I’m following Oaktrail product releases closely and this one, like other Oaktrail products, has some interesting specs.

Its the Pioneer Dreambook ePad F10

Full specifications are now in our database but here are a few highlights that you don’t often see together on a Windows tablet. 15mm, 700gm, 8hrs. Obviously you should Chippy’s Marketing Correction Factor of 30% on that battery life but hey, even 6 hours would be pretty good for a 700gm Windows tablet with a 10 – inch screen. I don’t know what battery they have inside but 40 Wh would be about the maximum size. Also note that there’s an HDMI port. Oaktrail, the platform that this is built on, supports 1080p decoding in hardware.

There’s one other specification that I find even more interesting though Intel WIDI wireless display technology. It’s currently shown on the specification page at Pioneercomputers.

I was speaking to Intel at CES about wireless display on netbooks and they said, yes, it’s coming but they were quoting requirements that included dual-core Atom and Broadcom HD display module. I wonder if Oaktrail, with its built-in 720p HD encoding, is going to offer wireless display without the Broadcom and dual-core requirement. I sincerely hope so because wireless displays make so much more sense with a tablet than on a desktop or laptop.

We’ve got a query out to Intel on this and hope to bring you confirmation soon.

One other interesting thing about this tablet is that it is possible to buy it without an OS meaning it could make an interesting Meego development device. Or even open-source Android. Wait for details on the touchscreen before buying tho because some of them don’t play well with Linux.

The big question remains. Is a 1.5Ghz single-core Atom CPU enough to drive Windows 7 smoothly. With 2GB, a fast SSD and the GMA600 it’s possible but it’s going to take a well-designed unit to pull it off.

The MSI Windpad is finally available to order in the U.S. (as the Windpad 100W) and in Europe (as the Windpad 232W) and to me it looks like a mish-mash of a Tablet PC that aims to be an all-rounder on specifications and yet ends-up being a master of nothing.

The 10 inch screen is 1024×600 average. The capacitive screen sits on top of the mouse and pen-focused Windows 7 Mis-match. The GMA500/1.6Ghz Menlow platform isn’t the best at helping Windows 7 along. An 800gm weight is unlikely to house a battery that offers more than 4 hours. The U.S. version appears to be missing the Bluetooth module. The price isn’t exactly stunning.  There’s only one USB port.

With an SSD, a 1.6Ghz Atom and 2GB of RAM you’d expect it to run reasonably well but Engadget reported from CES that “Windows 7 is seriously laggy and unresponsive inch which means it could have a slow SSD set-up inside.

The differences in specs between the 100W and 232W are subtle but it looks like the EU gets the more complete tablet package with Windows Home Premium and Bluetooth included in the 232W. Oh, and we’re not sure if that docking station is included too so please check before ordering. Better still, wait for some reviews to filter through first. We’ll add them to the product page when we find them.

I’m not a big fan of 10 inch tablets myself but I do know what it makes to create a good mobile TabletPC and a good consumer tablet. The two often require different approaches that can’t be addresses in a single product. That single-product approach is what MSI appear to have attempted here.

If the Windpad drops in price, comes with the dock and proves itself through reviews then it might be worth taking a look at as a docked hot-desk solution but for other scenarios, I think there will be better solutions out there.

Gigabyte launched a new Tablet PC at CES that we haven’t reported on yet. My fellow MeetMobility podcaster Sascha of Netbooknews has just had hands-on today so it’s worth plugging his video and talking a little about the device.

Firstly, we’re talking about 10 inch capacitive touchscreen tablet at 900gm running Windows 7 on a netbook platform with the N570 (2×1.66Ghz) CPU. Usefully, there’s a built-in mouse area and left-and-right mouse buttons which is perfect for two-handed use. Unfortunately, there’s no digitiser so you’re left with a slight mismatch between the pen-focused Windows 7 and the finger-focused touchscreen. It’s something we’ve seen in a few devices recently and we don’t like the trend. HP have it right with the dual-mode 500 slate as do Lenovo and Motion Computing.

Interestingly though, the device isn’t aimed at vertical markets. The press-release from Gigabyte (Jan 6th) sates: “The S1080 is designed to be the ultimate mobile device to fit the demanding needs of consumers who need a high-performing multitasking slate that offers the full productivity of a PC, inch OK, taken from that angle, they might have it right. There’s a suite of overlay software and, i’m pleased to say, provision for a docking port that looks, based on the size of those connectors, to offer serious connectivity. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a PCI-Express slot in the docking station. Gigabyte are no stranger to the idea of PCI Express but it has far more value on a powered docking station. Later in the press release, Gigabyte allude to a more professional customer: “The large hard drive also makes it the perfect device to load custom business and enterprise applications”

We seem to have an interesting product here for either consumer or enterprise markets…until we look at battery life which brings a huge question mark to the table. N570 at 900gm means max 30Wh battery and that means 3-4hrs in my opinion. I’ve tested the 1KG N350 (Samsung, also dual-core Atom) and that didn’t get much past 4hrs. Still, with the dock in use, this could be something for hot-desking and hot couching! I’m looking over at the Fujitsu U820 that is powering this post and thinking, hmm, upgrade time? A 10 inch screen next to my desktop screen would certainly be more useful on my desk than the 5.6 inch-er I’ve got here. Let’s hope for 2GB and Windows Home Premium and the possibility to swap the HDD for an SSD.

Here’s the video from Netbooknews.

via – Netbooknews

There are a lot of companies out there that you’ve never heard of but who have an important role in deciding whether a device hits the market. The distributors are often, along with carriers, the first people to have hands-on with preliminary hardware builds. They make multi-million dollar decisions and can make or break a product. It’s a risky, but important behind-the-scenes business.

One UK distributor that has been bringing mobile computing solutions to retailers and large business customers in the education, government and corporate sectors is Think 4 IT solutions. I had a chat with them yesterday about a number of products they’ve got shortlisted and others that they are considering after their visit to CES. One of them is the Viliv X70 Slate and, being one of the more important ‘pro-mobility’ products at CES, one I was interested in hearing more about.

Working with prototypes it’s difficult to give a full opinion but it’s clear that the X70 Slate is looking good so far. Battery life looks to be impressive and Think4IT reported that they’ve had 6hrs of video playback from a full charge. Remember, it’s a 21wh battery we’re talking about here so that’s about 3.5watt drain in video playback, from a full PC. (Most desktops will draw that much in standby mode!)

The most interesting part of the conversation involved interest from a major customer and a wish to speed up the availability of the Windows tablet. They’re pushing for end of March. No word on price yet.

We intend to stay in touch with both Viliv and Think4 so stay tuned for the earliest news on the new ultra mobile PC at UMPCPortal.

We’ve got the X70 Slate in the product database here.

Building concept devices for CES is nothing new and in a way, is one of the easier, cheaper methods of getting some good marketing buzz going at a major consumer electronics show. You create a roughly working concept device, make it look smart, talk about some out-of-this world scenarios, create some nice videos, put the device behind plexiglass and ignore the fact that it will have serious issues in getting to market. No need to talk about pricing, support, launch date and other awkward themes!

I feel the Razer Switchblade which is targeted as a handheld gaming device, is one of those devices. I don’t want to belittle what they have done because it’s a working model and has taken a team 2 years of work but I do want to put a huge red flag up and say that this probably isn’t a product you’ll see on the market.

The Switchbalde runs Windows 7  atop an Intel Oaktrail platform, has an LCD screen behind the keys and looks nice and small. It’s about the size of a Fujitsu U820 with a larger screen. There’s a lot to like about it and because of its groundbreaking design, it deserves the CES peoples choice award it got.

However, desktop games and GMA600 graphics don’t exactly go together well. Ocosmos are in the same boat. They are looking at flexible mobile gaming (I applaud that idea) but are trying to squeeze games developed for desktops into a GPU that has the same power as a smartphone. Wouldn’t it be better to make a device that enhances mobile games instead of restricts desktop games?

Not only that but take a look at the design. How are they going to make that keyboard rugged and cheap? They aren’t.

Concepts are an important part of progressing mobile computing design so I hope we see aspects of this device reaching real products. Right now though, I can’t help thinking that it should be iOS/ARM based if it wants to target gamers, or a business focused device with a simpler keyboard for a more professional, ultra mobile PC market.

I made a short video about the Switchblade at CES and you can view it below. At the time I made the video I didn’t actually know it was a concept device so you’ll hear me talk about it being a Q2 possibility.

This is not the first time we’ve discussed the crossover between pro/productive/full-os mobility and the continuing threat/opportunities offered by mobile operating systems.

See: Mobile Changover What’s Your Plan? for more from June 2010.

CES 2011 was an absolute whirlwind of crossover products and after a week of note-taking, I’ve put together a report. Following the crossover theme, I’ve published it over at Carrypad!

Report: Mobile Computing at CES 2011 The X-Over Year

Don’t forget, Meet:Mobility Podcast 62 covers a lot of this ground too and includes perspectives from JKKMobile and Netbooknews.

There are Tablet PCs and there are tablet PCs and one’s that are getting the most traction today aren’t the ones that were in the market first. Microsoft’s Tablet PC ecosystem has been around for years but was focused at pen input, productivity and built on an extended (not a cut-down) desktop operating system. The tablets that are getting the attention today are lightweight, finger-focused for consumers and include fun user interfaces, a monetised developer ecosystem and unique features such as ‘always on’ , high quality cameras and social sharing that you don’t get so much on the ‘desktop’ Tablet PC. With the market for tablet PCs growing (estimates run to 20 million iPads, 10 million Galaxy Tabs and, probably millions of new devices from companies like Blackberry and HP) there’s an opportunity for Microsoft to take advantage of their history and re-build a new version for consumers in 2011. Some people are predicting it will launch at CES and be called Windows 8. I find that unlikely.

While the full and flexible desktop OS has advantages for some categories of mobile computing, there are major problems inherent with the ‘PC’ OS build when thinking about consumer products. Think about the PC cruft. BIOS, X86, PCI bus, USB devices, ACPI. A lot of this isn’t desired in a consumer tablet and yet almost every X86 mobile computing hardware platform out there will offer it, regardless of a what a new version of Windows looks like. Even the most recently available ultra-mobile focused Menlow platform from Intel supports all the old PC architecture and as a result, battery life is nothing compared to ARM-based devices. Tellingly, Intels new platform for 2011, Moorestown, doesn’t include many of the elements I mentioned and therefore it doesn’t support Windows either! Intel chose to invest in their own OS for that and that makes complete sense.

A consumer tablet needs always-on, quick boot, small disk and memory footprint, clean core, optimised kernel, slim device driver library, app store, developer ecosystem, touch-focused UI and API’s, sensor support and more. Can you get an idea of the effort required to build a new desktop OS that was able to include all this and still move away from traditional PC architecture support, just because there’s one Intel CPU out there that looks attractive? Nope, neither can I.

Alternatively, Microsoft could skin Windows 7 and hope for the best on existing X86 platforms.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Covering up the cracks won’t help and won’t provide Microsoft a platform for future products. They tried it with a silly Origami Experience skin in 2006 and 2007 and it didn’t impress anyone. Fans still whirred, battery life still suffered and you needed a minimum 16GB disk and 1GB of RAM to support it. Today, that base requirement is up to 32GB and 2GB and those fans are still making a noise.

There is an alternative.

Windows 7 Compact could be the platform on which to build these consumer devices. It is the next generation of Windows CE (embedded) and supports X86 and even ARM Cortex processors which would be a retaliatory poke in the eye to Intel! Windows 7 Compact  is not available yet but we’ve seen a preview and there are some promotional videos available. The tablet features heavily.

There are questions about the locked-down nature of the platform and whether it would create developer interest for yet another unique application build process. It certainly doesn’t support Windows 7 binaries but that would be a good thing in the long-run right?. Silverlight runtime is included with Windows Compact 7 though; Could that be the platform for developers?

With H.264 support, a new media player, BT, 3G and Wifi support, Office and PDF document readers, multitouch and gesture support, Open GL2.0 support and Flash 10.1 support, Windows 7 Compact is not lacking in consumer-focused capability. License costs are down in the $2-$20 category too so adding it all together, there’s a lot to be said for the operating system.

Moving away from Windows 7 would be exactly the right thing to do for this category. A Windows 8 Tablet Edition would be the wrong thing to use for this category. If Microsoft positioned themselves well with developers, we could see more than just tablets appearing. Cameras, HiFi equipment, Ebook readers, smart-books and more. If they show some sexy products at CES, they have an even better chance.

Could Windows 7 Compact and related products launch at CES? I think so.

More images in the Gallery