Is it the morning for Android-based MIDs? Jenn over at Pocketables has turned up evidence of two devices both running Google’s open-source mobile platform, in the shape of the Eston MID-02 slider and a video of French carrier SFR’s M! PC Pocket running the OS. Eston’s device – which is also branded as the M4301 – has a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen and can dual-boot Windows CE 6.0 and Android.
Video demo after the cut
For connectivity, input options and simply fitting into your pocket, aigo’s MID certainly has plenty of potential. Unfortunately, as reviewers have discovered, it’s hamstrung by its OS: adding new apps is a struggle, meaning most people will be stuck with what software comes out of the box. One owner, though, has heavily customized his 3G-equipped aigo to better perform as a UMPC rather than just an internet browser; full video demo, plus details of the changes, after the cut.
Clarion’s navigation MID launched last November, but it’s taken a while for hands-on experience with the GPS-enabled touchscreen device to emerge. Clarion have also tweaked the name slightly, to ClarionMiND (with no space) over apparent “legal issues”. Steve Paine has been playing with the ClarionMiND for the MID Moves project, and despite some obvious drawbacks – a pitiful battery good for at most an hours standalone use, and the lack of 3G – Clarion have actually done what other MID manufacturers struggle to achieve.
Check out the ClarionMiND demo video after the cut
As well as their latest Fuzebox HTPC, Velocity Micro also brought along two mobile products to CES this week. The company has added a MID, the Velocity Micro NoteMagix M5, and a netbook, the Velocity Micro NoteMagix M10, to their range. The former, a rebadged aigo P8860, has a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, integrated WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G, and a 4GB SSD, and will be offered in both Windows XP Home and Linux versions.
The mysterious T-swivelling MID that was mistakenly identified by some as the Palm Roteo has been correctly traced back to Compal, in the shape of their Tabasco MID concept. On show at Computex 2008 back in June, the non-working handheld was meant to demonstrate a 4.5-inch (or 5-inch) touchscreen device with a 3.2-megapixel rear camera with 2x optical zoom and flash plus a front-facing webcam.
Aigo’s P8860 has been one of the more interesting mobile internet devices (MIDs) we’ve been keeping track of, not least because it actually managed to move out of prototype stage and into the hands of buyers. The 800MHz Atom powered ultraportable has a 4.8-inch touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and runs a specially tweaked version of Linux intended to make mobile computing straightforward; Jenn at Pocketables has been putting the P8860 through its paces, and while there’s plenty to recommend it, there are also a few big questions left over at the end.
After the video breakdown of aigo’s P8860 Mobile Internet Device showed there was plenty of space for slotting in some onboard 3.5G WWAN capabilities, it was only a matter of time until the compact touchscreen device had some HSDPA poured into it. jkkmobile – who has already added 3G and touchscreens to a variety of ultraportables – has done just that.
Video demo of the HSDPA-enabled aigo P8860 after the cut
If you’re going to make a Mobile Internet Device (MID) and you want to take on PMPs or, heaven forbid, the iPhone 3G, then you better make sure it’s compact and attractive. That’s at least one lesson USI have learnt with their MID-160, apparently the “world’s thinnest” MID and bearing a 5-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, WiFi, WiMAX and 3G WWAN in something just 1.5cm thick and weighing 250g.
A few months back, when we wondered out loud about abbreviations, one of the easiest targets was the ultraportable device market. Mobile Internet Devices, Ultramobile PCs, Personal Media Players; as manufacturers rush to grant their gadgets more functionality, all seem to end up overlapping. The Archos Internet Media Tablet isn’t a MID, not by Archos’ own definition anyway, but it does offer internet access, on a touchscreen tablet, in a device that’s certainly mobile. Pocketables have been comparing the Archos 5 (soon to be available with integrated 3G WWAN, remember) with the Aigo P8860, a gadget which certainly does claim to be a MID.
Archos’ latest range of Internet Media Tablets, the 5 and 7, are on sale in many markets worldwide, but if you want the 5g version with integrated HSDPA you’ll have to head to France. SFR is so-far the only carrier to have publicly signed up to the WWAN PMP; their official launch is expected later this week, but they’ve been scooped by November’s issue of Stuff magazine.
Update: Stuff got the pricing wrong; see here for official details.
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