Freescale Designs $200 Smartbook Tablet for All Day Use
I’m back from a week’s vacation and my return is not a moment too soon. Although CES doesn’t officially begin until Wednesday, the early press releases are already flying off the shelves, even if shipping products aren’t. Freescale kicks today off with news of their smartbook reference design that we’ll soon see. Don’t be too judgmental about the look of this tablet powered by smartphone guts — reference designs are meant to inspire original equipment manufacturers. I’ll admit however, that it reminds me of my first UMPC — only thinner, lighter and with more battery life, all things being equal.
This design offers a small 7″ touchscreen display with 1024 x 600 resolution and weighs a modest 376 grams, which is roughly double the weight of my iPhone. That’s definitely something I could carry all day. Freescale’s i.MX515 ARM processor – built on the Cortex-A8 core architecture — powers the tablet, which also offers OpenVG & OpenGL/ES graphics cores and HD video decoder hardware. Other internals include 512 MB of RAM, between 4 and 64 GB of internal storage, optional 3G modem, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, USB 2.0 and mini USB ports, a speaker, microphone, 3-axis acceleromter, light sensor and 3 megapixel camera capable of VGA recording at 30 fps. There’s also a slick-looking keyboard concept that docks to the tablet itself — looks like a nice solution while stationary, but offers a grab-and-go function when you want to travel lighter.
Freescale’s energy-efficient ARM processor is paired with a 1900 mAh battery, so this could be an all-day type of unit depending on usage patterns. The CPU also means you won’t see a traditional desktop operating system, so I’d expect some form of Linux to be on board. Freescale says that interested parties could out actual products based on this reference by the middle of 2010. Even better is the potential pricing — $200 or less, but that’s only likely in quantities of scale if and when the smartbook category takes off. We’ve got Freescale on our radar for CES, so stay tuned for some hands on impressions and pics of their offerings.
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Interesting, but I feel a bit dismayed that we’re still at the reference design stage. I was hoping that at this year’s CES actual production models of devices like this would be unveiled.
That’s a fair criticism, Allan. But I saw some of the early working prototypes at last year’s show and they were barely cobbled together. Seems like folks were waiting to see a smartbook market develop, which is only just now happening. The question is: how much will it develop?
Looks nice! I am still not sure how easy it will be to hold on to this type of tablets and work on them for long duration. I am guessing you would need some kind of accessory (almost like keyboard dock without keyboard) to give them laptop like feeling and stand.
don’t wanna sound like a troll but… SmartQ8? :P
the only thin client OS that stands a chance of succeeding is ChromeOS. hopefully these tablets will be running a beta version of it for now until Google can get the final version pushed out sooner.
Hmm. Intriguing, but unless it’s capable of inking, I can’t imagine these tablets taking off. What do you think?
Ink on tablets has been around for years, but they haven’t taken off, so I don’t see that as a huge factor.
I don’t know. Obviously, I’m in the minority but I would ONLY buy this tablet (or any others) if they are capable of inking. I work at a medical school as well, which currently requires tablets for first year students because of their note taking ability… so I’m sure it plays some role in how popular a particular tablet becomes.
I’ve heard that the OS choices will be some internal version of Linux, or Android.
For me, I’d want it to be a 10″ tablet, 1280×800 display, RAM choices of 1GB and 2GB, and DVI-I or Display Port out. A PixelQi display wouldn’t hurt, either.
The little keyboard docking station is cute, but I hope they’ll make more conventional docking stations, as well :-} (for using a KVM switch, or your own keyboard).
I like the look of the device and if the price stayed at $200 then it would be a win in my book. But as I have seen with the Smart Q7 the operating system is very important. Plus I just got me a TC1100 and love it.
:)
Smartbook tablet just doesnt work, you cant be a “book” & a “tablet” (unless your a convertible).
Netbook
Netvertible
Smartbook
Smarttab, Smartlet, Smartslate, Smartslab???????????????
IMO:
smartbook tablet = tablet
smartbook clamshell = netbook
“smartbook”, as a general term, is an abomination, and no one should pay it lip service. It should be viewed/used in the same manner as a brand name (like “Vaio” or “EeePC”). We don’t talk about the Dell Mini 9 EeePC, we talk about the Dell Mini 9 netbook. Things with snapdragon processors, in a clamshell format, with a screen size <= 12", are netbooks. The fact that they might be branded as "Smartbooks" doesn't change that they are also netbooks.
(and "netvertible" is … undeserving of a response :-) )
So…
netbook
convertible tablet/netbook
tablet
Smartbook is the big brother of the smartphone
Smartbook is the ARM based version of a netbook
i see nothing wrong with the name.
these devices need a name differential MUCH more than the netbook did, the netbook in reality is just a small laptop.
“Smartbook is the ARM based version of a netbook”
No. ARM netbooks exist, and pre-date the smartbook name. CPU family is not a differentiation between “netbook” and “something else”.
Isn’t a tablet just a flat netbook without the hinge? Not sure I’d want to use a tablet to read e-books and magazines, just like I don’t want to read such things on any LCD screen for a long time.