Check your data in an instant with Dell Latitude On

Darius Chang | Aug 13, 2008

NEW DELHI, INDIA--During the launch of Dell's new Latitude laptops, the media was treated to a preview of the Round Rock company's latest mobile technology, the Dell Latitude On.

To be honest, it wasn't so much of a preview as a short 20-second video clip which provided as much information as this headline. Perhaps it was bait to force journalists to mingle with the product managers and we fell for it, hook, line and sinker. After spotting a Dell representative, we proceeded to sink our fangs into him to suck out as much information on the Latitude On as we could. Here's what we managed to dig up.

Turns out Dell's upcoming baby is a cross between Microsoft's SideShow and ASUS' ExpressGate technology. Like the latter, Latitude On is based on a Linux kernel which sidesteps the need to boot into Windows. But while ExpressGate allows users to surf the Internet and send emails, Latitude On allows users to only access data such as emails and appointments which are already in the harddisk, just like the SideShow technology.

Here's where Dell's technology differs from the competition: A sub-processor is included to pull data from the drive. Microsoft's SideShow, on the other hand, requires the user to sync with the external LCD while in the Windows environment. Though the Dell representative couldn't confirm it, the sub-processor probably does away with the need to sync.

Latitude On is still in development and no launch date has been announced, but it will be available for all Latitude laptops. Whether current Latitudes are able to be retrofitted with the Latitude On sub-processor is unknown at this time.

Filed under: Notebooks
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