Advocate's Studio

Filling a niche I didn’t know existed (often the way with niches), Lenovo has announced today its new Smartbook device. This gadget is a cross between a netbook and a smartphone, offering consumers a relatively low-cost alternative that combines the best traits of the smartphone in a netbook-like body, but without full PC functionality. The niche it is designed to fill is the portion of the market interested in Internet connectivity on the go with smartphone sensibility and larger screen real estate.

It is small and lightweight (1.96 pounds) with a 10.2″ screen, and joins Lenovo’s other little computers, all netbooks with conventional and touch screens. While manufacturers like Asustek question the viability of these stripped little machines, the promise of faster startup and longer battery life to a consumer interested mainly in Internet connectivity (both broadband and Wi-Fi) at low cost is a compelling sell. ATT plans to offer the $499 smartbook at a subsidized price with the purchase of a 3G data plan.

What do you think? Would you buy it for Internet browsing on the go? Or would you buy a full netbook or wait for the fabled iScribe from the Apple camp?

For me, I would prefer Lenovo’s new IdeaPad S10-3T netbook, which comes with 10.1-inch screen that supports multiple finger touch input. I already have a smartphone in my iPhone 3GS and would sooner buy a Droid before this hybrid product.

Another tip for the mobile warriors – pull PDF’s into an iPhone application that allows you to annotate the document with text and to even sign it. Handy stuff for PDF forms. The app is called Zosh and requires that you sign up with a free account. The account permits you to email the PDF to Zosh’s servers so that it can be sent back to you in an editable form. You have control over colors, fonts and text treatments, like bold and italic. When done, either request that the finished form be sent back to you or forwarded to someone else. Sign on the iPhone screen itself to create an electronic signature via the app’s ingenious scrolling function.

I can’t count how many times I have been sent a PDF that I first opened on my iPhone, which I then tabled for later attention because I could not deal with the PDF at that time. For $2.99, Zosh seems a pretty bargain and a decent add to your business tool kit.

Hat tip to iPhone J.D., and hit the link here for a comprehensive review, screenshots and demo video.

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Today marks the opening of MyBlackBerry, a new community site for BlackBerry owners offering a portal to online communication and collaboration among the pinstriped set. While it is not the first such site devoted to BlackBerry devotees, it is the first official site sanctioned by the BlackBerry bush, RIM. The “social” features of the site include individual profiles, community forums and application ratings and reviews.

Nice to see BlackBerry officially  getting hip to the online tip. If you need help deciding between that Blackberry Storm and Blackberry Bold, seems MyBlackBerry is the place to go.

Hat tip to ReadWriteWeb.

Interesting results in the smartphone sales arena for first quarter 2009: the Blackberry Curve 8300 series holds the top spot, ousting prior champ iPhone 3G. Two other BB models, the Storm and Pearl, were third and fourth place, respectively, while the G1 took fifth. Engadget reports on the stats here.

I am the proud owner of two of the championship model (one for corporate, one for biz) and one of the runner-up (everything else). I have given my thoughts on both of these phones in prior entries. There is no denying that the BB Curve is a workhorse of a phone. It rarely hiccups and handles my e-mail with aplomb, if not panache. But, when I reach for a phone, I instinctively pick up the iPhone, even with its keyboard flaws. The “face to face” or “finger to screen” experience is just that much more enjoyable and the ease of use is hard to beat. I still get stuck on some of the functions and menus on my BB.

I see the two phones as appealing to different market spheres. There is no denying that the enterprise loves the BB best. The fact that the Curve is available on so many different carriers may have affected this result as well.

Nice, though, to know that I am in good company in the top two!

Oh, such good news for AT&T peeps: there are rumors about of a Pre “lite”, running on the Web OS, to be released on AT&T’s network! The Eos, codenamed “Castle” or “Pixie depending upon who you ask, basically looks to be a mash-up of the Palm Centro and the yet-to-be-released Pre (coming to Sprint, egad), with lots of capability. Engadget shows this full spec list:

• 4GB storage
• Price: $349 (pre-rebate)
• Camera: 2 megapixel fixed focus digital camera and flash / video capture
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP and EDR, USB 2.0 via micro USB
• Removable 1150 mAh battery (4 hours 3G talk time)
• Messaging: SMS, MMS (picture and video only), integrated IM client
• Contact sync with AT&T Address Book
• MediaNet
• Cellular Video
• Email: POP3, IMAP4, and EAS support
• A-GPS
• Audio: WAV, MP3, AAC, AAC+ ringtones
• Video Playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263

I know a certain roommate of mine who is going to be ever-so-happy about this announcement!