Not as cheap as I thought

In Bangkok, Thailand at a computer market you can get a 10.2" VIA C7-M based small notebook, much like the PHV102, for 9600 Bhat, or US$ 289. Now that's not as cheap as I thought it would be. Perhaps you can barter? Here's the vid from netbooknews.de:

Pretty standard but oh so affordable

This small notebook really isn't that exciting, until you here the price. First, the boring bits:

1.6GHz VIA C7-M processor
1GB DDR2 RAM

160GB SATA HDD

10.2" 1024x600 screen

3 cell battery

black finish

Unconfirmed: built in webcam and the usual ports

Told you, not that exciting. But wait! It costs US$ 185!! That's just so cheap! It's called a Phecda PHV102 - Liliputing

Leaked info on VIA MID phone

Pocketables claims to have received leaked information about a VIA-based smartphone that will run Windows XP and Google Android at the same time, with the ability to switch between the two seemlessly. Pictures of the little prototype even have VIA written under the screen, which by the looks of it can be used in portrait or landscape mode.

Two sets of hardware are rumored to run the device, one being a 500MHz VIA Nano processor and the other not known.

This is more like a Mobile Internet Device (MID) than a phone - or perhaps sort of like a smartbook but with phone features. It's not a clamshell design but it's as good as one - the full QWERTY keyboard slides out from under the screen. From the looks of the size of it, you'd be using about two fingers though, not typing like a regular keyboard.

This news is hot off the press after VIA VP Richard Brown said in an interview that VIA would be developing "cell phone hardware". Is this what he was referring to?

VIA to manufacture mobile phone chips?

An interesting blog on the Wall Street Journal has caught my eye. Matthew Rivera has spoken with a VIA VP Richard Brown about how VIA, a Taiwanese company, sees business with mainland China in the future. Brown suggests that VIA will branch out into other areas such as mobile phones, and possibly work with smaller Chinese companies which they see as having potential to become major players in the furture.
"To Via, the shanzai look like the kinds of companies that could mature into big players in a few years, which is why it’s beginning to build more than just semiconductors. Via is now working with other manufacturers to build cellphone hardware ... "

Tablet for your car

Just when I was citing the relative non-acceptance of tablet PCs in the market in my previous post, news has come in about a new tablet PCs that comes in two versions. Both feature a VIA C7-M processor and VX700 digital media chip. The more exciting version, the delux Adesun AD708 includes Windows XP, tablet car PC kit, GPS, tv receiver and 2GB SD card. This would suggest it's for in-car use, which is pretty cool. - besttabletreview

Mio smartbook features VIA platform

Clamshell design devices seem to be the most popular type of mobile computing device. UMPCs and tablet PCs still do a good trade, but for the everyday consumer, a notebook or a smaller version of it is usually the type chosen. The battery life on netbooks hasn't been fabulous. The designs of x86 processors like VIA's C7-M and Nano series have come a long way in addressing the issues of power consumption and that's why they've been favored in netbook designs but when you take a clamshell design even smaller, to 7" screen devices, manufacturers are opting for ARM processors instead, not x86 processors. This doesn't leave VIA short-changed since they have cleverly invested in a subsiduary company, WonderMedia, who manufacture ARM-based platforms for mobile internet devices (MIDs) like smartbooks. Smartbooks are a new breed of ultra portables that shorten the list of features you'd expect on a netbook and increase the battery life.

WindowsForDevices brings news of a smartbook from Haleron which features an ARM 9-based Prizm 8510, one of WonderMedia's babys. "Haleron doesn't specify the resolution provided by the Mio Smartbook's seven-inch screen, but other devices of this type have displayed 800 x 480 pixels. The device comes with 128MB or 256MB of RAM, from 1GB to 4GB of flash storage, and includes an SD expansion slot, according to the company.

As well as offering stereo speakers, a microphone input, and a headphone output, the Mio Smartbook is said to include 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b wireless networking, and three USB ports. The system can be booted from a USB memory stick containing an alternative operating system such as Linux or Android, the company claims. (Misleadingly, Windows XP is also cited as possible, though Haleron elsewhere concedes that this OS requires a $55 "processor upgrade.")"

Months ago the gadget type sites starting murmoring about smartbooks saying that most manufacturers would have them out before the end of the year. With 5-6 weeks left of pre-Christmas sales, the Haleron Mio is already on the market for US$190. Haleron ships worldwide, taking orders online.

VIA eye-gouges Intel, or hopes to, says Gizmodo

The VIA Nano 3000 series was announced earlier in the week and the news has enjoyed broad coverage from IT media. But there's been no extra new per se about it so I haven't bothered linking to the dozens of sites that have posted their take on the Press Release - until now. Gizmodo have put a chisel in VIA's hands and cried "sick em" at Intel. The Atom processor still enjoys most design wins in the ultra mobile space (netbooks and light notebooks).
"Intel's gotten cocky enough in the space that we don't mind the competition one bit."
It looks like we're not the only ones who'd like to see VIA do some damage :)

VIA launches Nano 3000 series processors

VIA has announced the new VIA Nano 3000 series of processors. This brings two new editions to the L series of Nano processors and four to the U series. The highest speed Nano will now be the 2.0GHz L3100, sporting an idle power of 500mW. The idle power in these top speed processors hasn't dropped from previous models, although the press release from VIA highlights a dramatic 20% reduction of power consumption. Once you get down to the 1.4, 1.3 and 1.2GHz models you see what all the fuss is about. The idle power is down from 200mW to half that at 100mW from previous models of the same speed. The press release does also tout a 20% increase in performance although no figures are provided.

Samples of these new processors are available to OEMs and motherboard manufacturers right now, with mass production not expected until Q1 2010.

VIA has kept the same package as they've used for generations of their CPUs now, NanoBGA2, which means that it's a drop in replacement to upgrade existing designs to cater for the new models.

The new Nano 3000 series are being aimed at light notebooks, desktops, "all-in-one" systems and energy-efficient server designs.