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.

Boy it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a decent looking slider. Just to remind you, this sliding Android device is a phone in addition to a potentially awesome MID. We caught a quick look at the Inbrics M1 at CES 2010. At the time, Inbrics was unsure if they’d be bringing it to the market, but it seems like after some good feedback at CES, they’re hoping to get it into consumers’ hands. At CES Inbrics was saying that they may be able to sell the device for something like $200 unsubsidized which would make this already attractive slider even more appealing.

Pocket-lint is reporting that Inbrics will be showing the M1 at the Mobile World Congress event that is starting next week (by the way, Sascha of Netbooknews.com and our very own Chippy will be speaking at MWC.) They may be showing it at MWC, but Pocket-lint also says that Inbrics plans to introduce the device in Europe in 2010 or early 2011. No word on the US apparently, but at CES Inbrics was saying that they may redesign the keyboard for the US market (more on that below).

Those dates are disappointingly far off for a device that many would likely have their hands on right now. Hopefully the guts powering the phone won’t be outdated by that point. I feel that the biggest challenge for the M1 will be proficient portrait functionality. So far I have yet to see a phone that functions well without thorough portrait support; people are used to being able to operate a cell phone with just one hand.

Some new renders of the device are showing off what appears to be a redesigned keyboard the one we saw at CES looked like it could use a little upgrade so this is a welcome change. The Inbrics M1 is definitely prominently on our radar. Stay turned for more news on this device as we uncover it.

via Pocketables.net

If Inbrics really can bring the M1 to market for $200 then we’re looking at a very good value MID/Phone but somehow I get the feeling that the mention of $200 was really a ‘CES Press Special’  i.e. whatever you say in Vegas, stays in Vegas!  The market could bear $300 for something like this so there’s no reason it would launch at such a low price.

A capacitive 800×480 screen on Cortex with a full implementation of Android along with a nice design and that productivity-helping slider keyboard makes this a ‘must watch’ device. We would have like to have seen a larger screen for real high-end usage and we wonder how long this device will look ‘high-end’ considering the pace that new high-end smartphones are entering the market but it’s interesting all the same.

Here’s a video of the device at CES a few weeks ago.

Thanks to Netbooknews for ‘helping hands’ on this video.

There hasn’t been much that has excited me at CES so far this year, but this Inbrics MIDphone running Android is probably the coolest thing that I’ve seen yet. They are calling it the Inbrics M1 MID for now, but don’t confuse it with the UMID M1 [Portal page]. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good slider, and this one looks rather sleek and promising. Unfortunately Inbrics doesn’t even seem sure that they’ll release the device at this point, but I’ll definitely have my fingers crossed. Jkk says that the keyboard is pretty good and jkk knows his slider keyboards very well. Inbrics says they’ll be improving the keyboard a bit as well.

After testing the N900 I’m a bit scared to think about a primarily landscape device as a phone. The issue is that you almost always need two hands to use it. Without really solid portrait orientation support on the M1 (and any other primarily landscape device) it might be tough to make this a mainstream phone.

Check out a video below from jkk and click through to jkkmobile for the press release (under the video) which gives a few details of the device.

[youtube]FVm5mhqAYxk[/youtube]