Here are two videos I found of the WILLCOM D4 made by Sharp and already being sold in Japan.

Video Links

This UMPC comes loaded with a Atom Centrino 1.3 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM. That's what I would call the minimum requirement to run Vista and that's the OS that  Sharp has put in these devices.

I don't know if Sharp is planning to sell it in USA or Europe but if you want to buy it you can do that at Direct from Japan, a specialized on line store in Japanese electronics.

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Posted By Frank J Garcia - CTitanic to ULTRA MOBILE PC TIPS at 7/05/2008 11:09:00 AM

Bought this in Japan about 2 weeks ago. It run's Vista quite well, and will even do Aero skins and 3D window switching.

I've been planning on writing a full review to publish on my blog, but been in a lazy mood. I'll try and get int done ASAP though since they're really no complete reviews about it.

If you have the extended 4-5 hour battery, I would love to know how that works!

Jenn at pocketables.net has had a number of detailed partial reviews as she is waiting for the extended battery to give a true review on the D4.  She did do a 14 minute video showing how well Vista ran on it with 10 web sites opened at once, etc. The Sharp D4 handled Vista with no problems.

It is not perfect but to me it is finally one that I could live with.  More UMPC companies should build an improve on this design.  It is very unique as it has both the slider and the clamshell form factor.

The extended battery isn't out yet, but I should be receiving mine by sometime in September, hopefully.

It runs Vista GREAT. The only performance hit is from the 1.8" hard drive. The atom is really powerful, and because of that, power hungry. I dont know if it's the new drivers or what not, but it really eats a lot of juice.

Jeff,

If you get the extended battery before pocketables, I would really enjoy reading your opinion on how much power is available with the extend battery.  Thus far all of the performance and features seem to be very impressive other than the stock battery which is tiny for a computer has that weak battery life.  As long as the extended battery providess long power then it would be an ideal computer.  Keep us posted you lucky D4 owner!

 

PS conics.net also sells the D4 online and I think is one of the other online resellers of the D4 with pretty good pricing.

I definitely will. If all goes well I should have the battery by mid September..

It really is a shame the battery merely lasts a long trip to the bathroom.. but the extended bat. should provide at least 3hrs of real work(they claim it will do 4.5hrs).

Primaz:

Jeff,

If you get the extended battery before pocketables, I would really enjoy reading your opinion on how much power is available with the extend battery.  Thus far all of the performance and features seem to be very impressive other than the stock battery which is tiny for a computer has that weak battery life.  As long as the extended battery providess long power then it would be an ideal computer.  Keep us posted you lucky D4 owner!

 

PS conics.net also sells the D4 online and I think is one of the other online resellers of the D4 with pretty good pricing.

http://www.pocketables.net/2008/08/review-willcom.html

They got the extended battery. verdict: 2hrs 50mins.

Jeff,

I read the Pocketables review and while the battery life is not ideal the 3 hour use is still enough to make it work.

Do you know if the D4 can take micro SDHC cards that are up to 8 gigs versus the standard micro SD cards of only 2 gigs?

thanks in advance!

Wow! It looks sooooo sexy!

Pocketables.net just reported that Sharp came out with a new model of the D4; really it appears to be the same unit but it includes the extra capacity battery, excludes MS office, and is only $875 instead of $1200!!!!

http://www.pocketables.net/2008/09/willcom-d4-ver.html#more

I just got a confirmation from Conics.net that the D4 does handle the micro SDHC 8 gig cards with no problems and it runs very smooth and fast!

Primaz - when you get yours please can you post your impressions

thanks

Sharp UMPC is a small form factor for tablet PCs and subnotebook netbooks. Besides netbooks of 7-10 inch, 13.3 inch subnotebooks are also included. The form factor was originally developed as part of Project Origami, and at first only included tablet pc's.
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scoobie:

Primaz - when you get yours please can you post your impressions

thanks

Scobbie I know this is rather late but I do recently purchased the D4.  The size is fine even with the extended battery it does fit into any jacket pocket.  Vista runs reasonably fast and the system is quiet and built very well.  The screen is remarkbly clear and easy to read. The down side is that Sharp poorly designed the keyboard so it is not really good to touch type, the stock battery is not adequate so the extended is a must, I would have rather seen standard USB's instead of mini USB's and two would have been better.  Those are the main negatives.  It is far from ideal but it is one of the few jacket size UMPC's.

If someone copied the form factor and used a keyboard like the Psion 5mx instead it would be very popular PC.  It would have been better to increase the depth a bit so that it was more like 4" that would provide more room for a better keyboard layout and probably with that extra volume it would enable it to be thinner.