I liked the ‘landscape Blackberry’ format of this little messenger I saw at the ARM showcase in Taiwan last week. It’s running Maemo on a Marvell 300-series platform (ARMv5 – in the same league as the Nokia N810 in terms of processing power) The screen was a little small for my eyes but I think there’s potential for using this purely for mobile social networking where you need a wide range of services, 3G, GPS and a quality browser to support all the links that get passed about. You’d certainly save battery life on your main phone although there’s an argument that says it would be easier to just go out and buy a cheap Android slider smartphone. The LG GW620 for example. The built quality was impressive although the  keyboard would have been better. Unfortunately I don’t have any information about where or when this device will be available and how much it will cost.

I’ll be hosting 2 live sessions today that I hope you’ll be able to join in on. The first is the MeetMobility Computex Podcast with Sascha and JKK out in Taiwan, myself back in the studio and special guest, Joanna Stern from Engadget joining us from New York. That will start at 1500 CEST (9am New York, 9pm Taipei, other times here.) and you can join in by tuning to MeetMobility.com/live It will be recorded and available later today.

The second event is a live open presentation and Q&A on the Dell Streak. That will start at 2100 CEST (Midday San Francisco, 2000 UK, other times here.)  I don’t have a full retail model but the device I have allows me to show you around the device, demonstrate some features, give you some thoughts and answer your questions. So far the device is living up to all my expectations with the extra bonus that the battery life appears to be better than I thought. Unfortunately JKK can’t join us because he’s still out in Taipei and by the time he gets back to his studio on Wednesday, I’ll be away on another commitment until the week after. We might have a few Streak owners from the UK joining the chat though so it will be the perfect chance to get together to talk about the device from multiple perspectives. Video and chat will be running at Carrypad.com/live. I’ll be bringing the Sony Ericsson X10, Viliv S5 and Archos 5 for comparison. See you there.

I got myself a big piece of Intel info-marketing at the Intel Atom Software Summit this week and it’s very clear and very significant that Intel managed to drag something like 200 people away from the Computex show floor for 2.5hrs. Atom, MeeGo and AppUp are such important parts of the Intel strategy now that they are getting pushed hard and it seems to be at least raising some eyebrows. The Intel Atom Software Summit at Computex was aimed at the ODM, OEM and operating system community in an effort bring them all up to date about what you might call the continuum within the continuum. Intel talks about a horizontal line of silicon products that serve different markets (the ‘Compute Continuum’)but there’s a vertical within the Atom segment that includes software, user interface and applications. It starts with 6 Atom silicon platforms that support many operating systems. Windows and MeeGo getting special attention and getting their own application ecosystem which includes an application delivery framework, back-end billing, application marketing and developer support.

Here are some notes from the software summit that I hope outline the key points that Intel is trying to put across. The full slide set is available here. (PDF) More information links are included below.

Session notes

Navin Shenoy – VP Intel Asia Pacific introduced the compute continuum (Xeon, Core, Atom) by saying that “Software is the difference between success and failure” [slide: “User Experience”] and introduced Doug Fisher. VP Software and Services.

Doug presents…

[Slide: Mobile Internet is driving, possibly 10B units. ] The message here is that there’s a significant opportunity within the internet-connected device category.

Intel is a ‘Port of choice.” Multiple operating environments are offered. MeeGo Android Windows and Chrome were highlighted. [Sidenote: Chrome and Google are starting to appear more in the marketing i’m seeing.]

Value proposition Slide:

For OEMs:

• Open platform – critical for value
• Best internet Experience
• Faster time to market

For Service provider:

• Strong ecosystem
• Reduce Churn – consistent environment across ecosystem

Value for Developers

• Revenue opportunity.
• Consistent tools and API.

MeeGo, joint OS build and UI framework highlighted. May release achieved. 1.0 reviews were good. Highlighted. on slide.

Doug introduced some partners who highlighted their experience and expectation for MeeGo. As you would imagine, all three partners highlighted good experiences and expectations!

Novell’s Guy Lunardi talks about MeeGo 1.0

Telekom Italia: We are participating with MeeGo on Cubo Vision. The product was ready in 4 months.

Orange and MeeGo; [video]  Talks about value-add. Truly cross-platform device. No talk about real products. We can assume something is coming I guess.

Doung introduced demos of MeeGo 1.0 on netbook, IVI and Tablet.

Message to developers: Amount of work to move apps to move from one product to another is minimal. Only 20% of code base re-write needed (user interface)

Tablet Demo:

See video from yesterday for more on the MeeGo Tablet UI.

[Chippy sidenote: I think this is known as ‘Info Launcher’ and is a product of the MeeGo Enabling Center in Taiwan. It should be available later in the year. Note too that user interfaces are being developed alongside MeeGo and don’t fall into the 6-month update cycle planned for MeeGo.]

AppUp – The Intel framework for application stores on MeeGo and Windows operating systems.

Peter Biddle demonstrates AppUp on MeeGo for tablets AND handhelds (video) first time ever.

Peter: We see phenomenal market in consumer software. We are engaging with Dev community. How:Dev program includes tools, sales channel and marketing.

Plea to audience: Work with us to create customers. Peter highlights this as the kick-start. [Chippy sidenote: Intel needs AppUp to be pre-installed on devices to succeed]

Peter talks about the efforts being done. The work to connect with top iPhone devs. Intel have hired some iPhone devs to help define ‘small’ developer requirements. See slide below.

Biddle: We need to enable devs to get reputation because that is a significant requirement for many small devs.

Soma Games on stage: demo game: [video]

Konami on stage: Joe Morris talks about poetential. [Chippy: Would be great to see Konami games on the AppUp store.]

Peter continues on AppUp:

• Planning on coming out of beta soon.
• Not worried about our ability to attract developers. We need consumers.
• Online user awareness campaign has started.
• AppUp.com relaunched.
• AppUp demo on a Moblin smartphone (port to MeeGo is not complete yet)

Ellis Wang of Asus on stage:

Highlights the launch of Asus Access Cloud: Built on AppUp for notebook and Eee PC customers. Enhanced AppUp.

Note that ASUS and Acer have committed to releasing products that use MeeGo so one would expect that this service will appear there too.

Presentation ends.

At an after-event, we were given the opportunity to ask questions.

• Is multi-user support going into MeeGo? Yes, it will be added to the roadmap.
• MeeGo 1.1 will be released in October and will include always-on, sensor and gesture support. (It will support Oaktrail and Moorestown)
• 4 main user interfaces are being worked-on by user groups. [Chippy sidenote: I’ve heard of 5. Handheld, tablet, netbook. In-vehicle and TV]
• Intel has no position on the threat of patent issues with MeeGo (i.e.. No comment when I asked them whether MeeGo is guaranteed to be free from intellectual property issues.)
• AppUp is not something that will go into Intel’s Android build.
• Intel’s Android build is an official part of the Android work and work done will be sent back upstream.
• Intel’s intention is to have X86 Android devices recognised by Google. (i.e. marketplace, maps , sync etc.)

The summary here is that Intel want to enable a choice of stacks that can run on Atom solutions. Intel wish to enable an application ecosystem for Windows and in Meego, another, free software choice for some selected markets such as in-vehicle, tablets and handhelds. The big take-away for me though is that a huge amount of Intel marketing effort is going into MeeGo and AppUp.

Related:

My hands-on overview of MeeGo 1.0 on a netbook.

A close-up demo of MeeGo’s tablet user interface on an Oaktrail platform.

Intel official slide set from Atom Software Summit

Intel Fact Sheet – MeeGo* and Intel AppUp^SM Gain Momentum at Computex

We caught a sniff of a hint that an Android device was in the works when we met Viliv at CS in Jan and here it is. A 10” slate-style device with the usual high quality Viliv design and materials that turns out to be one of the best we’ve seen here at Computex. (It’s in the running with the MeeGo tablet and the Huawei S7 for me right now.)

The X10 runs on a Samsung 1Ghz Cortex A8-based CPU and, even in the early stage of the software build looks fast. Check out the brochure image for a few more tech details. The X10 is being penciled in for Q4 and Viliv appear confident that they will get marketplace and Google applications onto the device for launch. I asked about price and the only hints I could get were that it would come in at a price below the Viliv S5. We’re looking at the sub $500 bracket here which of course, is a figure you could probably work-out yourself!

Viliv have also worked on a Windows 7 version of the X10 and I’ll have some information about that in a later post.

Check out the video below where I take you round the device, demo a fast racing game which looks great on the 1366×768 screen, show you the Aldiko book reader and  talk about some of the specifications.

More X10 Android pictures in the gallery.

Update: Hands-on video and price now available.

We’ve seen the Huawei S7 before but have never had hands-on or even knew the details on the platform being used to drive it. At the Qualcomm press location today I got to sort both of those issues out and walked away impressed. This is a full 7” capacitive tablet running Android 2.1 with voice, 3G and full Google application suite. Yes, it makes calls but the form factor is just perfect for one-handed use. Personally, I think its the best Android tablet I’ve seen so far. No details on price or availability but we assume that Huawei will using their existing channels and partners to get this out. It won’t be cheap, but it’s got everything needed. I have a video that I’ll upload later. What do you think?

More details on the Huawei S7 in our database.

The Atom Software summit is just kicking of here at Computex. We’re expecting to hear about roadmap, support for advanced features such as multitouch, sensors, gestures. Different UI models from handset to netbook will be shown too. There’s also some hardware here that we’ll get to play with.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day because later we join the ultra mobility group for their presentation.

Update: Full overview of the session is now available.

Hello from the Intel Atom Software Summit at Computex Taipei.

15:22 Jonney Shih on stage talking about gaming…hold you horses for a few minutes!

We’ve just been handed the images of the devices. (Thanks Netbooknews)

15:32 Still waiting for that tablet ‘news.’  The 12” Eee Pad looks rather huge. Comes with a docking station apparently. 10 hours battery life (It’s going to be heavy!)

Press release is available

See scans of press pack in previous post.

15:43 Still waiting. The Garmin A10 smartphone is now on the screen so we should be up next.

15:47 Here we go… Jonney talks about innovations around the Eee PC brand/ Lots of talk about ‘humans’ and ‘life’

Surprise ASUS just launched an app store based on Intel’s AppUp architecture.

This is important for Intel as it means AppUp will be pre-installed. This is  great news for Intel.

15:55 Here comes the tablet news . EP121 with docking station.

EeePC 101TC

Eee Tablet:

OK. Winding down here. We’ll try and get some hands on after the conference but there are some real wolves in here!

End of post.

The tablet featured first in the press conference but there were no product announcements. We’ve actually left the event to head on out to the ASUS press conference.

The tablet has the “ability to allow is to enjoy nearly all the content that we would like to enjoy on a computer today” says Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who went on to talk up the potential market for tablets, his excitement and of course, the Tegra 2.

Surprisingly, he then said “have patience” and went on to explain that devices should come to market in the fall. Just how long is this Tegra story going to drag on?

Here are the relevant slides from the conference…

Today is day Zero (many of you reading this will still living out Sunday but it’s already Monday here) and the action starts in just a few hours with a press conference from chip designer ARM. We’re not expecting anything new to be announced in our area because the Cortex A9 (multi-core ARMv7 architecture) is still just starting to ramp-up with OEMs but we might hear a little bit about Mali, the GPU architecture,  and maybe some hints about future architectures. Mostly, we’re just expecting a partner parade and if we’re lucky, one or two product announcements and maybe, just maybe, some tips about how the operating system space is shaping up in ARM’s non-smartphone world. 

Later today we’ll be hearing from ASUS and there’s an MSI press conference too that I’ll try and report on. Finally, I’ll be attending Mobile Monday here and maybe even giving a short talk on something. Handheld software is in my mind right now but we’ll see what comes up during the day.

Grab yourself a nice Jasmine Team, sit back and enjoy the show. You can go behind my scenes by checking out the stream at http://www.umpcportal.com/behind-the-scenes/ or for near real-time action, my twitter stream @chippy

Computex is one of the biggest and definitely the most important trade show of the year for mobile computing. Not only is it located in the heartland of notebook, netbook and mobile computer design and manufacture but it’s an event that I get additional access to through our friends at Intel. I’m part of the Intel Insider program which is covering my trip to Taipei and giving me some guidance and behind-the-scenes access to information and people. It was last year that we spotted the first Moorestown ‘Mediaphone’ and learnt a lot about Moorestown internals. We had a preview of the Viliv S10 and N5 behind closed doors and walked away with a review sample of the Viliv X70. Of course there were a ton of ARM-based devices too.

This year it looks to be an even more exciting as the sector warms up even more. There are hints that the UMPC is back, at least in tablet form, as Intel prepares special silicon. We think it’s going to be a Moorestown variant that will work for any type of thin and light handheld device and will be a significant step forward from the Menlow platform; enough that even I might consider switching to Windows 7! We’re expecting to see Meego for handhelds demonstrated along with Android on Moorestown too and I’m betting we might even get the first product announcement in that area. As for ARM-based solutions, we  should see a lot of activity from Nvidia, Freescale, Ti and Qualcom as they continue to demonstrate the capability of their platforms. [ARM platform round-up here.] There’s a possibility that HP could demonstrate an early build of WebOS on a tablet and we need to watch HP closely for news about their rumored WIn 7 tablet. That would be a good one for Intel to bring out on stage as a demonstration of a super-thin Windows solution on the new Oaktrail platform!

The schedule:

I fly out tomorrow (Saturday 0900 CEST) and arrive on Sunday (1100 local time) to meet up with JKK, Sascha, and many other tech-bloggers. We’re obviously going to see what we can sneak into on Sunday and Monday and then, as the doors open on the Nangang exhibition hall, I plan to be there to do a first quick round of the two floors before meeting with Intel to get a tour of their booth.

Monday: Preparation, sneak peek! Possible Mobile Monday event.

Tuesday:

• Doors open on the exhibition.
• Intel booth visit.
• Intel keynote (2-3 p.m) from Dadi Perlmutter.
• Evening: Press dinner. Blogger meet.

Wednesday:

• Intel Atom software summit. 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m At 2.5hrs, this is obviously an important topic for Intel.
• LIVE BLOG on Carrypad : Intel Ultra Mobility Group event. 2-3pm [time in your location] Anand Chandrasekher will speak. This is the important one for us. It will cover smartphones, smart tablets, umpc and netbook sectors.
• Evening: Press event with Intel representatives. Blogger meet-up.

Thursday:

• Floor coverage at both Nangang and International Conference Center.

Friday:

• As Thursday. Possible Meet:Mobility podcast.

As you can see, I will remain fairly Intel-focused but don’t expect Intel-only news. Both Ben and Guy will be covering news on Carrypad and UMPCPortal as it breaks and I’ll be feeding them tips from the bloggers out in Taipei. Main, edited content will appear on UMPCPortal (productivity, Windows 7 focus) and Carrypad (consumer, mobile OS focus) but if you want to keep up with the behind the scenes updates, stay tuned to this RSS feed that I’ve constructed from various sources. It will be constantly available here. The official Computex website is here.