If I was running the Fennec project, I’d be thinking carefully about accelerating development for more than just the Maemo platform too! Its not that Maemo is a dying OS (although at this point you could say that Maemo is already dead with the ‘old’ N810 being the only Maemo device on the market and very little news about any new devices based on Maemo 5) it’s that Fennec needs to position itself where the customers are in order to get brand recognition. Windows Mobile, due to the terrible built-in browser offering, is a great place to start. They need to do it fast though because Opera Mobile and Skyfire are fast becoming de-facto choices.

Mozilla released Alpha 1 of the Windows Mobile browser in May and last week set free the Alpha 2 version. People have already started testing and giving feedback. Clearly, Alpha 2 is a long way away from a full release (late 2009 timeframe would seem a reasonable estimate for full release, much later then the original plan) but it will be interesting to see if the development accelerates to meet the new range of powerful smartphones that are coming out. LG01, Omnia Pro, Touch Pro 2, Acer M900. They all reach into the same ‘mobile microblogging’ arena as the Nokia Tablet. [More info on the Omnia Pro a it later today]

For some information on how Fennec is performing on WIndows Mobile, check out  Mobility Site. For information on the Maemo version, check out this thread on the Maemo.org forums. I won’t be trying it on my N810. I’m holding out for new Nokia Tablet hardware. (Please!)

The Archos 9

[This post is updating with info from the live press conference. There’s a live discussion going on from the event here. Thanks to @charbax and ArchosFans for the live feed. Charbax will be posting video from the event and archosfans.com later.]

More updates below but one final update needs to go up here before I lock this post. We’re hearing that this could be a multi-touch device. Unconfirmed at the moment.

Windows 7 with the Intel Atom Z515 (800/1200Mz CPU), 16mm thick. 800gm, BT2.1, 802.11b/g, webcam, 120GB. Diversity (dual) tuner. 3G Option, 9″ 1024×600 screen, ethernet 10/100,  external mic, stereo speakers, vga out, 1.3mp webcam, 256mm x 134mm x 16mm

It looks extremely thin. Viliv have a challenger!

Target pricing 450 Euro. Update: Looks like 500 Euro. Availability in Autumn. (Sept/Oct)

Windows 7 delivers a great media experience with the Menlow platform so this makes sense for Archos although I wonder if they’re adding a user interface layer.

I’m worried about the hard drive though. That could be a bottlekneck for Windows 7 as it has been in the past on UMPCs.

What better innovation for a MiniPC than to get rid of keyboards?
ARCHOS once again is leading the way in innovation, with the introduction of the MiniPC of the future, the ARCHOS 9PCtablet. The ARCHOS design team has coupled groundbreaking design with the most advanced technologies, by leveraging their expertise from the design of the Internet Media Tablets. The new PC combines the performance of a high end PC with breathtaking aesthetics, excellent ergonomics and a tactile interface that ARCHOS has built their reputation on. Pure lines, extreme thinness (0.63”), less than 800g and a stunning black finish, the ARCHOS 9 pushes the boundaries of elegance and simplicity on a MiniPC, fulfilling all expectations of the most mobile users.
Intuitive and easy to use, the ARCHOS 9 delivers an unrivalled user experience, and is set to replace the traditional computer. Without a physical keyboard, it provides a virtual keyboard, very easy to use on the the resistive touchscreen, and has an optical trackpoint to let you surf the web, communicate, work and entertain anywhere.
The ARCHOS 9 incorporates the new Intel® ATOMâ„¢ Z515 processor, an 80 GB¹ hard disk, Bluetooth to tether wireless accessories, and 2 antennas to receive DVBT TV with diversity reception.
And what’s more, the ARCHOS 9 is running Microsoft® Windows 7, the latest version of the most commonly used operating system in the world.
The ARCHOS 9 provides all the power and comfort needed for daily usage.
It combines an impressive performance and a rich multimedia experience to deliver the most advanced PC in the world. Be ready to discover it.

Looks like more products are being launched too:

http://www.archos.com/products/nb/index.html?country=de&lang=en

Update: There’s a press release in French.

Update: More specs (French)

Update: More pics.

Full specifications:

• PROCESSOR : Intel ATOM 1.2 GHz Z515 with video chipset US15W
• OPERATING SYSTEM : Microsoft Windows 7
• RAM : 1GB (DDR2 400/533)
• SCREEN : 8.9 inch touch screen is almost 23 inches diagonal
• RESOLUTION : 1024 x 600 pixels
• HARD DRIVE : Up to 2.5-inch 120GB Format
• COMMUNICATION : 10/100 Ethernet card
  WiFi: PCI-E, 2 antennas, manages the IEEE 802.11b / g
  Bluetooth 2.1
• AUDIO : Card Realtek ALC269, 2 stereo speakers and microphone
• CONNECTORS FRONT AND SIDE
  USB 2.0
  Headphone Jack – Audio Output
• Additional ports via an optional port replicator:
  – 2 USB 2.0 ports
  – 10/100 Ethernet Port
  – External Microphon
  – Audio output / headphone
  – VGA output
• BATTERY : Lithium Polymer
• WEBCAM : Integrated 1.3MP camera
• Tuner TNT (diversity reception) recording (depending on model)
• 3.5G HSUPA (depending on model)
• DIMENSIONS : 256mm x 134mm x 16mm (approximately)
• WEIGHT : Less than 800gr
• Box Contents : ARCHOS 9PCtablet, battery, adapter / charger, quick start guide.

Update: Archosfans have their Ustream video available and will post the high quality footage soon.

We had a brief lapse in WNRs over the last few weeks but hopefully everything will get back on track. Let’s see what’s been going on in the netbook space.

• How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook — Gizmodo’s John Herman has put together a nice guide for squeezing Windows 7 onto a netbook. As the article mentions, XP is rather old and Windows 7 will get you a nice jump in the user experience area. Because it is still in the RC phase, it is free to download and use for a while.
• More convertible touchscreen netbooks coming — Jkk has found another upcoming tablet netbook, the Fujiyama E-PC E-1001. Kind of sounds like a knock off of Fujitsu and Eee PC, but competition in the tablet netbook space is definitely a good thing for consumers.
• ASUS 1005HA Netbook Is a 1008HA With Removable Battery — Kevin C. Tofel points out that Asus’ soon to be released Eee PC 1005HA is essentially the 1008HA [Portal page] but with a removable battery. There are a few other differences as well; non-glossy screen, slightly slower CPU, no BT, but it uses a nearly identical looking chassis (albeit a bit thicker) and picks up an additional USB port for a total of three.
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2: Hands On Video — Xavier from GottaBeMobile has a nice hands-on video of the new Lenovo S10-2 [Portal page] netbook. The new netbook isn’t too much different from the previous S10, but it is a bit thinner and can be equipped with a 3G module for $50. Xavier mentions that he wished that the S10-2 had a matte screen like the first version of the netbook.

ZDnet posted some information about a rumored ‘Chassis 1′ specification for Windows 7 mobile phones yesterday and although it’s great to see, it looks like a list of the hardware that many of us in the ultra mobile PC and MID community have been been talking about for the last few years. It’s basically a list of currently available mobile technology and includes ARMV6+ processor, 800×480 multi-touch, 3MP cam, compass, accelerometer, light Sensor, high speed USB, BT2.1 and fast SSD. The other interesting spec is a screen size of 3.5 inch or more. 

ARMV6 is not exactly thrilling but the ‘+’ would indicate that Microsoft are going to build WM7 for the Cortex architecture meaning ARMv7 and high-end platforms like Snapdragon, Tegra and OMAP.

What we don’t know is what the software layer is going to be like and that’s arguably the most important element.

If the Viliv S5 Full Review isn’t enough for you today, then check out the Viliv S5 running Windows 7. As with my Gigabyte Touchnote, the floating TIP and other tablet features aren’t enabled but JKK is reporting a full and stable working device. Although I didn’t see him demonstrate it in the video (I skipped across a lot of it, sorry JKK!) this W7 upgrade should have enabled very high performance H.264 decoding meaning hi-res and CPU power savings.

Check out JKK’s video here.

Links to all Viliv S5 articles in our database can be found here.

Related articles in the right hand column ->

I’m afraid I don’t have time to do a written review of my Windows 7 experience with the U820 but I can say that it’s good. So good that I took some time this morning to quickly go over the device and how it works with Windows 7.  Highlights for me (over the Vista build I was running) are:

• Improved boot-up time
• Cleaner, quicker, more reliable log-in using fingerprint reader
• Divx and H.264 support out of the box.
• Hardware support for H.264 decoding out of the box
• Great battery life (between 2 and 5 hours depending on use)
• Vastly improved on-screen-keyboard experience

Windows 7 really does spell the end of XP on UMPCs in my opinion. The only question now is, cost. How much will a touch-enabled version of W7 cost?

The video below is relatively long at 19 minutes. YouTube’s HQ processing may take time so check back later if you want an HQ version.

Note: This video edited and processed using Windows Live Movie Maker Beta with the YouTube upload plugin on the U/B50N.  The render time is much longer than with the old version of Movie Maker (in this case, way over 1hr to process 19 mins of VGA MJPEG 14mb/s source video) but the editing and posting process using this method is very very simple. I’ll have to do some more testing to see if  it’s a valid option for UMPCs.

Thanks to Conics for the loan of the Loox. They have the 2GB version with an SSD option so check it out.

Update: I’m writing aditional notes in the forum here.

If you had dropped by the live page earlier you would have seen me having some fun with the new publicly available release of Windows 7 Release Candidate 1. I’ve been testing it on the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M and the Kohjinsha SC3 today and so far I’ve been impressed by how smoothly the install process has been. On both devices, almost everything is working and on the SC3, even the tablet features are available.

Gigabyte T1028M Touchnote.

I have a modified Touchnote netbook here with 3G, 2GB and SSD and it appears that most things are working out of the box apart from the 3G driver (fixed with standard drivers) the screen brightness and battery indicator. Smart Manager, the touch control panel, doesn’t install but Wifi, BT and WWAN can be enabled and disabled via the FN keys.  Installation was smooth and quick (expected with the SSD) and the touchscreen worked immediately.   The WiFi needed a Windows update but after that it was working perfectly. Standby, hibernation, SD reader, USB, WLAN, LAN, audio, multitouch pad, BT. Even H.264 and Divx videos work out of the box which is a real bonus. I haven’t tested the ExpressCard/34 slot but I’m not expecting a problem there.

Kohjinsha SC3.

The SC3 is based on the Intel Menlow platform which includes the Z-series CPU and the US15W chipset (AKA Poulsbo Exactly what you’ll find in a Sony Vaio P) It also contains a VIA wifi module, GPS hardware and, as with the Touchnote, an ExpressCard/34 slot. The SC3 required some drivers from Kohjinsha but after installing all missing hardware, only the redundant DMB module doesn’t work. As a bonus, after I installed the Pen-Mount touch drivers, the Tablet features of Windows 7 were enabled which means floating tip, handwriting recognition and a few other features are now available. With rotation working perfectly and a very usable OSK, the SC3 has suddenly turned into quite a usable little tablet device. Slower than with XP but faster than Vista and with all the additional features that were missing from XP. One thing I really love about Windows 7 is that it connects with the hardware decoding on the chipset and due to the built-in H.264 codec/filter, it can play 1080p out of the box. I tested a 12Mbps H.264 1080p video and it was working extremely well with only a bit of tearing to distract me. Unfortunately, the HDD on the SC3 is as slow as an old dog and there’s still the 2.5hr battery life to contend with. Windows 7 isn’t a magic wand!

In terms of overall performance, Windows 7 has slowed both machines down slightly from their previous XP installations but with more going on in the background, that’s to be expected. On the other hand, its a much smoother and quicker experience than Vista and the trade-off could well be worth it, that is, if you have a fast disk of 32GB or more, 2GB of memory (to be safe) and the money for what will be quite an expensive OS. Clearly Windows 7 is a nicer working environment and I’m sure that after a while on the Touchnote I’ll find myself locked-in to those little extras that make all the difference but I can’t see myself using Windows 7 on a ultra mobile PC or MID simply because of the drive footprint, memory footprint and the number processes running. Which begs the question, what happens when XP is gone? I still don’t see a Microsoft option for UMPCs and MIDs beyond 2010.

I’ll be keeping W7 on the Touchnote, working through the Windows 7 features and trying to fix the important battery indicator and screen brightness. If I can fix that i’ll be using it as my daily notebook unless I find other problems. As for the SC3, its there, its working. I don’t use the SC3 because of the slow HDD and short battery life so that’s that for the time being.

Before I sent the VAIO P [Portal page][review] back to its home I dropped the beta of Windows 7 on it to see how it would handle the upcoming operating system. As you may have heard around the web, Windows 7 seems to be a bit more snappy than Vista, making it feel more like XP while keeping the nice new features. You may have read in the performance section of the VAIO P review that turning on Aero in Vista brought some very visible sluggishness; well I can’t say that has changed in Windows 7, but it did score a bit better on some preliminary benchmarks and it handled boot/standby/hibernate a good deal better than Vista.

One particularly nice thing about Windows 7 was that it pulled down some updates for the VAIO P right as it was installed. Automatically through Windows Update it let me know that there were a few driver updates available for the chipset (in addition to standard Windows updates) and a few moments later I had them installed. Now that is service!

The biggest improvement from Vista to Windows 7 is the decrease in boot times:

Compare that to the Vista based boot times and you’ll note an increase that nearly runs across the board:

In addition to improved boot times, the VAIO P scored higher with Crystal Mark when running Windows 7. While the Vista based test scored the VAIO P at 27879, I was able to get Windows 7 to score right around 30400. I was glad to see that the VAIO P was able to break 30k even though Windows 7 seemed to handle the SSD a bit more slowly than Vista. This seemed odd to me because Windows 7 is supposed to deal with SSDs more effectively than previous versions of Windows. However Windows 7 in still in beta so they may still be tuning that facet of the OS. But as I mentioned, despite the slight drop in SSD score (Windows 7 running around 10k while Vista scored 11447), it still scored higher than Vista. Aside from a slight increase in all other areas, there was a largely noticeable jump in the OGL score. Vista has been noted to have poor OGL rendering as I believe it emulates the XP version. Whatever the case, it looks like they’ve gone back to the XP version, or brought the component up to speed as I seem to recall OGL scoring over 2000 as opposed to 135 under Vista.

I’m looking forward to the day when Windows 7 will be offered on a computer like the VAIO P instead of the more bulky Windows Vista.