I missed this one a few days ago. UMPCFever are reporting that NeoSolar, the new owners of the Wibrain brand, will market a new version of the Wibrain with Atom, HSDPA and a makeover. Apparently the info appears on a Wibrain website.
The styling on the rendering that appears on UMPCFever’s article looks a lot better than the old version. I hope the back and sides get the same treatment! It would probably have to be a Menlow platform to fit into the Wibrain casing and it would depend on the clockrate as to how powerful it would be. Lets hope for 1.33Ghz and above where hyperthreading and the 533Mhz FSB kicks in. The existing Wibrain has a big, 30wh battery so if they achieve some efficiencies over and above the existing device, it could be a 4hr in-use device. They might solve the heat problems too as it certainly isn’t the coolest and quietest on the block.
We’ve been in contact with Wibrain but haven’t had any response yet. One of our reseller contacts might have some more info for us next week though. Stay tuned.
In other WIbrain news, apparently the 32GB SSD versions of the existing version are arriving in stock in Europe (and we assume in other territories) this week.
Oh by the way, if you’re wondering what the big black lollypop stick is all about, it is probably a 3G antenna for use in fringe areas. A great idea.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Fringe areas reminded me of the panasonic umpc. Will you be testing one of those?
July 16th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Still looks like an ugly Casio calculator. I like the idea behind it though.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Maybe more rounded, less thick, and 2 shoulder buttons on each side of the upper rim for you know what…
July 17th, 2008 at 1:54 am
I like the design alot.One of my favorite MIDs beside those who are too expensive or not available in europe.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:13 am
I just hope they keep making a variant running ubuntu :)
Hmm, i wonder how big a price drop mobilx will have on the old models…
July 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
My guess is that this product is a few months away. Pricing won’t be with us for a while.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Great news! Just what I was hoping for! If they manage to stick in a second usb-port (and please not on the sides!) I would be even more pleased!
Yeah, I`m one of the few geeks out there who actually like the looks of the wibrain. Somehow reminds me of those worryfree 80s ;-)
July 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
@tarex
it used to look like an old ugly casio calculator, but now it’s looking like an old ugly 100m waterproof casio calculator :-D
July 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am
The form factor is certainly the best for UMPCs and if they fit a card reader in and fix some of the smaller issues I might get one, assuming the battery life is good.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am
i think the battery life of the atom version will be awesome, because the wibrain has actually a huge battery in terms of size (it’s almost the whole backside of the device :-)) –> a definite advantage of the form factor…
July 17th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Depends on the Atom version and overall mobo quality but I think we can expect 30mins to 1hr improvement.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:30 am
@NobbyNobbs
not sure i would use worryfree about the 80’s, but thats me…
still, yes, i kinda like the wimax design. especially with that orange trim ;)
July 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Ignore me. Just testing some new comment features and layout.
Steve.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Its me again. Jsut testing
July 17th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Aaah, finally a proper border between each comment!
July 18th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Since I’m permanently on a budget, I don’t care much about CPU innovations (and WAN capabilities; Portuguese operators are too greedy for that), save for the expectable price drop on older products… I hope the older B1 models will get even cheaper!
July 20th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hello. I think you are eactly thinking like Sukrat. I really loved the post.