Live from the Engadget live blogging feed, its the Intel Keynote….. wooohooooo!

The March of the MIDS.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to blog it……see Engadget for that.

Update: Live feed available. See the bottom-left of this INtel page.

Sascha from Epiacenter just sent me a huge bunch of live photos of the Noahpad UMPC. This is one that definitely needs some hands-on. Its hard to just look at these images and imagine how easy it would be to use.

The Noahpad Gallery is available here.

Thanks again to Epiacenter

JKKmobile got hold of, and shared (thanks matey!) a photo of the real LG UMPC deal!

With the spec’s he picked up previously, it gives me enough to put it into the database as an ‘expected’ UMPC and to track images and news.

Here’s the product page but as Engadget has picked up the story and linked in to it, its a bit slow right now!

A number of bloggers and reporters are getting hands-on with the Intel MIDS (15 of them according to one report) and there are now some reports that are definitely worth checking out.

First up, take a look at the GottaBeMobile video from the Digital Experience event yesterday. Gary Willihnganz, the marketing director for Intel’s ultra mobile group gives us a big smile and talks about ‘showcasing devices that will be available in the middle of 2008.’ He reveals that the ‘unknown’ MID is from a Taiwanese manufacturer called USI and show’s the Digifriends, and Lennovo device which should be one of the first to launch. GottaBeMobile.

Engadget got some hands-on too. Veronica Belmont reports briefly and mentions a $599 price point and availability ‘some time in the next year.’ There’s a video of the Aigo and its looking really good. It’s running what looks like Red Flag (not Red Hat) Linux and ‘may come with 3G or Wimax.’ Engadget.

Good news for MID fans from Skype. Skype will work with Intel to develop a Mobile Skype experience for MIDs. There’s a long-winded press release available but I guess what it means is that Skype developers will work together with the Intel Moblin team to optimise the UI, support the video hardware and make the processing more efficient.

Skype over 3.5G works well (given the right data plan!) and funnily enough, myself and JKK tested out exactly that yesterday using standard Skype on two HSDPA-equipped UMPCs.  This will make a good addition to the comms methods on MIDs but I hope they don’t forget the standards-based SIP method. Nokia support it on their Internet Tablets and I find it integrates better than skype does.

Full news (press release) at GottaBeMobile.

It’s Podcast #3 and there was a lot of stuff to talk about so ,as is normal, we went over our allotted time to squeeze in some talk about the 7 MIDS, 5 UMPCs, 2 consumer Internet devices and a boring keynote from Gates. Bless his cotton socks!

Listen or download the MP3, 19 minutes, 17MB here.

UPMania has the scoop on a new, redesigned Kohjinsha V-series UMPC. It follows the notebook style of the SA and SH ranges but this time, and I really don’t know why, includes a CDROM. In one and a half years of using UMPCs I’ve never needed a CDROM on the go. Wouldn’t it have been better to stuff another battery in that space?

One assumes that they’ve had to completely re-design the motherboard though so maybe, just maybe, they’ve managed to reach better efficiencies. THe SH-range, remember, was an under-performer compared to other McCaslin-based UMPCs when it came to energy efficiency.

Due to a broken broadband connection here (thank goodness for the Q1b HSDPA again) and a back-log of CES posts I haven’t been able to pick out the specs. I’ve got a few requests out and will get back to you all soon.

In addtion to the V801, there’s a new SA1 AMD-based device on the horizon with a 1024×600 screen. The AMD-Geode based devices are some of the most efficient available but not really up to the task of laptop replacement. With Menlow round the corner, the life of the AMD Geode in UMPCs must be fairly limited now.

Source (with more images and some specs) UPMania. Via JKKMobile.

Again, Jenn has come up with the goods and picked up information on a raft of Menlow-based Mobile Internet Devices that Intel is showing off. As was the case last year at CES, there asren’t any official press releases and although we’ll probably pick up some details over the next days, the formal and final information will be left to individual company launches when Menlow goes into full production in April. Unless, that is, Intel have broght the launch forward.

Everyone is going for the Aigo as there favorite of the bunch so far. Me too. The 4.8@ slider form factor is one of the most optimal designs in terms of usability. I’m really suprised at how many slate-type devices there are though. Rather dissapointed in fact.

Here’s the summary of devices that Jenn got images of at the Digital Experience event.

Toshiba. An important brand. A slate device with metal surround.

Clarion. Again, a slate-type device. Given Clarion’s automotive focus, I wouldn’t be suprised to see this integrate into some sort of in-car media system.

Digifriends. Nope, i’ve never heard of them before either. It looks like they are a Korean company. The similarities with the iPhone are sure to draw criticism but I like the look of the device. Again, it seems there’s no keyboard.

Aigo. With a nice slider form factor, this is starting to rise to the top of the favorites list for many.

There’s one more device over at Pocketables. One from an unknown company. Again, a slider. To see that, take a trip over to Pocketables and keep it bookmarked as Jenn will be re-visiting the Intel MIDS for close-up action.