ASUS says YES to free SG battery upgrade

Good news! ASUS Singapore has finally decided to go ahead with a comparable free extended battery upgrade to match its Hong Kong office.

Currently, customers in the Special Administrative Region are entitled to a free upgrade to the four-cell 5,800mAh battery upon purchase of the ASUS Eee PC 900 which presently sports a lower-capacity 4,400mAh battery. This upgrade is available till end July, although we've learned that future batches of the UMPC will carry the larger-capacity cell.

For Singapore, this was until today not the case. Now ASUS Singapore has decided to follow suit indefinitely, though it isn't clear at this point if future Eee PC 900 stock will offer the 5,800mAh battery.

To be entitled to the free upgrade, Singapore customers will have to get in touch with the ASUS Singapore office for registration together with the original valid invoice from authorized ASUS resellers. Following this, a notification will be sent upon availability of the replacement battery with the original 4,400mAh exchanged in return.
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BenQ MID specification released

The first Mobile Internet Device (MID) from BenQ looks more like a personal media player than a fully functional computing device. However, don't let its small size fool you as this machine is more than capable to complement, if not replace, your browsing and email needs.

First unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, the Atom-based BenQ MID will hold a 800MHz SilverThorne processor, 512MB of RAM and a 4GB solid-state harddisk. HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are integrated, with GPS radio as an option. Instead of Windows, the BenQ MID uses a custom user interface. No news on when it'll hit retail stores yet, though.

Via Slashgear

Microsoft puts a squeeze on portable devices

Multitouch touchpad, gesture-based interfaces and motion-sensing controls seem to be already obsolete, according to a report by BBC. A research project at Microsoft's Cambridge lab allows the system to detect twisting, bending, pulling and squeezing forces to interact with the interface. But hold onto your horses if you expect this to be implemented on a foldable machine. The magic is really in the four sensors integrated inside the chassis. By recognizing the exact pressure points, the system can perform actions like page flips, switching application, etc.

A prototype was built using a Samsung UMPC, so this is not just vaporware or some abstract concept. However, there is no timeline given on when we will see this technology commercially implemented.

Philippines get Deep Blue UMPC

Despite its cool name, the Deep Blue H1 looks to us like a run-of-the-mill UMPC. Decked out with a VIA Esther 1.0GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 40GB harddisk and Wi-Fi, it lacks a Bluetooth radio. The 7-inch LCD has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, while two USB 2.0 and an Ethernet port are available for external connections. A card reader and Webcam complete the rather average feature set.

It weighs in at 1.2kg, which is very hefty for a UMPC this size, and runs off Linux or Windows XP. It is available in the Philippines for US$405.65 (S$549.09). Frankly, for the same price one can get the much lighter ASUS Eee PC 701 with a similar feature set, save for the storage capacity. We've contacted the company for the Asia-Pacific availability of this unit.

LG builds low-cost screens for UMPCs

For the uninitiated among you, the LCD panel is one of the major cost factors in building a laptop. So although Electronista's report that LG is making low-cost displays may seem unexciting at first, the reality of it is that once these panels hit the market we may see new lows in UMPC prices.

The Korean maker has plans to create cheap 10.1-inch widescreens with a resolution of 1,024 x 576 pixels. Though it is shorter than the standard 600-pixel height for most displays, this allows the laptop to shorten its breath for a more compact design. An LED-backlit 8.9-inch screen is also in the works with a higher 1,024 x 600 resolution.

To round off the equation, LG commented that it intends to create a new 9.4-inch LCD in 2009. The 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch panels are slated to appear in the upcoming Acer UMPC as well as future HP laptops.

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