I'm fascinated, but pretty skeptical of the VPC08. As you can see, the thing dwarfs the Nokia N97 Mini, and its design doesn't appeal to me as much as the even crazier xpPhone (which will also run Windows 7).

Other specs on ViewSonic's effort include 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD, Wi-Fi, 1200mAh battery, 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini USB port, 2-megapixel camera, and microSD storage expansion. There had been talk of a roughly $800 price, but that's all speculation until it actually arrives. Maybe we'll get to play with it at CES. [Shanzhaiben (translated) via Pocketables]

The idea of multiple models seems to sync up with Dell's previous comments about considering MIDs with screen sizes ranging from 4- to 12-inches. Last month's apparent leak suggested the 5-inch Streak has an 800 by 480 touch screen, 3G, Wi-Fi, a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, microSD card storage, and a 1,300mAh battery. Commercial Times says it'll be built by Qisda. [DigiTimes via SlashGear]

This apparent engineering sample was leaked by Vietnamese site, Tinhte.com, and appears fairly legit. It suggests the Streak has an 800 by 480 touch screen, 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, microSD card storage, and a 1,300mAh battery.

As you can see in the video, it also looks like there will be a front-facing camera for video calls. Slashgear also points out that the engineering sample is labeled as a US variant. You'll know more when we do. [Tinhte via SlashGear]

The good news is that you can run Android from a USB drive or Live CD, so you don't have to nuke your current OS.

Kevin over at jkOnTheRun has a Samsung Q1UP, and was able to install an Android 1.6 port originally intended for the Eee PC 701. He says "Android is blazing on a 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo" and suspects the battery lasts longer, too. He was also able to use Wi-Fi, and the Samsung's QWERTY keyboard without problems.

The major glitches Kevin ran into were on the hardware side of things—no touchscreen, sound, Bluetooth, or button mapping support. That's bound to happen when the port isn't specifically geared for the device, but he says he's chatting with developers to make it happen.

An interesting experiment, but I'd be interested to know if other mobile/netbook OSes, like Jolicloud or Intel's Moblin, fare any better. [jkOnTheRun via SlashGear]

Yes, I definitely will snatch one of these. Apparently, the Wi-Fi Android tablett was created by Rockchip to showcase their new RK2808 720p video decoding chipset. And a fine job they did, indeed. [Pocketables via Pocketables]

That's a 5-inch touchscreen with an impressive 800 x 480 resolution. And internally, an 533/667MHZ ARM 11-based Samsung 6410 chip should run the device as quickly as any smartphone with codec support including AAC, OGG, DivX, XviD, and H.264.

Storage stays light by maxing at 8GB, but a miniSD card slot offers lots of expansion. Wi-Fi and GPS are standard.

Sadly, even if you were to import the thing, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of CMMB mobile TV broadcast support (DVB intended for the Chinese market). But such is life in the US.

So is the MID-560 our mystery MID? Maybe, but it's tough to confirm given that we only have a low-end render. And Pocketables, the source of the original shots, is still not convinced. [SMiT via Shanzai]

The two did say that they're going to be sharing Nokia's HSPA/3G modem technology so Intel can put those into their own equipment, and that they're going to be all up in the open source world. Other than that? Not a whole lot going on. Sounds to us like Nokia's going to be making some more N800-like devices with Intel inside. [Nokia]

Or, at least that's what Texas Instruments, the guys who are apparently making a good portion of the device's guts, told everyone back in February. A recap of the MID, which is said to have voice capabilities:

What is known is that the device will have a five-inch screen, support HD playback, have a 10mm thickness and support Flash

Flash support stands out as a bit curious, but recent rumors about flash support in leaked builds of Android could explain that away. In any case, we don't have long to wait: the event is scheduled for June 11th. [Slashgear via Pocketables via Android Community]

Intel's roadmap looks like this: Now they have Atom, which powers many of the netbooks on the market today. Next comes Moorestown, which is supposed to be like the Atom, but house two chips and be a low-power solution that can be customizable (the 2nd chip) for whatever gadget a client shoves it into. Moorestown isn't quite small enough for smartphones, but Intel's saying Medfield may be, when Medfield follows up Moorestown.

There's a lot of hinting, but not a lot of outright declaration here, so it's not certain that Medfield may be able to fit into something the size of an iPhone or a Pre or an Android. What they are saying is that they can fit into something the size of a UMPC or a MID or a large PMP—something that Nvidia's Tegra or Qualcomm's Snapdragon are aiming for as well.

The timeline for Medfield is 2011ish, so there's a while yet before anything materializes. But if Intel does somehow find a way to get their system-on-a-chip into your phones, that means bigger OSes and more laptop-like performance. We'll see. [Fortune]

Right off the bat it is plain to see that this thing just looks good. It's designed more like a slider phone—which opens up portable possibilities beyond that of a simple netbook. Plus, the proposed features are actually realistic: QWERTY keyboard with trackball, wide LCD touchscreen, 7 "action buttons" that can be used when the device is closed, two USB slots, microphone and audio input, SD card reader, stereo speakers and docking connector.

Again, the MID is only a concept, but I can see how people might dig it if it became a real world product. [Yanko]

The price: $599 (configured with 4.8" WSVGA display, 60gb HD, Intel Atom 1.33GHz CPU, free spare battery, car kit and pouch)

The verdict: The S5 is a good value, but you may not like it anyway.

At .92lbs, the Viliv is a bit hefty in your hands even though it's 1.5lbs lighter than most netbooks (it's sitting on an Asus Eee 1000HE here). Still, the Viliv kept surprising me with its speed. Loaded with the same processor as the Vaio P, the system doesn't actually run XP faster than any Atom-based, but to see installation bars and downloads move so quickly on such a tiny device is always a bit of a mindfrak.

The resistive touchscreen has passable color, brightness and contrast—luckily, it's also ridiculously accurate. Yeah, the buttons and icons are as minuscule as you'd expect, but I never had a hard time, say, hitting the "X" to close a window (with my precision "nail" tool, of course)...unless my browser was full screen. Then my finger just never fit in the corner properly. For when you need extreme precision, the four-way thumbstick doubles as a mouse, or you can use the bundled "Cube" interface for larger icons (which is fine for a skin, but you'll need to tinker in the real XP sooner or later).

As for the keyboard, it pops up with a conveniently placed button on the right. Pressing keys offers a satisfying moment of haptic feedback. It works about 90% of the time, but however the keyboard skin was designed, your finger press sometimes goes through the keyboard and hits a link or something that's on your screen. It can make typing a simple phrase quite taxing as you unintentionally swap text boxes.

The GPS? It works, but you'll need to supply your own nav software (an additional cost). The battery? It's rated at 6 hours, but we received four hours (and two minutes) when tested with nonstop WMV playback (Wi-Fi on with the screen at medium brightness). Since many manufacturers claim battery life that's double actual testing, I considered four hours to be decent.
The USB, headphone and Multi I/O ports are enough in a device of this size, because between them, you could plug in a keyboard, monitor (with adapter) and speakers. In this respect, the Viliv could make for an extremely portable home-to-office computer.

Here's the issue: I just don't like MIDs. I hate them, really. If I want to use something small, I'll use a smartphone. If I want to use something slightly bigger, that's netbook/laptop territory. The MID, in my mind, is a failed idea of the future still stuck in the 90s. It's a computer that neither fits in your pocket nor serves as your main computer. So if you hate MIDs, the Viliv S5 won't do anything to change that.

But for a MID, I must say, I liked the Viliv. If you are the type of person who can stand the 4.8-inch screen and is looking for their GPS to do a little more, then it might interest you. And at $599, it's sort of the netbook of MIDs—a whole lot cheaper than what you can get from Sony or the soon defunct OQO.

As fast as any netbook

Relatively cheap

Utilitarian but solid build

Accurate touchscreen

Some keyboard quirks

[Dynamism and Video from ITInside]

The device was revealed by Texas Instruments in a press release for the OMAP 3 chip, but revolved around fairly vague details. What is known is that the device will have a five-inch screen, support HD playback, have a 10mm thickness and support Flash.

What isn't clear is why the press release keeps making a distinctions between the phone and mobile internet tablet functionalities, instead of just calling it a smartphone. But until we know the specifics, we'll just have to go along with it. [Android Community]

Besides using a wiki-based community to contribute content, TuneWiki also displays real-time music popularity lists, the locations of other TuneWiki users based on your favorite songs and artists, and the ability to check out music from other countries with translated lyrics. It's an interesting new app for the (MID-using) international crowd, but will it take off States-side?

TuneWiki brings its Next Generation Social Media Player
to Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices

TuneWiki for Moblin revealed today, at a keynote speech for the Intel Developer Conference in Taipei. TuneWiki successfully ported its award winning software to the MID, based on the new Intel® Atom™ processor.

TuneWiki's social media player is the first to integrate music and video with synchronized lyrics and a social network. The lyrics data and synchronization are contributed by the community, using wiki technology. TuneWiki MusicMap displays the location of users based on songs or artists. LiveCharts allows consumers to access a real-time music popularity list by country or state, and listen to music from other countries with lyrics translated to their preferred language.

“Mobile Internet Devices are projected to have hundreds of millions of users,” said Rani Cohen, founder and CEO of TuneWiki. “We offer the experience of social playback anywhere, and our integrated music solution allows consumers to enjoy music in a completely new way. TuneWiki is committed to becoming the leading media player for Linux powered devices, with current offerings for Android, iPhone, Moblin, Windows and OSX, and with the MID we use a great open source platform developed by SongBird.”

“Mobile Internet Devices represent an innovative platform that enables users to take their entertainment media, social network and Internet with them,” said Pankaj Kedia, director of global ecosystems programs in the Ultra Mobility Group at Intel. “With TuneWiki’s media player optimized for MIDs based on the Intel® Atom™ processor and Moblin-based Linux OS, mobile users will be able to create and share lyrics with their friends and family while on-the-go.”

With TuneWiki and the ‘connect anywhere’ capabilities of the MID, enjoying audio or video will no longer be a solitary activity, but a shared social experience among friends, and the worldwide music community. TuneWiki’s built-in translation capabilities enhance this experience and are an engine of discovery and expansion of outstanding music in all languages.

About TuneWiki
TuneWiki Inc, is the first social media player for mobile and PCs, with the community enhancing the experiance. Additional information about TuneWiki is available at www.TuneWiki.com

I played with as many of them as I could (see which ones in the gallery below), and they are impressive, as least as feats of engineering. But as usable consumer devices? Not so much. None of the manufacturers have figured out exactly how we are supposed to interact with these machines, implementing half-baked touch controls, keyboards that suit neither your thumbs nor multiple fingers, and hardware that is too small to use for a long period of time but too bulky to fit in your pocket. Oh yeah, and projected prices range from $500 to well in excess of $1000. That said, I've got a different needs than a lot of users, and I'm exceptionally curmudgeonly for my age, so I'll pass it it you.

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[Nvidia]

Engadget also reckons you'll be able to make phone calls as well, and that it's Linux-based. I couldn't possibly comment. [UMPCPortal and Engadget]

When the MID finally goes on sale, sometime in the next few months, it will have an 0.3-megapixel webcam, 4.8.inch touchscreen with 1024 x 600 resolution, Wi-Fi and HSDPA. Inside is Intel's Menlow platform with Silverthorne processor. [BenQ via jkkmobile]