Picture grabbed from webcast, courtesy TechTicker

Today Qualcomm showed off a new smartbook from Lenovo at an analyst meeting in New York. The smartbook, a first for Lenovo, is powered by Qualcomm’s forthcoming Snapdragon chipset and will be a (near) instant-on device that natively operates on AT&T’s wireless network.

The key for this device is constant/instant connectivity. No waiting for a long boot time or loading a bloated application, you just turn it on and go. This thing won’t play Call of Duty and activities beyond web browsing and word processing will be limited, but that is the point. What this device does, it does well with few compromises. Compare this to a netbook that tries to do everything of a full-power PC with significantly limited resources due to cost, size, and battery life, resulting in a user experience that is less than extraordinary.

Here is a concise list of what has been revealed about Lenovo’s first smartbook:

• Connectivity provided by AT&T – expect a subsidized package when purchased through AT&T
• “About the size of a netbook”  with HD support – expect a 10-11 inch screen with a resolution in the 1366 or 1280 pixels wide range
• New Snapdragon chipset used in this smartbook won’t be announced until CES, but is based on an ARM CPU and supports Flash
• Linux operating system with a simplified user interface, consists of “six large widgets, including ones for e-mail and Facebook“
• Large battery “mostly used to power the screen” – expect at least 6 hours of runtime, if not more
• No hint on product naming or availability – a CES launch might be too soon, but we can all hope

There is still much to be revealed
At first, I was disappointed reading this news. No mention of NVIDIA Tegra or Chrome OS, two things that have been rumored for a while and that I have been gleefully awaiting in a laptop (or smartbook, or whatever). But Qualcomm’s discussion of the machine was of course focused on their new product to hopefully drum up more interest and credibility for the smartbook market. There is probably a lot they couldn’t talk about still due to needed secrecy on Lenovo’s part, but mention of Tegra or Chrome OS would also kill any excitement around their part of the puzzle. There is far more to be revealed.

A hope for Tegra/Chrome?
I’m still not clear if the Snapdragon chipset means Tegra isn’t an option. It could be that Snapdragon consists of the processor, bus, I/O, etc and NVIDIA’s Tegra solution could be dropped in. Considering what Tegra can do on the Zune HD and that it will get Flash acceleration support from Adobe later next year, I’m still hoping. Chrome OS is also still a possibility. If the Lenovo smartbook doesn’t bow at CES 2010, then it could come in such a timeframe that Chrome OS will be ready. This “six widget Linux” interface could be temporary or an early version of Chrome OS, unfortunately we’re still waiting on these key details.

Be excited
Lenovo has made a lot of strides in 2009. Its IdeaPad lineup arguably went from bland to impressive and distinguishing. I’ve had my hands on most of their IdeaPads and I think for the most part they offer strong value with an attractive design. This forward progress will undoubtedly apply to the forthcoming smartbook and I think we have something really cool to look forward to. If Lenovo can pull off the instant-connectivity device at a reasonable price point (and monthly service fee), this could be very big for them. Hell, maybe then more than 2/10 people would know what Lenovo IS even.

Read more posts about Lenovo’s smartbook, NVIDIA Tegra or Google’s Chrome OS

Source: [PC World]