Hasta La Gadget!

NVIDIA is showing that wacky Mini 1000 / Tegra mashup at CTIA, but Qualcomm’s not far behind with its own creative ways to repurpose smartphone silicon into MID and netbook-class devices. Making an appearance at Qualcomm’s booth was a prototype PurseBook from Taiwan’s Wistron, which stuffs a Snapdragon chipset into a device looking (and weighing) a little bit like a VAIO P. That’s where the similarities to the Sony box ends, though, because Qualcomm sees the PurseBook (and devices like it) hitting in the $299 to $499 range — we’d like to see them even cheaper, truth be told — and you won’t be running Vista here. Instead, you’ve got a pretty slick Linux distro from ThunderSoft that’ll edit Office docs, give you a desktop-class web experience, and connect with social networks, which are the three things most of us spend 90 percent of our PC face time doing anyhow. It’s not going to replace your laptop by any stretch, but with a claimed 8 hours of battery life, we could totally see packing this thing as an ultra-lightweight alternative for day trips. Qualcomm expects the PurseBook and devices like it to ship in 2009 — as does NVIDIA, so we’re definitely lining up for a sweet battle royale here. Follow the break for video.

Continue reading Wistron’s Snapdragon-powered PurseBook gets demoed

Filed under: Laptops

Wistron’s Snapdragon-powered PurseBook gets demoed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure what sort of shenanigans ARM gets up to, but it managed to amass itself quite the interesting collection of netbooks for its MWC booth. Information was scant, but they were showing that Freescale i.MX-based Pegatron netbook and nettop we saw at CES, an ultrawide 11.1-inch Snapdragon-based netbook from Wistron, a Snapdragon-based convertible tablet netbook from Inventec Alaska, and a totally odd “tech demo” of a Qualcomm-based Wistron MID semi-running a sketch version of Windows Mobile 6.5. Most all of the systems were in some level of prototype form, and seemed unbearably slow at running whatever prototype flavor of Linux they happened to have, while the MID didn’t really seem to operate at all, at least to our touch. Still, it’s clear that Snapdragon and Freescale i.MX are allowing for some pretty wild and thin form factors while still rocking decent battery life.

Continue reading ARM’s stash of netbook oddities and a Windows Mobile 6.5 MID

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs

ARM’s stash of netbook oddities and a Windows Mobile 6.5 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile device platform was little more than suitcase-sized prototype vaporware at CES, but with the launch of the Toshiba TG01, it looks like it’s ready to make a move — word on Digitimes’ somewhat unreliable Taiwanese street is that HTC, LG, Samsung and others are interested in the high-powered chipset. We’re guessing that means we’ll be seeing more more hotrod Windows Mobile devices in the short term, but Snapdragon also supports Android, so we’re holding out hope that those upcoming HTC G-series devices crank the gaming and entertainment factors to 11.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC, Samsung, LG looking to Snapdragon for future handsets? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Finally, an honest to goodness Qualcomm Snapdragon device is about to land in the form of the Toshiba TG01. The 9.9-mm thin handset will feature a 4.1-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) touchscreen display, HSDPA data, GPS, WiFi, a microSD slot, and custom Tosh 3D GUI to hide the Windows Mobile 6.1 uglies within. Most notable is that 1GHz Snapdragon chip that Toshiba claims makes the TG01 considerably faster than any device currently on the market with the promise to “revolutionize the mobile entertainment world.” Perhaps that’s where the DivX support comes in? We’ll see when the TG01 is unveiled at Mobile World Congress in less than two weeks followed by an expected summery launch. One more picture after the break.

Update: Oh man, the hands-on photo galleries from the London launch are coming up over at Pocket-Lint and Electricpig, the latter with head-to-head pics of the TG01 against the 12.3-mm iPhone 3G chubster and BlackBerry Bold. She’s definitely a slim-lined beauty but we have our doubts about that stripey UI. Hey Tosh, where’s the Android OS we saw running on Snapdragon at CES?

[Via Pocket-Lint and Stuff.TV]

Continue reading Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world’s first Snapdragon

Filed under: Cellphones

Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world’s first Snapdragon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At this point we’re pretty close to calling Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform vaporware — sure, we’ve seen a lot of clunky prototypes, but the company’s been promising a commercial launch forever, going so far as to say that it had lined up 30 reference designs by the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung, and ASUS. Sure, ok — but all it’s got at CES are the same old gigantor testing devices and lonely Linux convertible. Oh, but now there’s Android. Very impressive, guys — too bad Android was also running on the actually-interesting GiiNii Movit Mini parked next door. At least the whole thing wasn’t faked liked last year, we suppose. Shots in the gallery, of course.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Qualcomm tries to distract from Snapdragon fail with Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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