Freescale is certainly having some fun with the tablet PC concept. Back at CES it showed off it’s i.MX51 reference design platform , a 7-inch touch screen tablet running Android. In a repeat performance at the Mobile World Congress it trotted out the i.MX51 once more, but this time sporting both Chromium OS and Linux ( Milos by ThunderSoft ).
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According to market research firm ABI Research, smartbooks — a relatively new segment — are about to get their due and will see 163 million shipments worldwide by 2015. But how does ABI define a smartbook? “ABI Research defines a smartbook as a low-powered device running a mobile operating system that is always connected, either via Wi-Fi or using cellular or mobile broadband,” explained Jeff Orr, a senior analyst with ABI Research.
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An ARM-based netbook running Ubuntu could be in your future with the newest version of Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Much like Windows, the popular Linux distro did not previously have support for ARM processors. This meant you’d only see Ubuntu on Atom-based netbooks, a category dominated by Windows. With the anticipated flood of ARM packing “smartbooks” expected to materialize, the devs got to work rewriting Ubuntu . According to Ubuntu’s Jamie Bennet, the problem was that Ubuntu Netbook Edition required 3D graphics drivers that didn’t exist for ARM chips
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Life is full of decisions, and for Asus, the big dilemma is which of Google’s OSes would be the best fit for its upcoming smartbook, Android or Chrome. “You still have some trade-off between Android and Chrome,” said Jonney Shih , Asus’ chairman. “With Android you might have the timing advantage, but Android is originally more for the smartphone, for the smaller screen. For Chrome, the original design objective is for a bigger screen — it has multi-windowing, and is…maybe more suitable.” The decision has perplexed Asus so much that Shih admitted to having a prototype Android device in its lab “for quite a while,” but has held off on launching it.
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Qualcomm’s ARM-based Snapdragon chipset is ideal for a lot of different types of devices and form factors. Don’t be surprised if you come across smartphones, smartbooks, slate PCs and netbooks all powered by the Snapdragon. We already know that the Google Nexus One is driven by a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor. But Qualcomm plans to up the ante with the addition of even more powerful processors to its Snapdragon line.
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CES is the time of year when companies are all too happy to unveil upcoming product releases, so it would stand to reason that Asus would at least offer a sneak peek of its upcoming e-book reader, if not a product announcement. But despite the buzz, Asus chairman Jonney Shih said his company is taking a patient approach to both smartbooks and e-book readers, and doesn’t plan to showcase either one. A curious decision for sure, given all the attention e-books are receiving as of late. But Shih says finding the right content suppliers is a major task, not just for Asus, but for every e-book reader. Because Asus is still weighing their options, the company felt it best not to display these devices, even though Shih said the hardware is pretty easy
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If you’ve seen one netbook, you’ve them all, minus a slight variation here and there, and that includes the internal specs. So if a company goes off the beaten path and releases something a little bit ‘different, ‘ they should be applauded, right? Decide for yourself. At $3,000, Smartbook AG’s Swarovski-laden Zenid GC Crystal netbook is as expensive as it is horrific.
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