SmartQ V5 MID available now to a world that's just stopped caring

When we first laid eyes on the SmartQ V5, we were pretty underwhelmed... yet another resistive touchscreen MID? We're beginning to long for those halcyon days of late 2009 when an Android handheld was a thing of awe and wonder. Just a refresher: this guy features a 4.3-inch display, 600MHz ARM11 processor (which the brave among us can overclock to 800MHz), 256MB RAM, HDMI out, and more. Of some interest to the jaded gadget-head, this guy ships with Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE 6.0 pre-installed -- not a bad feature, if that's your thing. If you poke around the Internets you should be able to find this bad boy for near $180.

[bighap Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:30PM]

yay?

[Nightwheel Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:37PM]

Hmm... If I had $180. This might not be a bad buy.

[jacika Posted Jan 5th 2010 10:51AM]

@Nightwheel

i found a web which is selling the smartQ V5 now,the price is $178 USD dollars.
the web site is www.techbonzer.com

[noodles2k Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:38PM]

"to a world that's just stopped caring" Ironic considering over 50% of Engadget posts are either about a newly released metoo netbook, or the elusive metoo apple tablet...

[LAY Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:40PM]

I'm sorry, what exactly is so bad about this again?

[noodles2k Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:43PM]

@LAY it doesn't have an apple logo... duh!

[Paul C Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:55PM]

@LAY It's pretty boring. ~600 MHz processor, 4.3" screen....meh.

[nate345 Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:02PM]

@Paul C
Negative journalism sells better than positive journalism.

[Dafrety Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:09PM]

@LAY
It's display is resistive! It's the most horrible offense to man kind, or at least Apple fanboys.

[max1001 Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:16PM]

@LAY
My 4 yrs old dell pda pretty much as the same cpu and screen size. $180 isn't that cheap also.

[furquanatique Posted Dec 31st 2009 4:52PM]

@Dafrety but that means we can use it with our gloves on, that is sin in the world of tech!

[lindsays Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:13PM]

Try Android OS 2.0 on Windows. http://goo.gl/7J8L

[Dafrety Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:47PM]

@lindsays
Are there multiple people named Lindsay using this account? Do you work shifts or something?

[max1001 Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:15PM]

I believe that's the cpu my 4 yrs old Dell PDA has.

[thoughtmonster Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:31PM]

@max1001 I believe it's not, considering it can churn out 1080p over the HDMI port. It's most likely a Rockchip part.

Why so serious, Engadget?

[p0p0 Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:21PM]

@max1001

Did you have to post that twice? Are you so positive that it is the EXACT SAME cpu as your Dell from 4yrs ago?

I highly doubt your 4yr old Dell used a 600Mhz ARM CPU.

[phampson Posted Jan 4th 2010 3:34AM]

@max1001
No unfortunately the X51v had a 450Mhz ARM5 CPU

Silly to exaggerate pointlessly

[artshark Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:55PM]

thats pretty sick, but the ubuntu implementation likely sucks without a native screen zoom feature, with a physical button to manipulate. otherwise a full os on a 4 inch screen is a huge hassle

[p0p0 Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:18PM]

I have the V7, basically the larger version of this. Its really cool. More of a niche product for people who like mucking about in the linux terminal and testing what breaks the OS and what doesn't.

The HD works very well, I haven't had a chance to use the HDMI-out yet though.

The early software versions suck (comes with 5.0), but the latest 5.3 Linux is much more responsive.

I use it mostly for eBooks and Comics, and it works very well for that. The screen size is on the small size for games, but someone has theorized Quake 3, and some others have Doom running.

Forum where you can find more info:
http://www.smartqmid.com/phpBB3/index.php

[O10iscoming Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:20PM]

huge hassles aside, throw on the WiFi antenna hack, add a pico projector and welcome 2010..

Mount it on a electric bike with regen like THEKPV
The Electric & Kinetic Vehicle
http://www.thekpv.com

I would have the SmartQ V5 running a maps with elevation software for smart riding.

[Chmro Posted Jan 21st 2010 8:33AM]

you can buy it here
http://www.allpmp.com/goods.php?u=1553&id=111

cheaper than the official price in china,,only 170usd

[marcinforall Posted Feb 10th 2010 10:40AM]

guys - how about USB-OTG on linux - I've heard there's no support for it. How can I connect 3G modem then?