NEC has unveiled a new mini notebook in Japan, namely the LifeTouch Note. It is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chip, 2/8GB of storage, a microSD card slot (2GB or 8GB will be bundled), and runs Android 2.2.

It also has a screen of 7-inch (800 x 480) resistive touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard, a 2MP camera, GPS, an accelerometer, a digital compass, a mini USB port, 02.11 b/g/n WiF, Bluetooth 2.1, and a battery for up to 9 hours of operation.

There will be available for the Japanese market in three versions:

- 2GB of built-in storage and a 2GB memory card (Piano Black) for $480.
- 8GB of built-in storage and an 8GB memory card (Piano Black, Chocolate Brown or Red) for $539.
- 8GB of built-in storage, an 8GB memory card and 3G support for about $659.

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The new Malata T9000 smartbook is designed for students. The Malata T9000 packs a variety of games, a dictionary program, Virtual simulation test, various media players and materials as well as educational materials geared toward Chinese and English, as well as math programs and a general encyclopedia.

The Malata T9000 smartbook is built on 800MHz ARM Marvell Armada 166 processor, a 10-inch  display with resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, 8GB flash storage, a QWERTY keyboard, stereo speakers, USB amd micro USB ports, a SIM card slot, a 3 cell 15Whr battery. The machine runs on Linux OS.

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Toshiba has introduced its first ARM-based smartbook will be called the Toshiba AC100/dynabook AZ. The Toshiba AC100/dynabook AZ has features a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) LED-backlit display, a 1GHz Tegra 250 SoC processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB to 32GB flash storage, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and mobile broadband connectivity.

It’s running Google Android 2.1 and also makes use of a 3-cell battery enabling up to 8 hours of operation. No word on pricing yet though.

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The Sharp Netwalker PC-T1 is a smartbook powered by the 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 CPU, a 5-inch WSVGA touchscreen with resolution of 1024x 600 pixels, 8GB flash storage with microSD card support, 512MB of memory, mono speaker, headphone jack (3.5mm), USB port, miniUSB port, optical mouse, and mouse buttons, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 6-hour battery life, comes in two colors: black and silver, weight 280g and running Ubuntu 9.04.

The Sharp NetWalker PC-T1 for $552.78 from Conics.net.

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Pioneer Computers Australia has also announced the new DreamBook Lite E10 laptop in the Australia market, the Pioneer Computers DreamBook Lite E10 is powered by up to 533MHz ARM VIA 8505 processor, a 10.1-inch display with resolution of 1024×600 pixels, 128MB RAM, 2GB/4GB of integrated memory, a SD memory card slot, 0.3MP webcam, LAN port, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, stereo speakers, microphone, touchpad, three USB port, and optional 3G module. This laptop is running on Windows CE 6.0 or Android operating system.

Gallery: DreamBook Lite E10

The HP Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook is boast a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 CPU, 16GB of built-in flash storage, and 512MB of RAM, a 10.1-inch touchscreen display with resolution of 1024×600 pixels, a 0.3MP webcam, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an SD card slot, and 3G module, a li-polymer battery and enabling up to 12 hours of runtime, and runs on Google Android.

The Lenovo Skylight is Lenovo’s first-ever smartbook, it’s powered by 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 10.1-inch display (1,280 x 720), a Linux OS, 20GB (total) of flash storage, 2GB of cloud storage, an 8GB miniSD card, twin USB ports, 1.3 megapixel camera, 10-hour battery life, built-in 3G and WiFi.

It will launch in the US in April, where one will be able to purchase the Skylight on a standalone basis through Lenovo.com for $499 or on a two-year AT&T 3G data contract. The Skylight will then be available in Europe and China later in 2010.

Some of the specs are:

• CPU: 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
• Chipset: ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon
• Display: 10.1″ 1280 x 720 screen
• Hard Disk: 20GB SSD
• Webcamera: 1.3MP
• Wireless: Yes
• Bluetooth: Yes
• 3G: Yes
• I/O Port: 2 x USB
• Card Reader: miniSD card slot
• Operating System: Linux OS
• Battery: Up to 10-hour battery life
• Weight: 2 pounds (0.9 kg)
• Price: $499

Gallery: Lenovo Skylight smartbook

Credit: netbookchoice.com

According to a report by Digitimes (as cited by Engadget), a section of Taiwanese manufacturers are all set to launch netbooks based on the Snapdragon and Tegra platform, as early as Q4 2009. Users will be able to see the following devices by year end:

• Acer’s Android powered netbook
• Mobinnova’s 8.9-inch élan (for US and European markets)
• Inventec’s 10-inch Tegra based smartbook called the Rainbow
• A netbook based on above platform from Asus (won’t be launched before November 09)

Although the above reports can not be confirmed and are mere speculations but it will be really nice to see such devices in the market competing against the Intel Atom powered netbooks.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform offers a great combination of processing power and battery life. In terms of connectivity it offers 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capability, and GPS. Snapdragon-based devices are thin, ultra-portable and easy to use, with an intuitive user interface, and mobile OS. They have the capability to decode HD video, support high resolution displays, and offer improved 3D graphics.

Similarly, Nvidia’s Tegra system-on-chip with an ARM processor has been developed by NVIDIA for devices such as smartphones, PDAs, and MIDs. The Tegra integrates CPU, GPU, northbridge, southbridge, and memory controller onto a single package. This platform also provides decent performance and good battery life.

It would be interesting to see netbooks based on this platform. Earlier, we have had a glimpse of such devices at the Computex trade fair which was held earlier this year. There are a number of smartphones available in the market that run on these platforms and look quite promising, but, the performance of these processors on a netbook is yet to be seen.

Credit : notebookcheck.net