They were tiny, high-tech toys that promised on-the-go computing for road warriors. Leaving behind the laptop in favor of the Ultra Mobile PC platform, however, has also meant leaving behind performance, power and battery life. A year into Project Origami (the original code name for the UMPC), some wonder if it isn't just the latest in a long line of over-hyped handheld form factors. "No one has yet to put forward a compelling use scenario for these devices," said Mark Rolston, a senior vice president at Frog Design, an industrial design company. "That's where great, or at least good, products come from." With the release of its second-generation, 1.5-pound Q1 Ultra UMPC last week, however, Samsung hopes to bring some new credibility to the platform that it, along with Microsoft and Intel, launched early last year.

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