Information is coming through on Google’s Chromium OS from a number of sources. (See below.) I’ve been following the Techcrunch blog and as a mobile-focused end-user, I’m picking up a number of things that turn me off.

I advise you to check out the two links at the bottom of this article but here are a few pointers.

• Available for end users in a year
• For OEMs to build into devices
• Coming to X86 first then ARM
• Limited device support
• “Android apps currently will not run on Chrome OS.”
• For devices bigger than netbooks
• [Screeching halt!]

Clearly Chromium OS is for high-speed fixed (stationary) connections and not for mobile devices. Device support will be extremely limited so I wouldn’t expect this to work with 3G, touchscreens, multi-touch mousepads, fingerprint readers, external screens, local storage, extended buttons or other special features we see on UMPCs without it being re-built especially for each device.

Personally I’m having trouble working out what Google are doing here. Is it to promote HTML5 development? Am I failing to see the long-term play? Are we really going to be using operating systems on our desks that are dumber than the ones on our phones?

The advantages for netbooks users are limited. The license cost advantage will be just $15-$25, the device support will be poor and there will be a million and one re-distributions causing confusion and splintering for Linux.

High-speed javascript processing won’t be unique to Chrome. Fast boot won’t be unique to Chrome. HTML5 won’t be unique to Chrome. Web apps won’t be unique to Chrome. What’s going to get people to buy a Chromium OS computer? I doubt people will be queuing up for an OS that never needs upgrading.

Google Blog

Techcrunch

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Several days back we looked at the then just released Asus Eee T91MT which featured an resistive multitouch screen. We were also treated to a little T91MT promotional video showing off some of the things that you could do with the T91MT. One of those things appeared to be pressure sensitivity, but after some hands on time with the T91MT, kubel from myt91.info found it to lack pressure sensitivity of any sort which was somewhat of a disappointment.

Fast forward a bit and now kubel as found that the T91MT really does have pressure sensitivity with one caveat, it isn’t enabled by default. Not sure exactly how many levels of pressure the T91MT can detect, but it is nice to see this technology in a resistive touch screen.

He’s even got a video to prove it:

[GottaBeMobile]

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The Viliv boys pointed out that Dynamism will be selling a limited edition* pink UMID M1 [Portal page]. Though the UIMD M2 is due out sometime soon — I guess the more colors, the better!The pink UMID M1 is $50 less ($449) than the black low-end UMID M1 that Dynamism sells. Unfortunately no, they aren’t giving you $50 off just because its pink… the pink one has a slightly slower CPU – the Atom Z515 at 1.2GHz (vs. 1.3GHz for the low-end black model, or 1.33GHz on the high-end black model). Everything else, however, is the same as on the low-end black model: 8GB SSD, 512MB of RAM, and Windows XP. From the images it is a bit tough to tell exactly how glossy or matte the pink version is, but it appears to be more on the matte side of the spectrum, similar to the black one that I looked at.

*Dynamism has the pink M1 down as “limited edition”, but it isn’t exactly clear whether it is the pink M1 itself which is limited, or the deal currently running that includes a free pink pouch and 4GB MicroSD card.

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The Archos 9 has had the #1 spot in the Portal for some time now, it’s pretty clear that people are excited for it, despite the fact that it may be a slate.

Unfortunately for everyone out there looking forward to the Archos 9, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. We had been expecting the Archos 9 to be released on October 22nd as we had heard at IDF 09, but we’ve watched that date come and go and been scratching our heads since.

I’ve recently contacted Archos about availability of the Archos 9, and was told that pre-orders made through www.archos.com should be shipping in “early December”. Retail store availability (Amazon, Walmart, etc.) is expected in Q1. That’s all we’ve got to go on for now; sorry for the folks that have been holding out, but hopefully you’ll get your hand on this device before something else comes along and catches your eye!

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There’s lots of excitement about ‘Chrome OS’ floating around at the moment. Apparently, Google will be giving us more details tomorrow and I hope for the sake of them that it’s more than just a browser and a set of HTML5 containers with Google apps inside. I think we all know how most consumers will react when they see something as bare-bones as that!

What’s the one, critical, element of consumer-focused operating systems that makes them successful? Applications.

OK. I’m talking about the western world here. Maybe Google is targeting towards the emerging markets but I doubt it. The ‘cloud’ hardly works well enough in Germany or Finland, let alone in India!

Actually it’s not so much the applications that excites the users, it’s the impression of a dynamic device that can change, adapt and mature as its lifetime progresses. The excitement of a new operating system upgrade or a look into the application store is like getting a new device again except this time, it’s a sub-$10 upgrade instead of a $499 one. It’s happening to all mobile operating systems and to many desktops too. Check out Moblin, the Linux-based browser-focused slim OS. (Yes, a competitor to Chrome OS on PCs) Intel are spending lots and lots and lots of money in order to make it dynamic. It’s going to be exciting. Even in the minor upgrade from 2.0 to 2.1 it was fun to see the new features. It was free too.

Google will need to do this too. They can. Easily.

• Dalvic runtime. (Run Android apps)
• Small-payments and authorisation system for HTML5 applications.
• A new app store.

If Google can announce a dynamic Chrome OS operating system on Thursday that works on PCs then, good; it’s another free option for netbooks and UMPCs. If they announce a dynamic Chrome OS for ARM-based platforms then it’s game-on. At last there be an exciting option for tablets, smartbooks and other ultra mobile computing devices. It will only be one piece of the complex puzzle that makes up a truly complete product but it’s an important one.

If they don’t announce anything Dynamic then forget it. There are a number of better options out there already.

Further reading available at: JKOntheRun, more from us, gigaom and an interesting one from TGDaily

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What a hectic few hours!  I’ve had DHL at the door with the Archos 5 Mini Dock, a tweet from Pocketables alerting me that the new firmware is available and the whole lot has been captured in a video. I’ll say no more than this:

• Mini-dock = Bargain!
• YouTube HD on TV = Fantastic!
• IR RF keyboard and mouse = Total TV laziness.
• Mini keyboard and mouse = Mini ‘Web’ PC under 500gm and 300 Euro!

It looks like some hard drives with no external power won’t work but I tested a few USB SD-card adaptors and it worked fine. Questions remain over 3G sticks.

As for the firmware, there are a lot of improvements. Check the updates page for details.

More images in the gallery.

More information about the Archos 5 Internet Tablet here.

Update: TV interference is purely due to trying to record a CRT. For a better look at TV-out put using an HDMI dock, Check out Charbax’s video here.

Help your UMPCPortal! Buy the Archos 5 Mini-Dock through our affiliates.

• ARCHOS Mini Dock für ARCHOS 5 / 5g und ARCHOS 7
• Archos Germany ordering page for 8GB (not in stock – see selection boxes on page.)
• ARCHOS Mini Dock for ARCHOS 5 & ARCHOS 7
• Mini Dock at Amazon US (Not available at present)

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3. Archos 5 Internet Tablet info. 229 for 8GB SSD. Available tomorrow? As the Archos press conference starts in Paris, it seems...

Two items of news related to Linux support on the Menlow platorm  have caught my attention in the last 24 hours. Both news items are related to the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Menlow is the Intel platform that many MIDs, UMPCs and even netbooks and laptops have been built around in the last 12 months. It’s focused towards very low power consumption, video playback acceleration and 3D support in the smallest possible size.

Up until now, the only official operating systems that have supported the platform have been Moblin 1 (via Intel. Largely a static project now) and Windows XP, Vista and 7. Trying to use any of the latest popular Linux distributions on any of these devices results in problems.

Ubuntu, the Linux distribution run by Canonical, has always had a close relationship with UMPCs and MIDs. They did some work on Moblin 1 with the Ubuntu-MID distribution but that project is now static. Then there was Ubuntu-Mobile which turned into Ubuntu UMPC. Again, this project stopped. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix project also started and this is the one that has been focused on over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any support for the graphics/video part on Menlow known as ‘Poulsbo’. The same is true of Moblin 2. Intel dropped support for the MID platform.

The good news is that there are people out there working to fix the problem. The latest information is that one  ‘lucazade’ has rolled up everything that is needed into a few scripts and has even set up a repository that can be used to pick up the correct drivers. Full information at the bottom of this post.

The second bit of good news is that Jolicloud, the Ubuntu-based distribution targeted at netbooks, is also checking out support for GMA500. This message went out yesterday:

team is testing internally the poulsbo (gma 500) support in the next jolicloud release, we will look soon for testers.

Naturally we’ve already been in contact with the Jolicloud team about this and plan to bring you some more information shortly.

Despite all this third-party activity and end-user requirement (about 30 Menlow-based devices exist in the market right now) Intel has never really talked about Menlow support. We’ve seen Moblin 2.1 for handhelds running on Menlow and seen the Linux Foundation demonstrating it but I can’t get any statement out of them on the subject.

Based on what we’ve seen and heard I would put money on being able to run the open source beta release of Moblin 2.1 for handhelds on Menlow (purely because there’s no other platform available for developers to test on) and that is supposed to be coming within the next month. I’m also convinced that Moorestown will use the GMA500 so there’s another reason to have drivers available.

Finally, check out some of the emails in the Moblin Developer mailing list. This is an interesting one for example. (from 15th Nov.)

If you know of other Linux distributions that either work with or are planning GMA500 support (I hear rumors that Mandriva supports GMA500?) let everyone know in the comments. Likewise, if you’re running Linux on a Menlow platform, let us know what you think.

Update: 18th Nov 2009. Jolicloud have announced out-of-the-box support for the GMA500.

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Here’s a post I’ve just found in my drafts folder. I wrote it in March and forgot to post it. It’s still relevant now so here it is.

March 2009

I realise that many of you couldn’t give a damn about Twitter and the like. It certainly can be a distraction and I do agree, I don’t really want to know what people are eating for dinner when I’m waking up in the morning but despite that I’ve become a fan and have discovered and connected with many many interesting people in the last months.

As I flew back from SXSW last week though, I couldn’t stop thinking about how consumer MIDs and Microblogging go hand in hand. I’m convinced that the social networks are where the interest will seed for the consumer-focused devices and OEMs need to be careful to consider this opportunity. UMPCs are slightly different in that they focus more on productivity and desktop processes but MIDs, sitting in that gadget space with high-end smartphones, pmp, pnd and e-book readers, have a chance to shine due to their fantastic ability to deliver the best pocketable web experience. Behind most microblogs I see is a link to a full web page so working in 140 characters doesn’t mean that the web requirements are anything less that what we’ve come to expect on our laptops.

As I sat on the flight home with my Fujitsu Loox, I made a few notes about how my ultimate ‘Tweet-Pad’ might look. I’ve looked at existing hardware before but this time I allowed myself to dream a little. It follows much of what my Carrypad idea was and with the experience I’ve gained from the 3 years I’ve had working with ultra mobile devices since then, it was easy to imagine the specs. I’ll list my specs below but I’m more interested to hear yours. If you use microblogging services like Twitter, how would you want to take them mobile?

• 18 hours battery life (connected, idle, screen off)
• 4 hours active battery life (connected, screen on, cpu in-use)
• 3g, WiFi, BT
• Pocketable, under 250gm
• Lightweight, multitasking os
• Tailored client for many protocols. (Flickr, Twitter, Jauku, Blogger)
• CPU power to support 4-8 concurrent apps (low-end Atom, high-end ARM)
• Very simple apps store
• Sliding keyboard
• 5mp cam, auto focus, flash
• sd card slot fro transferring images, extra storage
• 8GB fast SSD storage
• Sub 10’s turn-on and connect time.
• SDK for easy app dev
• fast, full (Ajax, flash) browser with sub-15 second average page load time.
  $299 without contract. Free with $25 per month data-only contract. (5GB limit)\
• Stylish, branded design. (Brand brings developers, end user confidence)

For me, the device with the most chance of success is going to be stylish, carry a known brand, utilise a simple application development architecture (possibly levering off existing mobile operating systems) and somehow, seed some viral interest within the microblogging community.

I’m interested to hear you views.

Update: Since I wrote this post in March we’ve seen the first Twitter Pad. I wasn’t impressed. I’ve been using a 299 Euro media playing, web browsing, twitter-capable p5” pad that stays connected all day so I know this can be done better and combining  media, navigation, web and short, live messaging with a 3G connection, even a low-speed one, still seems the way to got to me.

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For of all, thanks to Jeff Hill of Misticaudio for sending over this case for review. They’ve stepped in at just the right time with a leather case for the Archos 5IT that fits well, doesn’t impact on the usability of the device and looks great at a very acceptable cost. $28 is a good price although you’ll need to consider taxes and customs costs if you’re importing it.

More images in the gallery.

As you can see from the images, the case is a wallet design with an access window, cut-outs for ports, buttons and the speaker and an integrated stand. There are also two slots for credit cards and, in the fold, a slot for a stylus. Stitching is neat and the clips seem good enough. The stand is relatively solid and there’s some padding and strengthening in the screen flap. A few corners of the device are left exposed so there’s still a chance of a nasty knock if you’re very unlucky and the chance for dust and dust to get into the connectors but to be fair, this is a case that is designed to allow you to use the device and its connectors. I haven’t tested a docking station yet but that should arrive soon and I’ll update this post when I’ve tested it out.

The Archos 5 IT doesn’t ship with any sort of case or cover and although the plastics and screen seem strong, I’d still recommend buying a case for it if you’re planning to use it while mobile. The Misticaudio case is tidy, stylish option.

The Misticaudio case for the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is currently available at Sensory Candy

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I should have been in bed but I got hooked into an excellent Gillmor Gang videocast (below) this evening. Robert Scoble, Mike Arrington, P Rangaswami, Kevin Marks, and Saul Hansell talk a lot about the iPhone and Driod war, discuss the differences and then, all of a sudden, at about 39 minutes in, the conversation switches to the Crunchpad.

As I watched, I sent three important tweets out:

• “crunchpad is steamrolling” , “costs keep coming down”. “big news on that shortly” says @arrington
• Crunchpad is going to sell “for something between three and four hundred dollars” , web-only says @arrington
• “soft revenue”, “sponsorships” on Crunchpad. Sounds like ad-supported “without impacting the user experience”

There’s more in the video below.

$300-$400 dollars PLUS advertising (sponsorship) is what everyone will be talking about. For mass-market couch-surfing, that’s too expensive. The Archos Android tablet and iPod Touch have already set the pricing bar (and possibly the sizing) for home-based sofa-surfing devices.

To be fair, I don’t think Mike Arrington expects the Crunchpad to be selling millions and he understands that the home ‘pad’ market is just taking off so this, like many other 1st attempt projects, could be more of a learning and branding exercise than anything else. If you think about how Nokia are playing with their Maemo devices it’s much the same. They are nurturing awareness and developer support for a time when the market is ripe. That could be 2010, 2011 or beyond but you have to be ready to strike when the conditions are ready.

Clearly the Crunchpad is alive, it’s going to cost between 300 and 400 dollars, it’s Atom-based, it’s going to be sponsorship-supported, web-only and we should expect ‘big news’ shortly.

Related recent article from Ben: Slates, slates, they’re everywhere, they’re in the water, they’re in the air

Via: Techcrunch

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Here’s the weekly rundown of items that we posted to the middle column on UMPCPortal, our ‘Other News’ section. It’s all good UMPC and MID-related stuff that, in most cases, we didn’t write about as a main news item.

	Shared 2 photos.
	Liked Netbook Application: Fences – Organize Your Desktop
	Shared HSPA About to Overtake Wi-Fi 802.11g
	Shared HSPA About to Overtake Wi-Fi 802.11g
	Posted Xperia X2 Preview by Phone Arena
	Shared Windows 7 going on the viliv x70
	Shared Netwalker + Umid = unimpressed wife!
	Liked Dell Mini 9 Touchscreen w/ motion detection (accelerometer)
	Shared Flowers by Omnia Pro
	Shared NVIDIA CEO shows off mystery tablet, makes zero statements about mystery tablet
	Shared Firefox for Maemo Beta 5 Released But Slower and Less Accurate than Default Browser
	Posted Pocketables unboxes the Kohjinsha PA
	Shared Netbook News takes a Trip to the Guanghua Computer Market
	Shared Amazon Kindle Software on X70 UMPC
	Shared 2 videos.
	Shared Kohjinsha PA series size comparisons
	Shared Windows 7 running like a dream on the X70 with full tablet features
	Posted Archos 5 IT Owner Review
	Shared First impressions: CLEAR WiMAX
	Shared What a Day, a Year, a Future
	Shared Stick with XP? Windows 7 Battery Life Worse on Netbooks
	Shared Qualcomm proffers first smartbook platform (The Register)
	Shared Video review and photos: Crazy thin Sony Vaio X notebook, 1.6 lbs. half inch thin
	Shared HSDPA: 7 Years Ahead Today
	Shared Archos 9 tablet dissected
	Shared VIA working on MID phone that runs Windows XP and Android

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When will the madness end? New slate devices currently seem to be announced as frequently as a new Eee PC model was a year or so ago. Why are all these slates popping up, and is anyone even buying them? This all seems awfully familiar too… didn’t we already hate these devices once before?

What’s with all of these damn slates lately?

Over the last few months we’ve seen slate devices spread at a ridiculous pace. For a simple demonstration of this, take a look at the visual version of the Portal — 6 of the top 10 devices are slates!

Archos 9 – Evigroup Pad – Wits A81- Viliv X70 – Viliv S5 – CrunchPad

And while not yet in the Portal, the IDC Vega was also just recently announced, and there are plenty of other pending slates that I haven’t listed.

Where did they come from?

I blame one device, one example of vaporware, and one rumor. That would be the iPhone, the CrunchPad, and the Apple tablet rumor respectively. Hat tip to Jenn of Pocketables.net who got me started thinking about article by saying that Apple “messed up” what people think of as the ideal form-factor in a device. Apple showed that a slate form factor at the iPhone size can be a a productive and downright useful tool, but only when all of the pieces fit together perfectly — meaning not just hardware, but software as well.

Then we got started with the Apple tablet rumors which could have an entire article dedicated to them alone — but I’ll spare you the agony. Long story short, Apple tablet rumors seemed to start forming from a combination of wishful thinking and a few touch oriented patents that Apple filed. Now weekly we see at least one rumor. But what effect has this had on these slate devices? Well I’d argue that without this Apple tablet rumor insanity, the majority of these devices wouldn’t even exist. Apple tablet rumors have been ongoing since at least 2000, but we don’t see them start to pop up in the form that we know today until shortly after the release of the iPhone in 2007.

Even the CrunchPad (one of the first of these slate devices) which doesn’t appear to have been conceived as a response to the tablet rumors, was compared from all angles to this rumored device, that doesn’t even exist, from the get-go. With some headlines heralding it as an “Apple tablet killer” despite the fact that it is often hard, nay impossible, to kill something that has no physical presence in this thing that we call reality.

Is it just me, or does it seem like most of the above devices are attempts to beat Apple to a market that they might not even enter, using the power of the Applet tablet madness to drive interest? Honestly, most of these devices aren’t even released yet and they are still commanding top positions here in the Portal. Clearly there is interest, but that doesn’t mean that these devices are going to be any good. In fact if we think back just a few years ago, we might find ourselves with a feeling of promnesia.

(continue reading on page 2)

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A company called Innovative Convergent Devices has put info up on their website about a new device called the Vega, which purportedly will be an Android 2.0 powered slate device which will come in your choice of size: 7”, 11” or up to a whooping 15.6”.

Check the specs (likely subject to change):

• Android OS
• 7/11/15.6” resistive touchscreen at 1366×768
• Nvidia Tegra (probably the Tegra 600 or 650, which are both Arm 11)
• 4 hour battery life
• 512MB of RAM
• 512MB of memory (expandable through MicroSD)
• Bluetooth and WiFi b/g
• Options for 2G or 3G data module
• headphone jack and webcam
• dual microphones
• accelerometer

And one other thing listed on the spec sheet that is rather odd: 262,000 colors (6-bit) which seems sort of low for a device that claims to be usable for HD content.

The press release on IDC’s site says that the device will be released through “Tier 1” carriers in the US, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, which should mean that the device will be subsidized. They are also set to show off a demo unit at this year’s CES (Jan 7-10) and hope to launch in the first half of 2010.

There is a lot of talk about the Vega being a “no compromise” product that consumers really want, however, I don’t know about you… but I’d call a slate device with no physical keyboard and a resistive touchscreen just that: a compromise. Your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

[GottaBeMobile]

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Jenn over at Pocketables.net is getting ready to take a break from the site to become a new mother, but she isn’t leaving the internet empty handed as she goes. She recently got the Kohjinsha PA [Portal page] series convertible which might just be a device so ugly that only a mother could love it — yet still she managed to dish out a mini review of the PA series as her last post until she returns sometime next year. Jump over and have a look at the smallest convertible in town.

Don’t forget to check out the M1 size comparisons as well. I certainly didn’t realize that the PA series was nearly the same size as the UMID M1 [Portal page] until I did so myself!

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Jkk has spotted that the Archos 9 has been dissected over at the FCC. Unfortunately you won’t find unicorns or magic inside, but just your everyday Atom guts and computer components. Swapping out the 1.8” HDD which (jkk identified to be PATA with a ZIF connector) shouldn’t be hard if you don’t mind cracking the case on your Archos 9 [Portal page] – as jkk said, it’s fun to see what they look like inside. And in case anyone was unsure, SIM slot has been verified via these images so 3G is a-go for the US version.

A word on availability: Archos seemed fairly adamant about the quoted October 22nd launch, but we haven’t seen the Archos 9 appear in stores yet. However, all indicators are pointing to soon – hopefully before we leave the month of November.

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Qualcomm announced the ‘first’ smartbook [*1] yesterday. It’s due in 2010 and it’s going to be a very very tough challenge  to make an impact of this wildly dynamic mobile device market we’re seeing right now. My opinion is that ‘smartbooks’ are not going to impress anyone in the first half of 2010 but as we near 2011, they have a chance to break through. Operating system and processing power are the key issues but in this report I talk through a number of the ingredients that go together to make the complete smartbook product.

OS. There isn’t one, yet.  A hacked Ubuntu ARM build, Android or Windows CE with overlay software just isn’t going to cut it in the mainstream market. Interestingly enough, Nokia’s Maemo is probably one of the best bets for a smartbook OS right now although Google could do something with Chrome OS. I have my doubts about Chrome though because consumer operating systems need to be very dynamic. How are Google going to handle the distribution and monetisation of browser apps? Android is another possibility but the main branch of that operating system will prbobably stay focused on smartphones meaning that a ot of work has to be done to build a new version and to keep it syncronised to the main version. The OS problem will be solved but I’m not expecting anything too thrilling in 2010.

Speed. Smartbooks will be slow. When we look at the top smartphones on the best ARM-based platforms we see a fast smartphone. Take that experience and put it in a laptop format and it doesn’t impress. I really love the speed of my 800Mhz TI OMAP 3430-based Archos Android – one of the most powerful ARM-based devices on the market – but it would be a slow slow experience if I was to try and do laptop-like work on it. It’s like cheap 12” netbooks masquerading as notebooks. They look great, have a good price but don’t give the end user an experience they can call thrilling.

The fact is that even the latest ARM cores can’t compete with Intel’s netbook platform at general computing activities. Crunching a webpage needs a strong, general purpose processor capable of multi-tasking.  Look to the multi-core Cortex A9 CPUs that will appear in late 2010 for a web experience that will be similar to 2008/2009 netbooks. Of course at that point, Intel will also be offering their next platform.

Battery life. You’ll hear a lot of talk about battery life and unfortunately it will be very difficult for people to understand what the figures mean. In the netbook world you can usually knock 30% off the marketing battery life figures and get a reasonable idea of how the real-world battery will be. In the ARM-based world where the difference between ‘idle’ and ‘off’ is slim, the differential between long battery life and the all-important real-world battery life figure is huge. With the wifi on and screen off, a small smartbook could, like a mobile phone, sit happily for a few days. Turn on the 8” screen tand start browsing though and boom! You’ve just increase your battery drain by a multiple of 100 or more. Start browsing a few tabs and that smartbook won’t get a chance to idle. My only advice is to ignore ‘idle’ battery figures. [Read about ‘getting things done’ battery life and why a lower-power processor can increase system power usage here.] Battery life will be better as the ARM platforms are good at turning things off when not used but don’t expect miracles. Remember that while a smartbook might give you 50% more battery life, it might take you 50% longer to do things on it!

Size. Size is not really an argument for smartbooks. Coming from the UMPC world I know about size compromises. Smaller can be more mobile but when there’s typing to be done, nothing substitutes a near full-size keyboard which means a relatively wide layout. A 1024×600 screen needs space too. Going any smaller than an 8.9” screen means major compromises for people that want to use smartbooks for typing and browsing the web. Netbooks and Smartphones face the same industrial design challenges.

3G. The always-connected scenario is one element of smartbooks that many have been talking about. There are two problems here. 1) Power drain 2) Cost. It’s possible that the 3G is there to tempt carriers into channeling the device to customers which, based on the excitement I’ve seen over subsidised netbooks, might be a problem. In many parts of Europe users are switching to pay-as-you-go data plans and in the U.S, the data plans are simply too expensive. A purchase price that includes data might be interesting but there again, it will push the cost of the smartbooks up. The cost of the 3G module will also have an impact on the device. A module may only cost $10 or $20 but when the total bill of materials needs to be under $100, that doesn’t help!

Weight. Based on my size argument above, there’s not much advantage that a smartbook has over a netbook. Take a look at what was done with the Sony P-Series. It’s a full PC in 600gm. Intel’s Moorestown will make that even easier. I would expect a small reduction of 100gm in standard size netbooks based on a reduced battery and motherboard size but smartooks use the same radio, screen, storage and construction techniques that every netbook manufacturer has access too so the difference between a credit-card sized motherboard and a postcard-sized one is minimal.

Instant on. The smartphone platforms used by the smartbook manufacturers do have an advantage here. They can go to sleep (or even ‘active’ sleep) well. There is good potential for an always-connected device here and this is one area where I’ll put my hand up and say ‘me want.’ Smartphones using the same platforms just don’t have big enough batteries to offer this feature so I’d be interested in something that connects to Skype, Gtalk, Twitter and stays connected all day.

Video. Given the right operating system it’s possible to get some really nice video playback performance out of the smartphone platforms but don’t forget that there are netbook platforms that have similar, and in some cases, exactly the same (ref: Intel GMA500) 3D and video-decoding capability. The issue is software, drivers, OS architecture and licensed codecs and that’s not an area where the smartbook manufacturers have exclusive control. Again, the same challenges occur here as for netbook manufacturers.

If smartbooks are done well they will be lightweight, attractive, value-for-money devices that will be a joy to market but just because they run on the ARM platform doesn’t mean they have an automatic all-round advantage. Waiting until the next generation of ARM platforms and operating systems (and trade-show seasons) are ready is probably not the best option so I understand why the manufacturers need to start now. I just hope that those marketing teams keep things in perspective. Everyone is in the same boat right now and will have to continue to work on their radios, battery technology, screen technology, OS, applications and the developer community.

Related Article: What Moorestown means for consumers.

[*1] In Germany, Smartbook is a trademark of Smartbook.de

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Back in May, I took a look at the small screen PC market to try and determine the distribution of screen sizes. I did the same in September.

Today I’ve been through the figures again and the same trend continues. There are less sub 10” screens on the market and far more 10” and 11” devices. I’m still ignoring the 12” sector but a quick glance reveals that that sector is growing too.

The 10 and 11” screen sizes now make up 93.5% of the sub-12″ devices in the German market.  Nearly all of these are netbooks.

• The 11” segment grew another = 43% (The segment has doubled in just 6 months)
• The 8” segment is down by over 80% in 6 month.
• The average weight is still increasing.
• The number of devices is up 26% in 6 months.
• The cheapest device is 151 Euro (down 9 Euros in 2 months.)

Once again it’s sad news for those wanting ultra mobile PCs but good for those wanting cheap laptops.

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It would appear as though the SmartQ 7 [Portal page] which Chippy checked out for a while is getting a little refresh. This site shows what seems to be called the ‘SmartQ V7 HDMID’ which is actually sort of clever as the V7 has an HDMI port and is a MID! Beyond the HDMI port, the V7 triple boots into your choice of OS – Android, Ubuntu, or Win CE, and has some under-the-hood adjustments.

The case of the V7 looks to be exactly the same as the SmartQ 7 but it looks like the V7 has some slight technical upgrades inside. Update: Peter in the comments linked us to some more detailed into on the SmartQ V7. The CPU is indeed different. The V7 is using (according to info Peter has found) the Telechips TCC8900 Arm 11 CPU, which may be running as reported, at 600MHz. There is also some hardware acceleration which will hopefully allow the V7 to push 1080P content out the HDMI port. According to the source site, the V7 has a 600MHz Arm 11 CPU, but this is probably actually the same 667MHz CPU in the Smart Q7, (we’ll let those extra 67MHz slide for now). Same CPU maybe, but The V7 seems to be rocking out twice the RAM as the original (128MB vs. 256MB) and the RAM is three times as fast too. The original was DDR @ 133MHz and while the V7’s is DDR2 @ 330MHz. The V7 is also has double the internal storage which goes up to 2GB (and an SD slot capable of up to 32GB) from the SmartQ 7’s 1GB. No word yet on availability, or if the V7 will actually be able to handle pushing HD video through that HDMI port, but we can always hope, and if so, this makes the V7 a more attractive mobile HD theater than even the Zune HD – for me anyway!

Jump to the site for a few more images of the SmartQ V7.

Thanks to Adam for sending this in!

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Kubel of MyT91.info seems to be one of the first guys to get his hands on the recently released T91MT, the first multitouch version of the T91 [Portal page]. In addition to an unboxing that was posted the other day, kubel now also has a full review of the unit.

The unit is pretty much exactly the same build as the T91, but it is rocking Windows 7 and a multitouch resistive touchscreen which kubel says only functions correctly with up to two points of input.

Though there was a T91MT intro video which appeared to show that the T91MT could understand varying levels of sensitivity, kubel says that this is not the case, and performance is what you would expect with a plain old resistive touchscreen. However, gesture support could possibly help with palm rejection when writing on the screen, but isn’t implemented in all applications.

I’m doubting that the T91MT would make for a good tablet if you want to take ink notes (you usually need an active digitizer for that) but the T91MT is most likely designed around the idea of touch rather than stylus input, hence the included finger oriented software.

Jump over to MyT91.info to read the full review.

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Over the last 6 months or so, Viliv has created a near rebirth of the UMPC, stunning a good number of people with the highly regarded S5 and X70. Not to long after, they brought the Viliv S7, their first device with a keyboard. I wrote an article back in July titled: The Viliv S7’s biggest challenge: the keyboard. After having a chance to review the S7 for myself, I found the keyboard to be the most disappointing part of the S7. At the same time however the S7 made me very excited for Viliv’s upcoming 10″ version, the S10.

What we’ve see so far from the S10 has shown it to be a very attractive device. If the S10 has the footprint to offer a good typing experience, and still delivers the good points of the S7, I feel that the S10 could break through and become a serious netbook competitor which will put the name Viliv in front of a large new audience that they haven’t yet had access to.

The keyboard forecast on the S10 is looking really good so far. From early pictures that Chippy shot of the unit at IDF 09 I can see that the S10’s footprint gave Viliv enough room to fix every single issue that I noted in my S7 review. They fixed the tiny right shift key by dropping the arrow keys down and providing enough space for a full right shift key. They fixed the F11 and F12 keys being bound to F9 and F10 as the extra width provided room for these keys to be in their own dedicated space. They also put the tilde key back where it needs to go, which aligns the number row correctly, and fixed other things like odd punctuation placement and backward Fn/ctrl keys.

But netbooks as of late have offered rather good typing experiences, so presuming that the S10’s keyboard can match these, how does the S10 stand a chance of competing against already established brands? The answer to this lies in the S10’s battery life, convertibility, and high res screen.

The S7 had hugely impressive battery life, running for almost 6 hours at 100% CPU usage, 100% brightness, and WiFi+BT turned on. This means that the S7 should run for around 8 hours with regular usage. Incredibly fast standby times allow one to extend the battery life of the S7 to great lengths. If the S10 can offer the same speedy standby and huge battery life, it’ll beat out most existing netbooks and would be great for a thin, light weight, ‘all day’ computing experience. Viliv is currently quoting the S10 as having 10 hours of battery, and given Viliv’s previous battery life claims I would say this is fairly accurate, and within an hour of realistic usage.

The S10 isn’t 100% official yet, but the one that Chippy looked at in an IDF 09 video hands-on had a 1366×768 resolution screen, which again beats out most of the netbook contenders. Then there is the flexibility that the touchscreen and convertible aspect offer. The majority of netbooks out there today aren’t touchscreen equipped and definitely aren’t convertible. This fact alone puts the S10 in direct competition with devices like the Gigabyte TouchNote [Portal page] and Asus Eee T91 [Portal page].

If the S10 can be competitive in the netbook field and stand its ground against the existing convertible options, I think that it could have a big impact on Viliv as a company – getting the company into the eyes of a much broader range than they’ve been used to because previously they’ve been dealing in a rather niche market, and for UMPC fans out there — some of that additional market may flow through Viliv to their other devices, and introduce new people to the world of UMPCs.

Of course it will all really depend on the price that Viliv picks for the S10. Hopefully it’ll hit low enough to compete with netbooks and will create choice and competition for consumers, while being an impressive debut product for Viliv’s foray into the netbook space. Most of the other players will have some serious catching up to do if the S10 jumps onto the scene with a reasonable price, 10 hour battery life, great keyboard, high-res screen and convertible form factor to boot!

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