Taiwan-based E-Lead Electronic will show off its new Noahpad UMPC at CES 2008 next week. Dubbed "classmate, roommate, and travelmate," the unit runs Ubuntu 7.10 by default but is capable of running Windows XP on its 1GHz VIA C7 Eden processor (CX700 chipset), 30GB hard drive, and 512MB of RAM. Its 7-inch display is LED backlit and lifts up and folds down backwards to reveal a QWERTY keyboard (virtual?) that can apparently be used blindly (see inset image).
The PDF I received from E-Lead this morning is a bit vague on this (the official site, noahpad.com, is under construction and estimated to be back up on January 5th), but the UMPC also features some sort of revolutionary new kind of input technology called Noahpad that, as far as I can figure, either relates to the "dual large touch pads" that control the cursor and move windows (not sure what this means), the 50+ function keys for "learning, working, and playing," or the split keyboard. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. I’ll untangle this mess at CES, but in the meantime, here are the full specs and some additional photos.
All of the images demonstrate the various usage scenarios of the Noahpad UMPC, but folding it over a wooden hanger while frying an egg is a bit over the top.
More on this from the showroom floor . . .
Update 1.4.08: Noahpad UMPC gets official.
