nbm

I’m a fan of mobile devices with keyboards and I don’t see a big hole in the market between netbooks and smartphones that needs to be filled. But we’re seeing a growing number of companies putting out 10 inch or smaller touchscreen devices that Intel likes to call Mobile Internet Devices or MIDs, although a few years ago the term was UMPC or Ultra Mobile PC.

MIDs certainly haven’t taken off the way that netbooks have in the past few years, but they’re getting more and more versatile. Two of the biggest proponents for netbooks and MIDs got together recently to have a little cage match dialog. Sascha from Netbook News and Chippy from UMPC Portal and MID Moves shot a little video, which you can check out after the break.

They both make some good points. But as much as I don’t see a lot of feed for a device with a small screen and no keyboard, there is one thing I noticed while watching the video. Chippy’s MID was open and ready to check a web page or send an email throughout the conversation, while Sascha’s netbook was tucked away under his arm waiting for him to get to a place where he could sit down at a table.

via Netbook News.de

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,450 other subscribers

5 replies on “Netbooks vs. MIDs”

  1. Actually, to amplify on MonkeyKing1969’s comment, I think a keyboard-less tablet fill that space, nicely, and allow for some more screen space.

    You could always hook up a USB or wireless keyboard, when you needed to do ‘sitdown’ tasks, or a big, on-screen touch-typable keyboard could work, too, if you didn’t want to carry around a keyboard.

    Rumors are that’s where the Apple Tablet is heading.

    We’ll see, we’ll see…

  3. You’ve finally hit exactly the point of MIDs. All else is details.

  4. Well, that’s why Blackberry, Palm, and now iPhone took off. Some tasks just need looking or hitting one button, like e-mail, phone, or a web browsing

    However, there is no need to separate tablets and netbooks into two devices; a light weight flip screen tablet is the answer. A 10” touch screen netbook that flips into a tablet mode that weights 2 lbs or less would be a single device that does what people, want: netbook/tablet/e-book.

    The two important technologies that need “crash programs” are Color eInk displays and smaller stronger batteries. The issues of screen power draw and battery power reserve are key. Nevertheless, today we could make great convertible tablets but I haven’t seen the breakout device yet.

Comments are closed.