In a very exciting preview of the forthcoming Nationite MIDNite Xpress touchscreen MID it’s going to be put through its paces against the SmartDevices SmartQ 5 MID.
Let the games begin…after the jump.

Build

MIDNite Xpress

With a solid plastic frame that feels thick but looks slim, the MIDNite Xpress is a sturdy beast indeed.
In terms of looks there’s a nice subtle streaked finish to the front casing and a strip of silver detailing along the left and right sides that, in the case of the right, also houses the power button.
The back is again plastic and houses the 1.3 megapixel camera.

SmartQ 5

This is a standard rounded edged PMP-style affair with no frills or detailing, just a screen and surrounding casing.
It’s slightly lighter than the MIDNite Xpress and the textured plastic side is reserved for the back.
Also on the back is a gap in the body for the built-in speaker but between the two, a camera is notable in its absence here.
The SmartQ 5 is a little shorter than the MIDNite Xpress but is marginally thicker, but does have a slightly larger screen at 4.3 inches over the MIDNite Xpress’s 4.1 inches.

Powering Up

MIDNite Xpress

To boot up the OS it takes a little under 19 seconds. While it loads there’s just one screen with a status bar to keep you in the loop.
Running WinCE 5, once it’s booted the classic Windows style interface allows anyone who’s ever used a computer in the last 20 years to get started immediately.

SmartQ 5

This device goes from off to on in 34 seconds, in which time you get a progress bar and then a series of distinctly ‘initialising’ screens before the final UI is displayed.
The SmartQ 5 runs Linux which although isn’t what everyone is used to is still nicely graphics based and intuitive.

WiFi Connection

MIDNite Xpress

Here we go then with possibly the biggest battle of MIDs - online capability.
On double-tapping the WiFi icon with the stylus you’re greeted with a WiFi available network screen. Once WiFi’s been turned on (to conserve battery when not in use, one would suppose) in a matter of seconds the available networks are displayed.
On picking one it took about 5 seconds to successfully connect.

SmartQ 5

Along the bottom of the screen is the main toolbar and the WiFi icon is boldly displayed.
This turns it on but the actual network connection is accessible through a smaller icon at the top right of the screen. Once this is clicked a large menu is displayed and the network can be selected.
The connection process for the SmartQ 5 took around 7 seconds.

Browser Access

To fully load the browser, Midori, took just over 15 seconds and then a little extra time to get the homepage loaded. This is of course variable as most people set something simple as their regular home.
Even though this may seem a long time the wait wasn’t too bad and the whole process felt quite smooth.

MIDNite Xpress

That said, with the MIDNite Xpress the whole process seemed a breeze in comparison.
In just under 10 seconds Internet Explorer was up and the home page fully loaded, large images and all.

Website Access

A website needs to be chosen to test loading times and there’s none so essential as MP4Nation.net!
So let’s see how then handle it (the clock will stop when the status bar reaches the end).

SmartQ 5

It was a valiant effort from the SmartQ 5 at 29.75 seconds to get the site fully loaded. Again the process sounds quite slow but didn’t seem pained and was all smooth.

MIDNite Xpress

It was all going so well…and then Windows did its thing. The fast loading time was marred somewhat by Windows security certificate notifications popping up throwing the test out of whack. Now it’s learned that MP4Nation’s safe it’ll load fine but it did throw a spanner in the works.
So in the name of fairness we’ll start over, from opening the browser to loading the page with news.yahoo.com and time the lot from start to finish.

From start to finish this took just over a minute for the SmartQ Q5. Not excrutiating but not ideal.
The MIDNite Xpress lived up to its Xpress name by shaving a cool 20 seconds off that time, proving its worth as a speedy little MID.

First impressions

In this first, light overview it looks like the MIDNite Xpress could well live up to is name.
Expect more indepth comparisons, tests and a shiny new photoshoot when the first retail models come in.