If you weren’t aware that TechCrunch are planning to make a cheap tablet-style internet browsing device, a MID if you like, you might wonder what the hell the author of this anti-netbook article is talking about. In my opinion, it’s a rather hopeless attempt at putting down netbooks in order to prepare some space for a new web-browser product they are planning. it’s terribly off-target and badly-researched - "A typical Netbook has a 7 inch screen, an Intel Atom or Via Nano processor" (There hasn’t been a 7" netbook hit the blogosphere for months and as for the Nano-powered devices, we’d like Mike Arrington to show us one!) and "iPhone or iPod Touch, with a tiny 3.5 inch screen, has a vastly better browsing experience than any Netbook (it’s faster too)."  Give the article a read here.

I’m all for the TechCrunch tablet and MIDs like it but now that I’ve seen how badly educated TechCrunch are about the computer hardware market, it gives me more reason to believe that they don’t understand exactly what hurdles they are up against with their MID. I’ll never forget what TechCrunch put in writing before: “If all you are doing is running Firefox and Skype, you don’t need a lot of hardware horsepower, which will keep the cost way down.”

I just choked on my cuppa! Euro 1450 for the ASUS R50a is a shocking price. Even more so when you know that Vista isn’t very spritely on the 1.3Ghz Silverthorne processor. The R50a is said to have a fairly fast SSD which will help a lot but still… Maybe this video will help you decide yourself. I’m off to wipe my screen down!

All R50 links, specs and resources in the product page.

Via JKKMobile.

Answering some of the unanswered questions about the R50a, a new tablet-style UMPC from ASUS, is a review by the Spanish-language website Hispazone. Take a look at the article translation for a good 5-page run-down but don’t miss these points.

• 3.5 hours with connectivity options switched on.
• Max 50MB/s read speed on ssd. 20MB/s write.
• 3G, GPS, Fingerprint reader included.
• Included foldable USB keyboard.
• SDHC support (micro)
• No ethernet port.
• VGA out via adaptor.
• Origami Experience 2.0.

Its great to see ASUS still pushing forward with the mid-range UMPCs and moving on from the mediocre R2H and R2E products with high-end features and a slick design but it’s so sad to watch them avoiding the low-cost route. According to my sources, you’ll be paying around 1000 Euros for this which, in the current climate of belt-tightening, may not even appeal to the pro-mobile customers that are being targeted.

R50a datasheet.

Something strange is happening in the world of ASUS. In a back office, somewhere behind Eee-Towers, a product manager is battling to get the R50a out on the streets and the story that is coming through is about as clear as mud! Or should I say FUD?

Apart from the normal show appearances, we’ve seen the R50a hit the FCC (July 29th, USA) get an official press release (August 29th, Taiwan) appear in online stores in Portugal (Asus R50A-DV002C, 1019 Euro, 13th Sept, Portugal) and now, via JKKMobile, we hear that its been previewed in Germany by Toms Hardware. [translation link]

As JKK said, Vista on a 1.3Ghz Atom processor is not a great combination but if that SSD is fast, it might be acceptable. I’m still using Vista on the SC3 in certain situations and that has a relatively low-end HDD.  Remember that this had a hard-touch screen when we tested it at CeBIT and with the fingerprint reader, GPS, DVB-T (Germany) and 3G, the quoted price of 799 makes it an attractive pro-level mobile tablet. If the video codecs worked, I’d say that this would also make a nice video player but I see no evidence of any hardware decoding support out of the box (based on the Kohjinsha SC3 video playback problems) which takes away a big reason to have this device for many people. As it is, it remains targeted at pro-mobile users wanting natural input but even these users are going to have to wait for reall battery life figures before they make a purchase.

More links and details in the R50a info page.

Photo credit: Cnet Asia

Pocketables have some new information on the latest Porient tablet, the H12. Compared to the earlier H9 model its smaller (4.8″ compared to 7″) and has no hard disk but it looks like its still running their Linux OS. With the relatively old Xscale processor (as seen on the original Pepper Pad a few years ago - a rather slow browsing device if I may say so) it doesn’t appear to be able to compete with devices like new $500-range, Viliv X5 which will be running XP on an Atom processor so in terms of pricing, it just has to be sub $400 to be able to compete. Even at that price, the Nokia N800 which you can get for under $300, seems like a better option. This one really has to be $299 or less if it’s going to have a chance.

How about $199? would you buy it at that price? $199 is the price that Techcrunch want to offer their tablet and the device matches many of their core criteria apart from screen size (although you wouldn’t guess it from the renderings!)

Porient H12 and TC Tablet renderings.

Pocketables are in touch with Porient and are hoping to receive pricing soon. It’s going to be very interesting to see exactly what price Porient think the market will stand for this device.  Keep an eye on Pockatables.com for more info. In the meantime, I’ve put the details into our database so you can see which devices are similar. The BenQ S6 is one to watch out for if 4.8″ tablets are your thing.

Laptop Magazine, Hardware Canucks and Hardware Zone have all now published full reviews of the Gigabyte M912V, the 1280×768 version of the Gigabyte Netbook.

Nothing surprises me in any of the reviews. Laptop Mag, who published their review last month) highlights the battery life and the screen resolution as problem points along with small keyboard and lack of touch software. Hardware Canucks picks up on the same issues. Hardware Zone who, like LaptopMag, had a Vista version, highlights some exceptionally high battery drain figures.

I agree with most of the issues and documented the lowlights in my article after we did the live session with it in July. At least we all agree on the same things!

It really is a shame that the keyboard is the standard EeePC style keyboard as there’s definitely room for a better one. The styling could also do with some pep but some of those other issues might be cleared with the arrival of the M912M which is scheduled to be available next week.

Many of you that have been following the M912 screen saga will know that the M version, with it’s lower resolution 1024×600 screen, is said by Gigabyte to have the LED backlighting which should help on three counts. 1) Battery life. The 1280×768 CCFL-backlit screen seemed to suck exceptional amounts of power when I tested it so the LED-backlighting should help a huge amount. 10% less drain overall is the minimum I’m expecting but it could be up to 20% in some scenarios. This should take the device over the magic 3-hour battery life. 2) The brightness and contrast should be far better on the LED-backlit model.  3) There should be a reduction in heat both under normal use and in tablet mode.  I’m quite sure that Windows XP is going to help too.

The M912M also comes with a smaller disk, lower price and, in some cases (check with your reseller) there won’t be a Bluetooth module. Maybe this fits with your requirements, maybe not, but for me its turning out to be an attractive package that I’m looking forward to testing. The Medion Akoya Mini is good (very good actually) but I need Bluetooth and with the ability to reach 3hrs of online battery life (30 minutes more than the Akoya Mini/Wind) the possibility of an internal 3G upgrade (Note: Some reports are coming in that the PCI Express Mini slot is not working) an easy 2GB memory upgrade, easy access to the hard drive and a fun, convertible touchscreen, has me really interested in the 912M as a better alternative. We’ll see next week when we put the Everun Note, the Akoya Mini and the M912M side-by-side.

More info and links on the M912M product page.

It’s so funny. One of the last comments I wrote last night was that I thought the next Nokia Tablet would be based on Omap 3. Today, its confirmed. Dan (Thoughtfix) is out in Berlin and has just started live blogging. The other thing I wrote in my comment was ‘I’ll be extremely interested to see it, how fast it is, whether they include 3G/4G’ That seems to be happening too.

However, there has been no device announcement. It appears that Nokia are just giving details of the platform. The three previous tablets were seriously lacking in processing power and connectivity but this should fix all that. I just hope it doesn’t take so long.

Keep tuned to TabletBlog.com where Dan is updating.

See yesterdays news item about Ti OMAP for more info and links.

Update: InternetTabletTalk also have a brief news item

Watch Tablet Blog for news as Thoughtfix has just put a tip up. All he says is:

Major changes are on the way for the Nokia Internet Tablet line. Here’s the partial scoop: The "Internet Tablet" line may be ending in name but the maemo platform is going strong. Wait a few hours, watch this space, and there will be more.

New hardware platform? Moving to X86? Built in WWAN? Keep watching  TabletBlog.com to find out what’s happening. Thoughtfix is at the Open Source in Mobile conference in Berlin. I’m almost tempted to jump on a train and go up there!

Update: Ari Jaaksi of Nokia’s software group speaks at 11:55 (just over an hour away as I write this.)

Live From OSiM. The Last Internet Tablet.

To help you edge yourself into another working week, here are a few news items from the weekend.

Fujitsu P1630 appearing at FCC. It looks like Fujitsu might introduce a Montevina-based, Dual-Core 1.4Ghz version of the well-respected P1620/P1610. Its getting a new chipset too which includes the GMA X4500 GPU, a much more powerful option than the previous GMA950 which includes better video playback quality. It also means you can play those business-related shoot-em-ups and flick through cover-flow that much faster in your meetings! No words on price or availability on this, the most powerful 8.9″ convertible seen yet. I’ve added a P1630 product page.

Toshiba SD Multi. An interesting dual-screen portable device designed for editing content on SD cards. Which is a strange focus as the device is also said to be able to surf the internet which means its at least Wifi-capable. No word on OS which gives us no clues about processor which gives us no clues as to whether this is at the high or low-end of the mobile internet scale. At a target price of $300 though, I suspect its not the FIE.

The Techcrunch Tablet. I respect anyone that publicly goes for a big project like this… [article continues]

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The device was apparently first announced at Computex. I don’t recall reading any news on it but it did make me laugh. Just look at the headline:

Albatron’s “Tee PC” is all that you need with not an inch to spare

As the article on HotHardware.com mentions, it comes out of the box with Windows CE 6.0 and everything you need preloaded: WordPad, MediaPlayer and Internet Explorer…right. The device has both WiFi and Bluetooth, weighs 343 grams, has a 400Mhz ARM926 processor, 128 MB of RAM and 128MB of flash memory. On the device itself there is an SD card slot, a camera, and a headphone jack while the included docking station has two USB ports, built in speakers and line in/out. Assuming you can get a good time-telling application, it would make for a decent bedside alarm clock

Quick Update: The dimensions are 18.8×11.3x 1.3 cm, and the screen is 7 inches. 

Source: HotHardware.com

Now that I have your attention, take note that the M912V and M912X are now shipping. Mobilx have a quantity on 912V’s awaiting customs clearance and the X versions will leave Taiwan in a few days. Go get em!

The pic comes direct from Nvision where The Tech Report got some hands on.  They seem to be impressed but question the battery life. Commenters there also question the price but when you consider the fast disk, hi-res screen, PCI-Express, easy access to card slot, disk and memory and the convertible touch feature, I cant see that there’s really much to moan about. This is a netbook that reaches into the pro-mo (sorry, prosumer-mobile) sector.

In the article you’ll see a reference to a new digital TV-enabled version which is probably why they’re at the Nvision show. We’ve just had news of that too from Mobilx. It will be a M912M with DVB-T module know as the M912T. Availability is planned for Oct but frinal price in unknown. Budget for something like a $70-$100 premium. This will be the first time we’ve seen a UMPC or netbook with integrated DVB module in Europe and with that fast S-ATA drive and the good media capabilities, raw MPEG-2 recording in direct digital from the DVB stream is going to be easy, making a great multimedia recording and playback system. SageTV should work a treat on this so fingers crossed for a built-in IR receiver, TV-out and remote control. Or will they ship with Vista for the media center? I hope not. I was going to get the M912M but if the 912T is running XP, I’m definitely going to wait for it. Stay tuned for more details.

Details and news for the M912 models here.

Has anyone else in Europe spotted a massive price drop on the Fujitsu P1610? For about two weeks the prices have been at the 800 Euro mark. which is about a 50% discount over previous prices.

The P1610 is a well-respected ultra mobile workhorse. Good build quality, hi-res screen, fingerprint reader, heavy-touch screen for reduced vectoring, PCMCIA slot and extended battery capability. It runs XP TE and Vista Business (dual-boot as I understand it) on a Core Solo processor at 1.2Ghz and weighs 1.2KG which is the same as an MSI Wind or Eee PC 901. At its previous price of over 1600 Euros it was out of reach for most people but at 800 Euros, its a different matter.  [Article continues...]

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JKK has the Kohjinsha SX3 UMPC. Its an 8.9" convertible touchscreen device running Windows Vista on the Atom Silverthorne processor at 1.3Ghz. As a package it looks good although wouldn’t it have been nice to be able to remove the DVD and put a battery in its place. I also have a few reservations about Vista on 1.3Ghz having used the SC3, a smaller version of this running the same CPU/OS combination. JKK’s unboxing video is below.

Keep any eye on JKKmobile.com as I think he’s going to run a live session later. Unfortunately i’ll be traveling back from the U.S. so I won’t be able to join in.

Click the icon for more info on the SX3 (specs, links, news, gallery)

In the Gigabyte M912X unboxing last week, the second thing I mentioned was the washed-out screen. The following morning, in my tests,  it was clear that the screen was taking too much power. Ding! Of course, it was a CCFL-backlit screen.

I sent an email to Gigabyte who have confirmed that the (production) 1280×768 screen is CCFL backlit. They also told me that the 1024×600 screened version is LED-backlit. The 1024×600 screen will be installed in the M912M version.

For those not familiar with the terms, CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) is the old, power-hungry and often low-brightness backlighting method. LED (Light Emitting Diode) is the newer, much more power efficient and higher-brightness (mostly) method. In this case, it means that if you take a lower resolution screen, you get more battery life (it could be a significant amount, taking the standard 4-cell battery up to 3.5hrs browsing time) and, potentially a much brighter screen. All the LED 1024×600 screens I’ve seen so far have had great colour balance too.

I’ll happily drop that 1280×768 screen to 1024×600 to get the extra brightness and longer battery life offered by a LED-backlit model but there’s a catch if you’re thinking the same way. The 1024×600 screen is only in the M912M model. For that you have to sacrifice the Bluetooth (not a big deal) take Windows XP (which is likely to be faster and run better in 1GB) take an 80Gb hard drive instead of 160GB and wait 2 weeks longer until the end of September for delivery. Personally, I think it’s worth it and I don’t think anything else is going to come along that has the same features for the same price.

In summary then, there are now two models. The high-end version and the low-end version. The high-end version is available with XP and Vista. (M912X, M912V) The low-end version only with XP (M912M) There will be no Linux version.

Read the highlights and lowlights and watch the live Q&A session here. See the unboxing here.

Side-by-side specification comparison here.

The 912 surfaced a few days ago on the Gigabyte website without an image but the official image is up now. [Gigabyte product page]

With an 8.9" screen at 1280×768 in a case that’s not a few mm bigger than the Eee PC 900, it looks like it could be a real VyeS37 killer. Assuming the device is based on Diamondville, it will have similar performance and with its 32wh battery its likely to have a much better battery life than the Vye which was never the efficient device that it could have been.  3-4 hours is a possibility on the standard battery with this.

According to Crave, Taiwan [Translation] some pricing info has been given out too. RR Pricing is said to be a very competitive 20,000 Taiwanese Dollars which is about 660 US. Dollars. They also reveal that the device has a web-cam, 2.5" SATA drive and an ExpressCard slot. No details on whether it’s a hard or soft touchscreen yet.

I’ve updated the M912 details in the database.

Thanks Bamei