For those who are not yet satisfied, post-PC era is already here with us? We can fairly decisively conclude we’ve finally entered a post-netbook time. And this Q2 2011 marks the first time we’ve witnessed netbbooks numbers being eclipsed by tablets, according to ABI Research – where global tablet sales increased to 13.6 million units, than that of 7.3 million netbooks. In fact, Netbooks surged 13% from their first quarter sales of 8.4 million netbooks, and, more significantly, tablet sales really shot up: clocking 6.4 million units in the first quarter of this year.

Cost seemingly isn’t a driving factor as earlier thought – according to the research firm; tablets still maintains an average price of $600 – almost double compared to their typically under-powered netbooks. Oh, by the way, did you know that of the 68% of tablets sold were of Cupertino’s flavor?

Source: CNET UK

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During GigaOM Mobilize, NetbookNews were able to get a hands on with the Malata T9000 smartbook. The T9000 lives up to it’s name of a Smartbook as the device is clearly aimed at the educational market. Learning materials are included on the smartbook, such as English, Chinese, Maths and an Encyclopedia. It also has a games dictionary and supports video, photo, audio and music playback.

The OS used seems to be a customized version of Linux. Specs wise it features a 8GB SSD, 10 inch display and runs on a Marvell Armada 166 processor. It comes in a blue and black clamshell which is described as being a thinner Asus SeaShell case. Currently the Malata Smartbook is available in China with an ADSL contract, however pricing isn’t currently known. There’s also no word on whether the company will be releasing this educational smartbook outside of China. You can view the hands on video of the Malata T9000 smartbook after the jump.(...)
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Genesi USA is a company that not many people have heard of but, they’ve released a smartbook in the US with an ARM processor. So if you can’t wait for Toshiba or HP to release their smartbooks in the US, the Genesi Efika MX Smartbook is a good alternative.

It doesn’t have the most powerful ARM processor but, it includes an 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, which is powerful enough to play 720P HD videos. Unfortunately the internal storage space is limited to 16GB but, it does have an SD card reader if you need more memory. It also features Wi-Fi, an optional 3G/UMTS modem and Bluetooth.

The Efika MX also features a 10.1 inch display, with a 1024×600 resolution and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The smartbook is powered by Linux and uses less than 12 watts of power but, there’s no word on what the battery life is yet. You can order the smartbook from Genesi USA for $349 but, there are cheaper Windows 7 powered netbooks available, which have larger hard drives. Non of the Windows netbooks however weigh just 2 pounds in this price range.

There’s also a hands on video on the smartbook which you can view after the jump. (...)
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While we may never get to lay our eyes on the final version of the Lenovo Skylight, Freescale has surprised us with a new Lenovo smartbook put together by Pegatron. Being a smartbook, it has the innards of a typical smartphone running under the hood. This includes an 800MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, a memory controller that supports DDR2-400 or mDDR-400 up to 200MHz, a NEON coprocessor with SIMD architecture, digital audio subsystem that supports multichannel SPDIF output, controller, Fast Ethernet, FIR ( Fast InfraRed), a GPU with 2D and 3D acceleration core dedicated OpenVG and OpenGL / ES and a decoding engine with support for HD 720p/1080i.

According to the gang over at Notebook Italia, Freescale’s MC13892 power management IC makes it possible for the smartbook to run without needing active cooling or even passive cooling, a claim which I personally find hard to believe (though I’m not saying it’s impossible). The battery life, they say can rival a standard mobile phone. The form factor on this one is very nice and looks like it’ll beat any smartphone or tablet PC by a long shot. More details about it are expected to come out soon.

Via Notebook Italia

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While to most, a smartbook is considered a cross between a smartphone and a netbook. However, a company in Germany, are fighting to save their trademark, with the company name being Smartbook and as Liliputing say, are about to confuse a lot of people. Smartbook will be releasing their own mini laptop. Unlike other smartbooks and netbooks on the market though, the Smartbook Logo is to be a CULV laptop. Featuring an 11.6 inch display, with a 1366×768 resolution, 1GB RAM and 250GB hard drive. It wll also feature HDMI output and use Windows 7 Home Premium for the OS. You’ll also find a 3G UMTS modem on the Smartbook Logo.

The company are set to launch the Smartbook Logo 3G next month at CeBit. In Europe it will retail for around 699 Euros.

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While talking about their highly popular and in-demand Snapdragon mobile processor, Mark Frankel, Qualcomm’s VP of product management managed to sneak in a few of his thoughts regarding the Apple iPad and one of its major flaws: the lack of 3G connectivity on the standard model.

Frankel was quoted as saying, “What’s a tablet without [3G] connectivity? What’s the sense in carrying round such a light, thin product if you have to search for the internet hotspots to connect?” I have to say, I agree wholeheartedly with this man’s sentiments.

Going forward in the interview, he hinted that there will be similar products to Apple’s iPad in the future, but will be better, faster and most of all, sport 3G connectivity. Read other highlights of the interview via the link below.

Via Mobile Entertainment

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Well, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. A build file sent to the blog AndroidSPIN reveals info that HTC is making a new device, likely a smartbook. It will be named Scorpion with possibly a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, WiMAX and Android 2.2.

Anything else is conjecture at this point since no other details were revealed. But Nokia already released its own netbook and so it is very likely that a popular smartphone maker like HTC will do something similar. The lines between what companies are making are starting to blur more and more.

source AndroidSPIN

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In a recent interview with Asustek chairman Jonney Shih, he explained that the company is not looking into making smartbooks and eBook readers in the near future.

He says that one of the major roadblocks for this technology is the compatibility with most software. Most Asus netbooks can run on a host of different OSes – Linux, Android, Windows and yes even Mac OS if you are committed enough. While not all smartbooks come with in-house operating systems, compatibility with existing programs might become an issue.

He adds that the hurdle for readers will be content and not hardware, which he confesses is easy enough to put together. If the device is launched by a big book retailer like Amazon and Barnes and Noble did, content won’t be a problem. But letting people load their own content or mixing content with other partners is a tricky business, especially file sharing.

I’m sure that when the time is right, Asus will get into the game and deliver exciting new products just as they did when they launched the Eee line.

source Digitimes

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Asus isn’t limiting its options in the mobile computing space with Windows and Intel Pinetrail Atom processors. Showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is this Pegatron-branded lightweight pseudo-laptop called the Neo, and it runs Android with an NVIDIA Tegra 2 driving the display for high-definition media enjoyment. The outer appearance pretty much screams “netbook” but it’s been deemed as “spectacularly thin and light.” In addition, it runs on the open-source mobile OS created by Google, Android. It still might seem peculiar to some, seeing a mobile OS on something that’s not a smartphone, but it’s something that grows on you. It’s going to be much faster than Windows anyway, and much less of a battery hog. Pricing and availability hasn’t been revealed at the moment, but you can count on the Neo being available later this year.

Via Engadget

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Marvell is currently showing off some devices that run their Armada CPU. One of the more interesting ones is this smartbook prototype. Unlike the Lenovo Skylight, this one looks pretty much like your standard netbook though it is as thin as the Lenovo one.

While it’s currently in ODM mode (read: not yet branded), I’m sure it will be up for sale soon. Price is roughly  $200 which is really good for my wallet. It will also deliver around 4 hours of battery life. Not much, but it should be useable for short bursts of work. The screen is a comfy 12.1″ and runs Ubuntu Linux.

If Marvell or its partner manufacturers get this out the gate really quick, I’m sure more people will get sold on the smartbook idea.

source engadget

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