Unidentified Android MID makes an appearance
There isn't much to go by here, but a set of photos appeared in some unnamed forum the other day showing what is believed to be a new slate-style Android MID that is estimated to have a touchscreen measuring somewhere between 4.3 to 5 inches and said to feature applications like MSN Messenger and GTalk, WiFi, and possibly 3G connectivity.
The MID is rumored to be powered by a Rockchip CPU (the upcoming RK2808 perhaps?) and expected to perform better than the iPod touch, which I guess it's trying to compete against. Other than that and whatever else can be deduced from the photos, nothing else is known about the device.
The anonymous tipster who sent the pics and info to me via email says the unit is currently making its rounds on a handful of Chinese tech sites, none of which link to or name the forum they all mention as the source, so I can't direct you to anything more concrete either.
Anyone know where the images come from or what this device is?
Isn’t it the SmartQ Q5? I’ve seen posts that suggest that will optionally run Android…
In fact, here’s a link:
http://www.jiongtang.com/blog/html/smartq5/android-ii.html
Nah it isn’t the Q5 that runs a Samsung/ARM 6410cpu. It is based on a new rockchip cpu. Here’s the original link >>>.
http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imp3.net%2F14%2Fshow.php%3Fitemid%3D20454&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&history_state0=
Could it be the Archos device that is supposed to be announced next month? Isn’t that supposed to run Android?
Whatever it is, I want it!
From what I could make out from the translation it seems to bee a concept project created by the chip manufacturer themselves (Rockchip) as a showcase for their new android capable 720p chipset, put together in an attempt to intice manufacturers to adopt. It is not an Archos device.
Rockchip are a chinese manufacturer famous for making chips for media playing devices. The new archos 3 series player and the iriver p7 both use rockchiop cpu’s as well a s awhole host of chinese manufacturers liek Ramos,Oppo, teclast etc etc.
Good info but hat isn’t the original source. Chinese sites are notorious for watermarking pix that aren’t theirs andnot crediting sources. That imp3 article doesn’t indicate where the pix are from.
One thing that I can’t figure why they’re omitting from these is a webcam. I would’ve bought the SmartQ 5 on a heartbeat if it had a webcam. It would be great to Skype up anywhere with one of these little suckers. This thing doesn’t look like it has a webcam either.
The Tainell T500, on the other hand, looks very promising to me, the only question is it’s cost and availability. If it’s near SmartQ 5 territory it will kill.
Thanks, sere83! The possibility that it’s just a concept device will hopefully stop the rumors that are already starting about this being the mythical Apple tablet or oversized iPod touch (even though it’s running Android).
Yeah a webcam would certainly be useful. The problem with the SmartQ 5 is it’s sluggish performance and long boot times under Ubuntu ARM (although under win ce 6.0 it is probably a little better). I was considering it for a long time based on the fact that The underclocked version of a similar samsung/arm 6400 series cpu used in the iphone 3g is able to decode h.264 video flawlessly upto VGA resolution.
However, the SmartQ’s media performance is actually pretty poor. It is very poor at decoding mp4 video and despite using a wolfson audio decoder the music software provided and general audio playback experience is said to be pretty poor too. I think Meizu implemneted the same CPU a liitle better for audio/video use in the M8 but it is still far from perfect as it also suffers from frame dropping playing VGA res divx/xvid and h.264 files. Just shows what good software engineers can do eh? The Q5 is still said to be ok as a web browser, pdf viewr, ebook and is cheap but i’m an impatient guy and that sluggishness would end up pi**ing be right off.
These Android based devices are looking very interesting though. Particuarly those incorporating next gen cpu’s (tegra, cortex A8, snapdragon, etc etc) which are capabale of decoding 720p video. I was skeptical at first but android is now gaining real momentum and will surely only get better. HTC’s sense UI has shown what the potential od android in terms of UI and additional features ( multitouch, flash etc), we just need something with some decent hardware to make full use of the platforms potential.
Creative’s Zii looks like a very promising solution too. If an OEM picks it up and perhaps incorpaorates it into a larger screen sized/res device and incorporates 3G we could have a winner on our hands. I think this rockchip chipset could be pretty useful too as they already have 720p capable chips on the market like the RK2708.
With the prospect of all these new HD capable much more powerful chipsets i’m affraid that the slower ARM designed chipsets like the 6410 and the Qualcom used in the HTC hero etc just don’t cut it for me anymore. I’m very much looking forward though to some really great Ui’s, rich media and enjoyable web browsing experiences on MID’s/phones/pmps/daps with these new chipsets though.
Close, but the bevel doesn’t quite match, unless it’s just cosmetically different. The SmartQ Q5 also has indicator lights in the upper right.
ThaT looks just like archos 5, and they sad that will build a android based archos 5
i think its the MID-560 by SMiT, check http://www.smit.com.cn/English/proDetail.asp?InfoId=126&js=