Nvidia ION 2 to be released after CES 2010 to the OEMs and Manufactures

We have posted plethora of times about the upcoming NVIDIA’s ION 2 chipset. According to the latest news bits, the Nvidia has confirmed that ION 2 will NOT be launched during CES 2010 event that will be coming in the month of January.

That said, it will showcased by many OEMs, but its official announcement will take place after CES. It will be launched in Q1 2010. So, what is the reason that Nvidia has pushed the announcement back? – OEMs such as ASUS, MSI, HP and Lenovo who are already pretty satisfied with the Pinetrail M and other pineview based CPUs.

Windows Mobile platform to get support by BSquare, first of its kind

Bsquare becomes the first distribution partner of Windows Mobile. It will work on development and sale of Windows Mobile OEMs and software. It presently distributes Windows embedded licenses in North America. Have a look at some of the highlights of the press release:

About:

“Microsoft is pleased to announce Bsquare as the first distributor for the Mobile Indirect Channel initiative. Microsoft continues to enrich and expand its Windows Mobile ecosystem and build upon the stability, reliability, performance and richness of Windows Mobile,” said Daren Mancini, general manager in the OEM division at Microsoft. “As developers and OEMs expand the number of mobile applications, services and devices, Microsoft is taking a new approach to sell and support Windows Mobile to a broader base of both consumer- and enterprise-focused Windows Mobile customers. Bsquare is uniquely positioned to leverage its deep knowledge of the Windows Mobile operating system, ecosystem and marketplace and serve the broader base of customers with its consultative approach.”

Click on read more to read more of it!

ION 2 to ship later this year – will have more shaders

Nvidia’s boss has confirmed that they will start shipping its Ion 2 chipset at the end of the year, 2009. While he remained tight-lipped about any specific designs as this depends on the customers. By customer, he meant the OEMs and netbook manufactures and vendors.

The next generation ION, the ION 2 will have support for other processors too: including Pentium 4 processors and VIA Nano. Of course, the Intel Atom is obviously supported. Support for CULV processors is also in the tunnel

The ION 2 is expected to have more shaders and ofcourse, better graphics.

CONFIRMED: No restrictions in Windows 7 for netbooks – Plus what features you will miss in Windows 7 starter and basic versions

Netbook manufactures won’t be forced to cut down version of Windows 7 as Microsoft has allowed the netbook manufactures to install any version of Windows 7 in the netbooks as per their wish.

“OEMs and ODMs have the choice to install any version of Windows on a netbook,” said a Microsoft UK spokespersont to tgdaily. “[But] Starter is an entry version and doesn’t have many of the consumer or business features. The three application limit isn’t there anymore.”

I still expect most of the netbook manufactures going after the Windows 7 starter or Windows 7 Basic version to keep the costs as low as possible.

Click on read more to know what features you would missing in Starter and Basic versions

11.6” netbook ‘eNote Turnkey Solution’ to be launched by VIA – packs WiMax

There is a new 11.6-inch recently unveiled by the VIA called the eNote Turnkey Solution. This netbook comes with a VIA Nano (1.3GHz) processor and VIA Chrome9 Graphic chipset that is HD capable. It has an 11.6-inch display with1366 x 768 resolution. Other specs are standard.

It is possible to get one with 2GB RAM too. This netbook won’t be sold by the VIA directly. It may be ordered by the OEMs. They can configure it with WiMAX, HSDPA or EVDO modules. There is wide choice to choose between operating systems too, including Linux.

The only thing not to like about this netbook is its small battery having capacity of just 2600mAh. Its weight is 1.3kg.

No information regarding its pricing is known so far

XP lives! – Netbook vendors will be able to get XP for an year after the release of Windows 7

Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows product management group said,

“OEMs that are using Windows XP on netbooks will have the ability to install Windows XP for one year — 12 months — after Windows 7 general availability,”

What a great news this is for the netbook vendors! This means that XP won’t be vanishing after the release of Windows 7, which should be out in January 2009. Long live XP

On the other hand, we won’t be able to see a lot of netbooks officially running Windows 7 as the Windows XP is available for just $15 to the netbook vendors (some say, it is even lower). This helps them to bundle XP with their netbooks at a pretty low price. It is a quite obvious that whenever Windows 7 becomes availbble, Microsoft will be charging a lot more than $15 licence fee per netbook from the vendors. This would ultimately increase the overall cost of the netbook, which can give free operating systems, say Linux, a pretty good chance to take away some share from Microsoft.

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.

ASUS: After linux on netbooks, now linux on Mobile Phones too?

Linux adoption rate has suddenly increased thanks to netbooks vendors who went for linux in order to reduce the overall costs. Windows Mobile, which is a popular mobile OS, costs money and thereby increases the overall cost of the device. Linux, on the other hand is free of cost and is open-source, which gives the OEMs much more freedom over what they can do with the OS.

Right now, it is not known when will the first linux based smartphone from ASUS will come out, but we are already so excitied about it.