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Dialogue's Flybook V33i reviewed
We've been salivating over Dialogue's FlyBook V33i for some time now. Finally, we've dug-out a review of this "dressed to kill" 2.6-pound tablet-style PC with smokin' suite of WWAN connectivity options including HSDPA / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS / GSM and EDGE / GPRS / GSM. Thing is, as the reviewer quickly points out, the V33i is not a tablet PC although you might be fooled by that rotating touch-screen. Instead, Dialogue goes with Windows XP and some Ritepen handwriting recognition software which, when coupled with the keyboard, means you "might not find that a disadvantage" -- just prepare to re-calibrate after each screen rotation. Although the 1.1GHz Pentium M is starting to show its age, the V33i includes a 64MB ATI Radeon XPress 200M which helps offset the load somewhat, albeit not enough for any serious gaming, but certainly enough for normal office-type usage. The Carrypad review also found the key pitch tight on the keyboard which took some getting used to and the stylus was just plain "terrible." Although they were stoked by the removable 2.5-inch hard disk which allows for DIY upgrades while the battery delivered an expected 2-2.5 hours under typical load. After four "privileged" days with the machine, Carrypad dubs the v33i a winner in terms of looks and performance particularly for those in need of an ultra-mobile PC with a full suite of fixed and WWAN connectivity options.
Cingular 3G option appears on Lenovo's ThinkPad page
We're still not really sure what's taken Lenovo so long to make good on pushing out Cingular 3G options in their beloved ThinkPad line (well, yes we are -- could be anything from hardware to network optimization to Verizon exclusivity -- but is simply most likely the lack of HSDPA rollout), but from the looks of things Lenovo's finally about to launch some laptops with Cingular BroadbandConnect. If it's anything like their Verizon option it'll cost you a bit of cash (about $250 for EV-DO, anyway), but all we know for now is that there's at least one page on Lenovo's site advertising a ThinkPad T60 for a cool $1,900 (not counting the $200 mail-in rebate they're serving up). Hey, these laptops aren't for mere amateurs, so consider yourself warned; you didn't exactly expect the baseline model to come in real cheap, now did you? [Thanks, Dale]
Is this the Vaio from Sony's teaser campaign?
Don't wanna wait for Sony to complete their teaser campaign to peep that Vaio they're trying to generate some buzz about? Don't worry, jkOnTheRun has got you covered (well, maybe). According to site founder James Kendrick, a "reader who wishes to remain anonymous" sent him a number of pictures of this supposed ultraportable Vaio, which do indeed feature all of the disparate components visible in Sony's brief Flash movies. Besides portraying the device as a UMPC-style tablet with sliding QWERTY keyboard, one of the pictures clearly shows the words "Bluetooth," "WLAN," and "WWAN" on the screen's bezel when viewed full-size. We can also make out that fingerprint scanner from the teaser campaign, as well as a MemoryStick Duo slot and a "capture" button, although if that Motion Eye doesn't swivel, it won't make much of a camera. Of course these pictures, even if genuine, reveal nothing about the actual guts of the machine, so Sony still has several important details such as processor types/speeds, operating system (a return to PalmOS, perhaps?) and storage system/capacities to hold over our heads. More pics are available by following the "Read" link...
