Here’s a few more clues to how the voice capability on Moorestown ‘midphones’ will be played out. Open-Plug have announced their 2G and 3G capable ‘ELIPS’ Telephony stack for Moblin, the OS being built for current and future MIDs and netbooks.
This Open-Plug stack is likely to be the one on the LG ‘midphone’ announced for 2010. We’re expecting to hear a bit mroe about that next week at CeBIT.
“Mobile Internet Devices make it easy for people to stay connected wherever they are,” said Pankaj Kedia, director of global ecosystem programs in Intel Corporation’s Ultra Mobility Group. “Intel’s next generation MID platform, codenamed Moorestown, in combination with Open-Plug’s telephony stack integrated with a Moblin based Linux OS, will set a new threshold for making this connected experience a reality by delivering a compelling Internet experience while supporting voice capabilities on the platform.”
Intel appear to be starting to push their marketing towards smartphones now so expect a lot more talk about Moblin 2 ( release due in a few months) and smartphones/MIDs from Intel over the next 18 months. Can’t wait to see them at MWC in Barcelona next year.
I enjoyed this article at APCMag. There’s a lot you can read between the lines and a lot of straight-up info.
Intel are now calling smartphones, MIDs
There’s a definite netbook roadmap
It will take 3-5 years to seed MIDs on Intel
Some netbooks may appear on the Moorestown platform
Favorite quote:
“Every smartphone is a mobile Internet device, including the iPhone inch says Pankaj Kedia, director of ecosystems for Intel’s Ultra-Mobile Group. “If the device is mobile, if it delivers a rich internet experience and has a targeted usage, it’s a mobile Internet device inch.
You’ll also see some talk about power consumption. 10x less idle power takes a Moorestown MID down to about 200mw. I assume that’s with screen off and radios sleeping though. It’s enough to get Intel into the high-end all-day smartphone market but not quite into consumer pockets just yet. That would take another iteration of Atom and a 2011/2012 timeframe in my opinion.
So smartphones are the new MIDs. Or should MIDs be the new smartphones? Have a read of the article and let me know your thoughts.
According to the MyViliv website and some information we received by email, 1000 units of the Viliv S5 were sold in 15 minutes today as the pre-orders started in Korea. Viliv have been selling PMPs and other devices since 2005 and they tell us they’ve achieved the highest website statistics ever through the S5 launch.
That’s impressive considering the financial problems going on in the worlds tomorrow but it’s possibly indicative of people wanting to make a money-saving purchase as the Viliv S5 can serve as multiple devices. Navigation, PMP, Mini PC, it’s all there in one device that appears to be of good quality and returning performance and battery life figures that we would expect.
Lazion, one of the first Korean websites we turn to when a new device is launched over there, have a great 3-part review up that, although difficult to read through automated translation, gives some clear indications as to what we can expect when the S5 Premium (as the export version will be known) starts shipping at end of March. (Viliv planned shipping timeframe.)
First of all, it’s pocketable…in a kind of Sony Vaio marketing way…
Thanks ladies. I’ll be putting it my jacket pocket but please, don’t let us stop you promoting it as bum-pocket portable.
Back in Dec we heard that the local launch price of the Viliv in Korea would be “(US$388 to US$543)” and today we’ve learned via an email from Viliv that the US retail price will be $649. Luckily, the Viliv S5 Premium that is going to be sold in the US (and I assume anywhere else that ultra mobile PC retailers can import and sell it) is a high-spec model running XP in 1GB on a 1.3Ghz Z520 CPU with a 60GB hard drive and a 1024×600 screen. I can tell you from my experience with the Wibrain i1 that runs exactly the same specs, it’s a pleasurable experience. The ‘Premium’ also comes with GPS, Haptic feedback and the Viliv UI and on-screen keyboard and that big, 17Wh battery which, again based on my work with the Wibrain i1, should return 6hrs screen-off/wifi off and 3-3.5hrs with wifi on, screen-on. That’s 3.5 hrs of very fast web access; [UPDATE: We’re checking on the battery specs. Previously we heard it was 24wh battery. We might have made a mistake on that 17wh figure.]24wh 22.9wh battery (confirmed) which again, based on my work with the Wibrain i1 should return 10 hours screen off/wifi off and 4hrs with wifi-on screen on.
The i1 returns an average sub 10 second-per-page web experience (Sub 5-second with the no-script plugin – 4 times faster than the best smartphones!) and in terms of javascript power:weight ratio, was the best that I’ve ever tested. There’s no reason to believe that the S5 will be any different.
In addition to the information that came in the email, we’ve managed to coerce some information about the missing 3G out of Viliv. Apparently the HSDPA version is still going through certification and is planned for Europe and for those with WiMax in their area, Viliv also have a model planned that will cover that too. In terms of pricing, the going rate for a 3G option runs at between 100 and 150 so $799 seems likely.
Overall it’s looking like a good price for what it is. The lack of keyboard is going to worry some but as a media consumption device, pmp, pnd and fallback PC, it’s really a huge step forward from what we saw even a year ago.
Update: US shipping expected at end of March.
Finally, there’s a new video available here showing the S5 running itunes and coverflow. Expect more videos and review information soon as sample devices have already gone out to Korean bloggers.
I really want to test out the BenQ S6. There’s no keyboard on it but its by far the cheapest 3G-enabled MID available. 299 Euros for a 3G, Wifi, Firefox MID is great value. Unfortunately it’s only available in Italy which is why I haven’t had hands-on yet.
Ewan Spence at MIDMoves, has unboxed one and is using it for two days as part of his MIDMoves tour. The unboxing video is up already but keep checking for updates on Ewans stream at MIDMoves.
One advantage of running an Intel-sponsored MID event is that I get some nice kit to play with. In fact, the whole team gets some nice kit to play with on the tour. Between Jenn, Nicole, Ewan and myself we’ve got 4 different MIDs to test out. The Compal MID (not sure which ‘brand’ this will be yet) the Benq S6, the ClarionMiND and the OQO 2+. There’ll be 2 of each to be shared out and I’m getting an OQO 2+ and a Clarion Mind. The devices have been shipped by Intel from the US and we’re expecting them very soon. Jenn is also getting an OQO 2+ and I guess, as she’s in the US, she’ll be getting it first so watch closely over at Pocketables.net
The MIDMoves tour starts next Monday, the 19th and MIDMoves will be the place that we’ll all be reporting about the devices first. If I have time before the tour I’ll fire up the studio (still warm from CES coverage!) and do some live work with you. If I don’t have time during the tour, expect lots of coverage after it.
If you’ve been following MIDMoves, you’ll see that I’ve been getting into final planning. Roaming 3G costs have meant that I’m having to change my tour itinerary but there are some exciting things happening. In my latest post, I’ve been talking about geographically aware applications and services.
What do you do when the Dell Mini 9 [Product page] and Mini 12 just aren’t enough? Well the only logical thing to do is come out with the Mini 10. The Dell Mini 10, shown at CES, has (obviously enough) a 10″ screen. Something that immediately piques my interested is that the Mini 10 apparently won’t run the obligatory 1024×600 resolution, but instead use a properly formatted 16:9 aspect ratio screen with a 720p resolution (1280×720). Some other nice features include:
Z530 Atom CPU (less typical than most netbooks)
802.11N WiFi
Integrated GPS
Integrated 3G
TV-tuner
A trackpad with what Dell is calling “exclusive gestures”
I have to say that this is shaping up to be a nice 10″ netbook. We’ll see how the pricing turns out, which at this point is not announced by Dell, nor a release date.
As we mentioned on CES podcast 8 yesterday, the UMID M1 seems to be getting a lot of attention. Mini clamshell laptops always attract the eye as a familiar form factor so its not surprising.
Both jkOnTheRun and Pocketables have had hands on now and the feedback is positive. James called it out as his favorite of all the Intel MIDs. [Note: Intel and others have been calling the Windows based devices UMPCs but I sense that soon, everyone will be calling them MIDs.The marketing is tending in that direction and there’s nothing much we can do to stop that.] Jenn had a good hands-on session and has written a more detailed article saying that it works well for thumbing but that it felt a little laggy in a Vista/1Gb kind of way. She was testing the 1.1 ghz version. A 1.3ghz version with hyperthreading is planned.
