Dubbed The Edge – official name enTourage eDGe – this new “toy” is actually a dual screen gadget. Obviously, one screen is meant for the usual netbook activities that you engage in, while the other screen is in grayscale for reading e-books. One screen is a 10-inch LCD and the other is a 9.7-inch e-ink display. The former screen’s resolution in 1024 x 600 and is touch screen! You may opt to use the stylus or, if you have clean fingers, your bare hands will do the trick as well. The latter screen has a resolution of 1200 x 825 and only responds to the stylus.

What other features does The Edge have? Take a look at this:

• 3 GB of built-in storage
• Bluetooth 2.1
• A slot for an SD card
• 2 USB ports
• Headphone and microphone jacks (standard size)
• Stereo speakers (built-in)
• Battery that can run for 6 hours (both displays) or 16 hours (e-ink display)

I am pretty impressed with those specs! For $490, it just might be my next toy!

So does this tiny detail really mean that we just might see a Google netbook in the near future? Despite the strength of the rumors going around, no one would confirm or deny them. Even CEO Eric Schmidt would not say a word about it. He just said that “the netbook phenomenon looks very real.” He did say, though, that Google has to make sure that their products and services work well with “these devices.” Now that could be interpreted in any way one wants to. I think that they are looking into developing an operating system for netbooks of the near future. Then again, they could just be looking for ways to tweak their existing products. Who knows?

In any case, the only thing that we can do right now is to try and be part of that usability study. I am not sure if the ad is still active today. I think that most, if not all, of the slots were snapped up like candy the moment the word got out.

This may seem to be your regular netbook except for the quick “LG Smart ON” feature. But if you ever get your hands on one unit be sure to check out its sound features.SRS WOW HD and TruSurround XT bring stereo effect sound to music and video. The screen’s LED Backlight delivers a high-resolution picture that is clearer and brighter, which is not only easier on tired eyes but saves energy, too.

The LG X120 Netbook features:

• 10-inch WSVGA screen
• 1.6GHz Atom processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 160GB hard drive
• Windows XP
• Splashtop based “LG Smart ON” feature

The LG X120 will be available in Europe some time in March with the rest of the world to follow some time later.

Straight from the Department ‘Bag of Ugly’ comes this Gachapin and Mukku netbook.

Gachapin and Mukku are two popular Japanese television characters who appeared in the children’s program Hirake! Ponkiki on Fuji TV.
Considered the steady stream of comments on the Gachapin and Muttu blog these two characters seem to be rather popular in the land of the rising sun. I think they are rather frightening though, but who am I.

Now they have been made immortal in a but-ugly fluorescent green netbook (rebranded version of the Konjinsha ML6KL12F, complete with Atom 1.6Ghz CPU, Windows XP Home SP3, 1GB RAM, TV tuner, 160GB HDD and all the other usual specs).

I’m pretty sure this netbook will be rather popular in Japan, similar to the Hello Kitty netbook but I find it butt-ugly and would hide it from my kids. I might as well give them the BD of The Mist if I want to scare them for life.

I had the privilege of using an Acer Aspire One for about a week when my uncle asked me to initialize it for his office use. At first it was a little too awkward for me to use it because it was too small for my fingers. I’ve been used to larger notebooks from the DELL Inspiron 8600 to the Macbook Pros… but I felt I needed a dip into the “other side” to find out how it feels to operate a netbook.

Good thing I did, at least now I could say it wasn’t bad at all! It was a little weird at first, but after about an hour of using it, I think I could get along with it. The major advantage if ever I would own one netbook as this would be the size factor. It’s so easy to use and bring around! Much lighter than my Dell, and definitely more lighter than my Macbook. I think Apple should invent a netbook product line to compete with this market scope.

Check out the specs as reviewed by PC Magazine right here. I believe my uncle got his from Walmart for about US$298 after a US$40 mail in rebate. Not bad, he got it during the peak of the holiday sale.

It does look like a toy, doesn’t it. But a powerful toy indeed.

I was viewing my podcasts this morning when from CNet’s gadget review shows I saw the HP Mini 1000 review. Quite impressive piece of engineering here, looks like HP has learned a lot from the early netbook developers and well ironed out some of the “flaws” to birth the HP Mini 1000. Heard from Veronica Belmont over Twitter that she’s currently playing with her HP Mini 1000… ohhhh… so jealous she’s got one!

Anyway, the HP Mini 1000 is one of my current faves, I’m putting that in my wishlist! It’s got a wide keyboard that I think fits my big hands, and has got a glossy edge-to-edge screen like my Macbook. It’s made of hard plastic, so that makes it ultra light… and with the work I do, the lighter the load on my backpack… the better.

Here’a a runthrough of it’s basic specifications:

Processor 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270
Memory 1GB, 533MHz DDR2
Hard drive 60GB 4,200rpm
Chipset Mobile Intel 945GM Express
Graphics Intel GMA 950 (integrated)
Operating system Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Dimensions (WDH) 6.6×10.3×0.95 inches
Screen size (diagonal) 10.2 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 2.5/3.1 pounds

The only thing I didn’t like about that is the HD space.. 60GB man, that’s too low! I’ve worked with an Acer One Mini and the base model has about 140GB to start with.

Ah, now this looks like a netbook I’d be happy with, but Sony doesn’t call small laptops a “netbook” though, they call it the Sony VAIO P. “P” standing for “pocket”. Sure does look like it’s pocket-size doesn’t it? I tell you, the main attraction are the colors, Sony seems to perfectly blend it for appreciation.

Ah but wait, it’s not on wide commercial distribution yet… but pre-orders are available over at the Sony website, check it out here.

Price range is from the low of US$899 to a high of US$1,499. The Sony page describes a slight difference between the two models… I see only a change in operating system from the Microsoft Vista Basic and the Microsoft Vista Premium versions.

Basic Model Features: 8″ display with XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology, 2GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1.4 lbs., GPS, integrated mobile broadband, glossy Onyx Black, Bluetooth® technology.

Do check it out, as it seems that people are highly anticipating the release. Because it’s the New Year, maybe you can send a “friendly note” to the boss about a “wish gadget”… make sure to drop the Sony VAIO P in it too!

I just did.

The original EeePC also came shipped with Linux (Xandros, in the case of Asus), and that added to the novelty of it. Linux enthusiasts were banking on the popularity of Linux-based netbooks, which could supposedly bring Linux closer to the common user (a.k.a. the 90+ percent of us who use Windows).

A lot of things had happened since then. A ton of other manufacturers have come out with their own netbooks. Most of these other brands ship their units with Linux pre-installed. Acer Aspire one has Linpus lite. The HP mini note had SUSE. Dell has an Ubuntu variant. And so forth. However, how big really is the effect of the netbook on the desktop (meaning non-server) market share of Linux? Has Linux gained a foothold on the mainstream market with the popularity of netbooks?

The netbook market was thought to make Linux an attractive option, given the limited resources and lower price. And because users buy netbooks mostly for light tasks that run on web browsers, it was thought that the choice of OS would not be a big issue. However, recent news says that this may not exactly be the case. According to MSI (as featured on LaptopMag), WIND netbooks preloaded with Linux had been returned four times more than those that came with Windows.

Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don’t know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it’s not what they are used to. They don’t want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.

LaptopMag went on to interview folks from Canonical (which publishes Ubuntu) and Canonical confirms this.

Well, when we touched base today with Gerry Carr, marketing manager at Canonical (the creator of the Ubuntu operating system) we learned that MSI’s research extends beyond its own products. See his comments below, but it seems Linux’ future on the netbook is bleaker than we thought.

“We don’t know what the XP return rates are. But I will say that the return rate is above normal for netbooks that offer open-source operating systems,” Carr echoed. Carr highlighted a few reasons why Ubuntu-running netbooks are returned more often. “Unclear selling is happening, typically online. The customer will get their netbook sent to their home and they imagine to find something like a Microsoft desktop, but they see a brown Ubuntu version. They are unwilling to learn it and they were expecting to have Windows.”

Has Microsoft gained the upper hand in this game? Windows XP was supposed to have been rendered obsolete last June, but Microsoft changed its mind, and decided to continue selling and supporting XP, but only bundled with low-cost and low-powered PCs, which is essentially the netbook market.

That definition includes a screen that’s less than 10.2 inches, 1GB of RAM or less, a hard drive with 80GB or less, and no touchscreen devices. You’ll also need a 1GHz or slower processor, although Via’s C7-M processors which run up to 1.6GHz are allowed, as will be Intel’s new Atom processor.

As for me, since my 701, I’ve bought two netbooks–the EeePC 900 and an HP mini note, both of which were Windows variants. The 900 came bundled with XP, and the mini note with Vista Business (since downgraded to XP). I do consider myself an advanced user, and I’m very much a multi-platform individual (running OS X, Windows and Linux on my various computers). But on my netbooks, I find it easier to maintain the same OS, and all my work tools run fine on Windows on these netbooks, too.

From what I’ve been reading in forums (such as the Eeeuser forums, which is a really great resource for Eee enthusiasts), some users buy Linux-preloaded netbooks and install Windows XP anyway.

Force of habit, maybe? Or really just out of convenience, perhaps (no Evernote or Nokia PC suite on Linux!)?

What could really help Linux gain a stronger foothold on the consumer market, then?

The three new colors, baby blue, lime green, and light pink, are all very light and bright, which might make them more appellative to women than friends, but overall, they don’t make or break the product’s image.

If you are interested in seeing the other two colors you can do so in the original article.