Fujitsu UMPC developer interview provides inside look at LOOX U series (U810/U820, U1010/U2010)

PC Watch recently sat down with three of the minds behind the Fujitsu UMPC series (LOOX U in Japan, U810/U820 in the US, U1010/U2010 elsewhere) and literally got an inside look at some of the differences between the first- and second-generation units, as well as the rationale for them. For instance, while one of the main cosmetic differences between the generations is the extra row of keys, did you know that keyboard itself was made 0.3 inches wider to increase the pitch (distance between keys)? Well, okay, that was an easy one.

But how about this: did you know that the U2010/U820's 10-layer motherboard is only 70% the size of the U1010/U810's and 0.4 ounces lighter?

U820/U2010 board on left, U810/U1010 board on right

It's true!

U810/U1010 on left, U820/U2010 on right

In the interview, the developers touch on why the platform formerly known as Centrino Atom was chosen (improved power and performance, reduced heat and noise, faster start-up time), mention the better and smaller internal fan, explain why a version with 2GB of RAM isn't being planned, and also talk about where the Fujitsu UMPC series is headed.

U820/U2010 on left, U810/U1010 on right

If you can make it through the machine translation, it's definitely an interesting read.