Category: Laptops

High School students get the OLPC XO-1.5 HS Laptop with new keyboard

Posted by Charbax – August 5, 2010
Category: Laptops, Pixel Qi, OLPC

Uruguay has already given one laptop to every child between 6-12 years old. Now they want to give laptops to older students too from 12-15 years old. For this, OLPC has installed a keyboard that is more suitable for older kids:

Remember that OLPC is full at work on OLPC XO-1.75 which is a Marvell Armada powered OLPC laptop, which may also get a 8.9″ touch screen. And that OLPC is also full at work with Marvell to release the XO-3 tablet design by next CES.

As you can see with the hundreds of videos at my other video-blog http://olpc.tv, OLPC is a huge success wherever it is implemented. The ARM based versions that are coming, hopefully also using the newest version of the Pixel Qi screens, should allow for a significant lowering of the manufacturing prices and a much lower power consumption.

Source of this video: olpcnews.com

I filmed the Augen $99 smartbook 6 months ago

Posted by Charbax – August 1, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Opinions, Rockchip, Google, Android

Engadget and a bunch of other blogs have been reporting these last few days about the cool Augen branded Android Smartbook and Tablets that are being released in the US market at affordable $99 and $149 prices by Super Market chain KMart. I just would like to remind my readers that I posted my video review of the Augen Smartbook 6 months ago on January 29th as it’s based on the Hivision PWS700CA and its cool RockChip ARM9 processor that runs Android in this video: http://138.2.152.197/2010/01/29/android-laptop-review-hivision-pws700ca/

and that the Telechips ARM11 800mhz based Augen $149 7″ Tablet that Engadget and plenty other blogs also are talking about seems to be based on the same 7″ resistive tablet hardware design that I filmed 5 months ago presented by MAG Digital at CeBIT 2010 in this video: http://138.2.152.197/2010/03/02/mag-digital-presents-windows-ce-that-looks-like-android-in-a-tablet/

To let you know my opinion. I think it is fantastic that Augen and KMart are promoting such cheaper Android Laptop and Tablet form factors as alternatives to the much more expensive Apple iPad and Intel Netbooks. Archos has also been selling the similarly priced Archos 7 Home Tablet on the worldwide market which I video reviewed 5 months ago, which is now broadly available in many retail and online stores below $200 for the 8GB version (and the 2GB version originally planned at $149, then $179 but for now they are mostly selling the 8GB version). That Rockchip based Laptop and Tablet platform also being upgraded to 1ghz still ARM9 to support newer Android 2.2 versions.

But as we have heard from Canonical developers and from hearsay and off camera chatter by Google people at the Google Q&A at Computex about Chrome OS on ARM Laptops, although the second generation 45nm ARM Cortex A8 with faster DDR RAM and faster I/O performance can be enough, the coming of ARM Cortex A9 platforms may be preferable to achieve the full desktop web browsing experience that most consumers may require for them to consider the ARM platforms as fully usable alternatives in the Intel/Microsoft dominated Laptop market. And the iPad and the whole bunch of smart phones that are currently spread all over the market, those may kind of set expectations at capacitive and ARM Cortex A8 performance at the minimum. So it will be interesting, capacitive touch screen manufacturers allowing, to see how soon and how cheap those capacitive Android tablet designs at full user interface speeds can reach the market. ARM9 and ARM11 resistive tablets are not bad for a start, they can give the consumers and bloggers a taste of what can be done with Android at retail prices below $200 and even below $100. The ultimate goal should be though that we should have full speed ARM Cortex versions of all these devices in all the stores, with the best capacitive screens for tablets or non-touch screens for Laptops, preferably Pixel Qi screens, and available below $200 without contracts, running free Linux based Android or Ubuntu OSes.

Rockchip RK2818 to come at 1ghz with improved DSP

Posted by Charbax – July 13, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, PMPs, Rockchip, Archos, Android

Rockchip may be the new “China Processor”, that ARM Processor coming out of China that can be found in some of the cheap Android Tablets and Laptops. This could be a major part of China’s attempt at providing every component of future low cost computing devices, even the processor. The new version of the Rockchip processor is said to be faster, RK2808 is 600mhz while RK2818 can go to 1ghz. But according to Toms Hardware, this new Rockchip RK2818 might still be ARM926EJ-S ARMv5 based.

In practice, RK2808 reached 1.1 DMIPS per MHz, while a core based on the Cortex A8 is 2 DMIPS per MHz and the recent Cortex A9 is 2.5 per DMIPS MHz. Even at 1 GHz, a Rockchip will be about two times slower than what the Cortex competition offers (at a higher price).

The question might be, how much cheaper are ARM9 based devices? Rockchip might still be only for low-end lower cost devices mostly made by Chinese manufacturers. The good news is this new Rockchip can support Android 2.1 and 2.2 (while RK2808 can only do Android 1.5). It’s got to be thanks to its newer and better DSP graphics accelerator, with screen support at up to 1024×768 which could be great to power cheap ARM Powered laptops and low cost 10″ Android Tablets. Availability may be after September for a bunch of new RK2818 based products or maybe also simply quick upgrades of RK2808 based designs. I wonder if the new 720p video playback on RK2818 may be improved, while RK2808 could only playback H264 MKV 720p at up to 2.5mbit/s.

Source: Toms Hardware France (in french)

Newgadgets.de: Toshiba AC100 Dynabook AZ is Tegra-2 Powered

Posted by Charbax – July 12, 2010
Category: Laptops, Nvidia, Android

Wow, the Toshiba AC100 Cloud Companion smartbook is some serious looking ARM Cortex A9 laptop right there, being launched soon! It’s based on Nvidia Tegra 2 1ghz ARM Cortex A9 system on chip, with a nice HDMI output on the side of the device (full 1080p output!), it runs a customized version of Android optimized for the Laptop form factor. It comes with 512MB DDR2 (333 MHz) RAM, 16GB Flash (up to 32GB version available), 2 USB host ports, 10.1″ 1024×600 LED backlit LCD, SDHC card reader, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, WiFi-N and a weight of 870 grams. Toshiba may launch this in Europe in August as a kind of high end thin premium laptop priced 349€ for WiFi-only version and 449€ for the version with built-in 3G HSDPA.

Source: NewGadgets.de, Youtube channel

Canonical explains the status of Ubuntu on ARM Powered Laptops

Posted by Charbax – July 5, 2010
Category: Laptops, Software, Exclusive videos, Freescale, FTF, Ubuntu

In this video, Jerone Young, Partner Engineer at Canonical explains the status of software optimizations and development to make ARM Powered Laptops and Desktops a reality. He tells about some of the fascinating challenges where Canonical is working together with the their partners at the Linaro group of companies (ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST Ericsson, Texas Instruments…) to realize a full desktop experience on ARM Powered devices, including full and fast web browsing and full access to most of the most useful Ubuntu applications.

It’s about hardware acceleration, about standardization of boot process and other aspects of the ARM platforms, this is about focusing development efforts to solve the most important challenges and provide thus open source and free software tools to be used by all ARM Powered Linux based products. With faster memory bus speeds coming up in the next generation of Desktop-centric ARM Processors, such as support for DDR3 RAM speeds, the implementation of multiple cores as in upcoming ARM Cortex A9 processors, the standardization of how to use graphics and video hardware acceleration to speed up user interfaces, applications and features. Those are the challenges that Canonical and its partners are working very hard on and plan to implement in actual products that can start to be sold to the mass market during these coming months.

As you have been able to see in hundreds of videos here on ARMdevices.net, many, many prototypes of ARM Powered laptops are being shown at trade shows. Huge laptop makers like HP, Toshiba, Dell, Lenovo, Quanta, Compal, Inventec, Pegatron, all of those and many more have shown or have announced ARM Powered laptop projects. Yet to actually launch these to a very large market, the ARM Partners are first collaboratively making sure that those devices provide a user experience that is fast enough for most consumers.

This story as discussed on Slashdot: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/07/06/1256252/Surveying-the-Challenges-of-Linux-On-Cortex-A9-Based-Laptops

Microsoft Word on ARM Powered Laptop using Genesi and Citrix solutions

Posted by Charbax – June 23, 2010
Category: Laptops, Software, Exclusive videos, Freescale, FTF, Ubuntu

Genesi Americas is presenting this awesome looking ARM Cortex A8 based Smartbook design, presented by Genesi who designed the hardware in collaboration with Pegatron of this latest generation of this Freescale Powered Smartbook design. For fun, we are running Microsoft Office through a high resolution version of Citrix viewer on the latest version of Ubuntu 10.4 for ARM processors. This could provide a one click online based software as a service solution. Want to run any X86 application on your ARM Laptop? Just click through the Citrix virtualization stuff and you can have it all running and smoothly. In theory, the apps could be processed by a grid and delivered much faster than on a single x86 processor based device.

Genesi are providing the hardware and software integration solution, in combination with Future Electronics, they can provide the whole solution to carriers, distributors, with the full bill of material, setting up the manufacturing and making the whole thing work and be sold to the market.

Genesi’s main IP is their Aura firmware solution:

Aura, the Genesi Firmware offering, implements a run-time, re-entrant hardware abstraction layer supporting the industry standard IEEE 1275 (OpenFirmware) and UEFI firmware specifications, with significant added functionality.

These additional features provide cost reduction of systems and faster time-to-market of hardware. Genesi provides board bring-up services and firmware for other Power Architecture and ARM hardware suppliers, up to and including a Linux desktop, based on our firmware.

Genesi is an active Open Source supporter, having donated a lot of hardware over the years to Debian, OpenSuSe, Gentoo, Crux and many other Linux distributions.

Genesi are very active in optimizing software specifically for ARM Cortex by porting libraries to the NEON unit in these devices resulting in large speedups.

Genesi has a developer forum: http://www.powerdeveloper.org

Ubuntu 10.7 Smartbook Edition coming for ARM!

Posted by Charbax – June 22, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Freescale, FTF, Ubuntu

Canonical is showing the Freescale i.MX51 Pegatron Laptop reference design running the latest version of Ubuntu Netbook Edition optimized for ARM for speed (could they be calling this the Ubuntu Smartbook Edition?). In this video, the representative of Canonical explains some of the things that are being worked on to optimize Linux as a full laptop experience on ARM platforms like the ARM Cortex A8 and the multi-core ARM Cortex A9 that are coming out soon. I will film another video with Canonical to try to get more details on how the upcoming ARM Powered laptops are going to look like and how Linux is being optimized for it.

Besta 10″ Samsung ARM Cortex A8 Laptop prototype

Posted by Charbax – June 4, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Samsung, Computex, Windows

Here’s a Smartbook based on the Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor. it runs Windows CE 6. Made by manufacturer Besta. It seems pretty fast at browsing the web.

Google Q&A: Chrome browser as just an app in Android Smartbooks?

Posted by Charbax – June 2, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Computex, Android, Chrome OS

I was lucky to be able to ask Sundar Pichai, Google Vice President of Product Management some questions during the Google Cloud Computing Q&A session at the Computex 2010 consumer electronics conference in Taipei Taiwan. Here are the questions I was able to ask during the Q&A:

1. Chrome browser as just an app in Android Smartbooks? (this video)
2. Google Marketplace on Tablets?
3. Native Code to support video and photo editing in Chrome?

Google Q&A: Native Code to support video and photo editing in Chrome?

Posted by Charbax – June 2, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Computex, Chrome OS

I was lucky to be able to ask Sundar Pichai, Google Vice President of Product Management some questions during the Google Cloud Computing Q&A session at the Computex 2010 consumer electronics conference in Taipei Taiwan. Here are the questions I was able to ask:

1. Chrome browser as just an app in Android Smartbooks?
2. Google Marketplace on Tablets?
3. Native Code to support video and photo editing in Chrome? (this video)

Related articles by Zemanta

Pixel Qi vs iPad

Posted by Charbax – June 1, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Displays, Exclusive videos, Computex, Pixel Qi

Comparison of the Pixel Qi screen and the iPad screen in broad sunlight. Pixel Qi wins.

Related articles by Zemanta

Shuoying 10′ Laptop “U100 1A”

Posted by Charbax – June 1, 2010
Category: Laptops, Computex, Shuoying, Windows

ARM 11 processor, Windows CE, approx. 120 US$ for large quantities.

PixelQi screen compared to i Pad screen

Posted by Charbax – June 1, 2010
Category: Laptops, Displays, Pixel Qi

Comparison of the PixelQi screen and the I Pad screen in broad sunlight.

Inventec Dr eye

Posted by Charbax – May 31, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Computex, Android

Cool looking pocketable Android powered full computer system by Inventec.

Pixel Qi shows 10″ capacitive

Posted by Charbax – May 31, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, E-readers, Displays, Exclusive videos, Computex, Pixel Qi

Imagine being able to combine the Laptop, Tablet and e-reader into one convertible device, then having a screen technology that enables you to take it outside in the sun! Geeks outdoors in the sun, how cool is that going to be? Imagine also being able to turn off the backlight, increase up to 5x the battery runtime of your Tablet compared to for example the iPad. At Computex 2010, Pixel Qi is finally releasing the 3Qi screen, here demonstrating 10″ capacitive touch screen support and with half a dozen or more major partners. Here are some details from Mary Lou Jepsen, CTO of Pixel Qi, about the current status of the mass manufacturing of this technology. Look forward to many more Pixel Qi related videos from Computex 2010 uploaded right here on http://ARMdevices.net

I’m testing Chromium OS on ARM Cortex A8, Freescale i.MX51

Posted by Charbax – May 27, 2010
Category: Laptops, Exclusive videos, Freescale, Chrome OS

Here’s a recent build of Chromium OS running on the ARM Cortex A8 Freescale i.MX51 processor platform in a desktop form factor, using a keyboard and mouse on a DVI monitor.

Related articles by Zemanta

carrypad.com: Compaq Airlife 100 video-review

Posted by Charbax – May 25, 2010
Category: Laptops, Qualcomm, Android

You may have seen my previous videos of the HP Compaq Airlife 100 as I filmed it at consumer electronics trade shows these past few months at CES and at Mobile World Congress.

Carrypad.com has got one from HP Spain and have posted this video review.

Related articles by Zemanta

Acer to launch Chrome OS laptops at Computex

Posted by Charbax – May 13, 2010
Category: Laptops, Computex, Pixel Qi, Chrome OS

Acer Incorporated {{lang|zh-Hant|宏碁股份有限公司}}
Image via Wikipedia

Venturebeat.com reports that it has heard from several sources that Acer is going to launch Chrome OS laptops at Computex in June.

Last year’s Computex, Acer really disappointed me with their “fake” Android netbook, one that booted Android as a dual-boot with Windows on an expensive and power consuming Intel Atom based Netbook.

The big questions are:

– Will Acer’s first Chrome OS laptop use an ARM Processor or will it be based on Intel?

– What type of price point does Acer plan to reach?

The answers to those questions I think could be found by answering following two other questions:

– Does Acer want to be innovative enough and be one of the first big laptop manufacturers to use an ARM Processor in a Laptop form factor to lower the price, increase battery runtime, lower the weight and size of their new Chrome OS line of laptops?

or

– Does Acer feel it needs to stay in bed with Intel and Microsoft, and thus keep any non-Wintel projects out of their marketing radar?

If they announce it with ARM and Pixel Qi at Computex, hear the drum rolls:

1. 50h battery runtime

2. Instant on, month of standby

3. Below 800gr, 1cm thickness

4. Below $199 retail, no contracts, they sell tens of millions?

5. Built-in 3G module (maybe not included by default) for always connected use

6. Native Code SDK and OpenGL for even advanced video-editing and 3D games

7. Maybe even a swivel screen and the device holds like an e-reader? Touch-screen not absolute necessity for cheap model. Next/previous page and enter/exit buttons on the side would be good enough.

Source: Venturebeat.com

Related articles by Zemanta

Dell is making ARM Powered Laptops too

Posted by Charbax – April 26, 2010
Category: Laptops, Android

Another leak released by androidcentral.com unveils that Dell also has plans for releasing a “true “netbook”” that is ARM Powered, to run Android probably customized for Laptop form factors.

The code-name is Athens, 11″ SVGA 1024×768 screen, optional 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity modules. There is also the code-name Sparta to be released perhaps as soon as June that may be a convertible Laptop and Tablet form factor.

Source: androidcentral.com

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Sharp IS01, Android 5″ 960×480 capacitive pocketable

Posted by Charbax – March 31, 2010
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Qualcomm, Android

About 6 months after Sharp’s introduction of the Freescale i.MX51 powered PC-Z1 running Ubuntu on the Japanese market, Sharp is now announcing this Qualcomm Snapdragon powered 3G-enabled Android powered device to be released in June to the Japanese market.

Watch also an augmented reality application runing on the Sharp IS01 in this other video interview with a Sharp representative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHXv8ob7jNQ

Here are the specs:
– Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
– Android 1.6 for now
– 5″ touchscreen with a 960×480 resolution featuring Sharp’s “New Mobile ASV” multi-touch capacitive display
– Dual camera with one of 5.27Mpix and one front facing of only 0.43Mpix
– Full QWERTY keyboard with a 11.2mm key pitch
– 1Seg TV tuner (Japanese mobile QVGA 220-320 kbit/s terrestrial TV broadcast standard)
– WiFi
– IRDA
– Aquos Blu-Ray transport allowing you to rip Blu-Ray movies directly
– Bluetooth
– FM Transmitter
– 4GB of internal memory(3GB available for data usage)
– MicroSD slot
– 3G connection using AU CDMA (Japanese CDMA 3G carrier)
– Weight 227g
– Size 83×149×17.9mm

A developer version called JN-DK01 will be available in Japan starting in May.

Source: en.akihabaranews.com

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]