When they’re not trying to bless the Viliv S5 with HSDPA, the guys at UMPC Fever are dissecting the UMID M1 ‘mbook’ to try to do something similar. If you thought the S5 was a challenge – soldering in a new mini PCIe connector, changing the storage – then prepare for what the UMID folks have set up for hapless modders: a combination of very little space and missing controller chips.
Some HSDPA mods are straightforward: open the casing up of whatever gadget you’ve decided will get internal 3G, slot in a Mini-PCI card or maybe even squeeze in a USB modem, install the software and off you go. Other times – like with the Viliv S5 MID – it’s a whole lot more complicated. Over at UMPC Fever, modder SKY is performing delicate electronic surgery inside his S5, soldering in a PCI-E slot in his attempts to get a WWAN-enabled MID.
Samsung have announced a new netbook, the Samsung N310, a 10.1-inch budget ultraportable with unspecified Intel Atom processor, 160GB hard-drive and optional HSDPA or WiBro connectivity. The N310 boasts up to 5hrs runtime from the standard battery, or up to 11hrs from the extended pack.
Live images of the LG Viewty II, aka the LG GC900, have emerged, following on from the handset’s specifications which were revealed last week. In fact, it seems as though the device was under our noses all the time, or at least at Mobile World Congress, where LG were quietly displaying it under glass.
According to newmobile, you’re looking at the specifications for the successor to the LG Viewty, the LG GC900 Viewty 2. You’d be looking at a photo of the handset itself if LG weren’t so uptight about images leaking out; all we know is that the Viewty 2 most closely resembles the LG Secret, only minus the slide-out number pad.
It’s not all swiveling, docking, lightweight netbooks at Gigabyte’s CeBIT stand; the company has also brought along a couple of more mainstream models. One such is this, the Gigabyte W376M, a 13.3-inch widescreen Centrino 2 notebook with integrated 3.5G HSDPA and TV tuner.
Details of UMID’s roadmap have emerged, which indicate the company’s upcoming M2 follow-up to the recently-launched UMID M1. According to a company proposal document, the UMID M2 will have a sub-3-inch display, and both HSPA and WiMAX connectivity, all in a slim, smartphone-style body.
After my brief hands-on with the UMID M1 mobile internet device at the start of the week, and coming away not entirely convinced by its keyboard or OS, we stopped back to see the MID again and test out just how suitable the keyboard is for thumb-typing. The good news is, a combination of two-handed use and the standard Windows XP scheme make this ultraportable a whole lot more tempting a prospect: check out the second hands-on video after the cut.
Video and more images of the UMID M1 after the cut
As lime-green edged netbooks went, LG pretty much had the floor to itself at CES with the LG-X120, but its taken them this long to deliver some details along with the detailing. We now know the 10-inch WSVGA netbook has the 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom processor, paired with a 160GB hard-drive and, we assume, 1GB of RAM, together with integrated 3G HSPA.
Huawei have announced their latest wireless modem, the i-Mo, which will debut at Mobile World Congress next week. The Huawei i-Mo, which is apparently the size of a “small key chain”, has both an HSDPA/HSUPA USB modem and a WiFi b/g chip on board for sharing the connection with other devices.
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