POSTED BY

Rob Beschizza

AT 1:45 PM
Sunday June 21, 2009

Computers • Reviews

viliv

Review: 90 minutes with the Viliv S5

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The Viliv S5 is compact, very well built, has custom UI software, and runs Windows XP at a fair clip. At $600, it's as cheap as a fancy netbook, and has an 4.8" touchscreen display, 60GB hard drive, 1.33 GHz Atom CPU and 6 claimed hours of battery life (I got about 4:30). It weighs just one pound.

That said, its hard to find a use for it that something else doesn't already do better. The biggest sweet spot it hits is "pocket PC with good battery life," a proposition that'll appetize longtime fans of the niche, but won't be saving any new souls for MID Jesus.

Though it comes with a 3G (HSPA) option, smartphones make better communication devices. Other MIDs with hardware keyboards make better mini-netbooks -- the on-screen keyboard is still a challenge, with the haptic feedback just a quick buzz of vibration. Dedicated GPS machines are cheaper, easier to use, and just as capable--the Viliv S5 doesn't come with turn-by-turn software. It's not as nice as an Archos for watching movies.

The Cube UI is OK, making it easy to use fingers to open apps, but it's not the equal of the iPhone or Palm Pre's: you'll be whipping out the stylus often unless you have nice pointy nails. A customized touch-friendly browser called Fastweb is supplied, but it's page rendering isn't very good. The UMPC/MID world still lacks decent software options intermediary between desktop-class standards and those found on (decent) smartphones.

If the lack of compelling software or a hardware keyboard limits its appeal, here's who will like it: people who already own tablet PCs, but who want something substantially smaller than whatever they're currently using, at a good price.

Buy the Viliv S5. [Dynamism]

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9 Comments

Charlie Stross

#1 – 2:12 PM June 21, 2009

I have one. (Early adopter :)

Poking at it with Ubuntu gets me a desktop that works with a USB keyboard, but no wifi and no touchscreen; haven't had the time/boredom to try and get the peripherals working.

I bought it because reading ebooks or watching movies on my iphone is painful (I'm old enough to be succumbing slowly to presbyopia). Admittedly, tweaking XP so that the UI is readable is ... not intuitive. On the other hand, having a pocket-sized platform for brief interactions with Thunderbird, Firefox, and OpenOffice means I can if necessary get at my email on overnight trips, and have a fun pocket-sized entertainment gadget for long-haul flights in economy class seating. (I can't open a laptop up unless I'm flying business class, which I can't routinely afford on a writer's income.)

With a Think Outside/iGo folding keyboard, and a CaseLogic hard disk case, the combo weighs 630 grams -- or about half as much as the HP Mini 1000 netbook I was toting previously, and less than a fifth as much as my real laptop.

Now, if only it ran OS/X ...

Rob Beschizza

#2 – 2:27 PM June 21, 2009

It's very similar to the Vaio P hardware wise (Silverthorne + GMA 500), so there's hope!

Though I was rather downbeat in the review, it's because as a P owner, I'm tired of meddling with little computers' iffy software. And it lacked the P's writer-friendly form factor and keyboard.

The Viliv s5 does feel close to an old ideal of portable computing, especially the pocket PC that can works as desktop: I didn't test its USB host and video out capabilities, but assuming they work, it could be really neat with some tinkering.


Scuba SM

#3 – 2:28 PM June 21, 2009

I'm tempted, and I like Mr. Stross's ideas on peripherals. I don't have any defined need for it, but I don't really want to have the keyboard on a netbook all the time for occasional browsing, and I'm not really a fan of smartphones...

Scuba SM

#4 – 2:32 PM June 21, 2009

I just noticed a site bug after posting that comment. When it confirmed that my comment had been submitted, and asked if I wanted to go back to the original entry, I tried clicking on the links to BB, BBG and Offworld in the upper right corner. In all three cases I got a 403 forbidden error.

Rob Beschizza

#5 – 5:23 PM June 21, 2009

Thanks

Rickyneck

#6 – 9:13 PM June 21, 2009

I would have to disagree with the sentiment that this isn't a useful device. I find surfing tedious on my Tilt, and a netbook just isn't practical to walk around with. A well designed MID seems to be a happy medium. I'm sure like all technology they will get better with time...and once they shave off a few more ounces and increase the overall performance I'll be happy to purchase one.

hinges

#7 – 5:59 AM June 23, 2009

How did you get 4:30 of battery, if you only had 90 minutes with the device?

Rob Beschizza

#8 – 10:07 AM July 22, 2009

The "such and such a time with" headlines are very conservative. The reality is that we spend days or weeks with the item in the house, messing with it until it has to go back or until the review-writing bug bites.

So in this case, I spent mayne 90 minutes rigorously exploring it for the review, but days just sort of buggering around with it now and then.

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