The Arima UMPC, also known as the Medion RIM 1000 UMPC or the Gigabyte U60, was on display at a Microsoft booth on CeBIT. The device sports a slide-out keyboard. I was a bit disappointed, as the keyboard was uncomfortable and the device feels like it was made from cheap material. The Medion UMPC appeared to be a great device when it was announced, seing the actual product was unimpressing.

They made the mistake of showing the Medion right next to a Sony UX, which is smaller, is built with higher quality materials and comes with a better keyboard. Oh, and it’s more than twice the price of the Arima, of course. But in direct comparison, it was far more impressive and it became obvious why it is worth its price compared to the Arima.

The Arima seems to be having issues with Windows Vista. Within minutes of using some standard applications, it crashed. According to UMPCPortal, these problems appear to be the reason why the launch of the device has been postponed several times by now.