Will you wait for Intel Moorestown-based mediaphones?
The big news about little devices coming out of Computex right now is Intel's re-introduction of Moorestown/Moblin V2 mediaphones. One of the first products to be part of this new group of gadgets is the unnamed turquoise slate you see here, a handheld branded by Inventec that will probably never be released. The device hasn't been seen powered on yet, but it could certainly be one of the three working Moorestown units Intel will be showing off at an Ultra Mobility Event scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Taipei (that's Wednesday evening in Hawaii). Update: Photo and basic specs of five Moorestown devices below.
Chippy has his predictions for the presentation laid out at MIDMoves and while I think they're pretty spot-on, I have serious doubts about the product launch timeframe. Moorestown has always been slated for 2010, but Chippy is estimating that the platform has a chance of being launched on products later this year.
While it would be great for this to be true, I can't help but remain skeptical because of what happened with the Intel MIDs that were first introduced in 2007 and still aren't readily available without the help of an importer. The same concept devices and prototypes were trotted out at tradeshow after tradeshow, year after year, yet only a handful of them were ever released (and none in the US). Will Moorestown mediaphones meet the same fate? Will you hold off on buying a new smartphone because of the possibility of a late-2009 mediaphone launch?
Details from the event at MIDMoves (more photos expected there as well); live photos of the devices at Engadget China.
