The live review and Q&A with the Samsung 900X1B went well on Saturday and we got through the 2 hours without any major issues or showstoppers cropping up. Battery life during the 2 hours was good at a projected 6hrs which included constant Wi-Fi and even some high-performance mode gaming. Wi-Fi, something that’s been highlighted by others as an issue on the 900X1B was stable but in a test across a couple of walls to a remote hotspot we confirmed that the throughput was poor. That’s the only potential issue on the 900X1B, the rest of the device was perfect, as long as you don’t mind those mini and micro ports and adaptors.

The 900X1B looks great, feels solid, performs well, is surprisingly efficient, light, quiet, has an amazing screen and keyboard and with no moving parts is a real contender for an ultra-portable. Only the power adaptor annoys. At 300gm it’s heavier and bigger than it needs to be. You might find a lighter power pack that would be more useful on a day away from the mains power.

The 900X1B is also available with a Core i5 1.6Ghz CPU and 128GB storage for a more carefree user experience and the prices have come down recently although it remains a premium product.

As usual, the live review was captured on video. Quality isn’t exactly HD but if you’re close to buying a Series 9 or considering a UX21, I really recommend watching. In fact, in my opinion, the 900X1B beats the Asus UX21 and is a good contender in the ultra-portable space.

In about an hour I’ll be starting the live blog from Intel’s developer forum here in San Francisco. You may have read new from the keynote yesterday but today’s keynotes are the more important ones for those looking at the Atom ecosystem of mobile-focused computing. We’ll see Rene James announcing a number of important progressions in the MeeGo, AppUp and Appup Developer Program (formerly Atom Developer Program) and all indicators point to big news. We expect AppUp to be announced as final (‘Gold’, out of beta) and we expect to see some new software partners on stage. Gaming and tablets will be on stage (WeTab has to make an appearance as the first MeeGo product.) Following Rene we’ll hear from Doug Davis from the embedded and communications group. I hope to hear about Moorestown, Oaktrail and Medfield in this keynote but we might see it more focused towards in-vehicle entertainment and SmartTV. They use different Atom-based platforms.

Live blogging with test and images will start in about an hour from this post. After the keynote i’ll be attending a special session with the AppUp teams so expect some more details later.

(Refresh this page to update – Sorry, no auto-updating!)

0850: We’re seated

0905 – Intro – Recap of Day 1 – Rene James comes on stage after intro video highlights user experience.

0907 – Rene – “Computing has transformed from something we do to something we feel”

"Evolution of tablets"
Tablets are not new.
Have been around or 20 years (old tablet shown)
WeTab now on screen
Breakthrough is due to touch, user interfaces.

Rene moves on to Intel Software strategy and the acquisitions: Cilk, Wind river, Havok, Virutech and more

[Note: We’re having some problems uploading from the keynote.]

Rene  highlights investment in developers and tools.

‘Support for Android’ mentioned.

Andrew Bond of Havok on stage talking about immersive computer games. They make game middleware.

0923: Demo of ‘cloth technologies’

Amazing cloth simulation demo. No more short skirts in games?

Havok announces that their technology will be freely available for people developing for AppUp store

0930: AppUp

450,000 users in AppUp
23000 members
Windows and Meego platforms.
Runtime applications are supported.
Rewards are mentioned. E.g. Developer challenge.

Grand Prize winner announced – Goal! Demonstrated on screen. I’ve played with this and i’m sure that there’s better to come.

Goal also demonstrated on MeeGo
Ported ‘within a few days’

Prize is shown – they win a car!

0933: MeeGo

Highlights:

DeviceVM – Splashtop – Meego Remix announced.

Rene highlights netbooks, netbooks. Gentech mediaphone (OpenPeak) also highlighted.

New tablet —- WeTab also highlights.

Stephan – CTO of 4tiitoo (WeTab partner and the guy I was on the plane with coming over!) is on stage.

MeeGo for TV now highlighted. This is something new.

New platform for Smart Television. Is this SmartTV?

Video being shown.

Amino now on stage demonstrating the MeeGo TV system. How does this sit with the Google SmartTV project? Confusing.

Amino system looks good. Smooth. HD. Cloud content integrated. Its shipping now apparently.

AppUp goes live / gold

Announces that AppUp Developer Program is the new name for the program.

Peter Biddle announces that AppUp is Gold.

0945 – AppUp Experience and ApUp Elements event (we’re doing a podcast there on Thursday) is highlighted.

New partners announced for AppUp.

Dixons Retail will use the AppUp

Currys will use AppUp

Croma will promote AppUp

BestBuy will promote AppUp.

Sega is in the AppUp store! Megadrive classics coming.

Barnes and Noble coming

Unity coming to AppUp store.

More details on these announcements later after our private session at 11pm.

Rene finishes. Doug Davis on stage now. Here’s the Atom section.

Doug Starts with Atom in the compute Continuum and some future thoughts. Telemetry, Digital Signs, home storage networks. Suprises us all (!) by telling us these products are real and are all internet connected.

Again, there’s the ‘port of choice’ capability statement. Windows, MeeGo, Android, VXWorks etc.

70M Atom cpus have been shipped into netbooks.
E-Series is a new series for embedded apps. I guess its Tunnel Creek

Boxee Box announced as an Atom-based product. Others too:

More talk about TV

10:09

New media-focused platform announced – CE4200 (Aka Groveland)

Partner and products announced too.

Mobile Devices:
Doug talks about the launch of Z6xx series CPU.
10x in thermal power 50x platform idle power we’ve heard before.

Aava phone shown on stage.

‘We’re on track’ for smartphones.

Tablet PCs now being highlighted.

Exopc, CIUS, WeTab etc.

Oaktrail for tablets – Looks like a Streak!

Doug talks a lot about Windows 7

2 devices running Oaktrail shown.

Both running windows 7

Dell turns up on stage with new tablet.

10” Dual-core Windows 7. “Most powerful 10” tablet”

OK. Everyone got a bit excited there. Full Dell 10” tablet image set here.

http://www.umpcportal.com/2010/09/first-pics-dell-10-dual-core-win7-convertible/

Now we’re looking at embedded platforms and applications. Intel announced Tunnel Creek as the new E-series Atom range.

More information on that here.

We’re winding down here. ‘Whats next’ says Doug.

Stellarton sneak peek. FPGA on-die with Atom CPU for major flexibility.

That’s it. Thanks for watching.

Looking forward to some hands-on with the Dell Tablet if possible.

Again, thanks to everyone that joined in with the Viliv N5 [information] Live Open Review session tonight. Through pure perseverance I got my N5 from Fedex at the Cologne airport today [Note: Don't try and pick something up from there unless you have two hours, passport, vehicle registraion docs and want all the posessions in your car to be scanned!] and we did a good 2.5hrs of testing with hundreds of visitors via the live session over Ustream. It was a live unboxing for me so my first impressions will come later this week but in the meantime, here are the live recordings we produced.

Update: All videos now available on YouTube.

Part 1 – Unboxing Overview. (12 mins)

Part 2 – JKK Overview, Video performance, Q&A (30 Mins)

Part 3 – Further testing and Q&A including summary. (43 Mins)

First things first, Pocketables have a full review of the Viliv N5 up. They seem to be very happy with the device although there’s confirmation that there’s no video-out port. It’s been blanked-off. Click-through for the full review.

After you’ve read the review, don’t forget that despite the high possibility that my N5 won’t turn up in time, JKKMobile is getting his and we’re planning a live session. This will happen today (Monday 28th) at 2130 CEST (1230pm San Francisco. Other times here.) on the UMPCPortal and JKKMobile live channel.

Update: Live review is finished now but the recordings are available.

Specifications, information, images and links for the Viliv N5 here.

There will be a live video and audio feed along with a chat channel for questions and discussions. I hope you can make it. I hope my Viliv N5 can make it too! If not, my UMID BZ will be there as a comparison. We’ll try and include comparison thoughts about the UH900 too.

We will try to record the main part of the session.

See you on the live channel and follow/check here for any late announcements/updates.

Update: Live review is finished now but the recordings are available.

The Compaq Airlife 100 just arrived from Spain

It’s one of the first true smart-books / social netbooks (*1)  and a device I believe will show us exactly how touch, always-on, always connected and social networking will play a role in netbooks of the future. It will be available soon in Spain through Telefonica’s Movistar service provider.

Here’s the plan. The unboxing and overview is done and uploading now to my YouTube channel

Later, I’ll get down to the studio for a LIVE video and chat session. Lets say, 2200 CEST (check the time at your location) at Carrypad.com/live.  See you there for a few hours testing of one of the first ever social netbooks. (*1) Some parts of the session, not all, will be recorded. Tomorrow I’ll write my first impressions here on Carrypad.

[*1 Smartbook is a trademark of  Smartbook A.G. in Germany where my company is based. They sell netbooks and laptops. To avoid legal issues, Carrypad uses the term ‘social netbook’ to describe an always-on, always connected netbook running on a mobile focused OS and hardware platform.]

Our live, open reviews are becoming extremely popular and tonight we expect an even bigger turnout for one of the stars of the ‘netvertible’ world, the Viliv S10. Slim, stylish and multitouch capable; it really shows how designs on the Menlow platform can be taken another step further than with Pinetrail.

Live session will be held here on UMPCPortal.com/live

Start time in your location.

Tonight we’ll have not one but two Viliv S10’s being used. JKKMobile has the 2.0Ghz version in Helsinki and I have the 1.6Ghz version here in Bonn. We’ll also have the Gigabyte Touchnote and the Viliv S7. JKK also has a little tablet surprise too. The Hanvon tablet is going to get an airing!

We’ll run two cameras and the chat session is open as always. The sessions usually run to about 2 hours and we’ll be recording it.

Live session will be here on UMPCPortal.com/live and also on jkkmobile.com/live

Start time in your location.

CeBIT is a little different for me this year as I’m staying home on ‘baby alert.’ Assuming my wife doesn’t go into labor early I’m going to make the most of it by taking the opportunity to get some good overview coverage going.  I’ll be working in the studio covering news as it comes in and then, every two hours I’ll be pulling together a 10 minute update for  MeetMobility. The MeetMobility team  are already on the ground in Hanover, we’ve tested all the equipment and we’re ready to go. More information on our live sessions at MeetMobility…

MeetMobility Is Mobile at CeBIT. Live in the Studio. | Meet:Mobility.

I hope you enjoy the coverage and I look forward to chatting with you in the chat channel.

Update: New, 4-part video’s are included below.

Thanks to everyone that joined the /live session yesterday evening. 600 pairs of feet stepped into the room and we had a lot of interactivity in the chat room which was great!

The first hour of the live session is now available on YouTube for those of you that missed it. Bear in mind that this is the quality that we stream out so it’s not exactly HD but you’ll get everything you need from it.

Specifications and links to more videos and reviews are available in the UMID BZ product page.

Sorry about the late notice on this one but we’ve found a slot and we need to jump on it.

At 2100 (CES) tonight (about 4hrs from this posting) we’ll be sitting down to prepare for a Meet:Mobility podcast (broadcast live) followed by (at approx 2230) a live videocast of the E-King S515.

JKKMobile and Sascha will be joining and we’d love you to join too.

See you on the live page later:

View the broadcast time in your location

Thanks to the 850 people that dropped in to the session last night. We ran for about 4 hours and in that time you racked up 940 hours of viewing. That’s a lot of attention so clearly we’re getting something right with the live reviews.

The first thing to note from last nigh’ts N900 session is that there we didn’t find any show stoppers. Sizing is clearly an issue for some but within the bounds of the size of the device, Nokia have done an incredible job and married it with a software stack that is fit for the next-generation of ‘computing-first’ handhelds for both the geek and consumer community. Pricing appears to be acceptable to our target audience too. Over 85% of those voting in a poll during the session said it was value for money based on street prices we’re seeing of 500-550 Euros.  In Germany the N900 is already free from some third-party resellers with high-end contracts.

Read the full story

Update: Thanks to the 800+ viewers we had on the live session. It’s great to have so much feedback on a live session. Video recordings are always available here.

On Friday evening at 1900 GMT (check your timezone here) JKK and I will be LIVE again.

For the first time ever it’s an ARM-only show featuring Cortex CPUs from Freescale and Texas Instruments. The Sharp Netwalker will be there and, if Mr DHL does his job, the Archos Internet Tablet (Android version) too.

We’ll be focusing on the Mobile Internet experience as usual but we’ll be giving a hardware overview, software overview (as much as we can given that these devices are brand new on the market) and trying to answer your questions.

The Sharp Netwalker is kindly provided to JKKmobile by Conics.net. The Archos Android Internet Tablet is kindly provided by you readers. (Please keep supporting our advertisers!) The session is unsponsored so bring beer and expect a no-holds-barred session.

Start time 1900 GMT. (Time in your location)

Live chat, audio and video

provided in the LIVE! page.

Bring your own food.

*1 About 50% chance right now on the Archos tablet. 1545 Tablet has just been delivered.

Session will be recorded.

Archos tablet information

Sharp Netwalker Information

In about an hour I’ll be getting together online with with Sascha and JKK for the Computex round-up podcast. If I’m able to set it up, i’ll broadcast it on the /live channel but if not, don’t worry because the podcast will go up almost shortly afterwards. Update. We didnt get the podcast done due to network issues out in Taiwan. We’ve rescheduled for tomorrow.

I will be on the live channel afterwards though and JKK will join me this evening for a more formal session where we’ll both be talking about the new Viliv X70 EX Premium AIR and Viliv S5 Premium Air. That’s planned for 2100 CEST but it will also be recorded.

My full X70 EX Premium Air review is ready (I’m waiting for the battery life test to finish but its clearly the best 7” tablet UMPC ever) and that will probably be posted this afternoon so keep an eye out for it.

We look forward to seeing you on UMPCPortal.com/live later.

Update: Unboxed, stripped down and tested in over 2hrs of video….HERE.

Update: Unboxed, stripped down and tested in over 2hrs of video….HERE.

I’ve just got back from a spot of moblogging to find the Smart Q7 waiting for me. I wasn’t expecting it until tomorrow so it’s a nice surprise. I have a few appointments this afternoon but I’ll get an unboxing video done and try and be around for a LIVE SESSION with video, audio and Q&A at around 2030 CEST.

The Viliv S5 that has been sent for review and MIDMoves SXSW duties has just cleared customs in Germany which means it’s highly likely that we’ll not only do a live MeetMobility CeBIT roundup podcast tomorrow but also a live testing and Q&A session with the brand new Viliv S5. Ben and JKK also have the Sony Vaio P so we’ll add those two into the mix. Sascha from Netbooknews.de will be around too. It’s going to be a long long night of mobile computing fun so join us at 2000hrs CET, tomorrow on UMPCPortal.com/live or JKKMobile.com/live

Strange things happen when you start talking about companies that might have crashed. All of a sudden the Wibrain website returned (as it was before unfortunately) and as an added bonus, Mobilx got hold of an Atom-based Wibrain i1 sample and have shipped it straight out to us which means one thing. Live Atom-based UMPC goodness tomorrow.

Before you get excited though, It has to be said that there’s absolutely no indication of a ship date for the i1 yet. Indeed, my emails to Wibrain are still going unanswered so I suspect some form of PR block which either indicates that they will launch at CES or that they are locked up in the war room trying to work out what the best strategy is. Or maybe they’re just fed up with my persistent calls for information

Live page is here. Planned start time: 2000 CET. Follow chippy on twitter for the latest updates.

…and thats just the ones I caught on video. There are at least 25 devices here.

There’s a live video and chat (Mostly German) going on at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/netbook-news

Thanks to eee-pc.de and eeepcnews.de for organising the event.

I have just received two new Raon Digital Everun Note UMPCs. The S16S, a lower-cost device running Linux on the Sempron 1Ghz processor and the D24S, a high-end device running XP on the Turion X2 (as per the standard D60H) with a 24GB SSD drive.

I’ll be live at about 2200 CET (GMT+1) on UMPCPortal.com/live and you’re welcome to come along and watch a short presentation and ask questions as I do an initial set of tests on the two devices. See you there!

Live session was recorded and is available now on the Ustream video page here.