Pocketables

N900 drops in price yet again, thanks to $50 rebate from Nokia

Many of our regular readers may have noticed my continual posts regarding the long-awaited Nokia N900, and they may have come to the conclusion that I seem to be an N900 fan. Well, I'm here to say "guilty as charged." I've been eagerly awaiting the availability of the newest Maemo device for years now, ever since my N800 started showing its age.

I haven't preordered mine yet and after seeing this latest price drop thanks to a $50 rebate from Nokia, I'm glad I waited. Now through Amazon, the price of the N900 has dropped to a lowest-ever $509.99 after applying said rebate, which is also valid when the purchase is made through other retailers.

Hopefully there is an N900 with my name on it somewhere out there, on its voyage from wherever that has seemed to take forever, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it gets to Amazon soon so I can click that "add to cart" button.

[Nokia N900 @ Amazon]

Nokia N900 is finally shipping after long delay

Mark it down, Maemo fans: November 10th, 2009. The day that we finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel and start to envision our very own Nokia N900 in our hands very soon, thanks to Nokia officially announcing the shipping of their long-awaited smartphone. It seems that we have been writing about this device forever, and while we have been waiting, the iPhone and Android juggernauts just keep gaining steam.

Of course, there are about 300 lucky users out there who have been running early-release versions of the hardware in order to help Nokia iron out the last few kinks in the all-new Maemo 5 software, but now it is finally time for the rest of us.

Myself, I have been eagerly anticipating the N900 since it was first announced, paying little attention to the fact that it will operate only on the T-Mobile 3G band here in the US, even though I currently use AT&T. No matter, the device is unlocked and will work fine without 3G for me, since this will be the replacement for my beloved Nokia N800 and Nokia N810WE internet tablets that have served me well over the last few years.

Who is with me on the N900 and will be buying one as soon as possible? Or have the announcements of the HTC HD2 and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 caused some hesitation on your part?

[Nokia Press Release]

Aigo walkshow N6500 image leak reveals improved design

It isn't the Windows XP MID phone that's reportedly still in development, but if these leaked images of an upcoming Aigo walkshow N6500 engineering sample are to be believed, then it seems the company has been spending its time pretty wisely. If nothing else, the rendered device is certainly a cosmetic improvement over its very chunky predecessor.

Web browsing battle: Archos 5 Android vs Archos 5 IMT

Now that we've seen the new Archos 5 Android and the old non-Android Archos 5 Internet Tablets face off in photos, let's take a look at how the two ARM Cortex A8-powered devices compare in terms of their web browsing experiences.

Both handhelds feature a 4.8-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen and renders web pages accurately, but do their WebKit and Opera 9 web browsers or 800MHz OMAP 3440 and 600MHz OMAP 3430 processors make one unit better than the other? Read on to find out.

Mysterious mintpass mintpad 7wise and WSketch outed

We've known for quite some time that Korea-based mintpass is currently working on a second-generation mintpad and that Android, WiBro, GPS, an all-metal body, and a touchscreen that won't be larger than 7 inches are all under consideration for the upcoming device. So when moveplayer recently discovered listings for two previously unknown models called the mintpad 7wise and mintpad WSketch on the company's website, it's hard not to assume that at least one of these could be the mintpad v2.

Unfortunately, when I got in touch with an account executive at mintpass about the mysterious models, I was told that "something like those are in the process of developing" but that no additional information could be shared just yet. That the 7wise and WSketch are even listed as drop-down menu options for customer service (along with the already released original mintpad, which is still available through Amazon, and mintpad DMB) suggests that the units are already well beyond the "process of developing" to me, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Archos 5 Android and Archos 5 IMT face off in photos

My year-old Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet was very unhappy yesterday when a thinner, lighter, more powerful version of itself waltzed into Pocketables HQ and had the audacity to demand that it be addressed by an almost identical name.

The brazen, just-released Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android (which we'll simply call the Archos 5 Android from now on) stripped off its packaging and challenged the old timer to a hardware throwdown. They would meet again in a web browsing duel and other situations in due time, but a superficial battle of outward appearances had to be done first. Though showing some definite signs of wear on its once-glossy casing, the non-Android Archos 5 accepted the challenge. See how it went below.

Nokia N920 possibly already in the works

UPDATE: The image is a fake.

Even though Nokia is still making us hang on the edge of our seats as we wait for them to release the long-awaited N900 running Maemo 5, it seems they are already hard at work on the next N-series family member and OS. Thanks to one of our tipsters, we are able to see an image of a purported early prototype that still appears to be running Diablo, with Maemo 6 a strong possibility to be the OS of choice sometime next year.

While it has been known for quite some time that the Internet Tablet line would have perhaps more than one form factor, now we at least have a little more info and a picture of a new, larger design and the future of Maemo.

Live shots of 1080p-capable SmartQ V5 MID appear

SmartDevices still hasn't added the SmartQ V5 (previously known as the SmartV 5) MID we first spotted last month to its product list, but it has acknowledged its existence and even sent out a prototype to Chinese site iMobile365.

The company asked the site not to say too much about the device, which isn't a big deal since we already know about its 5-inch WVGA touchscreen, 600MHz ARM11 CPU, 2GB flash storage, microSD slot, Android/WinCE 6.0/Ubuntu operating system options, HDMI output, and 1080p MKV/H.264 support. What iMobile365 was allowed to do, however, was unbox the handheld and take some mostly blurry photos of the all-metal hardware that is apparently painted in an unappealing shade that Google Translate calls "green duck feces."

Sharp RD-PM1 e-dictionary sports same MID-worthy design as RD-PM10

Remember how Sharp cruelly teased us several months ago with the RD-PM10 multimedia e-dictionary that should have been a MID despite its lowly WiFi-less specs? Well, the company is back at it again, this time with the minimally updated RD-PM1 (~$290).

Despite being lighter than its predecessor (9.67 oz versus 11.53 oz) and having different buttons flanking its 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, the new device is otherwise identical to the old one. That means the same 5.5" x 3.1" x 1.0" body (albeit in black), Windows CE 5.0 operating system, 8GB internal storage expandable with microSDHC cards up to 16GB, dictionary content, voice recorder, multimedia capabilities (including XviD and OGG support), and FM radio that you can already get from the RD-PM10. A DMB tuner is offered with a lower-capacity 4GB model, but WiFi, Bluetooth, and any other kind of useful connectivity are still out of reach.

Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android pulled by Amazon for problems?

Now this is definitely interesting, especially considering that the new device has only been out for a few days, but it seems that Amazon has stopped taking orders for the 160GB hard drive-based version of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android due to the item being "under review." Now granted, they do say that it could be a problem on their end with the description or the way it's shipped, but when you read that "customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item," that can't possibly bode well for Archos as they look to transition into their new OS and products.

The slimmer 32GB flash-based version is still available for ordering and the 500GB model continues to be up for pre-ordering, so let's hope that any issues that may exist can be fixed right away for the sake of current owners or those who were contemplating a purchase. The reviews from new owners do appear to be mixed from what I have briefly read around the net, so hopefully it is just a matter of Archos pushing out a timely firmware update.

Do you have one of the new models and if so, are you having any issues other than something a firmware update could fix? Maybe this will all be sorted out quickly, but please chime in with your comments and let us know what's going on.