 3G WWAN. ExpressCard is nice and contemporary, and two USB ports mean you can add an optical drive and still have a port to spare. Is this the one? Maybe, if it can stay awake more than 2 hours per battery charge.

Raon Digital Everun Note. Price. Brochure. Demo device. [UMPC Portal]

[#1 posted by Dillenger69 , September 1, 2008 10:05 PM]

meh ... more 1024x600 garbage.
1280x768 please.

[#2 posted by Dean , September 1, 2008 11:02 PM]

And he's done it! Rob Beschizza has completely inundated the Boing Boing Gadgets front page with his posts!

[#3 posted by strider_mt2k , September 2, 2008 4:17 AM]

Cool, it hangs right in the middle where there's something for everyone not to like.

Right Rob?

[#4 posted by Rob Beschizza , September 2, 2008 4:28 AM]

I'm trying to think the glass is half-full, but fear that after 20 minutes of use the only thing at 50% will be the battery gauge.

[#5 posted by Tommy , September 2, 2008 5:09 AM]

The more of these I see, the more I think about dusting off the Tandy 100. Or maybe the WP-2, if I'm in a writing mood.

[#6 posted by dculberson , September 2, 2008 7:35 AM]

"1280x768 please."

People keep saying this; but on a seven inch screen? Really? I find 1280 to be the minimum usable resolution for a desktop, where the monitors are 15" at the tiny end, but on a 7" screen I would be begging for mercy after a half hour.

1024 is fine for a 7" screen, imho. Yes, it would require some changes to operational habits, but working on a UMPC / Netbook already will, what with the limited resources.

[#7 posted by Enochrewt , September 2, 2008 11:19 AM]

One thing I've learned from BBG lately is to look at the placement of the quotes and apostrophe key. Can anyone seriously type on these things when it's placed as a Function+ key?? Will the world devolve into typing like 12 year-old girls on their cellphones?

[#8 posted by Anonymous , September 2, 2008 8:41 PM]

many Asian languages do not use much punctuation.

[#9 posted by Anonymous , September 3, 2008 10:05 AM]

I don't like the location of the arrow keys. All on the same line. That takes me back to the C16/Plus4 days.