‘Always-on’ is going to be a seriously important weapon in the fight for the netbook market for ARM-based ‘smart’ devices. I’m 100% sure that the first manufacturer that brings this seamless experience to customers in a fast, well-designed, well-priced device will cause waves in the netbook market. Customers that switch to the ‘always-on’ model aren’t going to go back to anything less.

Not only is always-on going to allow mail and social network polling and instant-use scenarios, it’s also going to enable a whole new range of applications. From a simple alarm clock to video and voice calling, these applications just won’t be possible on Intel-based netbooks with the current platform.

I spent a long time with the Airlife 100 today. It’s a 100% ARM (Snapdragon 1Ghz) ‘smart’ device being offered by Telefonica in Spain. Pricing and availability is not known at the moment but we’re estimating that this one will be free on a 24-month contract.

The 10-minute video below shows the user interface, applications and a look round the design of the device.

For the next 6 days, Intel are sponsoring me to attend Mobile World Congress where I will join with our podcast partner, Sascha to learn more about the Intel Atom Developer program, Moblin and the AppUp Store. We will also present some sessions where we will talk about the IADP ecosystem an try to help developers understand where it does (and could) fit in.

I’m already here in Barcelona (tweeting and buzzing) and Sacha from NetbookNews is on his way from the airport as I write. We’ll be doing some work under our MeetMobility banner and also taking time to check out everything else that’s happening here. 3G is already sorted out (7-days unlimited via Vodafone ES for 18 Euros) and we’re packing some of the best mobile kit we could lay our hands on. We’re also looking forward to meeting our peers at the networking events stay tuned over the next 5 days for a full update on how mobility is spreading hard and fast beyond the mobile phone.

A few dates for your diary:

• Sunday evening: Showstoppers and press events.
• Monday morning: Joint Intel and Nokia Press conference.
• Monday evening: Pepcom event.
• Wednesday 11am: Live Q&A with Scott Apeland, Director of Intel’s Developer Network. (We’ll be watching the chat channel for your questions.)
• Wednesday 2pm: Live MeetMobility Podcast. (here.)

Meet:Mobility Podcast 42 is now available. Recorded on  10th Feb 2010. Podcast notes below.

Listen to the podcasts by clicking on the mp3 link or download/play via the link. Subscription info below. (RSS, iTunes)

SUBSCRIBE

You can also find the podcast on iTunes (Please rate the show on iTunes.) You can also subscribe via RSS.

Show Notes:

Netbooks

Samsung N150, NB50  arrived at netbook news
Info and test coming at Netbooknews.com

Battery battle. Marketing. Differential between marketing and real-world getting too wide.
Steve Jobs said that 10hrs is enough – Overnight charging is good enough. Really?

Smartphones/Smartbooks/MIDs

Android stuff
– multitouch to maps browser etc
– Milestone to 2.01 camera fix, new lock etc hacks
Archos goes Linux
Joo Joo to ship by end of Feb. App store

There are now 40+ app stores in total

UMPCs

UMID BZ now shipping from Dynamism $549
ExoPC, Nav 9, Evi Group Pad.

MWC

Dell Mini 5
Inbrics
HP new 3G device. Tablet.
Notion Ink latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi‘s (Slashgearnews)
Meetmobility event:
http://meetmobility.com/2010/02/09/meet-mobility-at-mwc-2010/

Meet:Mobility Podcast 42 is now available. Recorded on  10th Feb 2010. Podcast notes below.

Listen to the podcasts by clicking on the mp3 link or download/play via the link. Subscription info below. (RSS, iTunes)

SUBSCRIBE

You can also find the podcast on iTunes (Please rate the show on iTunes.) You can also subscribe via RSS.

Show Notes:

Netbooks

Samsung N150, NB50  arrived at netbook news
Info and test coming at Netbooknews.com

Battery battle. Marketing. Differential between marketing and real-world getting too wide.
Steve Jobs said that 10hrs is enough – Overnight charging is good enough. Really?

Smartphones/Smartbooks/MIDs

Android stuff
– multitouch to maps browser etc
– Milestone to 2.01 camera fix, new lock etc hacks
Archos goes Linux
Joo Joo to ship by end of Feb. App store

There are now 40+ app stores in total

UMPCs

UMID BZ now shipping from Dynamism $549
ExoPC, Nav 9, Evi Group Pad.

MWC

Dell Mini 5
Inbrics
HP new 3G device. Tablet.
Notion Ink latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi‘s (Slashgearnews)
Meetmobility event:
http://meetmobility.com/2010/02/09/meet-mobility-at-mwc-2010/

We’ve just had confirmation that Dell will be presenting the Dell Mini 5 at the Mobile World Congress ‘Pepcom’ event in Barcelona, next Monday.

We’ll be at MWC next week so we’re already registered for this event and will be aiming to get you some pics, video, hands-on thoughts and of course, we’ll be watching out for pricing and availability announcements.

Also related to the Pepcom event we’ve heard that HP will be showing some ‘touch’ and ‘mobile’ devices including a ‘new 3G addition.’ Intel will be showing their range of mobile devices (we expect the Intel-based LG GW990 to be there.) Qualcom will also be showing their Mirasol display technology so it’s going to be a busy evening!

Watch out for posts later on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.

It’s been a significant week for Intel. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, they announced that they are entering the phone market. Quite significant if you ask me!

Actually I think the rather significant news got drowned out by the amount of news coming out of MWC, the fact that it wasn’t accompanied by any images of prototypes (always gets the bloggers excited!) and that it’s something planned for 2010 rather than something we can see happening soon.  There’s also a little bit of confusion as to whether the announcement really does mean that LG will make a voice-enabled device or just whether they will just use a voice-enabled OS on a MID

From the press release: Intel’s “Moorestown inch-based MIDs are expected to reduce idle power consumption by a factor of greater than 10 versus today’s Intel Atom processor-based MIDs. Additionally, the Moorestown platform will be accompanied by a newer Moblin software version, Moblin v2.0, that is based on the Linux operating system. This software is designed specifically to deliver a great PC-like Internet experience while also supporting cell phone voice capabilities. The “Moorestown inch platform is expected to come to market by 2010. “[Full news at UMPCPortal]

The offline chat I had with people at Intel certainly made it sound like it was a voice-enabled LG device and this article about the LG device screen technology seems to back that up…

“LG has not given the planned mirasol phones a name, nor has it identified the new mobiles it is developing with Intel that will be based on the chip giant’s Moorestown platform.” [Source]

Don’t under-estimate the significance of that screen tech announcement either. The Mirasol technology is vastly different to LED-backlit LCD screen technology and could make a huge difference to power drain and outside readability.

MWC isn’t over yet and we’ve yet to see reports about the devices Intel took with them to Barcelona. I’m particularly interested to see the UMID and the response it gets.

Finally, there was an announcement that Telmap will be porting a navigation application over to Moblin. This is obviously great news as so far, none of the Moblin MIDs I’ve seen apart from the Navigation-focused ClarionMiND have had navigation software on them. I’m looking forward to getting a look at that, hopefully at CeBIT next month.