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Tag Archive | "netbook"

Dell Duo at Intel booth. CES 2011


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My first hands on with the Dell Duo deserves a little post. Yes it’s a little heavy as a tablet and has battery life that doesnt compete with netbooks but its a slick device. With the Samsung Gloria/PC7 on Oaktrail already,  it could have some tough competition.

Angry Birds – Now on Netbooks via AppUp – Video Demo.


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Intel have scored a hit for their AppUp store. If you’ve got a netbook you can download it via the AppUp store. I’ve tested it and it’s working really nicely. I’ll be doing more ‘testing’ as soon as I can!

This is the sort of application that will start to attract attention for AppUp and while I suspect it was an Intel-supported port by Rovio, it won’t take too many of these before AppUp becomes a well-known and self-seeding product. The stats from this will be very interesting indeed. I’m sure Intel will be watching how many people download AppUp and keeping tabs on numbers from Rovio!

You can download AppUp and buy Angry Birds for your netbook here.

So here I am, in Las Vegas, stuck in a room testing games. Life’s hard!

Phone, Tablet and Netbook. All Needed on Holiday.


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What a perfect test it was to be away from home for 5 days. I took the Nokia N8, the Galaxy Tab and my Gigabyte netbook with me for Christmas in England and all three were needed. Convergence doesn’t exist.

The N8 makes a perfect phone. Voice calling is strong and reliable. It’s a perfect pocket, internet-connected camera too. In typical low-light, moving kids scenarios it beat my old N82 hands down. Video footage has been great too. I’m confident that there isn’t a better personal camera out there. Try having a compact camera ready for all the moments I captured! As for maps, well it wasn’t the best. I didn’t have to do much with turn-by-turn and when I searched for an address offline. I couldn’t find it. I had to go online to resolve that problem. Clearly I need to download the local map again but with Google maps supporting caching now, the advantages for OVI maps are fading. MP3 capabilities are good, the always-on clock is useful and timed profiles are a winner. Structurally I feel its going to last and although internet is relatively slow compared to my Galaxy Tab, it’s there if needed in an emergency. I used Gravity quite a few times.

The Gigabyte netbook came out twice in the last 2 days and I’m glad I had it because I had a server issue. Try ssh, server testing, ping, traceroute and submitting a ticket on the Tab. Under pressure, it’s no use in these scenarios at all. For admin work, there’s no way you can survive without windowing,  a full browser with mouse and keyboard. No way!

As for the Tab, it became my buddy. Used way more than the phone or netbook it was used for comment handling on my blogs, emails, chat, sms, Facebook, Twitter, maps, contacts, calendar, ebooks, casual web, RSS reading, games, photo presenting, pdf reading (stored itinerary) and this – blog writing. I even used it for remote access to my PC although that was more of a more webcam experiment than anything else.

I knew there was a space. Carrypads are here, are valuable and show just how much fits into the ‘tweener’ space. The Origami concept of 2006 was spot on.  Shame they didn’t have the technology to actually make it happen back then!

Anyone else out there, enjoying the three-device strategy?

Google’s CR-48 Chrome OS Netbook on Video and in Photos


IMG_3741We’ve got our hands on Google’s Chrome OS test hardware (you can apply for one yourself at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html). This netbook won’t ever be released to the public and is purely for testing Chrome OS, but it can give us a good idea of what to expect from future Chrome OS devices. Namely, a huge battery, 3G built-in, a somewhat altered keyboard from what you’re used to with Windows/Mac OSX, and not much more power than what’s necessary for basic web browsing. Jump over to Carrypad’s sister-site, UMPCPortal.com for an overview video and gallery.

AC100 gets Unboxing, Promise of 2.2 Upgrade, Email Notification Rave!


dynabookunboxing We’re twitching at every movement outside our door while waiting for our own Toshiba AC100 today (Note: Possible live video review session tonight stay tuned.) but at least we’ve got something to keep us occupied in this unboxing video from Netbooknews today. It’s known as the Dynabook AZ in Japan but it’s the same device as the AC100 were expecting.

Some important things to note from the unboxing and the article:

1 Opera Mobile (not Mini) is included. Opera Mobile is not generally available for Android but Toshiba appear to have had it built specially for the AC100. Opera Mobile sounds like it is providing a better internet experience than the stock browser. I’m certainly a fan of Opera Mobile and will be interested to test it out.

2 There are indicator lamps on the outside of the device. Useful for notifications when closed (and online) (via JKKMobile, see fun video below.)

3 Toshiba are working on Android version 2.2 ‘soon’ which is excellent news.

4 1080p H.264 worked

5 Browsing not as fast as on a netbook

Netbooknews AC100  Dynabook AZ unboxing (first impressions video there too but still being processed as I write this)

When you’ve watched the unboxing, check out the Toshiba AC100 marketing videos. They’re great! (and give us an indication of the effort that Toshiba is putting into this!)

We’ll be attempting to hold a live email notification rave in our live open review session. Stay tuned for details!

MeeGo 1.0 ‘Netbook User Experience’ Hands-On, Overview and Video


4644302853_19f9daf69b_oThis won’t take long. What we’ve got here is a Moblin build that has picked itself up from being stopped-dead in it’s tracks buy a huge corporate direction change. I imagine that partners that were working with Moblin before MeeGo was announced are pleased that they can finally get back to work in optimising their builds for end products. The core build has been changed and there has been some re-working of the user interface. Chrome has been added as the browser. What is also clear though is that the pace of development appears to have picked up and the MeeGo teams are committing to a six-month cadence meaning that those partners can re-write their roadmaps now and that the products promised last September, can now move forward.

I installed MeeGo 1.0 ‘Netbook User Experience’ on a Medion Akoya netbook (an MSI-Wind clone) last night and it was a smooth experience. First-boot was fast at 27 seconds including my usual 10-second BIOS-lag. First login was simple although there were no options to set up contact syncing or online accounts which are core to the MeeGo experience. The ‘netbook user interface’ is almost exactly the same as on Moblin and is modeled around the ‘home zone’ and other zones that can be activated. People and Internet being the two most important. As before, the UI is fast and bubbly.

It’s a Chrome OS!

Chrome (Chromium, the open source version is being tested here but there’s a true Chrome version available too.) is the major change for the end user and I have to say it’s a good one. It appears to be a recent build because it’s flying through the Sun Spider Javascsript tests. 1.8s is a very respectable time. Full-screen works and Flash is integrated meaning you can expect to operate just as you would on a normal desktop. I used Google Docs to edit a spreadsheet and Flickr to upload some photos without any problems. Facebook works as expected too. If we look to MeeGo on Moorestown, you’ve got the basics of a product that could be the best and one of the most productive smart-books or ‘cloud’ books to date. Add the Intel AppUp store and you’re starting to solve that problem too although Chrome’s Web Application store will be interesting to see working on this.

Basic Applications

There’s an email client (Evolution), a messenger, a reasonable media experience (certainly the Banshee media player seems to be quite feature-rich although I haven’t tested video support yet) and there are a number of other basic apps available through the application manager and ‘Garage,’ a slightly more end-user-friendly application installer although nothing seems to be working in Garage right now.

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Photo and screen-grab. Image top-right is also from testing.

Other notes

  • Sleep works (Using sleep button on keyboard)
  • Gmail contacts sync working (uses SyncML)
  • Home screen still somewhat limited. 6-tweets on a 1024×600 screen is not exactly efficient use of space!
  • Chrome Browser crashes occasionally
  • AppUp store install fails
  • Media player fails to play imported MP3s
  • No GMA500 (Menlow, Poulsbo) support.
  • Read/Write to USB sticks and SD cards is no problem.

It’s a shame that MeeGo 1.0 hasn’t moved forward from Moblin 2.1 in terms of end user experience and there’s no way that it will challenge XP or Windows 7 in terms of productivity and flexibility (printing, network shares, application quality, etc.) however when you combine the thought of an efficient Chrome-based Web-focused OS and MeeGo’s future compatibility with the ‘always on’ Moorestown platform combined with a layer of ‘finishing’ you can see some nice possibilities for ‘smart’ productive devices. Certainly the full-internet experience is a major advantage with MeeGo compared to Android. Apps are needed though and until a nicely designed and well-marketed, polished MeeGo product hits the floor, developers aren’t going to be that interested. Maybe that changes after Computex.

We’ll be connecting with Intel’s software group at Computex next week so stay tuned for more information on the future of MeeGo, netbooks, handhelds and Intel’s ‘smart’ platforms. In the meantime, take the time to have a look at MeeGo 1.0 with the netbook user experience in the video below.

MeeGo V1.0 announcement

Airlife 100 Social Netbook Launches in Spain, starts at 230 Euros


I’m not one to let companies hide the real price of a device behind a subscription but at the moment I can’t find the full, unsubsidised price of the ARM/Android-based HP Compaq Airlife 100 that has just launched in Spain. Based on the two prices below and similar subsidy deals, the full price if the Airlife looks to be about 450 Euros. It sounds expensive for a smartbook doesn’t it but it’s not. A 3G-capable ‘smart’ book (I’m calling them ‘social netbooks’ to avoid the wrath of the company that sits about 30km from my office here in Germany) with GPS and a 12-hour battery life weighing 800gm do not exist in the market. This is unique and exciting. If I could order one today, I would. (Here’s why)

The full press release:

Telefonica has launched HP’s Compaq AirLife 100 netbook in Spain. The device features a 10.1-inch diagonal screen, a full keyboard, 16 GB solid state internal storage, SD card slot, Android operating system and customised touch interface. The netbook also features 3G access, Wi-Fi connectivity, VGA webcam, up to 12 hours of battery life in active use and up to 10 days of standby time, GPS capabilities, preinstalled NDrive navigation software with included regional maps with points of interest, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset platform. Telefonica will offer the Compaq AirLife 100 netbook at Movistar stores across Spain for EUR 230, in combination with Movistar’s Internet Maxi data plan with a monthly fee of EUR 49.
Customers can also acquire the HP netbook for EUR 300 along with Movistar’s Internet Plus data plan with a monthly fee of EUR 39.

I’m trying to get hold of availability info and of course, a review device and will update you when I have more information. In the meantime, see the specifications, gallery, videos and related links in the Airlife 100 information page.

Via Telecompaper

Dell’s ARM-based MID and Netbook Roadmap shows Incompatible Moblin Option.


dell android roadmap I don’t know where to start with this one but highlighting the incompatibility between Moblin and ARM-based devices is a good place too start and it gives us a hint that this might not be the huge and interesting MID and ‘smart’ book leak that it could have been.

The ‘roadmap’ picked up by Android Central shows three Dell MID devices. The 4.1 inch 640×480 (also marked up as WVGA) Thunder based on Windows Mobile/Android is the first. Then we have the 5 inch Streak which is being shown as having a Vodafone (Europe) variant. This is where the Moblin logo appears. The Looking Glass is shown with a 4:3 format screen (800×600) and finally there are a couple of ARM-based netbooks called ‘Sparta’ and Athens. Once again the Moblin logo appears.

Clearly this is an old internal roadmap showing a possible Moblin / Moorestown option for the devices and probably explains the ‘MID’ label. Clearly Intel weren’t ready for Dell so in this case, they lost out to Android and ARM.

Via Engadget.

Source: Android Central

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