Kshitij Sobti

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Posted on 05-01-2010

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• Freescale's $199 tablet
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Just as Freescale announced their reference design for an ARM based smartbook, Lenovo has announced the first ARM-based smartbook device. The compact 10" ARM based device is to be available spring of this year.

The device runs a customized Linux version which seems to be internet centric, and comes with many different social widgets for internet applications preinstalled.  The device will work with AT&T's data plans and WiFi service to provide internet connectivity -- not that AT&T is any good for that -- on the go.

The device is highly geared towards portability, being under 2 pounds (under 900 gms) in weight and very slim clamshell design. Much like a smartphone, the device can kept on charging overnight and then used continuously throughout the day, with a battery backup time of 10hrs.

The device features a 10" HD screen, a 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 20GB SSD storage and 2GB of cloud storage.

Unfortunately, the device comes at a rather high price -- considering its specifications -- of $499, although it might be available for lesser with a 2 year contract with AT&T. While the pricing and specification of the Chrome OS netbook are still rumour and speculation as of now, this device seems rather underpowered and overpriced in comparison.

Considering that an ARM device will only be able to run a limited subset of the software and operating systems available (e.g. Windows wont run, and many Linux distributions are not available for ARM), the  $499 price tag seems too much.