"Four years ago I paid around US$750 for a PDA. At the moment, the price point for UMPCs is around US$899. The UMPC offers so much more than a PDA and yet the price point has been one of the main criticisms from reviewers and analysts. Consumers expect more and more for their dollar. US$899 is not a small investment for the average consumer so at this stage UMPCs will only be attractive to enthusiasts and gadget-gurus with a high disposable income, or business people who travel frequently and are attracted by the convenience of a fully functional PC with such a small footprint. The UMPC is for people who are already connected to the internet and enjoying digital entertainment, that experience computing in their daily lives to such an extent that making a PC ultra mobile, is the next logical evolution of their daily IT lives.

But there is one thing in particular that needs improvement. The battery on my reference model is a 26W Lithium Ion battery pack that lasts for about 2 hours - less than your average movie. For US$99.95, TabletKisok, one of the first suppliers of UMPCs in the world, will sell you an extra one. The battery is very light and easy to swap out, but I think they would need to at least double their capability to match up with the expectations of consumers. TabletKiosk's web site does list an "extended life" battery as an optional extra but I haven't been able to find out how long it lasts. A PSP battery will last for four hours playing MP4 files and an additional 10 more with the small booster pack. A friend of mine has a PDA that can play AVI files with a battery life of five hours. Sure, they are both smaller than the UMPC with different specific functions, but it's those types of hours of usage that consumers are accustomed to."

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