The line between computer and mobile phone is growing thinner and thinner for each day that passes. HTC recently unveiled the HD2 smartphone sporting Windows Mobile 6.5 and powered by 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. The processor is built upon the ARM architecture and made by Qualcomm, and many have been wondering when it would get a chance to swing Android. Snapdragon has now been paired med Android but not in a smartphone, but a smartbook.
Smartbooks are the computers supposed to fill the “gap” between smartphones and netbooks. They will do this through a larger formfactor than mobile phones, and longer battery times than a netbook.
Qualcomm has presented a number of new devices using its latest Snapdragon platform and one of these was a Lenovo smartbook. Sporting 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and Google’s Android operating system the computer will run for at least 8 hours during use with 3G and Wi-Fi enabled, like a smartphone.
“This notion of being able to combine the form factor of a netbook with the flexibility of experience of a smartphone seems to resonate with people. People are bored of the five to seven minute start-up time of a notebook.”
Qualcomm also presented a more exotic smartbook design where display and keyboard were separate devices. New formfactors appear all the time and only the future can tell what kind of smartbooks we will be seeing.
