Once again we had a great audience for our live open review last night. Over 600 people dropped in to watch JKK and I testing out the Viliv S10 in an extended, close-up, warts-exposed review session.

We recorded two videos from the sessions which are up at Ustream.TV (I’ll try and get these over to YouTube soon) but as a summary, let me go through some of the things we found out.

Hardware: Both of us are very impressed with the build quality, plastics and styling of the S10. It beats every other convertible 10”-er out there.

CPU differences: The difference between the 1.6 and 2.0Ghz version is of course noticeable. The 2.0Ghz version is much smoother in general operation and the difference was very noticeable when we compared the use of Microsoft’s Surface demo software. The 1.6Ghz version benefits well from the fast SSD though and once I had turned off Aero, the UI responsiveness went from poor to good.

Battery life: The production samples we have don’t show remaining battery time and only count down in 10% charge increments but we took measurements throughout the session and as the meter dropped to 80% I calculated that the device would run connected, in-use with 100% screen backlight, light browsing and video clip playback for 7.5 hours. For such a slim device it’s incredibly efficient.

Heat and Noise: None. Silent and cool to touch. One small patch gets warmer but it’s hardly worth mentioning.

YouTube video playback. 720p using Flash 10.1 beta was good (only tested on 2.0Ghz)

Video. MKV, AVI, WMV. H.264, Divx, WMV9, MPeg2 all handled well. 1080p played in Windows media player. NOTE: I now see that there are some additional codecs installed on this production sample. It’s obviously tweaked in terms of video software but it proves it works!

Special features: USB file transfer client. Fast SSD. 3-point multitouch.  Analogue video output. (S-video, VGA, component)

Loudspeakers: Very poor.

We talked at length about the value of multitouch in slate and laptop mode and clearly there’s a lot to be learnt here. Multitouch is new territory for me and I can see it fitting well with programmable gestures and on screen keyboards in tablet mode but I still can’t get used to holding 1.2KG of tablet. For me, multitouch in tablet mode is only going to be useful and feel natural when the weight is 800gm or less. As I said, i’m only starting the multitouch journey right now and maybe I haven’t ‘got it’ yet. If you’ve got thoughts or experience with multitouch, your input here would be greatly appreciated.

JKK will be doing some Viliv S10 videos this week. Keep an eye on JKKMobile. My unboxing overview is here.

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.

Full model details and pricing range is unknown at the moment but we’re now one step closer to launch of the Viliv S10 multitouch convertible. Dynamism have put up their pre order page.

Pricing starts with a 60GB HDD and XP at $699 which appears high for a device that isn’t much more than a 10hour version of the Gigabyte Touchnote that I’m using to write this. SSD versions start with a 32GB Windows 7 version and go right up to the 64GB version with the 2.0Ghz CPU and built-in HSDPA. Clearly pricing is going to be much much higher for that version so we’re probably looking at the $700 – $1200 range here folks. Lets hope it’s a little less at the high end!

As I said, full details aren’t known and availability is stated as ‘soon’ but we have been promised one of the first samples so you can expect an extensive live review session when it turns up here at UMPCPortal.

For a reminder on the specs, a gallery, some videos and related links from around the internet, check out our product information page for the Viliv S10.

With options for 2.0Ghz Intel Atom CPU, multi-touch, SSD and 3G, a 1366×768 screen, 10 hours of battery life, 1.2KG in weight and a very good looking and well-built form factor, it’s no wonder that the Viliv S10 beat the Lenovo S10-t3 and the ASUS T101H to become Laptopmag’s best of CES netbook. The question is though, how much will the Viliv S10 cost in fully stacked form?

The S10 is a device I’m watching carefully though and if it turns out to be significantly faster and more usable than the Gigabyte Touchnote i’m using right now, it might be my next laptop.

Viliv tell me that it should launch very soon in South Korea with a follow-up launch in the US in Feb. Full pricing details are still unknown.

Here’s a video I made at CES that demonstrates the multi-touch capabilities. I’m still not convinced that multi-touch screen is better than multi-touch mouse pad but i’ll have to test it out in tablet mode when we get one for testing here in the next few weeks.

Viliv S10 Specifications and links in the product database.

With just a few hours to go before the madness kicks off in CES, Viliv have slipped out a few pages of marketing for their new offerings.

Four devices are listed with 2 of them directly targeted at the mobile computing sector. The N5 and the S10.

Naver have the details (thanks to @digihunter for the tip)

Head over to Naver for more details.

N5

• 1.3Ghz CPU
• Windows 7 OS
• 32GB SSD
• GPS
• 1.3MP cam
• Optical mouse
• HSPA option
• ‘Up to’ 5 hours battery life.
• 399gm

N10

• 2.0Ghz Z550 version will be available.
• Multi-touch
• 128GB SSD option
• 10 hours battery life
• 3G options.
• Possible issue: Only 1GB RAM.
• 1.2KG

Full specifications in our database.

Viliv S10

Viliv N5

One of the most interesting sub-segments that has grown out of the netbook craze is the convertible touchscreen format. I’ve been using one for 8 months and I’m extremely happy with it. The touchscreen really does make a difference to the way you use the device.

After 8 months with the Gigabyte T1028M though, I’m starting to look around to see if there’s a significant upgrade possibility. There’s the ASUS T101H which should launch at CES. There’s the Viliv S10 which should also launch at CES and there’s now a third 10” device in the Lenovo S10-3t.

Via JKKMobile we learn that the device will have a 10” capacitive multitouch screen and a price of $499. Actually I don’t believe that price. I think we’ll be looking at an entry level model with resistive touchscreen and Windows Home Basic for $499 and then advanced models including SSD, 3G and the capacitive touchscreen for prices up to $600 or even $700.

The ‘netvertible’ will be based on the Pinetrail / N450 platform so lets hope for a fanless design at around 1KG.

Source: GenerationMP3

I saw a prototype of the S10 at Computex this year and have been clutching a set of photo’s ever since. At the showcase last night, Viliv presented the device and we were able to make a presentation video.
I’ll upload the video later today but in the meantime, take a look at the photo set from Computex.

One good thing about the flood of netbooks is that consumers get lots of choice. Believe it or not, there are a few netbooks that manage to stand out from the others. I feel that the IdeaPad S10 has the potential to stand out; it looks quite attractive, and you’ll see in the unboxing video from Laptop.com that it appears to be slightly smaller than the Asus EEE 1000H, and the MSI Wind. Interestingly, it seems to have 2 RAM slots. I’m really not a fan of the tiny right shift-key, and it seems that the guys at LAPTOP aren’t either. Hopefully the packaging will get an upgrade before consumers get their hand’s on the S10, as the unboxing experience looked pretty weak.

With a sea of netbook choices, one might think something such as a misshapen shift-key could actually be enough to make a netbook significantly less popular than one of its competitors, of course given that battery life and performance were the same.

[Laptop.com] via [Liliputing]