Fresh from the DHL van it’s the first Tegra2 device to hit the ground. Most will be calling the Toshiba AC100 [details] a smartbook and it certainly creates a smart impression. Super thin and light with a great-looking 1024×600 glossy screen and nice user interface. This may be running AOS (Android Open Source) 2.1 but it doens’t look like it. Toshiba have done a resonable job of filling in the gaps.

Plastics are a little on the cheap side but the keyboard is good as is the mouse-pad with scroll area and dual mouse buttons. One point to note is that the video player, while blowing me away with a 1080p playback and ability to handle a 8.5Mbps WMV and 6.5Mbps DivX out of the box, is somewhat buggy. Three lock-ups (requiring reboot) in the first hour left me feeling that the firmware was rushed out for IFA. Fortunately, Toshiba include an OTA firmware upgrade app so i’m going to be checking it regulaly.

Oh, the media player suppors uPnP devices too.

Finally: YouTube Unboxing Video now available.

We’ve also got three much longer  videos from the live session:

1 – Unboxing and overview.

2 – UI and Apps

3 – Deeper look at browsing, video, YouTube and other features.

Update: We just got a shipping notice. It should be here in 24-48 hours!

I took a second to check an Amazon.co.uk order for the Toshiba AC100 this morning and alas, there’s no exact delivery date estimate. Checking over on the German Austrian comparison site Geizhals, it was a different story.

German website Geizhals reports that one reseller is ready to send within 24hrs.

No that’s a surprise! 2 other resellers are reporting delivery soon too. (See here for latest)

This is the Non-3G version (Model number PDN01E-001016GR,suspected UK version with QWERTY keyboard) that we’re looking at but even without 3G, we think it’s worth a shot to get the first retail Tegra2 device so we’ve ordered one and have put the MiFi on charge! If we’re lucky, very lucky, we might get it before the end of the week. We’ll keep you posted on progress.

Toshiba AC100 Product information and news page.

The AC100 is definitely getting closer. Amazon UK have a pre-order page up, Toshiba UK have product details up, Peter from Netbooknews in Japan says it will launch there next week and there’s now a German retailer showing the product. Although this is probably a UK QWERTY version being sold, it’s the availability figure that’s interesting. 2 weeks!

I’m quite excited about this one. We’ve got one on order and the more I read about it, the more excited I get. Yes, it won’t have any deep and meaningful productivity apps and yes, Android on a netbook style device will feel strange but with 8hrs battery life in a stylish sub-900gm package, a week or more standby power (and an estimated 2-3 days always-connected ) a high brightness display, dual-core ARM Cortex A9 and built-in 3G for 369 Euros (4-week delivery on the 3G version,) it’s something I just have to test out. It’s likely to have some of the issues of the similar Android-powered Airlife 100 [review]but I’m adamant that this concept has legs. As soon as someone brings out an always-on ‘smart’ netbook with the right applications, it will start a new chapter in laptop computing. No more shutdown!

It’s starting to happen. Those promised Tegra2 tablets of 2009 and 2010 are starting to appear. We’ve seen the Interpad and the AC100 as firm launches and now it’s Pioneer Computers turn. They’ve just emailed information about their Dreambook ePad N7 which appears to be based on the Compal tablet we’ve seen around trade-shows this year.

With a capacitive screen it’s not going to trip itself up like the Huawei S7 although it remains to be seen if this is blessed with Google licensed software. Without Market, Maps, Gmail and sync it’s a no-go for many. Sideloading of applications helps but isn’t the ideal scenario.

$499 $AU seems to be a good price but it must be noted that this isn’t with 3G (a $AU99 extra) which, if the lack of GPS is also true, combines with the lack of webcam and [correction: webcam is a free option] potential lack of Google Android apps to make a serious list of issues.

We’ve got an email out to Pioneer about the Google applications, Android 2.2, GPS and the docking station but I guess we’ll have to wait for those Aussie’s to wake up on Friday morning to get the information. In the meantime we’ve added what we can into the product database and will be updating it as we get new information. Let us know what you think in the comments here or on the product page.

Pioneer Computers Dreambook ePad N7 product page.

Dreambook N7 product page (Carrypad)

The tablet featured first in the press conference but there were no product announcements. We’ve actually left the event to head on out to the ASUS press conference.

The tablet has the “ability to allow is to enjoy nearly all the content that we would like to enjoy on a computer today” says Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who went on to talk up the potential market for tablets, his excitement and of course, the Tegra 2.

Surprisingly, he then said “have patience” and went on to explain that devices should come to market in the fall. Just how long is this Tegra story going to drag on?

Here are the relevant slides from the conference…

All behind glass indicating that they are not yet ready for human consumption (read, months to go before they are ready for market) but looking good and showing that ODMs and OEMs are putting efforts into designing devices around ARM platforms. In the video you’ll get a brief view of tablets from Wistron, ASUS, Compal, Mitak, Notion Ink, Viewsonic and  Foxconn.

Obviously it’s interesting to see the EeePC brand in there and it indicates that an Eee PC tablet (apparently to be called the EPad or EeePad)  is on its way. Android is likely and pricing will be competitive. Netbooknews was reporting in Dec that it’s planned for March but in our recent podcast, Sascha (netbooknews) was talking about June / July. A few months to wait yet! More images of the Eee Pad below the video.

Click to enlarge images.

We saw a lot of tablets at CES and it was Nvidia who seemed to be pushing the category harder than anyone else. Apart from the Tegra2 display cabinet showing a whole series of devices (video) there were a few other interesting devices out on display. The video below shows a slim 10 inch Compal tablet that looks almost production ready in terms of casing but as with all the other devices there was no information about who would produce this device and when it would be available. As far was we know, this one, along with all the other prototypes we saw, might never come to the market.

The difference between CES and reality can be wide!

One of the only Nvidia Tegra2-based devices I really got to see in detail this week was the Mobinnova smartbook. Using the same design as the earlier Tegra device it looks solid and well-built and it weighs significantly less than most netbooks. The UI demo that you’ll see in the video below was slick and smooth and clearly there’s a fun photo and music experience in there but when the Windows CE-based Internet Explorer pops up you get the impression that there’s only a limited depth to the software. This is going to be the biggest issue for smartbooks buyer confidence. Will the user trust the software to do what they think they need? Android is one of the only ways out of this issue.

Gallery of Mobinnova Images

In the video you’ll see the Mobinnova UI but you’ll also hear Bob Morris, Director of Mobile Computing at ARM, talk about the smart devices segment. It was a very interesting conversation. I also recorded a seperate interview with Bob and i’ll post that in the coming days.