Review: Sony Vaio VGN UX1 ultra-mobile PC

The 4.5in screen is much smaller than the 7in version seen on Samsung's Q1. In order to increase the amount of desktop space you've got to play with, Sony has opted for a 1,024x600 widescreen resolution - this can be reduced to a 800x600 if required, though with this 4:3 aspect ratio you won't be using the full display area.

Viewing angles aren't great, especially vertically, but since you'll be viewing it primarily from straight on it's not a huge problem. Sony has used its X-Black display technology often seen in its Vaio notebooks - this gives a glossy effect to the screen and improves colour reproduction and definition.

The included stylus is passive, which means it relies on the touch-sensitive nature of the screen. It's therefore possible to simply use your fingers to navigate around the Vista interface. For certain tasks this works fine, but attempting to delicately select the correct link in a web page, for example, can be very tricky. Indeed, even with the stylus this can prove a difficult task.

It's possible to zoom in on the display, but this then involves scrolling around the desktop, which isn't a perfect solution.

Sony has attempted to make running common programs easier by including its Vaio Touch Launcher application. Accessed by pressing the left-hand shortcut button, this houses nine shortcuts to programs such as email, music and Windows Media Player. Extra large buttons are used, making it easy to use your finger instead of the stylus. You can also adjust the volume, screen brightness and orientation.

Writing on the UX1 can be performed either via the qwerty keyboard or using the stylus and Vista's Tablet handwriting-recognition feature. Due to the small keys, it's not possible to use your fingers on the keyboard - instead, you must use your thumbs in an SMS text message fashion.

We managed to achieve around 25wpm (word per minute) after only a short time with the UX1 and would expect this to improve over time. Errors such as slipping onto the wrong key were common, especially when aiming for the space bar, but again this is something you'd get better at.

Handwriting-recognition in the Tablet Edition of Windows XP never failed to impress us, and the same functionality is now included with all but the Home Basic version of Vista. Due to the small screen size, it's only good for writing relatively small passages of text, but many will no doubt prefer it over the miniature keyboard.

Alternatively, you can switch the scribble pad into a soft-keyboard. This can slow things down considerably though, since it requires you to point to each individual letter to spell out words.

Sadly, the small size of the screen doesn't allow for the Dialkeys soft-keyboard as demonstrated on the Samsung Q1.