Now that Polymer Vision’s new owner – Wistron – has been confirmed, it’s time for some speculation about what they might have up their sleeve with the folding e-paper technology. Wistron’s Brian Chong, chief of product planning, has confirmed that the company intends to release a 5- to 6-inch device using Polymer Vision tech in 2010. From the sound of it, it’s very much alike the prototype device Polymer Vision themselves were showing round before their sale.
The unnamed Asian company which acquired ailing foldable e-paper startup Polymer Vision has been outed as Wistron. Polymer Vision declared bankruptcy back in July, and were acquired in early September; the deal is now known to have been worth €12m ($17.75m). Integration of the two companies actually began taking place last month, but right now it’s still unclear whether the Polymer Vision brand will be maintained.
Wistron’s most endearing Smartbook machine may be the compact VAIO P-lookalike that has been floating around tradeshows for a few months now, but it’s not their only offering with ARM under the hood. Freescale Semiconductors are showing the Wistron N900z at their Computex 2009 stand, a more traditionally designed 10-inch netbook, and LaptopMag shot some hands-on video.
NVIDIA have announced twelve new Tegra-based devices at Computex 2009, which the company is describing as MIDs (Mobile Internet Device). According to NVIDIA, Tegra is capable of up to 1080p video playback, hardware acceleration of Flash video, 25 days of music on a single charge and always-on processors with support for 3G, WiFi and WiMAX.
They may look like the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA, but these slender netbooks are actually the first demo units of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon-based Eee PCs. Based on Qualcomm’s 1GHz super-chip, the ASUS models – actually thinner than the 1008HA – were joined by machines from Wistron and Inventec.
More Qualcomm Smartbooks after the cut
Qualcomm have been sharing their plans to take on Intel and the netbook market with a range of Snapdragon-powered Smartbooks. Bearing a similar design and ethos to the Wistron demo unit spotted back in March, the Smartbooks will include Qualcomm’s 1GHz processor, WWAN, WiFi and Bluetooth, together with GPS and up to ten hours runtime.
NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D Vision system was one of the most surprising demonstrations at CES this year, relying on a special display and glasses to offer headache-free 3D gaming. Now that same desktop technology could soon be available to mobile gamers, with rumors that Wistron are developing a notebook version for HP machines that will ship later this quarter.
Despite the warm reception to Toshiba’s TG01 smartphone, other devices pledging to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset are still thin on the ground. That’s all set to change in the second half of 2009, though, according to the latest leaks from Taiwan, which suggest HTC is among manufacturers intending to use the Snapdragon platform.
Lurking in the second half of the ARM Snapdragon video we wrote about this morning is the Wistron Firstbook, a Linux-based netbook designed around the same chipset that powers the Toshiba TG01. Resembling a Sony VAIO P, the Firstbook has integrated 3G WWAN connectivity and a widescreen display.
Video demo after the cut
SlashGear JP
