Nokia N900 coming – Nokia Tablets are not dead!

Nokia is soon going to release Nokia N900, a MID (Mobile Internet Device) running Maemo OS. It is going to be equipped with WVGA display, 32-48GB storage memory, a 5MP auto-focus camera with flash (!). It will hit European retailers in the month of July.

Although, we are not huge fans of devices, which do not run Desktop OS like XP or Ubuntu, but we are happy to know that Nokia has not completely forgotten its loyal Tablet fans. Also, it is great that Nokia is bumping up the storage memory to 32GB, which will allow the users to store a lot of data, but the overall package could have become better if they had decided to bump up the resolution to something like 1024 x 600. WVGA (800 x 480) is commonly found in HTC Phones and MIDs need to have some sort of edge over the phones.

ARM netbook coming to AT&T

AT&T is soon going to offer ARM based netbooks running Linux OS. Glen Lurie, President of emerging devices for AT&T says,

“There are a lot of people who will dive in and build netbooks, including folks like cellular or wireless OEMs who never built a computer before. There will be a lot of innovation around what a netbook looks like and what the use cases are, and we will see this evolve very quickly,”

He thinks that the ARM based netbooks would do just fine as people are doing their work via Cloud-based applications and thus do not need a lot of horsepower in their netbooks. He also showed keen interest in the MIDs, which he refers to as “smartphones on steroids.”

AT&T is already selling four subsidized netbooks: Acer Aspire One, Dell Mini 9, Dell Mini 12 and LG X110.

PS: Lurie also manages AT&T’s relationship with Apple to sell the iPhone in the U.S.

Compal reducing R&D support for MIDs – Are they not selling well?

MID (Mobile Internet Devices) is a segment which started along with UMPCs (ultra mobile PCs) and Netbook. Both UMPCs and MIDs simply failed to take off.

The Compal Electronics has reduced its R&D resources specifically allocated for MIDs due to the uncertain business outlook for the segment, according to industry sources.

However, Compal made a wise move by shifting those employees to the netbook R&D segment.

Z550 Atom processor reaches 2.0GHz

Information about two Z-series Atom processors was leaked today. One is 1.2GHz processor (Z515), which is extremely power-frugal and consumes just 1.4W when running at full power and as-little-as 0.65W when scaled back to 800MHz clock speed. However, with all these fancy low number, you will have to bear with slower 400MHz system bus and a 100MHz slower graphics core.

The second Atom is the first one to achive 2GHz clock speed (Z550). Interestingly, it still consumes 2.4W of power which is same as consumed by the 1.86GHz version.

The Z515 will be targeted at the low-powered MIDs and low-cost netbooks. Onviously, the Z550 will be targeted towards hi-end netbooks.