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.

Updated (18 Jan 2010) with the Intel iPad that I had never heard of until I read about it today. Shame on me!

I’ve been writing about ‘pads’ , tablets and other consumer and mobile internet devices for over 4 years now. Carrypad started through a desire for a new category of devices and under various names it focused on a sector that most people simply dismissed. ‘There’s no room for a device between a smartphone and a laptop’ they said; conveniently forgetting their digital camera, navigation device, book, gaming device and the growing need to surf while on the crapper.

Today, the iPad landed and has turned the tech-media world from nay-sayers to yay-sayers. Everyone loves the iPad and the coverage has sky-rocketed. Unfortunately, it’s not really happening here because I’m in Europe and sales haven’t started here yet. Can you imagine how frustrating it is for me?

Being English though I’m biting my lip and trying to positive and focusing on the iPad coverage that starts here on Monday when Ben, our Senior Editor, gets his iPad out in Honolulu. It’s a shame that there’s no Saturday delivery service but we’ll let the Engadgets of this world deal with the Day 1 craziness and take some time to read the first reports over the weekend.

Another slightly frustrating  element of iPad day one is thinking back on all the iPad-like devices that tried so hard to get it right before so while we’re waiting for the iPad, I think we should raise a few of the Pads of the Past up onto the pedestal and say ‘thank you.’

My first hat-tip goes out to Pepperpad who in 2005 produced a 9” touchscreen device running on an ARM core and running a heavily tailored finger-friendly user-interface. The specifications list and focal point of the device sounds like a true winner but Pepper Computer were simply too early.  The initial price was high, the performance was terrible and the battery life wasn’t that thrilling. Personally I loved the device (I bought a PepperPad 3, the 7” version) although it wasn’t exactly pretty! Unfortunately Pepper went under before they could realize their ideas with better technology.

My second shout-out in the consumer internet device category goes to Nokia who took a big risk and released the 770 Internet tablet in late 2005. It was aimed at people wanting media, a good web browser and was the first in a range of four devices that used a community-supported Linux build called Maemo. Maemo is now an important part of a long-term strategy for Intel and Nokia in their MeeGo product and is for me the most interesting ecosystems for building consumer internet devices.

The third and final shout goes to Archos who for many years have been combining media playback with Internet connectivity in an easy-to-use consumer-focused package. I still have (and use) my 605Wifi and it taught me that while the 605 was very slow to access web pages, I had more patience for slow websites when I was sitting in a comfy chair. Archos are now at the stage where they have a family of consumer internet devices from 5” to 9” and are planning to launch even more this summer.

Update: All the devices above date back to 2005 when I was starting to get very interested in the idea of a companion device but there are plenty of devices that pre-date these. The Intel IPAD, for example, is the most amazing story. Intel used ARM CPUs (they has an ARM license and Xscale, ARM architecture CPUs) in a product that, internally, was called the IPAD. It allowed you to surf ‘up to 150 feet’ from your PC. It almost reached the market but got stopped by another initiative in Intel. Read the story of the Intel IPAD here.

So to everyone that was part of Origami, the UMPC world, all the Tablet PC fans and bloggers and the thousands and thousand of people that have discussed the idea of mobile and handheld computing with me over the years – I raise my glass.

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.

There’s always a surprise or two on the last day at an exhibition. I spotted this newbie on the Sequans booth at MWC and it wasn’t until I reviewed my photos this evening that I bothered to look any further into it. It turns out to be quite interesting.

The Moblic E7 has a 4” WVGA touchscreen in an attractive body which includes a slider keyboard, a 600Mhz CPU, 8GB Flash, Wimax Support, Micro SD card and a huge, 2000mah battery. As for the details on the CPU, we’re not sure although the Wimax chipset supplier (Sequans) mumbled something about Atom before confessing he really knew nothing about it. The large battery does suggest a hefty CPU though so maybe this is a Moorestown handset!

More likely is that it’s a 3D-capable ARM Cortex-A8 platform than anything with Intel inside and that would pair nicely with the 256MB RAM for some full-on Internet or gaming action. OS is unknown at this point although we I note that Mobilc announced a partnership with Microsoft in the middle of this year. Maybe it’s a Zune-Xbox-Windows 7 Series thingy!!!

We managed to tease it out from behind glass but only had time for pics and a look around the device which felt very well built. Obviously we’ve sent off an email requesting more details.

You can clearly see that this is designed for gaming on the go.

The Moblic webpage yields the following…

Definitely a competitor to the ODroid. What do you think?

We showed you the other week that Engadget got their hands on a pre-production version of the Dell Mini 5 — they initially hooked us up with a nice gallery, but I’ve personally be waiting eagerly for a full list of thoughts, and according to the Mini 5’s popularity chart over in the product database, many of you have been too! Luckily, today is the day that Engadget has decided to grace us with additional Mini 5 info. They’ve done a pretty thorough write-up for a device which isn’t even ready for retail, but we can’t blame them — the Mini 5 is looking better every day. Be sure to watch the video walkthrough in their article, it’s the first thorough hands-on that we’ve seen (out of Dell’s hands) since back when the Mini 5 was known as the Dell Streak! Note the incredible vertical viewing angle at 1:10 in the video.

Or perhaps we should say base? Anyway, a Greek site has turned up the first look at the Dell Mini 5’s dock. The dock has HDMI out as well as USB port (likely to power the unit and transfer files from a computer) The Mini 5 [Product page] will be able to do 720p video as stated and demonstrated at MWC earlier in the week and the HDMI will help you get that to an HDTV. There is a rather peculiar video, on said Greek site, in which we get a look at the sleek dock. Unfortunately the camera doesn’t get up close and personal.

Hopefully the dock is either very inexpensive (bundled with the unit perhaps?) or offers some sort of functionality that hasn’t yet been revealed. It seems silly not have built HDMI directly into the device, but perhaps Dell is trying to squeeze some extra money out of those that want to use the device as a portable HD player.

via Engadget

As expected, the Dell Mini 5 was available for hands-on at the Pepcom event at Mobile World Congress and we wasted no time in getting our hands as near to the device as possible. Dell Are being a little careful about handing it out right now which means the software probably isn’t ready but in the demo and Q&A we had with Dell we resolved some of the outstanding questions.

Video notes:

• The Dell Mini 5 is one of a family of devices.
• Available with and without 3G
• Available through carriers and the Dell online shop. (Or at least, that’s the intention)
• Full Google Android experience.
• Tailored UI with widgets
• Media support for H.264 and other codecs. (Although we didn’t get the impression that Dell are targeting this as an Archos 5-killer in that respect.)
• Facebook and contacts integration looked good.
• On Pricing, Dell say they will address ‘price points that customers are interested in.) We interpret this as meaning it will be very low cost with carrier subsidy.
• Very nice hand-holdable form factor and weight. Almost exactly the same look and feel as the Archos 5 Android tablet.
• Availability will be ‘by summer.’ We estimate this as June, July timeframe but this could just be for the first carrier-supplied versions. It could take a while for the device to roll out globally.

Overall we’re impressed with the specifications and build of the Dell Mini 5, optimistic about pricing  but will reserve judgment on battery life until we’ve had a good chance to test it. The 5.5Wh battery just doesnt sound like it’s ready for all-day action.

Boy it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a decent looking slider. Just to remind you, this sliding Android device is a phone in addition to a potentially awesome MID. We caught a quick look at the Inbrics M1 at CES 2010. At the time, Inbrics was unsure if they’d be bringing it to the market, but it seems like after some good feedback at CES, they’re hoping to get it into consumers’ hands. At CES Inbrics was saying that they may be able to sell the device for something like $200 unsubsidized which would make this already attractive slider even more appealing.

Pocket-lint is reporting that Inbrics will be showing the M1 at the Mobile World Congress event that is starting next week (by the way, Sascha of Netbooknews.com and our very own Chippy will be speaking at MWC.) They may be showing it at MWC, but Pocket-lint also says that Inbrics plans to introduce the device in Europe in 2010 or early 2011. No word on the US apparently, but at CES Inbrics was saying that they may redesign the keyboard for the US market (more on that below).

Those dates are disappointingly far off for a device that many would likely have their hands on right now. Hopefully the guts powering the phone won’t be outdated by that point. I feel that the biggest challenge for the M1 will be proficient portrait functionality. So far I have yet to see a phone that functions well without thorough portrait support; people are used to being able to operate a cell phone with just one hand.

Some new renders of the device are showing off what appears to be a redesigned keyboard – the one we saw at CES looked like it could use a little upgrade so this is a welcome change. The Inbrics M1 is definitely prominently on our radar. Stay turned for more news on this device as we uncover it.

via Pocketables.net

Meet:Mobility Podcast 41 is now available. Recorded on 1st Feb 2010, JKK, Sascha and Chippy talk around the iPad and other mobile computing news including the Aspire ONE 532H, Archos 7, Dell Mini5, iPad, ExoPC, NetbookNavigator, Firefox for N900 and Adobe Flash.
Detailed show notes below.

SUBSCRIBE:
You can also find the podcast on iTunes (Please rate the show on iTunes.) You can also subscribe via RSS.

Full show notes available at Meet:Mobility.

Three stories merged into one today when Techcrunch posted a 30-second demo video by Michael Dell proving that the Dell Mini 5 exists and will be out in a ‘couple of months.’  (MWC, CeBIT?) Techcrunch also added (‘recap’ was the word they used) some information from the Tihnte teardown and an interesting Chinese PC Online story (translation) that talks about a prototype Dell Mini 5 called the M101M. Apparently this was picked up on the black market for over $1000 which is clearly not the price it’s going to hit the ground with. Based on the (similar) HTC HD2 it could reach $700 but with the Archos 5 8GB [info] at around $300 and the iPad 3G 16GB [info] at $629 it would be crazy to ask for such a price; especially given the Dell Mini (low-cost) brand.

If we were to guess at a price we’d say $499 but we see a sweeter spot for this at the $399 level.

Specs seen so far:

• 1Ghz Snadragon
• 4.8” 800×480 capacative touchscreen
• 5.5Wh battery
• 5MP cam with LED flash
• Android OS
• 2 x MicroSD slots
• 3G, Wifi. BT

Via Slashgear.

If Inbrics really can bring the M1 to market for $200 then we’re looking at a very good value MID/Phone but somehow I get the feeling that the mention of $200 was really a ‘CES Press Special’  i.e. whatever you say in Vegas, stays in Vegas!  The market could bear $300 for something like this so there’s no reason it would launch at such a low price.

A capacitive 800×480 screen on Cortex with a full implementation of Android along with a nice design and that productivity-helping slider keyboard makes this a ‘must watch’ device. We would have like to have seen a larger screen for real high-end usage and we wonder how long this device will look ‘high-end’ considering the pace that new high-end smartphones are entering the market but it’s interesting all the same.

Here’s a video of the device at CES a few weeks ago.

Thanks to Netbooknews for ‘helping hands’ on this video.

A quick holiday unboxing of the Nokia N900, happy holidays! Look forward to more coverage and a full review of this sweet gadget.

There are many new MID devices being released these days, and it seems that the 7-inch screen size is gaining popularity among the fans of reading on mobile devices.  Users looking to read books, comics or work documents have shown great interest in SmartDevices (SmartQ7, SmartV7), WitsTech (A81/W1060), and other 7-inch multi-function MIDs.  Operating systems available on these devices vary, from Linux to WinCE, with Android being the most sought after.  Its a safe bet that the first manufacturer that can release a dependable MID running Android with full Market functionality and a decent price will get a great deal of interest from potential MID users, especially avid readers.

So what did SmartDevices do?  They decided to release a device that has all three operating systems available.   Users can choose which OS to start at boot-time.  This 7-inch device also boasts HD video and a new HDMI port.  Those of you familiar with the SmartQ7 MID will recognize this device, as the SmartV7 build is almost identical to its older sibling.  I have received a review unit from Eletroworld and am working on a new detailed review of the device.  Expect a lot of Android coverage in this review, as I put the unit through tests to determine the depth functionality the Android build that comes with the SmartV7 ships with.  From initial looks, it seems the Android implementation does not have Market working yet, but expect more details when I finish the review.  Has SmartDevices beaten the other manufacturers to the punch?

Welcome to my review of the WireLession W1060 7” MID. I’ve been looking forward to this review for some time now. As many of you can see, the mobile device market is exploding with new devices, and 2010 promises to be a year with at least double the number of new devices to be released. This of course is a double-edged sword, as many of us will be torn on which device to use. Some of you are aware of my quest to find the perfect multi-function device, so hopefully I can help people understand at least some of the devices being released.

W1060 Atop the Actual Retail Box

The WireLession W1060, also known to many as the Witstech (WITS) A81 (info-page), is a brand new MID (mobile internet device) using the Cortex A8 processor, the same processor as used in the iPhone and the Archos 5 Android Tablet. WireLession is a distributor of the A81, and has re-branded it with their own designation (W1060) and logos. Thedevice is currently priced at $220 on the WireLession website.

Specifications

• Processor: ARM Cortex A8 600Mhz, Dedicated DSP Graphic Core
• Operating System: Windows CE 6.0 Embedded
• Screen: 7-inch TFT Touch Screen, 800×480 Resolution
• Connectivity: WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth Built-in (1)
• GPS: (2)  Built-In
• Sound: Stereo High Fidelity Output 3D Surround, Adjustable Volume
• Memory: 256MB RAM (3), T-Flash (microSD) slot supports up to 16GB
• Video Formats Supported: AVI, MPEG4, MPEG2, WMV, H.264 and others (MKV support coming soon)
• Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Battery (3000mAH), 5 to 8 Hours Operation
• Weight: 0.39kg battery included
• Size: 18L×11W×1.5D CM

Specification Notes
1 – The review unit’s firmware did not have Bluetooth working.
2 – The review unit did not have the GPS Module – that is a different model of the W1060 which costs an extra $20
3 – The review unit seemed to only see 128MB of RAM. I’m not sure if that is a firmware issue or a hardware issue. The specs I was given say it is supposed to have 256MB of RAM.

UPDATE: The unit does indeed have 256MB of RAM. It is a WinCE functionality that the other 128MB is set aside to be used by the Operating System.

Packaging and Build Quality

The device box is a solid black color, not something you would find on a store shelf and not much larger than the device itself.  Everything that was supposed to be included with the device was there (cables, battery, adapter, and the device).

The device casing felt very sturdy, but it appears to be of a high quality plastic and not metal as I had been previously informed. As the pictures show, the device is jet black and shiny. When I held the device it felt extremely solid and good to hold, noticeably lighter than the SmartQ7 I reviewed previously. There was no flexing and, as a whole, it was smaller than I thought it would be from the pictures. The build quality is impressive, and reminds me quite a bit of holding a bigger Archos 5 Android Tablet.

The W1060 and the Carry Case I purchased from Fry’s Electronics for $12.99 – it fits perfectly

The Screen

After putting in the battery and charging the device for a while, I turned it on and was immediately impressed with the quality of the screen. It is clear and vibrant, and very responsive to touch. To the naked eye it seems brighter and clearer than my SmartQ7’s screen. See the pictures of the included in this post for a comparison. The interesting thing is that the screen on the JE-100 eBook Reader (see my review) seems a little better than this, but it is very close. There is one big problem with the screen though – there is no way to rotate it, except within certain applications. WitsTech has said they are working hard on screen rotation and I was told it would be about 12-15 days before we see an update for it. Unless they can’t get some type of screen rotation, that could be a deal-breaker for many users, especially ebook-reading users. [Edit: Note that an Android build is being worked on but without an accelerometer in the device, rotation would have to be via a manual button/setting]

Picture 1: The SmartQ7 (Left), JE-100 (Top), and the W1060. Picture 2 (left to right): SmartQ7, W1060, JE-100

Battery Life and Charging

I tested the device for a couple weeks, during which time I watched video, read ebooks and comics, and browsed the internet. The battery life is as advertised, which is to say 5 to 8 hours depending on the task. Listening to music and reading can take you to the battery-life max of 7-8 hours. Video or web browsing and you won’t get more than 3-4 hours indicating the load that a wireless connection can put on a device.

To charge the device, simply use the included adapter or plug it in to your computer via USB cable. It will charge faster via the adapter, but the USB can also be very convenient. When charging, the power button lights up, turning green and red. When fully charged, the power button light turns completely green. It actually looks pretty cool. You can also see it is charging by looking in the tray on the bottom right of the screen in WinCE.

The Snazzy Power Light

The definition of a MID, a mobile internet device, changes with every person you ask but one thing remains constant. It’s aimed at the consumer and not the productive professional. That’s UMPC territory! Consumer devices require careful attention to ease-of-use and fun, dynamic software so the choice of operating system becomes just as important as the hardware it’s built on. Shanzai have a nice article up today that covers most of the options. I’d add Maemo to the list and remove any reference to Windows desktop operating systems but it makes interesting reading. At the moment it looks like the ARM/Android combination might take the lead in the 2010 market but as Moorestown and Moblin for handhelds feeds in, the choice might get tougher. One thing is certain in our mind though, if you can’t tailor and personalise your device with applications and widgets, it’s going to be a boring experience.

Shanzai.com – Operating systems for MIDs

Awareness of mobile computing devices has risen dramatically in the last year and many people are now considering which device would be suitable for their given tasks. For users that plan on using their device to read books or comics, it seems that the 5″ to 7″ inch MIDs are becoming quite popular.  In the summer, the SmartQ7 hit the eBook reading crowd with quite a splash.  The device gave readers some power to surf the internet, play games, listen to music, and most importantly, read books and comics on a screen size that was comfortable but could still be carried around quite easily.  All of that, and the ability to run Linux, WinCE, or Android on a multi-boot partitiion.  The unit was less expensive than many UMPC and MID devices in the same form factor, at about $230 shipped.

Hot on the heels of the SmartQ7 we have the W1060 by WireLession.  Some of you may remember the posts a few weeks ago about the A81 MID, a 7″ MID with the ARM Cortex 8 processor.  Since then, the unit’s popularity has been growing, and as you can see, it is listed on UMPCPortal and CarryPad as one of the most anticipated devices.  The WireLession W1060 is the branded name of the A81 MID.   With the ARM Cortex A8 (the same processor in the iPhone), users have access to a device that can surf the internet quickly, listen to music, watch video, and read books on a very comfortable 7″ screen.  The device should certainly outperform the SmartQ7 (and possibly even the new SmartV7), and if what the supplier says is true, the build quality is quite a bit better as well.   Information so far is that it has a metal chassis and is quite solid.  It can play flash movies and supports AVI, MPEG4, MPEG2, WMV, H.264 and other video formats.  Due to the fast processor, it should also be extremely fast when loading comics and turning pages.

I have a unit on the way right now.  After some serious hardware and software testing, I’ll post a detailed review of the device.  For now, check out this video and browse the details of the W1060 on WireLession.