But now we learn that Dell might be making a MID and that Apple is planning a bigger Touch. These two rumors are fairly concrete – I’d give the Tapplet a 75% chance of happening and a Dell MID about 80% – but there’s a big problem: people don’t like MIDs.

Archos knows this. They’ve been making MIDs since we were all in diapers – at least it seems that way. They’ve made touchscreen media players and mini computers for years. Samsung made a few. OQO made one and then died. People just don’t like the size and shape of MIDs. Their value is not immediately apparent to most people and devices like the Nokia N810 and the Samsung Mondi have no clear audience.

Robin pointed out that we’re also talking about the Crunchpad. It’s definitely in the tablet realm but it’s not really supposed to act like a Tablet PC – the OS is designed to lead you into browser sessions rather than apps. It might scratch an itch we all have – the tablet that stays on the coffee table or bedside table and let’s us surf – but that’s all wait and see right now.

If Apple makes a tablet people will buy it. They’ll line up around the block. Why? Because it won’t be a tablet. It will be a good media device with some cool tricks. It will make sense, in some way, to have an Apple Tablet. The trick is that the device has to replace two devices. The iPhone replaced your smartphone and your media player. The netbook, in a sense, replaced your big laptop and your pricey office suite. Apple needs to replace two things. I suspect, for example, the Tapplet – with a streaming device that will connect to your TV – will replace the media center PC and the netbook in the home and the netbook and Kindle on the go. This is all speculation, but it sort of makes sense.

As for other MIDs I doubt there will be any traction. Ultralights will replace netbooks and MIDs will remain niche products unless Microsoft gets really smart about Windows for Tablets, creating something like a mini-Surface.

Generally, however, the year of tablets will never come – at least not in the next decade. The keyboard is an old, tested construct and it will be hard to wean us netheads away from it. Some day we’ll all be typing in the air and gesturing on paper-thin screens to bring up our Google Excel 2059 spreadholograms but that’s a way off.

Do you use MIDs daily? Tablets? In what field?

Well, it appears that Nokia will finally pull its head out of its ass come September, says an industry insider according to the Guardian. At Nokia World, the mobile phone giant is expected to debut an Android-powered touch-screen device. Will it be powered by Intel? Eh. Who knows, but I hope it’s true and that they’ve finally realized that Symbian needs to be put out to pasture. Has anyone hacked their N810 to run Android?

via Guardian

Here are some notes from Intel’s “breaking news” conference call with Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group and Kai Öistämö, Executive Vice President, Devices, Nokia.

• Intel and Nokia have formed a long-term strategic partnership to create an open standard for a new mobile computing platform built upon Linux-based operating systems.
• Intel will acquire a Nokia HSPA/3G modem IP license for use in future products — will complement Intel’s Wi-Fi and WiMax offerings.

So is it a new Nokia phone with an Intel chipset? Is it a new Nokia netbook?

No. Not yet, at least. They’re not ready to talk about products today. The two companies basically announced that they’ll be teaming up to work on future mobile computing devices — not quite as exciting as it seemed earlier today, at least not from a hardware/gadget angle.

In short: “[B]oth companies are expanding their longstanding relationship to define a new mobile platform beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services.”

No details on any of the actual devices, though.

Here’s the full press release:

Intel and Nokia Announce Strategic Relationship to Shape Next Era of Mobile Computing Innovation

SANTA CLARA, CALIF., and ESPOO, FINLAND, June 23, 2009 – Further uniting the Internet with mobile phones and computers, Intel Corporation and Nokia today announced a long-term relationship to develop a new class of Intel® Architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures which will combine the performance of powerful computers with high-bandwidth mobile broadband communications and ubiquitous Internet connectivity.

To realize this shared vision, both companies are expanding their longstanding relationship to define a new mobile platform beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services.

Taking advantage of each company’s expertise as leaders in their respective fields, these future standards-based devices will marry the best features and capabilities of the computing and communications worlds and will transform the user experience, bringing incredible mobile applications and always on, always connected wireless Internet access in a user-friendly pocketable form factor.

The Intel and Nokia effort includes collaboration in several open source mobile Linux software projects. Intel will also acquire a Nokia HSPA/3G modem IP license for use in future products.

The companies expect many innovations to result from this collaboration over time.

“This Intel and Nokia collaboration unites and focuses many of the brightest computing and communications minds in the world, and will ultimately deliver open and standards-based technologies, which history shows drive rapid innovation, adoption and consumer choice,” said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group. “With the convergence of the Internet and mobility as the team’s only barrier, I can only imagine the innovation that will come out of our unique relationship with Nokia. The possibilities are endless.”

“Today’s announcement represents a significant commitment to work together on the future of mobile computing, and we plan to turn our joint research into action,” said Kai Öistämö, Executive Vice President, Devices, Nokia. “We will explore new ideas in designs, materials and displays that will go far beyond devices and services on the market today. This collaboration will be compelling not only for our companies, but also for our industries, our partners and, of course, for consumers.”

Open Source Software Collaboration
The effort also includes technology development and cooperation in several open source software initiatives in order to develop common technologies for use in the Moblin and Maemo platform projects, which will deliver Linux-based operating systems for these future mobile computing devices.

The companies are coordinating their Open Source technology selection and development investments, including alignment on a range of key Open Source technologies for Mobile Computing such as: oFono*, ConnMan*, Mozilla*, X.Org*, BlueZ*, D-BUS*, Tracker*, GStreamer*, PulseAudio*. Collectively, these technologies will provide an open source standards-based means to deliver a wealth of mobile Internet and communication experiences, with rich graphics and multimedia capabilities.

Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Moblin is an optimized open source Linux operating system project that delivers visually rich Internet media experiences on Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices including MIDs, netbooks, nettops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and embedded systems. For more information see www.moblin.org.

Maemo is a Linux operating system, mostly based on open source code and powers mobile computers such as the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The Maemo platform has been developed by Nokia in collaboration with many open source projects. For more information see www.maemo.org.

Enabling common technologies across the Moblin and Maemo software environments will help foster the development of compatible applications for these devices – building on the huge number of off-the-shelf PC compatible applications. The open source projects will be governed using the best practices of the open source development model.

Intel to License Nokia’s HSPA/3G Modem Technologies
Building on today’s announcement, Intel and Nokia have signed an agreement that will enable Intel to license Nokia’s HSPA/3G modem technologies with the aim of developing advanced mobile computing solutions that deliver a powerful and flexible computing experience – combining the best-in-class 3GPP modem technology with the high performance and low power consumption of future Intel Architecture-based platforms.

Intel supports multiple mobile broadband standards on its platforms to address the needs of service providers worldwide, and to provide people with an always-connected experience.

The Nokia modem license complements Intel’s broadband wireless technologies and will enable the company to extend chipset solutions incorporating Nokia’s modem technologies across its mobility offerings in the future.

Nokia is continuing to develop its leading modem technology, which includes protocol software and related digital design for the full suite of 3GPP standards through WCDMA/GSM and its evolution, and then licenses the technology to chipset manufacturers to develop and produce chipsets for device manufacturers.

Nokia’s licensable modem technology is the trusted connectivity choice, providing credible and reliable options for the industry based on Nokia wireless modems’ embedded history and experience. The Intel license of Nokia’s modem technologies is another step in executing Nokia’s chipset strategy to create multiple, competitive chipset choices to the industry.

Buy.com has dropped the price on the Nokia N810 yet again, this time to $179.99 with free shipping. One month ago to the very day, it was on sale for $199. That’s a savings of a certain amount of dollars! Probably twenty or so!

The N810 runs a flexible, bendable version of Linux and features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4.1-inch 800×480 touchscreen, 400MHz processor, 2GB of internal memory expandable via miniSD, built-in GPS, integrated webcam, and a Mozilla-based web browser with Flash support.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet [Buy.com]

Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet gets a bit of a price drop over at Buy.com. You can pick one up for $199 with free shipping. Since the N810 is Linux-based, you can do ANYTHING with it. ANYTHING.

Features include a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4.1-inch 800×480 touchscreen, 400MHz processor, 2GB of internal memory expandable via miniSD, built-in GPS, integrated webcam, and more. It can handle Flash, too.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet [Buy.com]

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/CrunchGear/2009/01/28/CrunchGear-and-Friends

Linguo, dead? Linguo… IS… dead. Replace "Linguo" with the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition, though. Nokia’s just pulled the plug on the device, according to MobileBurn, citing "slow WiMAX roll out in the USA as well as an issue with current WiMAX switches in use not offering optimal performance" as the precipitators for the internet tablet’s demise.

While it’s true that WiMAX adoption has been slow, it may also be possible that nobody bought the N810 WiMAX Edition with its $450+ MSRP. Don’t get me wrong, I like Nokia’s internet tablets but for that kind of money, you could buy at least 100 hot dogs and eat like a king. A king!

I’m guessing it wasn’t just the slow rollout, it was the slow rollout + now I have to spend $450 on this tablet + now I have to pay $30 to $50/month to use it. Doesn’t make much sense when the just-as-capable N810 can be had for $100 cheaper with no service fees.

[via BGR]

Nokia is working hard to merge mobile phones with mobile computing, making it easier to access and use of the full suite of Internet resources from a variety of devices. Annssi Vanjoki, Nokia Executive Vice President of Markets, said at the Nokia World 2008 keynote “I want to surf the entire Internet, not just some pieces of the Internet.” That’s a great idea, but the reality is that many parts of the Internet simply don’t work well on the small screens and limited input mechanisms prevalent on most mobile devices.

Nokia Research Center has been taking a look at ways to make mobile computing devices better integrated into some of the niche segments of the Internet. For example, EasyMeet provides an AJAX-powered web-based conferencing system that works great on tablets and other mobile devices. It doesn’t require the installation of plugins, ActiveX controls, or Java, so most modern Internet-connected devices can use it. It works on Symbian S60, Firefox, IE7, Opera, and Safari, so iPhone and desktop users can all join in a conference along with Nokia N800 and N810 users.

Currently EasyMeet supports the shared presentation of Microsoft PowerPoint files, but work is underway to support PDF and Apple iWork files. You can share files on the local device, but as explained in the video above it’s also possible to use Nokia’s Ovi service to access files from other locations.

When you sign up, you get an EasyMeet URL which you can use for all of your meetings. Attendees don’t need to remember complicated room and access codes. All the chat, meeting minutes, and whiteboard changes are stored (at Nokia) and are available for later search and retrieval.

EasyMeet is in beta, and will likely remain a Nokia hosted service, though there are nascent plans to support custom branding. No pricing is available, but it’s currently free to use. This obviously isn’t something most folks will have a need for every day, but it’s nice to see some innovation in the online conferencing space. It’s also nice to see a pure browser-based alternative to services like WebEx.

Is there a value to the extra diagonal inch of screen, or are they attempting to fill a demand that doesn’t exist? Well, with 800MHz Atom processors in them, they’re certainly more powerful than other pocketable items, but until I have one in my hands I can’t decide.

And yes, I called it a notelet.
[via Computer World]

Next week should mark the alpha release of Mozilla’s Firefox Mobile web browser. Interestingly, it’ll first be available on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, according to PC Advisor. The alpha will be available for Windows Mobile devices over the next few months, as well. Mozilla’s interested in testing out the touchscreen interface and the plugin development, so it’s a good move to release it for the N810 first as the Nokia Internet Tablet series has a pretty active developer community.

The beta version of Firefox Mobile will likely not be released until 2009. The browser is built on the same engine (Gecko) as the full-fledged Firefox and will be able to handle JavaScript and AJAX. Might not be a bad idea to work support for Flash Video, too.

Pricing and plans vary with four different offerings. A daily pass will set you back $10 while home service is $25. $30 will get you a month of ‘on-the-go’ service and $50 will allow service to two different devices.

Oh, and it looks like Washington D.C. and Chicago are up next. Do we have any Baltimore residents in the audience?

The flight is full from what I’m told and Aircell had plenty of people on hand at the gate to promote the service. Exactly how many folks will utilize the service is unknown at this point. I’ll be using my MacBook Pro, iPhone 3G and T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve along with one other smartphone that’s Wi-Fi enabled. I’m in economy so it’s going to be a tight squeeze. Hopefully the lady sitting in front of me won’t lean her seat back, but that’s doubtful. I’ve already got my laptop on my lap as is and it’s not pleasant. I wish one of the manufacturers who I requested a sub-notebook/netbook from had gotten back to me. I’m looking at you Lenovo, HP, Asus, MSI and Dell.

The service unavailable splash screen reveals that Gogo won’t work below 10,000 feet and is only available within the continental U.S. I will individually test all my devices and then simultaneously to see what sort of bandwidth I’m getting.

Speed tests after the jump.

So far Speedtest.net is giving me 1,748 kbps down and roughly 290kbps up.

Another test reveals similar results.

This one’s not so good.

One more test on the laptop and I’ll start testing my iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Curve.

So far so good, folks. The aircrafts are 767s and not 727s. If you’re on a flight for more than three hours than I think $13 is worth it. The only caveat here is that American Airlines only supports cigarette lighter adapters, so I’m screwed in about an hour when my battery dies. FastMac was supposed to send me an extended battery weeks ago, but they’ve failed to do so. Virgin America on the other hand has normal outlets.

I just tried out the service on my iPhone 3G and it worked well. You have to sign off from each device to export the service to another. It’s a pain, but there for a reason. I’ll get video or time how long it takes to download an app from the app store.

I’m currently on Skype, AIM, and MSN messenger. I tried calling someone over VoIP on Skype but it dropped after five seconds. Service has been good so far. There were a few spots where the connection was sluggish, but otherwise it’s been rock solid.

I’m currently watching Doug’s review on YouTube and there’s no lag for a five-minute video.

One clever IMer just asked me:

and here’s a question, feel free to write about it, if you were to commit a crime, lets say hack something stupid via the wi-fi on flight, where would they extradite you to?

We’ll get the answer soon. Also, I know you’re all wondering how they’re blocking VoIP calls. We’ll have that answer soon.

Oh great! The f*cking stewardess flight attendant just spilled water on my laptop!

VoIP calls are sort of going through, but nothing can be heard on either end. Former CG editor Josh Goldman just tried calling said they heard some sort of “digital tune.”

My laptop is going dark in less than 10, so I’m switching to iPhone 3G and/or BlackBerry Curve.

I’ll be back shortly, folks. Leave you questions in comments and I’ll do my best to get them answered.

4:18PM EST – Switched from my dead laptop to my BB. The switchover was easy but I didn’t get a connection for a few minutes. E-mail, browser and BB messenger are all working flawlessly.

To answer your question about VoIP calls I just spoke with Jack Blumenstein, the president and ceo of Aircell. They’ve restricted the packets that enable voip calls but clearly haven’t blocked skype altogether. Connections can be made that may or may not last a few seconds but the audio then becomes garbled.

Just made a call over UMA on my BlackBerry to my brother and it went through. Lasted about a minute. Will get a wav file to post on the site.

The connection is now garbled.

To all the commenters who are telling me to plug in: All outlets need cig lighter adapters. Feh.
5:06PM EST – Update: blackberry uma connection is spotty
Aircell’s tech guy had his nokia n810 and it was running fine
He said bb’s UMA is a problem and they’re working to resolve it now
Also, any winmo device with wifi will work regardless regardless of the devices listed on the gogo site

Cool. Gogo service automatically shuts off when it goes below 10k feet

6:03PM EST – Brief layover in LAX before jumping on a flight back. Leave questions in comments.

6:31PM EST – Bandwidth is prioritized, so if you’re juicing the network by watching video or downloading then your connection gets slower but it won’t stop and other passenger won’t be affected.

One passenger was watching basebll games through sling on the outbound flight.

Just left LAX and I’m back online. I have roughly one hour of laptop juice left, so please feel free to leave a comment or AIM me at crunchtips.

Going to watch some video on fancast and see what it does to my bandwidth.

7:40PM EDT
Currently watching this episode of Family Guy. Bandwidth is holding steady. Guess there aren’t too many people using Gogo right now.

7:42PM EDT
RE: VPN. Folks from Aircell are telling me that it’s up to your IT department based on how strong the Wi-Fi connection needs to be. I know a couple AA execs were connected over VPN on the outbound flight from JFK to LAX.

Do you guys want to know anything else?

[Devin says: Peter and I played this little fridge magnet game. Worked fine, so no upstream issues.]

Facebook chatting with the boss, MA, now.

Just ran four fancast streams and bandwidth went down a bit.

Running three Hulu streams with no noticeable lag on any of the streams. Trying to Bit Torrent, but I’ve got zilch going down or up.

Spoke too soon. My streams are getting choppy.

8:15PM EDT
I have roughly 15 minutes left of juice on my laptop. Better get your questions in now.

8:17PM EDT
Torrenting a 233MB file now with download speeds ranging from 0B/s to 3.1Kbps with nothing uploading.

8:25PM EDT
Well, that’s it for me, folks. My laptop is about to kick the can, so I’ll be switching over to my BlackBerry/iPhone 3G for the remainder of the flight. Feel free to email me at peter at crunchgear dot com with any questions and I’ll do my best to get them answered.

Archos does a cannonball into the Internet tablet pool with the release of three new devices: the Archos 5, the Archos 5g, and the Archos 7. These are the same devices that we wrote about late last week.

The company is boasting the “Internet Media Tablet” as a new concept even though these devices have a lot in common with gadgets like the Nokia Internet tablets. However, Archos has thrown the word “media” in between “Internet” and “tablet” so let’s see what all the fuss is about.

Archos 5

The Archos 5 is the flagship product of the new series. It’s got an ARM Cortex processor, 4.8-inch 800×480 touchscreen, Flash 9/MPEG-4/WMV/MPEG-2/H.264 and 720p video support (with an optional $20 plug-in), 802.11b/g wireless, built-in speaker, full e-mail client, and capacities between 60GB and 250GB.

Video playback is rated at 4 hours, audio at 12 hours. It’ll be available in September for $350 (60GB), $400 (120GB), or $450 (250GB).

Archos 5g

The Archos 5g is basically an Archos 5 with a 30GB hard drive and an internal 3.5G HSDPA antenna for connecting to cellular data networks. It’ll be available sometime in December for $550.

Archos 7

The Archos 7 will come in two capacities: 160GB and 250GB. Each features a 7-inch 800×480 screen, support for Flash video/WMV/MPEG-4/H.264 and optional $20 720p plug-in, 802.11b/g wireless, built-in speaker, and built-in e-mail client. We’ll see the 7 series in October for $450 (160GB) and $550 (320GB).

DVR Station

Each device will be compatible with the $99 docking station, which will allow you to record TV, play back HD content, charge your device faster, stream content from your PC to your docked device via Wi-Fi, and more.

ARCHOS Internet Media Tablets [Archos.com]

Here’s the Gigabyte M528, reported earlier in the year to be available for pre-order at a whopping $1130. Looks like that figure has now been cut almost in half and the device is actually available for order at Expansys for $684.99, although it’s “not a stocked item and will be ordered from the distributor when you place an order.”

As for the M528 itself, it’s kind of like a really powerful Nokia Internet Tablet with built-in 3G. It’s got an 800MHz Menlow processor (now called the Centrino Atom, although that line of processors is changing to just Atom), a custom Linux interface, 512MB RAM, 4.8-inch 800×480 touchscreen, 4GB solid state drive, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3-megapixel autofocus camera, Wi-Fi + HSDPA, GPS, and more.

[via UMPCPortal]

The N810 has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, GPS, VGA webcam, open source operating system, 4.3-inch 800×480 display, and more. Here’s a little hands-on we did with the device back in April.

Nokia N810 NSeries Internet Tablet [CompUSA.com via SlashGear]

PenguinBait has posted some detailed steps on how to install Android onto your Nokia N810 tablet, thereby giving you the opportunity to test the DontBeEvilOS before everyone on your block. The instructions are fairly complex and could brick your stuff so keep your wits about you.

via Pocketable via AOL

According to BusinessWeek

Last time I checked, open source developers generally write applications that fulfill a need that’s otherwise gone unfulfilled – and most of those developers work for free.

Jaaski conceded that things like DRM “go against the open-source philosophy” but Nokia has to cover its bases from a legal standpoint, I suppose. It’s just difficult to convince people to develop free software for you after you tie their hands together.

Jaaski also admitted that Nokia has learned from some of its early mistakes concerning the Maemo platform, which is used on the company’s N770, and N800-series Internet Tablets – particularly that future software development for the platform needs to be less fragmented by adhering closer to Nokia’s standards.

"Don’t make your own version. The original mistake we made was to take the code to our labs, change it and then release it at the last minute. The community had already gone in a different direction than [us], and no-one was pushing it other than [us]. Everybody wants to make their own version and keep it too close to their chest but that leads to fragmentation."

I read this as Nokia saying, “You guys develop free stuff just for our devices. We’ll take the code when it’s done and lock it down.”

via Slashdot

I’m a fan of the Nokia 800-series Internet tablets, and Nokia is making effort to keep them current. It recently bought Trolltech and is in the process of finalizing the purchase. Trolltech makes the QT applications platform that many devices use, and Nokia is no doubt planning on bringing QT to the N810 and perhaps future tablet devices.

What’s also notable is Nokia is working on Ubuntu support for the N810. Right now it plans of allowing it to run off an SD card, but it shouldn’t be too hard to make it the default OS for the tablet. While I like the Maemo’s OS, Ubuntu’s the flavor of the month, so it would seem prudent to have a access to it.