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Netbooks and Smartphones Converging

Cell phones are getting larger to accommodate a larger display and laptops are getting smaller and more portable. As the cellphone gets more expensive and the laptop gets cheaper there will come a time in the not too distant future where they will cross. Which device will it be? The netbook or the smartphone? Who’s going to make the first bookphone?

Which would you buy? The Asus Eee PC Netbook [225mm x 170mm x 34mm] on the left or the HTC 4G Tablet with WiMax [113.5mm X 63.1mm X 13.9mm] on the right?

Add VOIP software and all you need is a Bluetooth headset to make your calls. What’s a carrier to do? Will they offer netbooks on subsidy to get you to commit to their dataplan? It’s already happening.

Image captured on US television
Image captured on US television
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Ian Kennedy

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3 responses to “Netbooks and Smartphones Converging”

  1. jr Avatar
    jr

    I’m looking for something that has a form factor of “pocket sized” meaning that it fits comfortably with a shirt pocket, has a battery life of about four hours use, wifi.g and has a mini b usb connector for power and drive access. it should have a mininum of 8 GB with a SDHD expansion slot. Touch control and a slide out keyboard would be nice, but external quick access buttons for things like power, volume, and directionals are a must. It should support installing third party applications so that folks can do clever things with it outside of original intent. Other “nice to haves”, standard sized phono/mic jack(s), bluetooth, USB master capabilities (obviously unpowered), Wi* (wimax, etc.) capabilities (although bluetooth may solve that) The “phone” bit isn’t really required for me, but also a nice to have (possibly because I generally seem to have some other device acting as the phone). And yes, the N810 is pretty darn close.

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  2. iankennedy Avatar
    iankennedy

    I’m hoping to get my hands on an N96, the 16GB successor to the wildly successful N95 multi-media workhorse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N95) Check out WOM World (don’t ask me what WOM stands for) to see how people have hacked the device. (http://www.womworld.com/nokia/category/n95/) Yes, you can walk the file system and put and take whatever you need.

    Reply
  3. Nokia’s Netbook, the N97 Avatar
    Nokia’s Netbook, the N97

    […] been watching the convergence of the smartphone and laptop computer into a single device called a netbook. While Verizon is […]

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