Viliv X70 Series MID headed to the US, starting at $599

Viliv's X70 Series MID already looked like a pretty solid option for anyone wanting an S5 with a larger screen, but things have now gotten even more interesting, as US retailer / importer Dynamism has put up a product page listing a starting price of $599. That, as jkOnTheRun points out, is the same price as the S5, which packs a smaller 5-inch screen compared to the X70's 7-incher (though both are WSVGA). Otherwise, the two are fairly similar, with each sporting the usual Atom processor, Windows XP for an OS, built-in GPS, optional 3G, and 1GB of RAM. The X70 also mixes things up a bit with your choice of 32GB or 64GB SSD drives, while the S5 packs a standard 60GB hard drive. Still no word on a release date, but Dynamism will gladly take your email now and your order later.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

[Shyam D @ Jun 8th 2009 8:38PM]

Hmmm, this + a Bluetooth keyboard is a really tempting companion for college as a smaller, lighter replacement for my Tablet PC. Could use it to take notes in class and pair it with a bluetooth keyboard if I need for typing/coding.

[Deathtrap3000 @ Jun 8th 2009 8:43PM]

I wish my Archos 7 was like this.

[Jimmy Jones @ Jun 8th 2009 8:52PM]

Well I have A5 250GB. I wonder how much this cost in 32GB SSD. I'll guess $599 probably.

I wish I can install XP on my Archos 5. Then I'll be more than happy than anyone on this Earth. It'll be like cheese over butter...

[gps @ Jun 8th 2009 8:49PM]

Been waiting on this one. Looks like a perfect device for days where I don't need my full 10lb monster laptop.

[tikiwk @ Jun 8th 2009 9:01PM]

OMG, This is the best fucking news ever. I'm in. I've been waiting for this for god know how long... for a device like this way before it was a dream in some manufacturer's eyes. And I'm going to use it with Energy XT, One Note, possibly Photoshop Lite, or Indamix - http://www.indamixx.com/index.php . Creative stuff... software to draw, write, make music.

I am seriously stoked by this news. Woo hoo. Price looks excellent.

I'll give them my email and pre order if they want. I'd like a 60GB or larger hard drive though. SSD would make it prohibitively expensive for me.

[htd @ Jun 8th 2009 9:01PM]

well, how many company would buy those expensive gadget for employees?

[Shyam D @ Jun 8th 2009 9:04PM]

Go take a look at ruggedized Tablet PCs, or just Tablet PCs. Lots of companies buy them for their field workers, technicians, sales persons, etc. They easily go into the 2-3k range. Compared to that, this is dirt cheap.

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 8th 2009 9:06PM]

I wonder what kind of graphics on that... must be cool to play Starcraft and Warcraft on that.

[jedd @ Jun 8th 2009 9:17PM]

Ooh. I'm much more excited about this than the new iPhone. Wonder what pricing will be like for the 32GB version? 16GB is just a bit too small for my requirements.

[tikiwk @ Jun 8th 2009 9:33PM]

I don't know how an external USB or Flash drive would work with this... say you install stuff on the internal drive, but you take the data files and store them off on a removable. Like music, movies, documents, etc. I also wonder how hard it would be to upgrade the drive yourself after delivery. I'm going to try to find out the size of disk used in the X70 and see if larger replacements are available.

You know what would be the smartest thing they could have done? Put a replaceable hard drive / ram slot in the battery compartment, so you remove the battery and voila, you can swap out the drive / add more RAM. Seeing as all machines come with 1GB of RAM, I wonder if that is the Maximum for the X70. I bet it kills battery to have all those charged memory cells.

[tikiwk @ Jun 8th 2009 9:28PM]

I went to the site and gave them my email... I thought for a minute I could pre-order, but no luck. Page says the $599 machine has 1.2GHz proc and 16GB SSD. The next model is the 1.3GHz and 32G. Next above that is 1.3 / 32 with HSPA.

I'll take the 1.3 / 32 and get the usb wireless from whomever I feel like, rather than be stuck ... depends, if the internal HSPA is tied to a cheap plan, maybe that.

[deinfinityx @ Jun 8th 2009 10:21PM]

Wow i saw this and thought it was the Ubuntu MID, sadly it has windows on it. Still looks ok, but Ubuntu would have been a lot better.

[Invisiblemoose @ Jun 8th 2009 10:32PM]

...Why wouldn't you be able to install Ubuntu (or any linux distro) yourself?

[tikiwk @ Jun 8th 2009 10:51PM]

Exactly, just install Ubuntu yourself... you still have the XP license should you decide not to stick with Ubuntu. I may go with Ubuntu for some linux software... or i may just get the windows equivalent. With a 32GB disk and some 1GB software packages, it doesn't leave a lot of room for dual boot.

Also, I thought VIliv advertized the device as a Windows XP / Linux MID, so there may be a linux distro optimized for this.

[deinfinityx @ Jun 8th 2009 11:06PM]

I know you can, I was hoping it was a stock OS for the tablet. I have linux running on just about everything i own right now.

[Jollybee @ Jun 8th 2009 10:32PM]

mmmmm sekshi

[google: Operation Northwoods @ Jun 9th 2009 1:43AM]

I've waited for Apple to lauch this thing for 3 years already, good bye Apple and Hello Viliv. I will try to pre order this because im sure yhey will go oit of stock right away. Man this is perfect to read ebooks. Wow. Can't wait for the release. What a deception with apple, iPod touch screen is too small.

[TheCow5 @ Jun 9th 2009 4:02AM]

I don't see the market for the MID devices lasting in it current form. I am looking at the mobile phone market and I can see the new mobile phone actuall doing everything these so called MID devices are doing and more.
I am looking at the Meizu M8 (the one comming out in march of 2010), Touch HD and the up and comming Tegra platform on a Mobile phone and you can see the MID market being turned into a mobile phone with all the features of the MID devices.
-
P.S.
I am saving up my pennies for phone with the tegra platform. all other devices will be a was of you money so don't buy the iPhone,the ZuneHD, Plam Pre or the Bold.

[CJ @ Jun 9th 2009 5:48AM]

On the contrary, I belive the MID market is just starting to take off. All of the phones that have MID features have way too small screens and not as powerful processors, so people will start to look into these 5 to 7 inch MIDs :] I myself have an iPhone and I'm over it. Not being able to have adobe flash is stupid, and the screen is way to small. Its pathetic that it has the biggest screen of its class.

[tivolo @ Jun 9th 2009 2:59PM]

I'm trying to figure why this would be classified as a MID and not a Tablet PC or UMPC. I think of MIDs as having a "lightweight" OS that's optimized for for specific tasks like web browsing, video streaming, etc. -- something like an Archos 7 or a Nokia N800. If it has XP on it, I don't call that a MID.

Don't get me wrong, I like the device, just not the MID label Engadget's attached to it.

[musicalcd @ Jul 2nd 2009 6:09PM]

ATTENTION! A war is almost declared with where they make the Viliv in Korea. So, Pyongyan maybe shut a lot more missiles, he shooted 4 today! I'm not sure if will be available even the most war?

[musicalcd @ Jul 2nd 2009 6:28PM]

ATTENTION! A war is almost declared where they make the Viliv in Korea. So, Pyongyan maybe shut a lot more missiles, he shooted 4 today! I'm not sure if will be available even the most war?

[Ken @ Aug 8th 2009 11:36AM]

I just received my X70 yesterday and am VERY disappointed. It is not even close to the reviews that I have read. First the screen sucks! It will, periodically, have "jitters" throughout the screen. pixels will fluctuate across the screen making it unreadable. Next is the wireless antenna. My Nokia 810 can maintain a connection with my home network but the Viliv X70 says that there are no networks in range. The next thing is the GPS. I see nothing on the screen or device manager to control the GPS. I downloaded the demo of Streetdeck and it was unable to find a GPS on my unit. The only indication that it has a GPS is a GPS switch icon that changes the baud rate of the GPS. This does indicate that it works. The other thing is the soft keyboard that, according to reviews, was well thought out. Well, this isn't all that true. I am 6'4" and have rather large hands. When typing with my thumbs on the keyboard, I have to stretch a bit to reach the middle keys. People with smaller hands would have a VERY hard time reaching them for thumb typing. I will be returning the device for a refund!

[William @ Aug 11th 2009 4:20AM]

Beware!!! This device may have a 1.3 Ghz processor, but it is clocked at under 500 mhz! I measure mine at 478. It will NOT deliver the performance that an Intel Atom 1.3 Ghz is capable of. I'm guessing that's how they got the battery life, but it's also how they are keeping it cool - even at this speed it gets rather hot after an hour or so of continuous operation.

I've asked Viliv and Dynamism to comment on this - if this can't be fixed, I'm going to be asking for a refund...

[Pano @ Sep 7th 2009 6:41PM]

DONT BUY IT.
Spending my winter in Europe I ordered this stupid thing from dynamism while my wife was visiting the States. She brought it back from USA yesterday. I turned it on and Vista started the updating and restarting procedure for all the updates which took for ever. After that I decided to run the viliv manager and update the whatever drivers it has. Did not touch or modify anything. The thing turned out to be a brick. It's touchscreen will not work . The calibration screen does not come on.I had to use an external mouse to try to figure out a solution although I am not an expert and I do not want to be either. No I did not find any. There is no recovery disk in the package. The viliv's site does not have any recovery software. This is not the only one though. Although I bought the most expensive version from dynamism I can not find any GPS software or a windows 7 upgrade as it was paid for. Keep in mind I am not a computer engineer and I do not want to be one. I do not want to spend my time on the internet trying to configure something which should have been configured with my 16 pluShundred dollars I spent for the stupid thing.
DO NOT BUY THIS VILIV X70 THING. IT SUCKS.