UMPC and MID manufacturers Viliv have had a pretty good year in their segment, and they’re obviously hoping to start off 2010 in the same manner. According to UMPC Portal, the company is planning on launching two devices at CES in January, with the Viliv N5 making its debut and the Viliv S10 getting its full launch. The S10 is a pretty straightforward 10-inch netbook, but the N5 is a 4.8-inch MID in the manner of the Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 or the UMID mbook M2.
Gadgets leaked by text are far less exciting than blurry, hurriedly-snapped photos, but we won’t turn up our noses at a preview no matter the method. It now appears that Cowon have a touchscreen MID in the works, the Cowon W2, according to a test page at the Bluetooth SIG, though specifications are still scant.
Importers Dynamism have released pricing and specification details for the Viliv S7, the latest ultraportable touchscreen device from the Korean company. Coming after the surprisingly popular S5 and well-received X70, the S7 adds a QWERTY keyboard and uses a more traditional netbook-style form-factor; according to Dynamism, when it drops in the US it’ll be priced from $629.
Importer Dynamism have announced that they will be selling the matte black version of UMID’s mbook M1 MID, with preorders kicking off today and deliveries expected to begin from August 25th. The compact clamshell has a 4.8-inch 1,024 x 600 touchscreen, together with the same Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor as in Viliv’s popular S5 and X70 MIDs, and will retail from $599.
With the sales success of the Viliv S5 and X70 MIDs, all eyes are on the Viliv S7 to see if the company can make 7-inch touchscreen convertible netbooks popular too. Yet to go up for preorder in the US or Europe, an S7 has dropped into the hands of UMPC Fever in Hong Kong; they’ve been sharing their first impressions.
Preorders for Viliv MIDs and UMPCs just don’t seem to be blessed with the best of luck. After the Viliv S5 launch brought down importer Dynamism’s servers and left many struggling to complete their orders, the launch of the Viliv X70 has been struck by components shortages at the factory. In an email to those who preordered the 7-inch touchscreen device, Dynamism suggests that “MIDs have been especially popular this year” which surprised components suppliers.
Earlier on today we told you about Viliv’s Korean prices and specifications for their upcoming S7 convertible touchscreen UMPC; now we have word on the international versions. Not only will these offer the same Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor, but there’ll also be a “flagship” model with a 2.0GHz Atom processor (likely the Z550), a 32GB SSD, integrated 3G and a free upgrade to Windows 7.
Viliv have announced pricing and final configurations for their upcoming convertible touchscreen UMPC, the Viliv S7. The 7-inch device has a full QWERTY keyboard, together with up to 9.5hrs of runtime from a single charge, and can be outfitted with optional WiBro in Korea.
Importer Dynamism have announced pre-order pricing for 3G-enabled HSPA version of the Viliv S5 MID. Available for some time now in Korea, the US Viliv S5 3G will not carry the “Air” title as it does there, but will still come with SSD storage.
We’ve already seen enough of Viliv’s X70 to know it could arguably be the company’s best device to-date, and now the first full review of the 7-inch UMPC is in from our friend Steve over at UMPC Portal. He describes the X70 as “the best 7-in Tablet UMPC we’ve ever tested”, praising its great build quality, long battery life and impressive web browsing and media playback.
Video demo of X70 running StreetDeck PND app after the cut
SlashGear JP
