Netbooknews had a meeting with Inbrics last week and has just published an update. Inbrics are the company responsible for the M1 MID that we checked out at CES. It’s a stylish device and we’re keen to hear more.

Apparently Inbrics and their partners will be making announcements at CTIA this week but while we wait for that, take a look at the information provided by Nicole over at NetbookNews including exciting news about the upgraded CPU and not-so-exciting news that it might only be a Wifi/BT device. We’re still wondering if Inbrics has succeeded in getting the all-important Google applications suite on the device. An official Google Marketplace would be a first on a non-3G device.

We’re secretly hoping that Inbrics has a 3G, 4.8" slider version up its sleeve. This one is just slightly too small to be the ultimate MID.

Update! Specifications, links, videos of the Inbrics M1 now in our databank.

This is the first time we’ve seen a product built with an Intel Atom processor using Android including, the Google Marketplace application, Flash and Air. Add an 11.6″ multitouch screen and a target weight of 800gm with 6 hours battery life and you’ve got a very challenging project indeed. Neofonie hopes to make it happen with the WePad.

The WePad is part of an ecosystem of software, content and hardware that works together to offer a way for companies to have end-to-end control over delivery of their content. An 11.6 inch 1366×768 multitouch display is the centerpiece of this tablet that runs on an Intel Pineview (netbook) platform. (Full specs below.)

There’s no technical reason that Android can’t run on an Intel platform and in fact there are X86 builds out there for you to test but its when you add ‘Flash’ ‘Air’ and ‘Google Marketplace’ that you get a feeling for the timescales and risks involved in this project. Even the battery life is a little on the overzealous side. We’ve never seen an 800gm device running on any sort of X86 platform return 6 hours battery life with a 11.6 inch screen. 4hrs is a far more realistic figure in our opinion.

The strategic partner in this operation might be Siemens and the idea might be good (we’re particularly interested to see if Google allow their marketplace on such a device) but the hardware build looks very expensive, the project feels like its going to take a long time and it looks like there are risks involved on the way. We’re not getting too excited just yet but we’re going to try hard to put our German ‘Pad’ company in contact with their German ‘Pad’ company to see if we can get a visit/hands-on/interview set up.  Stay tuned.

Update: More WePad information is going to be announced. Partners will be announced this week and pricing and availability on the 12th April. See Facebook fan page.

Our pricing guess: 800 Euro with 3G, without content/3G deal/subsidy.

English information (PDF)  is available.

Specifications (Translated, Via newgadgets.de)

• Display: 11,6″ 1366 x 768 Pixeln, Mutitouch
• Processor: 1,66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Pineview-M
• Storage: 16 GB NAND Flash (optional 32 GB internal/ 32 GB SD Card)
• Webcam: Yes (1,3 Megapixel)
• Interfaces: 2 x USB , SD Cardreader, Audio output, SIM Card Slot, Multi-Pin Connector
• Adobe Flash / Adobe Air: Yes/ Yes
• Applications: WePad AppStore and Google Android Marketplace
• Multitasking: Yes
• Battery: Lithium-Ion Polymer (Life: ca. 6 hours)
• Supported eBook formats: All open plus Premium (WeBook), From H4/2010
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WLANn, optional 3G
• GPS: ja (optional)
• Body: Magnesium-Aluminium
• Size: 288×190x13mm
• Weight: 800g (850g mit 3G)
• Other: Ambient Light Sensor, Accelerometer, Stereo Speakers, internal microphone.

UMPCPortal is where we take mobile devices and hold them up against a template of productivity, technology, battery life and engineering. We try and look deep into the technology to not only see what’s possible today, but what’s possible tomorrow and how it can fit into pro-sumer and productivity scenarios.

If you’re looking for a more consumer-focused ride though, that’s what we do over at Carrypad. There we take mobile devices and focus on the things that are important to the casual user. Price, features, ease of use, style and user interfaces play a huge part her because not everyone needs the Full Internet Experience when lazing around on the couch catching a little YouTube in the advertising breaks on TV.

We’ve Got an iPad on the Way, and You Can Too

In the last week we’ve invested in an iPad. Ben is going to take the reigns on it and see if he can work out where the device fits now and to track it as applications start feeding through. It seems strange to be following Apple into this new segment at such a low price but it looks like they really will have the first 3G-enabled consumer-focused tablet on the market beating the Dell Mini 5, the JooJoo and the IDC ultra by a long margin.

The Top Consumer Internet Devices.

The database has been running for a while now and we’re seeing an interesting Top 5 battle. Consistently at the top is the Dell Mini 5. This 5 inch Android-based handheld tablet promises to trump the already-popular Archos 5 in two ways. It will not only contain a full 3G and voice radio but it will also be one of the first MIDs (i.e. a device targeted at Internet use as it’s primary function) with a full suite of Google applications. That means marketplace which means a whole new opportunity for developers to work with a huge 800×480 screen.

Also knocking around at the top are the ICD Ultra which should be available later this year. The Notion Ink Adam is a similar device and if they get the promised Pixel-Q1 screen in there it will be a great device for outdoor use.

More significant, I think, it the Archos 7 Home Tablet. This isn’t a powerful device but at $179, it should offer excellent value for the round-the-house experience. It’s claimed to offer a smooth video playback experience at near 720p quality along with a reasonable browsing experience and a good set of Android applications. Archos will be following-up with a whole range of Android-based devices later this year too so they are clearly putting their bets on the Android OS. If Google allows them to use their marketplace, the whole range of Archos devices will get a huge boost.

Of course, the iPad is going to be important but it’s not rising as high in the ‘charts’ as I expected. Maybe that’s still to come!

There’s a lot more news out there in the world of consumer devices but we’re going to be honest; you won’t find everything at Carrypad. There’s a lot of hype out there and a lot of products that just won’t get past stage one a showing at an exhibition. We’ll be focusing on the cream of the crop and only bringing you the news that you need to hear.

Check out more at Carrypad where you’ll also find the RSS feed and the ability to sign up for the daily email.

This makes complete sense. Google provide the application channel and Amazon provide the content channel for the Dell Mini 5. [ Information]  This will set it apart from the rest of the bunch so Archos are going to have to think carefully about where they go next. A raw Archos tablet with no apps and no content channel is going to look naked next to the Dell Mini 5. As will all the other raw Android builds we’ve seen so far.

The information comes from Engadget who got hold of a promotional flyer for the Dell Mini 5 that reveals the partnership.

Dell probably have an exclusive on this based on the hardware form factor and video capabilities but I’m sure it won’t be long before you’ll find the .apk floating around. Maybe even in the Google Marketplace.

A second flyer reveals a colorful range of finishes which points towards a solid consumer focus. Let’s hope the prices are pointed that way too.

Source: Engadget

More Dell Mini 5 information and links in the database.

Back in August 2009 I took a look at some of the keywords in mobile computing. My top tips at that time were Moblin and Maemo. Obviously I was wrong on that one as both of those two keywords disappeared! My heart was in the right place though and those two keywords merged into another one, MeeGo, that I will also tip as an important one for the next 3-year timeframe.

MID continues to be a difficult term to search for. EeePC and PocketPC continue to decline. iPhone continues to dwarf everything else. Nothing much changed there but the updates I wanted to give you today are based around the ‘netbook’ and ‘android’ keywords. When we last looked at the graph, Android was just overtaking Netbook. Both keywords were on the rise.

6 months later and things are looking quite different…

I’ve removed the search term ‘windows mobile’ and you can clearly see that search volume for netbooks has dropped-off dramatically while Android continues to rise.

Christmas will have caused the peak you see in the netbook graph but look how it was dropping before that and look to where the level has dropped since Christmas. If the graph falls further we could be leaving the peak of the mass-market stage for netbooks and from that point on it becomes a scramble to sell to the remaining adopters. Prices will drop, marketing will get heavy-handed (the 1.8Ghz and DDR3-capable Atom CPU’s appear to be an effort to assist marketing teams in that effort) and there’s a chance that quality will drop as cheaper builds flood the market. There’s also a chance that someone steps in to re-energise the market and that some effort goes into tailoring the netbook experience for different types of user. If the Nvidia ION 2 platform and rumors of dual-core Atom processors for netbooks is anything to go by then there’s every chance that the processor, screen, GPU, memory and feature restrictions will all be dropped. In that case we can hope for some nice high-end netbooks, mobile-focused netbooks, gaming, video other focus areas. To be honest, neither of these moves will really help. One is just an indication that netbooks really are entering the ‘laggard’ segment; the other an indication that netbooks are merging into laptops. It’s highly possible that both of these moves will happen at the same time.

Watch that graph. Where are we moving to next? Tomorrow I’ll be posting an article that looks closely at the possible death of the desktop OS for mobile consumers and professionals which is another reason that the netbook keyword could be on the way out.

CeBIT is where many many Asian device designers will be looking for European customers and it’s totally expected that these unknown devices keep cropping up but I can’t help thinking that by the time these devices are put through final customer modifications, approved for all the local regultions and then put on the production line and distributed that ARM11 based devices are going to look very out of date. Personally i’m of the opinion that ARM11 is already out of date for a good quality web browsing experience.

We’ll try and get a round-up of all these new tablets together for you over the coming weeks but it looks like we’ll have to let CeBIT play fully out before we can start that job.

jkkmobile: G-link 7006 Android MID at CeBIT 2010.

We’ve had one video from Charbax so far and we have to say we’re quite impressed at the price/performance ratio on the newly-announced Archos 7 Home Tablet [Information.] Here’s a new video from JKKMobile that will give you another feel for how the device is looking, feeling and performing.

Source: JKKMobile.

Another day, another Android tablet.

JKK spotted this one as he was walking through the partly built booths at CeBIT today.

It’s a basic (open source) Android build on the Samsung S3C6410 just like the Smart Q7. As with the Archos 7 Home Tablet we reported on earlier you shouldn’t expect the fastest web experience but if this is priced well (JKK spoke to me earlier and talked of bulk prices below $100) and receives the support and applications that are needed to make it useful, it will certainly serve as a value for money tablet for the casual sofa-surfer.

jkkmobile: Hivision SpeedPad Android tablet at CeBIT 2010.