The former OEM manufacturing arm of Asus (before they split), Pegatron, has showed up at ARM’s “Connected Community Technical Symposium 2009.” The Pegatron AQUIC (Always on Quick on User Interface Cost) Smartbook is an ARM-based notebook that, at least in the event, was running UBUNTU. It should have all the features and furnishings of the average netbook with a 10-inch screen. It’s a little more polished laptop compared to what Pegatron and Freescale showed earlier this year. Pegatron could officialize the AQUIC (is that the netbook model’s final name?) soon with, hopegully, the ultra-cheap price it’s promised.

[via shanzai]

This is in respect to the prevailing prices of the LG OLED touchscreen panels which now stands at $500 and will be used in these Apple tablet computers. Since this will account for roughly 30% of the overall price of the unit, if Apple pushes through with the original date, the production cost of the Apple iTablet could range somewhere between $1500 to 1700 which is quite steep. So, as a compromise, since prices of touchscreen displays are expected to considerably drop heading towards 2011, a delayed release will have a significant effect in lowering the over-all price of these tablet Mac computers.

Two models were mentioned in the report: a 9.7-inch OLED equipped tablet, and a larger 10.6-inch LCD variant. Of course, being that this is from Digitimes, we’re taking this bit of news with a grain of salt and classifying this under the rumor category unless we hear otherwise.

[digitimes via giz]

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According to this rather enlightening CNET article, netbooks are not to be compared with laptops. Rather, think of netbooks as smartphone with a bigger screen and a QWERTY keypad you can actually speed type on.

… students in K through 12 are accustomed to iPhone-size screens and performance. So moving to a Netbook is a big step up. From this perspective, the screens are large, the keyboards expansive, and the performance more than adequate.

Of course, many people already know that (the original contenders were iPhone and Asus Eee PC). I know a friend who said he would never buy a never because he had already bought an iPod Touch. But most people would say this, I don’t need a netbook, I have an iPod Touch (or an iPhone). No one ever said I don’t need an iPod Touch or an iPhone because I already have a netbook. Do you feel the same way?

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Just like the guy on the video says, the MenQ EasyPC E790 is currently running Windows CE but is able to run on Android as well. The best feature of this 7-inch 800 x 480 Shenzhen laptop is its price: only $80. It’s powered by a Samsung ARM9 processor. It must be iterated, this netbook can… run… Google Android. The video man expects ARM Cortex A8 in the future as well. Right now, it has DivX video support. The EasyPC has Skype as well. Wow, imagine when it actually get Android, maybe it’ll support Facebook. Read on for the fabulous video of what this baby can do (see Charbax Skype his secretary live on YouTube, “just to irritate her”). It’s a really, real laptop.

[via slashgear]

It’s hard to imagine carrying a netbook with you on the road only for the portable computer to become a drag on your biker’s lifestyle. As a non-biker myself I can imagine the benefits of an aerodynamic ultraportable for the true road warrior. Well, Shenzen has the answer. Meet the G-Five KTNO2, the netbook with a stainless steel chassis (not aluminum, not plastic and definitely not magnesium alloy). Internal specs are quite ordinary: 10.2-inch LCD, Intel Atom 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth and camera. I know, I know, we’re all hoping this is cheap. Read on for the photos.

[via shanzai]

He further discloses that they want to come out with a more unique product as opposed to another “me-too” netbook which almost every other player in the market has clearly done, including Nokia to a certain extent. Given that they’ve been toying around with the mobile computer concept since back in the day with the HTC Shift, we know they’re quite capable of coming out with a well-equipped and sophisticated netbook of their own. All we’re waiting for is for them put some serious elbow grease behind their aspirations and turn that dream into a reality.

[jkontherun via engadget]

It’s no secret that the Nokia Booklet 3G will be available through Best Buy in the US, and now we’ve got a date to look forward to when it will actually hit stores across the nation. November 15th is the big day, but for Reward Zone members, you can already pre-order yours beginning today. As a quick recap, the Nokia Booklet 3G runs on an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM and is complemented by a 10.1-inch display, WiFi, Bluetooth , 1.3-megapixel camera, HDMI port, hot-swappable SIM card slot and 120GB HDD storage capacity. It’s retailing for $299.99 with a 2-yr AT&T data contract or $599.99 outright purchase.

[nokiamobileblog via engadget]

It’s still the same tiny 4.8-inch (1024 x 600) screen netbook with the 1.1GHz Intel Atom processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and a webcam. Hopefully, Sagem will improve the build quality of the smallest laptop in the world, a flaw which had garnered the most complaints. Video after the break. See if you can spot some changes.

[via gmp3]

Good news once more for the computing public.  Asustek, the pioneer of cheap netbooks, is planning to launch an even cheaper Smartbook in the first quarter of 2010. This smartbook was shown at Computex with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Though we would be more excited with a dual core netbook, Asus is obviously keen on lowering the market price again of ultraportable laptops. I wonder what Asus would call the smartbook… Smart Eee?

[via shanzai]