A few days ago I did some research and analysis on the new ‘Queensbay’ platform from Intel It’s a highly integrated 2-chip system comprising Tunnel Creek processing platform and I/O chip that takes the platform used on many current MIDs and UMPCs and optimizes it in a similar way that Pinetrail did for netbooks. Despite some improvements in size and graphics power and a hint that it might be capable of some cool consumer and media devices, it’s not the Apple A4 / Tegra 2 competitor that I’m guessing will get referenced in articles today. That job lies with Moorestown and I’ll tell you more about that later today on Carrypad. Update: Intel Moorestown article now available.

Tunnel Creek was formerly announced today. See Intel Press Release.
More detailed information has already been made available. See below.

Tunnel Creek integrates a lot of activity on one die and offers a doubling of GPU power, an increase in memory bus speed, an open PCIe bus Southbridge architecture that allows for third party chipsets, a SATA storage interface and a promise of a lower bill of materials. It is possible to build some nice little handhelds out of it and one could imagine interesting tablets with Nvidia Ion on board but later today, we’ll hear more about something that’s been build ground-up for handheld tablets, mids, smartphones, active remote controls and of course, the ‘iPad killers.’

I’ll write about Moorestown later today but for the time being, here are some schematics for Tunnel Creek; the first showing the differences between Menlow (I’m using a PC based on Menlow right now) and Tunnel Creek and the last slide showing Tunnel Creek vs Menlow in a mediaphone scenario.

There are a couple of things there that I didn’t mention in my previous article. Number 1 hardware accelerated video ENCODE. 2) Audio DSP functions. This leads me to believe that Tunnel Creek is in fact a version of Lincroft, the processing unit used in the Moorestown platform. We’ll talk more about that later.

For the Intel IDF presentation on Tunnel Creek (from which the above slides were taken) see the IDF 2010 Beijing Content Catalogue and search for ‘Tunnel Creek’ (Unfortunately I can’t link direct as the catalogue generates one-time URLs.)

For a primer on Moorestown, see the links below. More detailed information on Moorestown architecture is expected from IDF later today.

Moorestown Digging a little deeper.

Intel’s Moorestown Platform. From Smartphone Through Smartbook and Beyond.

Thanks to GottaBeMobile for spotting this deal over at LogicBuy.

You can use the coupon code on the LogicBuy page to save $200 on the IdeaPad S10-3t multitouch convertible. Check the specs (top end model):

• Intel Atom N450 CPU @ 1.83GHz
• 2GB of DDR2 RAM
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• 250GB HDD
• 4-cell battery
• WiFi G/N
• 10.1 inch capacitive multitouch screen

If you are interested in this deal, make haste, it’s only good until April 19th, or the first 150 uses!

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t — full specs and details in our product database

As promised in our extended coverage of the WePad launch event, here are the first hands-on videos from our podcast partner over at NetbookNews, Sascha Pallenberg who was at the WePad launch event today.

The videos appear in the German article over at Netbooknews.de:

WePad erstes “Hands On” und ein paar Eindruecke

Sascha seems quite unimpressed with the event saying that there was only one device available and that was only running a demo slideshow. The WePad wasn’t really available to test! First demo versions are planned to do the rounds in May and lets hope they live up to the hype. Riding around the iPad wave is a dangerous sport!

Be sure to listen to the next MeetMobility podcast where we’ll talk a little more about the WePad. Unless, of course, it’s faded into dark history by then!

It seems like ‘Pad’ Fever has hit Berlin today as WePad ride on the wave with their WePad product. Sascha from (Netbooknews, Meet:Mobility) was there and we’ve been tracking news coming out of the press conference.

Note: Our tracking page for the WePad is here.

Updating as the conference happens…..

Adobe partnership. Flash and AIR will be available.

Joint venture between 4titoo und Neofonie.

Siemens, Intel and Adobe partners.

Chippy: ExpoPC will use the same hardware. Pegtron we believe.

The WePad will support full HD playback. [Sounds like there’s a Broadcom HD decoder in play here.]

WePad fact sheet (PDF)

Chippy: We’re waiting for price, battery life, availability…….

Stern Magazine (an important German magazine) will be available on the WePad.

Chippy: Looks like a DE-Only focus right now.

Pricing: ‘Only’ 300 Euro. Chippy: Details of that unknown at present. Is it subsidised? Update: Wrong info from random tweet! See official pricing below.

Image of WePad GUI: (Via @sascha_p)

Chippy: No mention of Google Marketplace yet.

Chippy: List of comparable devices (from UMPCPortal database)

WePad 16GB: 449 Euro. (again, no indication if this is subsidised or unsubsidised.)

“449 Euro with 16 GB internal Flash, WiFi. WePad 3G with Full HD chip for 1080p external video, GPS, 32 GB internal 569 Euro inch Via Tabletprofi

Wepad preorder 27.4., soft launch in July, mass availability in August. Via Tabletprofi twitter.

VIa (@sascha_p)

OFFICIAL PRICING FROM WEPAD:

• WePad 449 € with 16 GB, WiFi (expandable to 48GB with an SD card)

• WePad 3G 569€ 32 GB (expandable with 32 GB SD Karte) with WiFi, GPS, Full HD 1080p

WePad Roadshow will be in May.

Chippy: Outstanding: International availability, Marketplace, battery life, carrier deals?

Chippy: Initial thoughts on pricing: 569 Euro is good for a 3G-enabled device at 800gm. Battery life still could be a showstopper. I’ll be interested to see how ExoPC respond.

Chippy: Word coming in that it runs full Linux build but can run Android apps. Sounds like a Dalvik runtime is included. Dalvik Turbo perhaps?

Chippy: Still no word about battery capacity. Usually an indicator that it’s not good!

Note: Our tracking page for the WePad is here. (Specs, links, updates.)

Chippy: Still waiting for news about Google Marketplace. IMO it’s not happening. 3rd party app store? AppUp? If this is an intel partnership. Is it Moblin/MeeGo? If so, it could have AppUp store.

WePad Facebook page. Official information (mostly German)

AppStore is called the ‘WePad Meta-Store’ Includes native, Java, Adobe, Android apps.

Chippy: Latest WePad spec sheet is quoting ‘around’ 6hrs battery life. (=70% = 4hrs online based on usual marketing BS!)

Chippy: Based on latest info, I’m guessing the OS is based on Canonical Ubuntu with their Dalvik Runtime engine. 2nd choice: Moblin core. Not sure where the app store is coming from.

WePad are planning telecoms and media partnerships.

WePad live Pic:

Via @touchmemobile

First Video from press conference.

Via MorgenPostTV

All press photos now in gallery…

Chippy Opinion: If you ask me, they chose the wrong platform to deliver what is effectively an ereader. They are playing a dangerous game by riding on the iPad wave too. 800gm is, like on the iPad at 680gm, heavy. Too heavy. Battery life will be 4 hours online in my estimate. International availability is unknown. There are question marks about Android on the X86 Linux build and if there’s no ‘point of sale’ marketplace, what incentive does any developer have to write apps for it? I can’t imagine this having a true Google Marketplace. Not without voice, haptics, 3G anyway. Note: Google were not mentioned as a partner. Final word for today: Competing devices from experienced Android/Smartphone manufacturers will stream-roll this within 12 months.

That wraps it up for now. I’ve been on the phone with Sascha who was at the conference. Stay tuned to Netbooknews.com (and .de) for his video.

Update: All press conference info in a blog post here.

The mysteries of the Neofonie WePad tablet [information, article] will be revealed in just a short while. Android, X86, Marketplace, AIR, battery life, etc, etc, etc. All those questions will be answered later today by Meet:Mobility partner in crime, Sascha over at Netbooknews. I’ll be staying in touch with him monitoring his German and English content and summarizing here later. Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis Journalist, author, Android-interested) is also there and as someone who sent back his iPad, I’m interested to see what he thinks

.

Chance of a ‘Wow’ this afternoon: About 30% if you ask me!

Press conference starts at 1630 GMT+2 (2.5hrs from this post)

If you’re the type of person that’s more interested in kicking back in a comfy chair with a coffee and your favorite internet sites and apps rather than looking to get productive with UMPCs, you’ll want to take a look at our sister publication, Carrypad. We’re focusing on consumer media and internet devices and building a database of all that’s interesting.

Here are some of the recent news highlights:

ICD Gemini Official Specs Confirmed. Comes in White Too! Android-based 11.6 inch consumer tablet has awesome specs but it’s a Q4 device and there isn’t even a hint of a price.

JooJoo Review Reveals 2.5hr Battery Life. Move along please! The JooJoo didn’t get a good review. We weren’t surprised.

Typing on the iPad Ben has an iPad. Here’s one of his videos. Stay tuned to Carrypad for more iPad news.

iPad: What’s Bubbling To The Top? Looking at the reviews for common threads. How’s the iPad doing? We’re not seeing too much rising up as ‘killer’ features.

Why The CIDs Will Suffer. A thought about how the iPad could stall the market for consumer internet devices.

More Smart Delays Dell Mini 5 and Lenovo Skylight get delayed.

We’ve acquired an an official PDF which confirms specification details for the ICD Gemini 11.6 inch Android Tablet. Engadget outed the details a few days ago so now we know the specs are real, we’ve added them all to our product database. Many seem to have missed the fact that the Tegra 2 powered device will be vastly more powerful than the iPad. 2-3 times more processing power (it’s a dual-core optimised Cortex CPU as opposed to the single-core version in the iPad) which means super-fast web rendering times and/or problem-free multitasking. Also missed is the fact that Google Marketplace is an ‘option’ on the device. That means ICD haven’t sealed the deal with Google yet and probably need the weight of a carrier agreement behind them before that can be sorted out. It’s a significant issue because without it, the device isn’t half as interesting.

Full specifications are now in our database along with images that we’ve picked up. Those are also shown below.

The confirmed specifications come just as Stuff, a UK publication, reports on their hands-on session (Via NdevilTV) with the device. They seem very happy…

The Gemini’s built-in stereo speakers sound superb much better than iPad’s single, tinny tweeter…

Web browsing is even smoother than the Nexus One blisteringly fast page renders, smooth scrolling, speedy rotation and full Flash support.

It all bodes well for basic specs but time, price and that Google app-suite and marketplace are all as yet, unknown.

ICD Ultra Alternatives: Click for a list of similar devices.

Written, 29th-31st March.

When the iPhone launched, it entered a pre-existing smartphone market. It was a great event for consumers because manufacturers in that market were forced to play catch-up which meant great options and deals for customers. In the Consumer Internet Device space of the iPad, the landscape is different. This time round Apple have stepped into a relatively new market and set up shop alone. There they sit with their complete product offering (at a great price) and wait for competitors. They’re likely to be waiting a long time because the iPad outshines anything we’ve seen in prototype form from anyone else by a huge margin and it would be safe to assume that every financial director responsible for a consumer handheld product has put the brakes on their own products. It means that instead of manufacturers increasing their efforts to put new devices out there, many of the new products will get held up, or even canned. For the smaller companies like ICD, Fusion Garage and Notion Ink, this could be catastrophic as investors re-asses the opportunity. If they are lucky, some of the prototype products will end up going back to the drawing board where the system integrators will be pondering long and strong over their app-stores and content offerings. The big problem here though is that there isn’t an OS or application ecosystem out there that can compete. I can’t think of any worthy alternative to the iPhone /iPad OS right now.

Forget any unknown (outside geek circles) Linux distributions because they lack a reputable app-store or focused developer community. Forget Maemo, Moblin or MeeGo because they won’t be ready until much later in the year. Forget any new unknown proprietary OS because the customer won’t trust it and the developers won’t be interested. Forget Windows 7 because it’s a big fat heavy blob that can’t keep up with finger-driven social, photo and location-aware applications. Even Android isn’t good enough and it’s worth discussing why.

I use Android on a daily basis and enjoy it a lot. The Archos 5 is a fantastic internet device but it highlights why Android is useless. Android doesn’t have a marketplace. The Android you’re thinking of is ‘Google’  Android and it makes a huge difference to the product.

The Marketplace and other closed-source, approval-required Google apps is what makes Android tick and any Android tablet that tries to enter the marketplace without it is committing suicide. The disappointment experienced by people when they can’t sync their mail or even populate their contacts application, access Google Maps, Buzz and other key apps will kill any momentum a device ever had. The problem is, these manufacturers are finding it difficult to get the marketplace and add it into Android. Google don’t appear to be  ready to expand outside the smartphone arena.  Maybe they’re scared of splintering Android. More splintering of the platform could upset developers and cause more application incompatibility problems and that would be an even bigger problem.

Mobinnova Beam, Archos 7 Home Tablet, Compaq AirLife 100 and other devices that I can’t talk about here are all going to hit a brick wall if they don’t get that app-store sorted out.

Right now, there isn’t an easy solution unless you’re a huge company with influence. Someone like Dell can make an oversize phone called the Dell Mini 5 and invest in the carrier deals, licensing, firmware support and certification processes that make Marketplace possible. That’s one product out of, what, 50 or so tablets, MIDs and smartbooks that we’ve seen at Computex, CES, CeBIT, MWC, CTIA and other shows. Even HP Compaq haven’t been able to achieve it with the AirLife.

If I was building a tablet I’d be praying for Google to free-up that marketplace and app-suite and I would be praying that my investors didn’t pull out during the waiting period. That waiting period is unknown right now and investors really don’t like broken critical paths without a fix date.

The iPad has already conquered this new market and consumers looking for an alternative handheld device will have to wait and pray that Google, Nokia and Intel; with their Marketplace, OVI and AppUp stores, accelerate their work and get a solution to the integrators before time runs out.  Palm’s WebOS could be an option to look at too.

Watch out for Archos in the summer because their PMP, MID and tablet strategy hinges 100% on Android. If it comes with Marketplace, we can all  breath again. If not, we might as well all buy an iPad and have some fun while we wait for 2011.

CID = Consumer Internet Device.