I have just received confirmation, direct from ASUS, that there won’t be a 10" Eee PC in the same casing as the current Eee PC.

The confirmation comes direct from the person that reportedly said that there would be a 10" umpc in the same casing as the current Eee PC but the info on the original website was obviously a mis-quote.

My apologies for the mis-information. I try my best to research right down to the original reporter but sometimes its just not good enough!

Update: Latest news about the R3 / R50 UMPC is available on the new R3 / R50 product page.

It looks like ASUS will be launching that R3 (image right) as the R50A. I’m not sure if its going to be an upgraded version. So far I only have this:

Revolutionary Ultra Mobile PC redefines “mobile” with full PC and GPS functionality

Note that they don’t call it a MID. Its a ‘full pc’

I’m sure there’s going to be more info later…

Update: This info is coming from the CES preview day (CES Unveiled @ New York) but i’m trying to track down the full story. JKK is on the case too with the new 1.3Ghz Q1 Ultra.

Update 2: It appears that the Asus R50 and the new Samsung were recipients of some sort of Innovation award. There doesn’t seem to be any more information available at the moment.

Today is CES preview day and later today there will be a press event. Some news is already leaking out.

How about a Q1 Ultra with the Core 2 solo CPU? That should keep some people happy!

The Ultra-mobile PC features full PC functionality wrapped around a 1.9 pound UMPC form factor including a 7″ wide LCD, integrated split-QWERTY keyboard and a 1.33GHz ULV Intel Core Solo Pentium CPU.

More info to come later i’m sure…

Update: It appears that the Asus R50 and the new Samsung were recipients of some sort of Innovation award. There doesn’t seem to be any more information available at the moment.

Tracing a Pocketables story right back to the source reveals some interesting news. Apparently a press representative for ASUS in Germany said that there would be a 10″ version of the Eee PC in the same shell as the original version. The 10″ screen news is old but the fact that it will come in the same shell as the original Eee PC is new to me.

Lets assume that they will bump it up to 1024×600 and offer it with Windows XP for the previously rumored price of $1000. Mmm. It doesn’t sounds so cheap but it would be smaller than its rivals and would still undercut them by price. Take the Averatec 1100 for example. Or the LG C1. It would look pretty cool too (scale mock-up image on the left.) I’m trying to get details through some ASUS contacts. Lets see what they have to say!

Update: ASUS responded and its bad news. See latest story.

The second item of Eee PC relevant news comes via JKK Mobile who reports on the PCI-E Mini SSD card that Sandisk have announced as part of the CES preview today. Its called the ‘Vaulter’ and comes in 8GB or 16GB versions. It would allow Eee PC users to expand the drive capacity internally. It will be launched in Jan at CES. Press release here.

Apparently there was a gadget show last week. Avanade and Expansys put on something sort of gadget show. I’m not sure where it was but Ian Crowther went there in the hope that he cold find a solution for his 2hr 15minute commute to work. He blogged his thoughts and mentions a few of his requirements which include battery life, price, weight, size, screen quality and, judging by some of the devices on his short list, a keyboard. He’s a web developer but his requirements for the device go something like this…

I really just want a portable device that I can read my feeds with, do some emails, research and write some blog�s, create some slides with and maybe work on the odd Google doc or spreadsheet.

For months and months the HTC Shift has been at the top of the UMPCPortal product list as the most-viewed UMPC. Visitors here seem to love the design and even despite a few set-backs, it’s still as popular as ever. In recent weeks though, there’s been another UMPC climbing the charts and today, its sitting almost side-by-side with the Shift at the top of the list. The ASUS Eee PC. The two UMPCs have similar processors, similar sizes and similar capabilities. In fact, looking at the top 5 devices today I see nothing but notebook-style UMPCs. The U1010/810 is there, the Packard Bell Easynote XS (presumably because I reported on it this week) and the Kohjinsha SH6. 5 mobile devices, 5 sets of similar specifications and yet, a range of prices ranging from 300 to 1200 Euro. It hardly seems possible that the HTC Shift could be worth 4 times as much as the Eee PC. Is it?

UMPCs are about mobility. UMPCs are often about productivity and unfortunately, due to the higher pre-sales, production costs and lower demand are mainly targeted at professional people. The Eee PC is the first Ultra Mobile PC that breaks this mould and it puts into question the high prices being asked for the other devices in the market so what I’ve done below is to try and highlight why the HTC Shift and other UMPCs are so expensive. Take a read through and then, in the comments, let me know whether you think the SHift, U810, SH6 etc, are value for money or not. I’m not expecting everyone to agree and I’m certainly not in a defensive position regarding the Shift or other ‘expensive’ UMPCs here, I’m merely trying to outline why I think they have their respective price positions in the market. [read on]

A number of Korean web-sites are reporting on the WiBrain B1 today. JKK tracked them down this morning (i think he’s got a secret fetish for the device based on his recent B1 postings!) and has put up a set of images on his blog.

Looking at the web-site translations reveals a lot of talk about heat dissipation for some reason. The battery has a split casing with integrated vents and the UMPC casing itself has a multitude of air grilles.I couldn’t find any info on battery life or price though.

One thing that is revealed is that the B1 made by Digital Cube. It’s the final design of  the device they presented as the I-station G43 at CeBit. I had a meeting with them about the design then and we talked about split keyboards and mouse pointers. Its interesting to see what they’ve come up with. At first I though it might be too wide but the in-hand shot makes it look quite small. Its about 30mm wider than an Everun, 50mm wider than an OQO. Click the sizeasy image for an interactive comparison.

I have no doubt that this is going to be an easy-to use and powerful mobile Internet device, possibly trumping the OQO for value for money in that area, but I don’t find myself attracted to the design at all. Surely there must be a way to make that form factor look better? Maybe they should have waited for Mobile-ITX or Menlow platforms!

Wibrain B1 specifications

UPmania ( Korean )  PMPInside ( Translated )

Lots of Android news out today. First, lets pick up on the Engadget news. The SDK has been released along with a new set of videos. The first video shows two types of device being demo’d and gives us some nice information about the applications and features of the device. The browser is built on WebKit (as is Nokia’s Series 60 browser) which has a graphical history feature (again, similar to the S60 browser) there’s touchscreen support, maps integration and 3D support along with media support for MPEG4, H.264, MP3, […]