This is going to be a long post – you’ve been warned. 
As most of you know, I recently ordered two Asus R2H Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC). I did a 34 minute video of the Unboxing Ceremony of the first one, which was very popular (it’s been viewed 1072 times so far). After that I dove into playing with and customizing the R2H, and because I’ve been busy with that, I’ve been kind of quiet here on the blog.
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I have a ton of stuff to post about the R2H – it’s an incredible device. There are several videos I want to do, including one documenting running Windows Vista RTM on it (what I’ve been busy with for the last few days). But here’s something I want to share now, to whet your appetites for more R2H info.
The second R2H I ordered is destined to be used by the sales staff of my brother’s company, Wright-Way Moving and Storage, in Seattle. Since I shot video of the first Unboxing Ceremony, I took photos of the second one, as well as literally every square inch of the hardware and accessories. By the time I was done, I had a photoset with 162 photos in it. Those thirsty for details on the R2H hardware and packaging, I think you’ll be satisfied.
You can view the whole photoset in this photo album on TinyScreenfuls.com – created with the awesome Flickr Photo Album WordPress plugin. Here are some highlights of the Unboxing and handsome hardware of (in my opinion) the best Ultra Mobile PC currently on the market. Remember, there are 162 photos in total, these are only some highlights:
The R2Hs arrived extremely well packaged from the folks at ProPortable.com (affiliate link). They were so impressed with the video unboxing I did that they restarted their affiliate program just for me. I don’t even know what the terms of the affiliate program are, but I’m super impressed with ProPortable (including Justin, the CEO, and Sean in Sales), and if you need any Asus laptop hardware or accessories, check them out, and tell them Josh from TinyScreenfuls sent you.
The two R2Hs, in their boxes, stacked. So much mobile gadgety goodness in one place!
Opening the box, with the Quick Installation Guide. Detailed shots of each page of the Quick Installation Guide are available in the full photoset.
The two interior boxes – the larger white one contains the accessories, CDs/DVDs, and manuals. The smaller grey box holds the R2H itself.
The accessory box, hinged open like the older Apple iPod packaging (3G, at least).
Cables and battery on the left, CDs, manual, mouse, and AC adapter on the right.
The accessories that come with the Asus R2H UMPC – AC adapter, double-capacity 4 cell battery, stand, multi-port to VGA cable, USB mini-A to USB adapter, EasySync cable with transfer software, Asus-branded Logitech USB optical mouse with cord storage.
The AC adapter, which outputs a somewhat unusual 12 volts, 3 amps. The connector appears to be standard to Asus laptops, so you shouldn’t have too hard a time finding an adapter tip for a 3rd party charging solution.
The included stand, which folds (mostly) flat. Not too rugged, but it does the job.
The stand, folded.
The Asus-branded Logitech USB optical mouse with wrapping cord storage.
The proprietary “multi-port” to VGA adapter cable, for connecting to an external monitor or projector. The “multi-port” connector on the R2H is also used for the PortBar docking station accessory, shown in the manual (photos later in the set), and slated to be available in December 2006.
The USB 2.0 “EasySync” cable. This is an interesting little cable – the “fat” end contains 470KB of read-only Flash memory, which auto-runs a Windows program called EasySync. When plugged into two computers, EasySync lets you copy/move files between the two computers at USB 2.0 speed – 480 Mbps. A nice, convenient way to get files on to or off of the R2H. The software works in Windows XP as well as Vista (probably doen’t work on a Mac, but I haven’t tested that yet).
It’s pre-installed, but it’s nice to have the install CDs for Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006. It would have been nice to have the 2007 version, which is supposed to have a much-improved interface for mobile devices like the UMPC, but it’s understandable that they couldn’t get that one in time.
The driver and utility CD. All the drivers and software are also available, for the most part, on the Asus website.
The Asus recovery DVD, with Windows XP Tablet PC 2005 Edition. Not a full installer, but nice to have the ability to recover from separate media, rather than