Vega

Vega is the world's smallest PC, with an incredibly clear 4.3 inch LCD screen and a battery life of up to 6hours with the standard battery. Connect to an external monitor and keyboard in your office for maximum productivity and then after the work is done, take it with you! For movies, games and productivity on the go, you just can't beat Vega!.

Multimedia right in your hand You can watch movies, receive DMB, listen to your music and ciew images. Anywhere, anytime, and it's compatible with any file format.		The Internet right in your hand With the internet in your pocket you can do anything that you¡¯d do online with a PC. Take the world with you when you go out.
Games right in your hand Vega runs Windows XP with a fast 2D accelerator. Any compatible game will run on Vega. Give your old games new life!		An office right in your hand Vega can run Microsoft office or open office. With up to 512MB of RAM, You have the power to be productive in places laptops just won't go.
Navigation right in your hand Navigation in your hand or in your car. Why choose? With you can have 2 in 1

 

The Raon Digital Vega can best be described as an ultra-small PC. Its smaller than a paperback book, weighs less than half a bag of sugar, and runs Windows XP home operating system. Yes. It's really is an ultra small PC, with screen included! Carrypad has had the device for nearly two weeks and put it through a heavy real-life test schedule. Read-on for a detailed review and our opinion on the device.

Raon Digital have been kind enough to let Carrypad have a Vega for an extended test over the last two weeks. What better way to write up the review about the Vega than to write the review on the Vega itself. I've got 2 hours on a train from Brussels to Cologne with the Vega, a Bluetooth USB stick and a Bluetooth keyboard. Lets see how it goes.

Vega Overview

For those that have been following the ultra small PC market over the last 6 months you will have heard about Microsoft's Origami project and the Ultra Mobile PC's that were released a a result of the projects platform definition. You might also have heard about the OQO mini PC. The Vega is a device designed along the same principles of ultra portability.

Raon Digital have designed the device with a low-end specification but managed to pack in a huge amount of functionality. A business or games PC it is not but if your looking for something that is able to satisfy all your audio and video playback requirements, perform high quality full-experience browsing, perform email and basic office functions, connect up to a VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse for the occasional full-pc experience, perform as a navigation unit and media device in the car, and provide you with 5 hours of full PC mobility, the Vega is really worth considering.

First five minutes

As this review device was a pre-production model, I can't really comment on the packaging. It was white and small though. Hugo Ortega of Ubertablet has done an unboxing video which is worth watching. For a full set of Vega photos, see the Carrypad Vega images gallery.
My first impression was surprise at how small it was. I was expected something a little bigger. First start up was a simple case of attaching the battery and pressing the start button. Windows booted up in about 60 seconds and that was it. The left thumb rested nicely on the dual-function mouse/cursor disc and the right thumb over the function key pad which includes the left and right mouse buttons which have a comfortable and reliable click-action. The keypad is multi functional. Using combination key presses its possible to get over 40 combinations of keys as well as volume and LCD control. As I抳e shown the device around, some have commented that the button layout is too complex. Others have commented that it could speed things up. My personal opinion is that the keys are optional. You can perform everything you need to do without them but as you get used to the device it's worth learning how to use them as it really speeds up certain actions.

The style of the device impresses. The gloss black and perlescent white, curved edges and silver disc have obviously been well thought out. The other part of the Vega that really impresses is the screen. At the native 800x480 its very clear, bright and well colour balanced.
I personally felt that the Vega was heavier than it looks. Not that 450gms is heavy but you are quite surprised by the density of the device when you hold it. Remember though that unlike other devices, this one is shipped with an extended battery by default. A smaller sized battery is available as an accessory and reduces the weight and thickness considerably.

From the outside

The 4.3" (light-touch. I guess its an 80gm as opposed to a 120gm heavy-touch panel.) touchscreen is framed with the array of buttons that i mentioned above. The mouse disc is not quite as responsive and certainly not as solid as some mouse buttons that I've tried but it's an analogue device and permits swift and intuitive two-handed control of the device. As an ingress point for dust, dirt and cups of tea, this disc could be a weak point and I feel that there is room for improvement here. Round the outside of the device you will find the power input socket, audio-out and mic-in (3.5mm) sockets, a USB host connector (more about that later), two normal USB ports, heat vents (I'm not aware that there are any fans in this device. Its totally silent, although can get very warm in the hand when watching videos for example.) On the top right is the pointer lanyard hole and moving down the right you have the power button, the reset button ,a screen and front button lock (this does not stop you from accidentally hitting the reset button and it's not reconfigurable in any way. Its a problem waiting to happen and a definite design fault.) Underneath the lock button is a VGA-out connector which can drive a monitor up to 1920-wide resolutions. I would have liked to have tried the Vega in a desktop configuration but the VGA cable that normally comes as standard was missing in this review device.

As mentioned before, the Vega comes with an extended battery which gives the device a dense and chunky feel. Although it would feel better with the smaller battery, the battery life advantages of the extended battery far outweigh the disadvantages.

On the inside

Minimalisation continues to extremes on the inside of the Vega. After taking the battery off, it seems hard to believe that in the remaining case holds an AMD LX800 processor, up to 512MB RAM, a 30Gb 1.8" drive, the screen and the additional components that go together to make a PC. What you won't find inside the casing, very disappointingly, is a WiFi or Bluetooth radio. Herein lies my only important complaint about the Vega. This is not just a media player, its a complete internet terminal and to market the device without even a tiny Bluetooth module seems to be a major mistake. The included USB WiFi module works but is not the answer. Every day that I had the Vega, I had to look for my USB module at least once. If I had forgotten to take it with me, It would have reduced the device to an over-complicated and expensive media player. Raon Digital has said since the launch that they are considering including the radios for an upgraded model so let's hope that this comes soon.

The 30Gb hard disk comes as two partitions 23+4GB with the smaller partition largely free but containing some drivers. This could be optimized a bit more to give 3GB more space on the main drive although the production devices may have a different setup.

[Switching to normal PC now that I'm home again! The Vega performed well and the test was successful. I had some problems related to the keyboard though that I'll cover in a later journal entry.]

Software

Windows XP is Windows XP! This is Home Edition which has a base memory footprint of well under 100MB and it functions perfectly and fits well with the intended uses of the device.
In addition to XP Home, you get the Vega toolbar which shows a very simple battery life indicator and volume control and the Vega on screen keyboard which is adequate. I found myself moving over to Ilium Software's Inscribe software after installing for a test in the later part of
my time with the Vega.

Gaming

Windows XP is Windows XP! This is Home Edition which has a base memory footprint of well under 100MB and it functions perfectly and fits well with the intended uses of the device. In addition to XP Home, you get the Vega toolbar which shows a very simple battery life indicator and volume control and the Vega on screen keyboard which is adequate. I found myself moving over to Ilium Software's Inscribe software after installing for a test in the later part of my time with the Vega.

Battery life

Battery life is exceptional. In real-world terms it's a one-charge-per-day device. Raon Digital have performed a good marketing trick by providing the extended battery as standard because 4-5 hours of battery life is way way above what any of the current Origami-based UMPC's can do. Having said that, the extended battery is only about 20% bigger than the standard batteries of the Origami devices and the Vega is truly energy efficient with an average loaded drain of about 8W. I performed one battery life test using a looped Xvid video file. I disabled all enrgy saving, put the screen to max and ran from a full battery to very ungraceful shutdown for 4 hours and 17 minutes! That's more than the Microsoft Zune is supposed to be able to do. Under normal use and with the screen brightness turned down slightly, this is a 5 hour device. As an audio-only player with the screen off, you could be looking at over 10 hours.

Boot-up / Standby / Stability

Boot-up takes around 60 seconds on a clean device and return from standby is an acceptable 5 seconds. Both standby and hibernation performed without fault and after 2 weeks with the device, I didn't see any blue-screens or unplanned reboots.

USB client feature

One quite unique feature of this device is that it is able to function as a USB drive when shutdown or in standby mode. The supplied USB cable powers the drive and provides USB2.0 connectivity. Its very useful for transferring files, even if the battery is removed or flat.

Accessories

Included in the box are a slip case (not provided with this demo model) a USB cable, pointer and lanyard, a VGA cable (not provided with this demo model) the USB WiFi stick and some in-ear headphones (not headset) of unknown quality.
The pointer is a very cheap affair. Too short. I threw it back in the box and used the pen from my Ipaq. Another annoying thing is that there is no storage for the pointer. If you want to keep it nearby you have to use the lanyard provided and leave it dangling around. Its an ugly solution. The Wifi stick is of average quality and won't beat any range-finding records. If you want something better at least you can easily replace it. It would have been nice to see a Bluetooth stick and a headset included but these don't cost much to add afterwards. Finally you get a power supply which takes 100-240v in (good for global traveling) and provides 12V out. I read that the Vega has a regulated power input which can take 10-15volts. It should (not guaranteed though!) run from a car battery with no problems.
As optional accesories, Raon Digital offer a portable keyboard, GPS module and navigation software (presumeably for the South Korean market), extra batteries (small and normal) and a TV-OUT converter.

Other notes

Linux (Ubuntu) booted from a Live CD worked OK. Ubuntu had no problem recognizing the hardware. Booting Linux from USB stick was also possible. ..I tried the Vega in a number of car situations and found it to be a very good size for on-dashboard mounting via a cheap PDA holder. Its also powerful enough to run all the applications you need in a car from multimedia to phone control to navigation. Using InCar Terminal as the overlay package, I was extremely happy at the functionality and portability it gave me. The Vega could shine as a CarPC. For more information on using the Vega as a CarPC, I have a series of journal entries with images and videos here : One note on the car software. The very popular StreetDeck application did not work due to it's 3D requirements.

Comparison to Other devices

The Vega is smaller than any of the Origami UMPC devices available today and sits at the smallest end of the UMPC scale with devices like the Nokia 770, Sony UX and the yet to be released DualCor UMPC. In terms of performance, the obvious comparison is the Pepperpad 3 which is also unreleased and untested but uses exactly the same chipset. One might also compare it to some high-end Windows Mobile PDA's and smartphones but it's software base gives it a big advantage over these in terms of choice.
In terms of pricing, well, unfortunately, the Vega is currently unavailable outside South Korea where it sells for the equivalent of $700. ($750 - 512MB RAM) As I've been doing this review over the last two weeks I have been hearing the Raon Digital are in negotiations with a few resellers around the world.
Pricing is very difficult to predict. Day-one prices will be a careful balance below the pricing of the low-end Origami devices. Anything more than $800 and there will be comparisons drawn with the more powerful and office-oriented XP tablet edition Origami devices. At a price lower than $700, reseller could be depriving themselves of profit. My guess is that the day one price will be $750 in the U.S. with the usual price premiums being added in other regions of the world.

Who is the target customer?

The Vega is smaller than any of the Origami UMPC devices available today and sits at the smallest end of the UMPC scale with devices like the Nokia 770, Sony UX and the yet to be released DualCor UMPC. In terms of performance, the obvious comparison is the Pepperpad 3 which is also unreleased and untested but uses exactly the same chipset. One might also compare it to some high-end Windows Mobile PDA's and smartphones but it's software base gives it a big advantage over these in terms of choice.
In terms of pricing, well, unfortunately, the Vega is currently unavailable outside South Korea where it sells for the equivalent of $700. ($750 - 512MB RAM) As I've been doing this review over the last two weeks I have been hearing the Raon Digital are in negotiations with a few resellers around the world.
Pricing is very difficult to predict. Day-one prices will be a careful balance below the pricing of the low-end Origami devices. Anything more than $800 and there will be comparisons drawn with the more powerful and office-oriented XP tablet edition Origami devices. At a price lower than $700, reseller could be depriving themselves of profit. My guess is that the day one price will be $750 in the U.S. with the usual price premiums being added in other regions of the world.