Intel may still be pushing their vision of MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) but that doesn’t mean everyone is singing from the same song-sheet. SMiT and Optima have both been showing off their attempts at compact handheld web-access devices, the former slapping Android onto a 4.8-inch touchscreen tablet while the latter has picked Maemo for their 4.3-inch MID. Meanwhile SmartQ’s Q5 and Q7 are both seeing development of various mobile platforms.
Video demos after the cut
Looking strikingly like the mysterious Android MID we’ve been seeing so much of lately, this is actually eviGroup’s upcoming Wallet MID. First tipped back in May and promised for a launch by the end of 2009, the touchscreen handheld has been described by the French company’s CEO as a “unit halfway between a cellphone and a TabletPC with a 5-inch screen”, though right now it’s unknown whether it uses an Intel x86 CPU with Windows OS or a frugal ARM chipset with 7+ hours runtime and custom OS.
The Android MID mystery continues, with more images of the compact touchscreen slate showing up at various forums. We’re now up to our third batch of leaked images – the first and second batches appeared over the past week or so – with the device being pegged as anything from Apple’s upcoming tablet (highly unlikely) to Arcos’ much-talked-about MID, but with no official identity forthcoming at least the source of the pictures has seemingly been confirmed.
Chuwi’s W3000 still looks unlikely to arrive on US or European shelves any time soon, but that hasn’t dulled the enthusiasm of the guys over at MP4 Nation. They’ve been putting the 4.1-inch touchscreen PMP through its paces, and finding that in contrast to the SmartQ 5, the W3000 actually does a good job both as a media player and as an internet device.
SlashGear has been hanging out with Google this week, at the I/O 2009 conference. You can read our first day and second day highlights for the full details, but perhaps the most interesting news was Google’s Wave demo for iPhone and Android, and Andy Rubin’s confirmation that there should be 18-20 Android handsets on the market by the end of the year. One of those is expected to be the HTC Hero; make sure to check out the promo video for the chin-heavy smartphone.
Since spending a few hundred dollars of his own money on importing one of the first SmartQ 7 MIDs from China, Steve over at UMPC Portal has been promising a full review. That’s now online, and it’s a mixed bag; the SmartQ 7 ticks many ultraportable boxes - like decent battery life, solid 1mbps DivX playback and a browser that handles page formating well - but falls well short in other areas.
Video demo after the cut
The SlashGear team have been surprisingly mobile this week, with part one of our Lincoln MKS road-test, and toting Sprint’s version of the MiFi 2200 portable EVDO hotspot around. We still found enough time to get frantically excited about the Palm Pre, though, which we now know will launch on June 6th for $199.99.
That excitement is tempered with the ongoing rumors that stocks may be severely curtailed on launch day. Not only have Best Buy and RadioShack insiders been talking of minimal handset numbers come June 6th, Sprint’s own CEO is warning that the Pre will likely be in short supply for the first couple of months. The concern is that all of Palm’s momentum since CES back in January could fizzle out, as Apple are expected to announce a third-generation iPhone two days after the Pre’s launch.
The first SmartQ 7 MID has landed with its brave buyer, Steve over at UMPC Portal, and he’s done the sensible thing (or at least the sensibly geeky thing) and shot over two hours of unboxing and video testing. That may seem extreme, but at $189 for a 7-inch touchscreen internet browsing device with WiFi, USB host and more, many people are wondering if SmartQ have delivered on what Microsoft first promised with the UMPC platform.
Video unboxing after the cut
We kicked off the week with a review of Sony’s OLED Walkman X, coming away mighty impressed by its iPod-besting audio quality. Equally impressive was Flip Video’s Ultra HD pocket camcorder; if only we could say the same for SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone. While on paper this media-shifting app should be a 100-percent winner, AT&T’s decision to bar streaming over their 3G network has left us and many would-be users upset.
Another ARM-based touchscreen device blurring the definition between PMP and MID, the Chuwi W3000 has a Telechips 7901 dual-core chipset with integrated DSP for what’s said to be better audio and video playback. There’s also WiFi and possibly Bluetooth, GPS and USB Host functionality.
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