I was at MDC09 in Munich today and picked some new news. Always good for a blog I feel! I also saw Quake III being demonstrated on a Moblin-based netbook using the latest Linux drivers from the Moorestown build. Read on…

I’ve just packed 13 mobile devices for Mobile Dev Camp and uploaded a video that introduces what I’ll be talking about at MDC. Hope you can make it.  If not, stay tuned here for updates from the event tomorrow. More details here. My MDC coverage is sponsored by the Intel Insider program. Many thanks to Intel. [As I post, the video is still being processed by YouTube. If the video [...]

On Saturday at the Mobile Dev Camp in Munich I’ll be talking about the subject of device categorisation with a bunch of devs to try and stimulate some discussion on the subject. Do we really believe that everything should be converged into a 24/7 pocketable device or are their opportunities to improve the experience for the customer and to break out into small, but significant, niches. Does everything hinge on the mobile OS and it’s success in primary markets?

Seeing as I’ve just declared the Archos Android Tablet as (possibly) the fastest ARM-based browsing device ever, it makes sense to show you someone else’s test on a similar platform. Engadget did a single Engadget page load test on the Motorola Droid which is running Android 2.0 on the Ti OMAP 3430 platform. (@533Mhz I understand.) The single-shot test is obviously not conclusive but it’s actually quite an accurate result [...]

Mobile Dev Camp hits Munich on Saturday and thanks to Intel’s ‘Insider’ program I’ve been invited down to join in with the fun. MDC will be a day where mobile developers get the chance to talk about their favorite subjects, to present ideas and to meet others in the ‘ecosystem.’ Intel will be there along with Elektrobit, Daisho Blacksmith and Greenrobot along with around 100 developer-minded individuals. If it’s anything [...]

Encompassing much of what the MID market stands for and reaching out in terms of screen size and CPU power to become a very interesting contender is the Verizon / Motorola Droid.

$300 + a 24 month commitment brings you the ‘phone’ and you’ll get $100 back if you remember to mail-in the coupon.

Apart from a brief mention in the weekly update a few days ago, we haven’t written about the EviGroup Pad yet.

It’s effectively a 10.6 inch, 1kg netbook without the keyboard. It uses the same N270 CPU as in a netbook and includes a 2.5″ 160GB drive. We should also highlight that it has 3G included and runs Windows 7 Premium (is that Home Premium?) with the Seline10 software suite.

A UMD, as defined by ABI Research, is a netbook, MID, UMPC or mobile consumer electronics device. I like that definition as it’s almost exactly the scope of the devices we cover on UMPCPortal, MIDMoves, and Meet:Mobility. 385 Million is a big number and ABI’s marketing flyer for their latest report doesn’t give any indication as to how that breaks down but based on netbook figures of about 45 million [...]

It appears that ARM have reached a milestone with the Archos 5 Internet Tablet that all mobile web fans should take note of. It’s not the FIE but it’s very, very close. Read-on to see how close…

It is rather interesting that a number of new Slate style tablet devices seem to be warring even before they are officially launched, or even proven exist. The two most frequently rumored are definitely the CrunchPad and the even more elusive Apple Tablet. While the Apple Tablet may or may not even exist, we’ve at least seen offical prototypes of the CrunchPad, and it seemed to be generally near completion [...]

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 Finally, a Worthy Contender for the iPhone Shared N900 vs N95 size comparison Posted N900 and N95 Size Comparison Shared Gigabyte updates netbook lineup for Windows 7 Liked Fennec Beta [...]

Over at Meet:Mobility, Sascha, JKK and I have just posted podcast 34. A half-hour of netbook, MID, smartphone and UMPC discussion with a focus on IDF, the N900 and the rush of tablet-style devices hitting the market at the moment.

Eeek! The Kohnjinsha UMPC isn’t going to do the UMPC segment any favors if it  turns up looking like that, for over $800! I’m usually very positive about any UMPC entering the market but I’m finding it very difficult with this one. Mouse pointer and stereo speakers are nice but surely there’s a prettier way to do it? Via: Kohjinsha PA series available in November.Source: Wow-Pow

The Boy Genius Report has their hands on a pre-production version of the Motorola Droid, and has a pretty thorough preview of the device which is running Android 2.0. Sounds like 2.0 brings some much desired improvements, and it’s good to hear that Verizon won’t be touching the Droid in terms of software. I still have nightmares of terrible proprietary Verizon interfaces locking down functions that a phone was supposed [...]

Ebooks are a big, complex topic and it seems to me that the whole ebook industry is so splintered that it may never get itself together. I have no idea how many ebook formats there are out there but there are enough to create a problem for anyone thinking about trying out electronic books. The hardware choice is wide too. In this article I look at UMPCs in the light of the recent Amazon Kindle for PC announcement.

It is just me or does it seem like Android is the hot thing right now? Motorola and Verizon have been teasing the internet for the last few days about their upcoming Droid phone which is powered by Android (of course). Well the joke is on them as the Droid page seemed to have accidentally popped up ahead of schedule and the folks over at the Boy Genius snagged screenshots [...]

It’s a good day when Woot throws up a UMPC for sale, and today is one of those days. I think this is a first for Woot – they are offering the Fujitsu U810 [Portal page] at sellout.woot.com today for $399. This seems to be a pretty good deal as a quickly glance around the web reveals that you can’t even get a used U810 this cheap, let alone a [...]