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Inbrics M1 gets Android 2.1 and CPU bump to 1GHz, insists on being called an MID
It looks like a smartphone, it has a smartphone's form factor, operating system, and an extra-slim slideout QWERTY keyboard, yet Inbrics still insists on calling the M1 a Mobile Internet Device instead. When the company's not busy sinking its own battleships, it appears to be doing actually beneficial stuff, such as cramming a new 1GHz Samsung CPU inside its device. The original 800MHz unit was the thing that worried us most during our otherwise praise-filled hands-on experience with the M1 at CES, so it's a good sign to see it getting a bit of extra brawn ahead of launch. The software has also moved with the times, with Android 2.1 being the current OS on tap, which should look rather nice on that 3.7-inch OLED display. The M1 will have WiFi, but no cellular connectivity is planned just yet. It's all dependent on having a Western vendor pick up the hardware and infuse it with its own requirements. Although at CES we were told to expect the M1 in March, the current timetable is for a July launch in Korea and US availability by the end of the year, provided Inbrics finds a partner for the device. Netbook News have also finally squeezed a price out of the company and have been told to expect it in the "low $200" range. Sounds kinda promising, don't you think?
Inbrics' SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet
We saw some incredibly cheap, ill-thought, Android-based videophones at CES this year, but this wasn't one of them. The SoIP S1 from Inbrics is running Android, of course, but it's under that same fine UI skin that Inbrics has coated its M1 Android slider in. The result is a finger-friendly device with nice software for making calls and sending messages -- though it could really benefit from an external text-input device of some sort, and luckily there's Bluetooth onboard to make that a possibility. There's HDMI, Ethernet, USB and an SD slot around back, and the device is designed to sling video calls and media playback to a TV over the HDMI plug or DLNA (there's also WiFi onboard, natch). For VoIP there's a wireless handset embedded in the base of the unit. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see a demo of the video calling in action, and the big hangup with most of these video calling stations is still here: there's no mention of the big standards in video calling like Skype, Google Talk or iChat, so it's hard to see this catching fire with people who actually video chat. Still, at least Inbrics has roughly half of the software problem solved. Check out a video walkthrough after the break. %Gallery-83037%
Engadget Podcast 179: CES 2010 Final Goodbye - 01.10.2010
Goodnight CES! You were cool and had a lot of great technologies this year.Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul MillerProducer: Trent WolbeSong: See You Again [Maximum FX Crushed + Screwed Mode]Hear the podcast04:12 - Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we've seen, probably everything we ever wanted04:29 - LG GW990 hands-on video06:50 - 3D @ CES14:25 - RED Scarlet and Bomb EVF surprise hands-on!20:05 - Lenovo Skylight hands-on and impressions (video)20:20 - Intel22:00 - E-ink22:55 - Chances of Netflix on Nintendo 'excellent,' says Netflix CEO23:05 - Andy Rubin on multitouch in Android: 'I personally don't like two-handed operations'23:17 - Boxee24:10 - Pixel Qi: The e-Reader story of CES 201033:35 - The Android Army is Rising34:05 - Synaptics Fuse concept hands-on Subscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcast1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
Inbrics M1 is the thinnest Android slider we've seen, probably everything we ever wanted
We don't know what everybody else in the phone business has been doing lately, but Inbrics has just unveiled what looks to be the near-ultimate Android phone. The Inbrics M1 is a slider handset with a (great) 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3 megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, 16GB of built-in storage, microSD slot and all the other usual trimmings, but what's particularly stunning is that the phone is not only half an inch thick, but it has a full QWERTY keyboard that's surprisingly clicky and typable. The phone is running Android 1.5 right now, but it should be up to Android 2.0 by the time it hits the market in March. The biggest concern is the 800MHz Samsung processor, the same chip that's in the Samsung Moment, but the interface (as demonstrated in the video after the break) is smooth as butter, and they demo'd it playing back 720p video just fine. Inbrics actually has a lot of custom UI and software running on top of Android, but the most interesting part is what they're doing with video calling and beaming media from handset to videophone to TV to laptop over DLNA or through an access point device that plugs into the TV over HDMI. Inbrics also has a Cover Flow-style media browser that isn't super deep in functionality, but still puts the stock Android stuff to shame, and some rather sexy custom widgets. The plan is apparently to get a carrier to bite and rebrand this phone in the US, so price and availability are still pretty hard to pin down, but if this phone can hit the market soon it sure could give the rest of the QWERTY Android sliders out there some body image issues. %Gallery-82527%
Inbrics announces Android MID, promises 'inspirational moments' (video)
Inbrics, a company known in Seoul for its VoIP solutions, looks set to rock your world with an Android MID early next year at CES. All we have for you at present are the barest of specs, machine translated Korean PR that declares "a full convergence of the future," and one of those vague, uplifting videos that demonstrates the myriad of ways that its one platform can dramatically change your life -- without ever really telling you what it does. The device itself is a QWERTY landscape slider that features an AMOLED touchscreen, GPS, compass, WiFi, and an ARM Cortex A8 800MHz processor. Experience the inspirational moment after the break.
