Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Lenovo Skylight: Always-connected smartbook with all-day battery

Qualcomm teased us with a brief glimpse of the Lenovo's first smartbook using the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor a few months ago. Now Lenovo has pulled back the veil on the device it's calling the Lenovo Skylight.

At first glance, the Skylight looks like a typical netbook. It has a 10 inch display and a nearly full-sized keyboard. And honestly, if you want to call it a netbook I don't think too many people would correct you. But while netbooks generally come with Windows 7 and Intel Atom processors these days, the Lenovo Skylight is something different.

This machine uses the ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset which provides always-connected access. That means you can receive alerts about incoming email, IM, or social networking messages even when the lid is closed, much the same way you could with a smartphone. But because the Snapdragon chipset uses less power than most x86-based processors, the Skylight is expected to get up to 10 hours of battery life.

What the Skylight won't do is run Windows. Instead, Lenovo is shipping the laptop with a custom operating system based on Linux. It has a user interface based around a series of customizable widgets for interacting with web services such as Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter. There's also a media section for watching movies or playing music.

The Lenovo Skylight weighs just 1.95 pounds and will sell for $499 without a contract. It will also be available from AT&T in the US and possibly other wireless carriers across the globe at a subsidized price for customers that sign up for a long term service contract.

You can check out the detailed specs, plus higher resolution images after the break.

  • CPU: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM II
  • Display: 10.1 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel screen
  • OS: Custom Linux distribution designed by Lenovo
  • Storage; 8GB mini SD card/8GB flash/512 MB LP22r2-PAM/4GB USB stick/ 2GB online storage
  • Connectivity: 3G Quadband WCDMA, WiFi,
  • I/O: 2 USB, Micro SDHC (with card installed), SIM card slot, SDHC card slot, mini HDMI connector
  • Audio: Internal mic, stereo out
  • Webcam: 1.3MP
  • Weight: Under 2 pounds
  • Dimensions: 10″ x 7.9″ x 0.7″
  • Battery: 10 hours
  • Price: Starts at $499

Post from: Liliputing

Lenovo Skylight: Always-connected smartbook with all-day battery