Connectivity includes micro HDMI, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, three USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out, and a SIM slot for optional 3G. There’s a scroll wheel for quickly navigating long documents or webpages, a microphone, stereo speakers, an accelerometer, 1.3-megapixel webcam and a battery good, eviGroup reckons, for up to 5hrs of use. The whole thing is 14.6mm thick.

That may pale in comparison to what Honeycomb slates or the iPad 2 can deliver, but the upside is that with the SmartPaddle you’re getting a full Windows PC that can run all your regular Office and enterprise apps. Not so much of a draw for every home user, perhaps, but businesses – and those expecting their slate to do both work and play – could certainly be interested.

The eviGroup SmartPaddle will go on sale from €551 ($752). Its existing, bigger sibling, with a 12-inch touchscreen, will remain on sale as the SmartPaddle Pro. No word on what happens when Windows 8 arrives, but we’re guessing the SmartPaddle will play nicely with Microsoft’s tablet-tailored update too.

The eviGroup method involves point-to-point WiFi connections with a simple proximity-based UI, that aims to bypass complex file sharing permissions and configurations. There’s no word on when eviGroup plans to actually produce an app based on it, however.

Still, it looks like Ruiz is taking a sanguine attitude toward the whole affair, suggesting that “business is business” and pointing out that, because of the way European patents are formulated, it’s the specific technique which is covered rather than the concept itself. The advantage of eviGroup’s system, he suggests, is that it’s platform-agnostic, and so will work with more than just Mac OS X Lion devices.

Under the hood, the strangest of the new features is the ability to control the Windows OS using head movements. The cursor for the mouse on Windows can be controlled with your head using head tracking technology. That is somewhat cool; I wonder how well it actually works in use. Clicks are activated by looking at an item for half a second. The company claims no adjustment or calibration is needed.

Other features of the Paddle Pro include Windows Home Premium, an Intel Atom N450 CPU, WiFi, and 3G connectivity. The machine also has a high-capacity battery good for nine hours of use per charge. The Paddle Pro with the battery and more is 1500 euros. The device has wireless connectivity to your TV, HDMI out and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Paddle with Windows 7 Home Premium and included software is 699€ + 31 € postage and the machine with Windows 7 and no software is 649€ + 31 € postage. For that much money, you get a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB of storage, and a 10.6-inch capacitive touch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution.

The Paddle also has WiFi, optional 3G connectivity, Ethernet, and a removable lithium-ion battery. This thing is more like a netbook without a keyboard than a tablet like the iPad. It also has VGA out and weighs 990g including the battery.

Video demo after the cut

Battery life from the 2,000mAh pack is estimated at up to 6hrs continuous use or 24hrs standby; that’s less than an iPad, of course, which has quietly become the “standard” in companion device expectations, but then again the Wallet is – at 132 x 87 x 14 mm – considerably smaller.  It still fits in a miniUSB and 3.5mm headset port, and includes an integrated microphone and speaker.

eviGroup are bundling the Wallet with a car mount and charger, as well as headphones and a USB to miniUSB cable.  The basic matte finish model with a soft-touch back is €199, while the chrome finish version is €219 ($271).  We’re expecting a review unit soon, so check back for full coverage.

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdcwxq_wallet_tech[/dailymotion]

[via eviGroup]

Ruiz defines the Wallet as a “professional” MID, versus the Archos device’s multimedia focus.  ”We want to have the same build quality that Archos 5 but we don’t want to be a challenger” he explains, adding that “we will deliver Wallet with a lot of accessories directly in the package.”  A car cradle is one such accessory tipped for inclusion.

As for the Google support, think along the lines of “none”.  According to Ruiz, eviGroup attempted to contact Google regarding getting the Wallet approved and adding access to the Android Market, but they heard nothing back.  The Wallet has a 5-inch resistive touchscreen and is believed to use a Samsung ARM11 processor in a semi-rugged design (the company’s latest prototypes moved away from the iPhone-stylings of the early mock-ups, thankfully), but there’s no word on whether €199 gets you the integrated 3G talked about previously.

As for the specifications of the slightly iPhone-styled device, the Paddle uses the same Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor as the Pad together with a choice of 160GB, 250GB or 320GB traditional hard-drive or 16GB or 32GB of SSD storage.  There’s also a webcam and microphone, together with integrated WiFi and 3G; eviGroup have also added an external antenna connection, which while initially solely for extended WiFi range will – at some future point – be used for DTT digital television reception.

OS is Windows 7 or XP Home Edition, and Scale runs on top as an application; there’s talk of an SDK for developers, and existing Pad owners should be able to download it separately as well.  Pricing of the multitouch slate is expected to kick off at €699 ($952) for the “basic” version – no word on what exactly the specifications of that are – when it goes on sale in Q2 2010.

In fact, the Wallet is apparently ready for “initial production” with suppliers for the ARM chipsets arranged and several different color variants sketched out (you can see renders in the gallery below).  As far as we’re aware there’s no core specification change, so the Wallet still has an 800 x 480 WVGA touchscreen, WiFi b/g, GPS and integrated 3G.

As the ongoing CrunchPad/JooJoo saga has shown, getting a new device off the ground and onto shelves is no easy matter, and we’re not really surprised that eviGroup are having a few difficulties.  Still, our fingers remain crossed that this could be the low cost sofa-browser of our dreams.

Your money gets you a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 160GB hard-drive, 1GB of RAM and WiFi a/b/g; the battery is good for 3.5hrs of “normal” runtime and the Pad comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and the Seline10 voice-recognition app.  eviGroup will sell you a software-free standard Pad for €489 ($720).

Update: The Elite 3G version of the eviGroup Pad is on sale now for €599 plus €30 shipping ($932); they’ll also sell you an OS-free version for €539 ($799).

Video demo after the cut

Our own concern is about the battery, which is rated for around 2hrs of use; happily it’s removable, but we’re not sure how much replacements will be on sale for.  As for Seline, the AI interface, opinion seems to have been held pending further play, but if eviGroup have got it right then this could certainly make controlling your UMPC a whole lot more straightforward.

Update: eviGroup CEO Nicolas Ruiz has been in touch to let us know that the battery life is in fact more like 3-3.5hrs of regular use, or 2 hours 15 minutes with 3G on, brightness at 100-percent and Aero turned on.

The video is in French – or at least the subtitles are – but the general theme of the thing is pretty straightforward to follow.  According to NowhereElse, the eviGroup Pad should launch sometime this week, perhaps as early as today; pricing will be €499 ($740) for the Standard model (which lacks 3G and the Seline app) and €599 ($888) for the Elite (which has 3G, Seline and a nifty carry pouch with handle).

The whole thing measures 260 x 160 x 22 mm and tips the scales at a bag-friendly 990g with the removable Li-Ion battery in place.  eviGroup have confirmed there will be two models on offer, both with Windows 7 Premium (chosen for its Tablet PC functionality) but the cheaper model lacking integrated 3G and Seline AI.  Pricing is expected to be under €500 ($743).

Grunt is courtesy of a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU paired with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive, so we’re expecting regular netbook performance from the slate.  There’s also three USB 2.0 ports, an integrated webcam and microphone, ethernet port and a multiformat memory card reader.

eviGroup expect the Pad to come in at under €500 ($745) with Windows 7 and Seline, though we’re still unsure as to when it might arrive.  Pictured in this second shot is the Pad with eviGroup’s Wallet MID, a 5-inch Android-based touchscreen handheld.

The eviGroup Pad runs an unspecified Atom 1.6GHz processor, with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive.  Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports, ethernet, audio in/out and a multiformat memory card reader, while there’s also a 1.3-megapixel webcam and integrated microphone.  The whole thing weighs under a kilogram.

Seline, meanwhile, is slightly harder to explain.  It seems – from the translation, at least – to be a chat-based interface which intelligently recognizes spoken and written plain-language instructions.  So, you could load an app by requesting it be opened, or you could do more complex tasks such as ask the AI to create a new appointment for a certain time, and it would be clever enough to know to do that in the calendar application.

eviGroup are promising more details – together with videos and live photos of the Pad and Seline in action – over the coming days, so we’ll be keeping an eye on what they have to offer.  Early pricing suggestions for the Pad tip it as under €500 ($745) with Windows 7 and Seline.

That change is likely to see the larger tablet handle media and complex websites more proficiently than the Android-based Wallet will be able to, as well as opening up the possibility of netbook-style computing (with, presumably, a USB port or two for a plug-in keyboard and mouse).  No word on whether the new device will also run Android, but the new CPU is said to be “just one” of the changes eviGroup have in mind.

[via Pocketables]

Aside from the absence of Bluetooth – which seems to be a victim of fitting both WiFi and 3G yet trying to keep costs down – and the relatively low resolution 2-megapixel camera, the Wallet makes a good first impression.  It’s still a prototype, certainly, but if eviGroup can keep to the roughly €300 tag (which presumably will end up subsidized by carriers; the company intend offering it as a white label product) Stagueve reckons Android is the perfect platform for these crossover smartphone/internet tablet devices.

The timeline is still pointing to a release in late December or early January 2010, with a launch in France first before broader European availability.  Check here for full specs and here for eviGroup’s own video of the Wallet.

There’s also a microSD card slot (supporting up to 8GB cards) together with either 2, 4 or 8GB of internal memory.  The Wallet has both a 3.5mm headphones jack and a built-in speaker, two miniUSB ports each offering Host capabilities (for plugging in keyboards and other peripherals) and a 2-megapixel camera.  Finally there’s an FM transmitter and a Li-Ion battery, though eviGroup are yet to make runtime claims.

While the use of Android means that the Wallet MID should work reasonably as an internet access device, it’s the media playback that seems particularly decent.  As well as WVGA H.264, WVGA H.263, DivX 4/5 and WVGA Xvid video, the Wallet can also play Flash 4/5 video, various audio filetypes, show pictures, and apparently has integrated Freeview digital TV with the ability to record live broadcasts.

That’s all stuffed into a device measuring just 116 x 77 x 14 mm and weighing 200g.  eviGroup say the specs could be tweaked before the expected launch in late-December/early-January, when the Wallet is expected to launch in France and then further afield in Europe priced at around €300 ($440).

Video demo after the cut

There’s also a TNT TV tuner integrated – complete with recording facility – though that won’t be much use outside of France, together with a camera and a microSD card slot to augment the 8GB of onboard storage.  The Wallet has two miniUSB OTG ports, which will work as USB hosts for plugging in keyboards and other peripherals.

Text is entered via the usual on-screen keyboard, but eviGroup say they’re also working on an alternative method of input.  Meanwhile there are larger versions in the pipeline, too.  The company is yet to confirm it definitely, but they’re hinting that there’ll be wider availability in the future, too.

Within the past few days the eviGroup CEO has twittered about the existence of a v2 prototype, of which the above image is believed to be a render.  No definite specifications – beyond the touchscreen, rear-facing camera, GPS and user-customizable internal storage – are known, and the teaser site is singularly devoid of detail.

While eviGroup is a French firm, the presence of the FCC logo on the back of the render does suggest that the Wallet MID may see a release in the US.  Back in May a price tag under €200 ($286) was tipped, though there’s no word on whether that has held true.  Could this be the identity of the mysterious MID that keeps turning up?  If the price pans out, and the specifications offer a decent mixture of battery life and capabilities, this may be one worth waiting for.