We’re expecting to see MIDs aplenty (Mobile Internet Devices, a smaller cousin of the UMPC) at this year’s CES, but we didn’t know Lenovo would be getting in on the action. The Chinese company is most closely identified with the business-friendly ThinkPad line it bought from IBM, at least in the States, so the shiny device spotted in this video represents a bit of a departure for them. As depicted in the video after the break, the device has what looks to be an odd sort of numeric keypad. There’s also a built-in accelerometer to sense orientation, and we can only hope a slide-out keyboard hidden underneath. UMPC Portal conjectures that the unit is running an Adobe AIR app to give it that flashy interface, but it certainly looks like the everything is awaiting a little bit of polish. We’ll obviously be keeping a close eye on Lenovo for this one next week.
Archives for the day Saturday, January 5th, 2008
Palm’s not the only company bringing some new Windows Mobile kit to Vodafone this year — Boy Genius Report’s scoopage of Voda’s ‘08 lineup includes a new HP, too. The “Silver” (a codename, we assume) should put the kinda sad iPAQ 510 out of business and appears to take a page straight outta the Pearl’s book, right down to the WiFi, GPS, and SureType keyboard (which is surprisingly actually identified as “SureType,” a RIM trademark). Unlike the Pearl, though, this sucker rocks Windows Mobile 6 Standard and HSDPA — a whopping 7.2Mbps of it. Look for it in July for about £250 ($494).
Okay, next up from Boy Genius Report’s Vodafone breakdown comes the Nokia “Liam,” the phone we just saw in the wild being called the E71. No word from this slide whether the E71 name is gonna stick, but Liam is pretty obviously a codename so it’ll pick up an “E” number of one sort or another by the time it launches in the second quarter. Looks like all the features we’d heard so far are holding strong: HSDPA, 3.6 megapixel cam, WiFi, GPS, video call support, and pretty much all the S60 you can handle. No word from this slide whether US 3G’s in the mix, but we’re crossing our fingers.