viliv

Is the future of Netbooks something smaller, or is that all in the past?

The Yukyung Viliv lineup ultraportable of mini-computers is, in a way, a bit of a throwback to the days when UMPCs and MIDs ruled the pocket-gadget landscape and laptops were bulky and expensive and didn't have any great battery power to speak of. Back in the days of the OQO and the Samsung Q1, you didn't expect an ultraportable to have the same productivity power as a full-fledged computer...you were, in fact, happy when it just did one or two things right. Those days are over, though. For $300 you can now get a Netbook which, while … Read more

Viliv, the future of Intel handhelds?

A mobile Internet device buoyed by some pre-sales buzz is slated to go on sale July 6. Will consumers notice?

Mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, have been around for a while but never triggered anything near the buying frenzy of Apple's iPhone or the Palm Pre.

On July 6, the Viliv X70, based on the Atom Z520 processor, will go on sale in the U.S. from reseller Dynamism. This could prove to be another litmus test for this tweener category of devices.

MIDs look a lot like the iPhone but aren't phones. They're mini PCs. The … Read more

Viliv S5: Are UMPCs lost between Netbooks and smartphones?

Ultramobile PCs have always found themselves to be the tweeners of the mobile world: too large to be easily pocket-size, yet too small to be usable as full-fledged computers. While the landscape just a few years ago was marked with products ranging from Samsung's Q1 to the OQO, often costing way too much money, now cheaper smartphones and Netbooks have crowded in on either side with portable power to spare.

The Viliv S5, currently an import-only product, returns to the scene of the crime with a lower-cost Atom-based touch-screen device that runs full Windows XP, has Bluetooth and GPS … Read more

What to expect from Amazon and Apple

The New York Times reported this weekend, in an article titled "Looking to Big-Screen E-Readers to Help Save the Daily Press," that Amazon.com is on the verge of introducing a new larger-screen Kindle e-book reader.

A blog post from CNET's David Carnoy ("Amazon to introduce larger Kindle this week?") says that Amazon has scheduled a press event for Wednesday that may be the venue for this announcement.

The larger Kindle (which I think of as a "Kindle Pro," although I really have no idea what Amazon might call it) should be about … Read more

The mobile Internet device: In search of itself

I suppose if I were just in search of controversy, I'd write a post to proclaim the death of the MID (mobile Internet device) category. My obituary for the Netbook earlier this week generated a ton of traffic; I suppose I could do that again. Certainly, the concept of a MID--a device midway in size and capability between smartphones and the smallest notebooks--is under tremendous pressure from both sides.

Customers have learned that with a well-engineered browser, the small displays on phones such as Apple's iPhone and T-Mobile's G1 "Google phone" are sufficient for most … Read more