In a bid to be first cab off the rank for new announcements, HP has launch its first smartbook, the Compaq Airlife 100, a day before the official opening of this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The Compaq Airlife 100 is based on the Google Android OS and Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, making it perfect for light activities such as web browsing.
HP said it had taken the best features of a smartphone and packed it into a netbook design.
The result is a smartbook with a long battery life of 12 hours or 10 hours on standby, and smartphone-like features including a touchscreen panel and GPS.
The touchscreen user interface features a new “tabbed” touch-enabled browser, and allows users to zoom in on web pages. It also sports a touch optimised media suite.
Being Android-based, the Airlife 100 boots immediately and also supports touchscreen app functionality.
HP has credited the device’s extended battery life to Qualcomm's QSD8250 processor.
The Snapdragon processor is becoming popular in the smartphone world, with big names including Google's Nexus One, the Android-based Acer Liquid and the forthcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 all powered by the Snapdragon chipset.
It also comes with a webcam, card reader as well as both 3G and wi-fi connectivity. Data can be stored on a 16GB solid state drive or an SD card.
On the design-front, the device has a 10.1 inch screen and a flat-key keyboard that is 92 per cent the size of a regular one.
We can expect to see the hybrid laptop/ smartphone rivalling Apple's iPad tablet computer in the UK later this year.
Would you use a smartbook on top of your existing gadgets? Leave us a comment and let us know.
One thought on “MWC 2010: HP Unveils Android Smartbook”
Looks nice and can be great for homeuse.I’m not so shure if this would be a great ideea if you want to use it for business.