Update 01/04/09 : Officially launched as the Samsung Mondi

A surprise from Samsung at their Mobile World Congress WiMax display. The SWD-M100 MID running Windows Mobile indicating that they’ve chosen an ARM processor for the system. The fact that Opera is also highlighted tells us that this one is more than a prototype. I suspect it’s not a voice device based on the ‘MID’ tagging but there’s no technical reason that it can’t support voice.

• 4.3 inch touchscreen
• Wimax, Wifi and Bluetooth
• Dual cams ( 3M + 0.3M pixels )
• Micro SD
• TV out
• Windows Mobile 6.1 with Opera web browser

The info comes from a brief post at Ubergizmo. (More images available there.)

If this little baby has a decent processor in it (Remember Samsung make their own processors and are licensees for ARM11, Cortex A8 and A9 architectures – the Cortex A8 makes a lot of sense here.) then we could be looking at one of the most powerful windows mobile devices ever and, finally, a viable mobile internet solution with the Opera 9.5 browser.

Via JKKMobile

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Weekly Netbook Roundup. Lets see the interesting things that have gone on in the netbook space since we last spoke.

• Special edition Samsung NC10 with larger battery available for preorder — Looks like Amazon is selling a special version of the NC10 with a larger trackpad and battery (5900mAh 6-cell) which Samsung says will last for 9.4 hours. The screen on this version will be glossy unlike the original matte version. You can pick one up for $499.

• Sony Vaio P (VGN-P588E) performance and benchmarks — Jenn from Pocketables.net takes the VAIO P for a spin and shows us lots of good stats on how the computer performs. Some people don’t think the VAIO P is a netbook, but for some reason we included it here in the WNR. Controversy!

• Hands on with the Acer Aspire One D150 – Video — Sascha from netbooknews.de has a good hands on video of the Acer Aspire One D150. He doesn’t seem to be thrilled with the keyboard and says he is disappointed at the quality of the Aspire One D150 considering how successful the original Aspire One was, and that this is a second-gen netbook.

• Dell’s Mini 9 selling for just $249 — who needs a subsidy? — Looks like Dell has cut the price on its Inspiron Mini 9 [Portal page] netbook. You can pick up the lowest-speced Mini 9 which has 512MB of RAM, Ubuntu, and a 4GB SSD. Add $50 and you’ll get another 4GB of storage and Windows XP.

• Netbook growth leads to surge in Windows XP sales — Despite many netbook makers offering Linux flavors of their netbooks, XP is hugely popular, effecting OS sales charts on all PC sales, not just netbooks. “In December, 13.7% of all laptops sold, and 11.2% of all computers were running Windows XP.”.

• More rumored Dell Mini 10 details, colors surface — More information on Dells upcoming Mini 10 netbook. Apparently some leaked information (which isn’t confirmed to be true yet) has indicated that the Mini 10 will be available with two different display options, 1024 x 576 and 1366 x 768. Also contained in the leak is the option of 1.3GHz or 1.6GHz CPU, 3 or 6-cell battery, and something referred to as a “DVD slice” which sounds… interesting.

That’s all for this week. Tune in next time to the Weekly Netbook Roundup next monday!

As we expected 7″ without keyboard. More as it develops…….

Update: VIA Procesor. Maybe its for developing markets if its a C7? Or maybe its a Nano?
Update2: Its a VIA Nano CPU.

• Processor: VIA Nano U2500 1200mhz
• HDD: Samsung HS082HB
• Network:Bluetooth Pan network adapter, Marvell sd8685 wireless LAN sdio adapter
• Imaging devices: USV2.0 1.3M UVC WebCam (seems to be in upper middle of the back of the device)

Update 3: GottabeMobile have an article confirming it’s the Q1EX. GPS, Wimax are included and it gives  4.5hrs battery life.4.5hrs is dissapointing for such a, seemingly, thick ultra mobile PC but maybe the Nano gives it the ooomph required for on the go video processing? Something for new-media journalists?

Credit EC, our man on the floor at CES.

More photos coming through on our Flickr stream from CES.

The hard working guys over at UMPCFever in Hong Kong have completed a set of tests on the battery life of the Samsung NC10. The results range from 4hrs 42 mins right up to over 8hrs. Heavy web browsing returned over 6hrs which is an excelent result for any laptop.

Source:UMPCFever

More NC10 news here and here.

It’s simply amazing that netbooks have reached almost every sales channel possible in such a short time. This video clip from shopping channel QVC in the UK is actually pretty good and gives you a good overview of the device.

Click the image on the right for the specs and links.

Via EeePCNews.de

It’s always worth checking back on older models for reductions and clear-out prices so I took some time this evening to review the prices of some old favourites. I was disappointed. In general, prices haven’t really moved which is extremely disappointing considering the price at which similarly-specified netbooks are sold. I guess we’re looking at old stock that no-one can shift here. Stalemate. No cash flow. The only two devices I found that showed any signs of movement were the good old Samsung Q1 and M704 which seem to be on offer around Europe. Price checks in the US for all the top UMPCs showed that nothing has moved much at all in the last 6 months. (If you spot any offers though, let us know!)

Samsung Q1 Ultra

One of my personal favourite UMPCs. Good build quality, excellent battery life, fantastic screen.

• UK. 646 pounds (740 Euros) isn’t too bad. (DigiUK)
• Update: Saveonsamsung (UK) have even lower prices. 529 pounds with organiser and 6-cell battery.

Gigabyte M704

Another good all rounder. Not quite as good as the Q1 in terms of build quality but has a better keyboard.

• Europe. 469 pounds (537 Euros) is a good bargain. (Expansys)

Resellers must be having a hard time right now trying to decide whether to clear stocks at a loss or to hang on for the few buyers that know what they want and will pay to get that device. I can tell you that by reviewing the stats coming from the product portal we see an extremely quiet market out there for the traditional XP and Vista UMPCs. With very few devices in the 7″ category, CES round the corner and netbooks taking the limelight, it’s hardly surprising. Lets hope that the MID and ultra mobile PC segment brings us some treats in January though. Mobile Internet usage is growing and, more importantly for the MID manufacturers, people’s reliance on the Internet to perform normal business and personal activities is growing too. There’s more reason than ever to launch internet-connected handheld computers.

This is the first time I’ve seen the 3G version of the Samsung NC10 in any sort of official form. iPlus in Poland have already started selling them (Since November 26th) with 4 different 24-month contract options. Specs include Windows XP Home, the 160GB drive and the 6-cell battery. Tasty! Now what’s the Polish for ‘Review’?

More information and links for the Samsung NC10 here.

Via Notebookcheck.com (translation) Thanks Kornel, for the heads-up.

iPlus information page (Polish)

The Samsung NC10 [Portal page] is all the rage right now in the 10" netbook sector and it is starting to show up in more colors than just white. MobileComputerMag has some nice shots of the black variant, and they mention that they are starting to trickle out to consumers. A dark blue model should also become available eventually. Hit the MobileComputerMag link for a few more images.

[Electric Vagabond]