Intel
is developing its own take on the mini-tablet (Mobile Internet Device, or
MID) , with a new ultra-mobile PC platform to be announced (
PDF#1,
PDF#2) at this week's Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. The big surprise?
It's based on Linux! Unlike UMPCs which target mobile professionals, MIDs will
target 'consumers and prosumers' and feature a range of screen sizes from 4.5 to
6-inches with resolutions from 800 x 480 to 1024 x 600. Yup, these are the
same devices we spotted under the in-house name of McCaslin sporting Intel's
codenamed "Stealey" class of dual-core (clocked at 600-800MHz), battery-friendly
processors. Intel's reference designs run a tweaked, 500MB version of China's
RedFlag MIDINUX which boots in about 18 seconds (less than 5 seconds from
standby) to a mix of open-source and proprietary code including Google Maps and
web-based office and enterprise applications. Data access will be provided via
HSDPA and WiFi.
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