Ahead of the announcement of a shipping Snapdragon-based Lenovo netbook at CES, Mobile chip manufacturer Qualcomm showed off other exciting prototypes at an event it held this morning.
First up is this Quanta-built netbook with 3G concept. It runs Android and is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor used in the HTC HD2 and Toshiba TG01, only this time it's running at the full 1GHz instead of being underclocked.
Next is this tablet concept with a detachable keyboard. Although this latter device has no electronics inside, it's certainly an interesting idea – ideal for watching videos on a flight, for example. The keyboard slots into the back of the screen and the stand folds away when not in use.
Qualcomm's Ben Timmons also demonstrated a MID-type Mangrove device running Windows Mobile on Snapdragon, though he wouldn't be drawn on how Qualcomm itself categorises the mini-tablet: "We're not calling it anything – we've been arguing about that all week!"
Timmons believes its cheaper netbooks will slot in under more expensive netbooks, but will integrate 3G. "We think people are disappointed with the netbook experience," he explains.
Elsewhere the company showed off a wireless charging solution that takes two hours to charge a smartphone and can charge up to five devices at once. Timmons showed how the tech demo could even charge phones and other devices at some distance above the board and explained that you can even prioritise devices – so, for example, you could ensure that your smartphone is the main thing that is charged up.
The concept impresses, although a limiting factor is that the phone itself will need some circuitry embedded - unlike the Powermat system - and Timmons believes that it will only need "one or two" handset manufacturers to come on board to make it a success.
