02/18, 9:50pm
Qualcomm wins case, can keep smartbook title
Qualcomm scored an important if now largely symbolic victory in its dispute with Smartbook AG over the "smartbook" label. Germany's Patent and Trademark Office ruled that Smartbook AG's two trademarks on the formal name couldn't be applied to the generic term, which Qualcomm applied to any small, ultralight notebook using a cellphone-class processor and OS. Qualcomm can now use the term freely as long as it isn't in the formal context.
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07/20, 11:30am
Lenovo decides to take on iPad directly
Lenovo on Tuesday signaled that it's developing a touch-only Android tablet. The LePad has few details but should be available by the end of 2010, according to the company's consumer group President Liu Jun. No details of American availability were given to IDG, but Lenovo may follow the path of the LePhone and concentrate on good sales in China before moving abroad.
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06/29, 7:55am
Lenovo and Toshiba getting faster CPUs
Lenovo's smartbook has been pushed back again while Toshiba is now turning its attention to tablets, rumors asserted today. The former's already delayed Skylight is now believed to be delayed again, to the end of the year, but will get a major performance upgrade in the process. It had originally been scheduled to get a single-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor but should now leap to a dual-core 1.5GHz version in return for the delay.
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05/28, 5:50pm
Lenovo delays Skylight and U1 again for Google OS
Lenovo settled questions around its ultra-mobile PCs on Friday by planing a switch in OS for the Skylight smartbook and the IdeaPad U1 detachable tablet. The two will drop Lenovo's in-house Linux OS for Android in what's treated as a reaction to "market conditions and user feedback." Future plans now involve creating an entire ecosystem of Android devices that would include devices like the LePhone.
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04/13, 8:05am
Lenovo sees own smartbook as poor vs iPad
Lenovo's decision to delay the Skylight until July may have stemmed directly from competitive pressure from the iPad, according to an alleged leak. While the company hasn't explained it publicly, notebook industry contacts said Lenovo isn't happy with the performance versus the Apple tablet and that both the control and feature set aren't as strong as they could be.
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04/09, 12:30pm
Skylight smartbook delayed until July, say Lenovo
The Lenovo Skylight smartbook has been delayed to July from April. Introduced at CES in January, the device delay is due to Lenovo wanting to "take the little extra time" to finalize the product. The Skylight will first start selling in China this May, with other markets getting it slightly ahead of the US, in June.
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01/05, 7:10am
Lenovo Skylight uses Snapdragon, 3G
Lenovo this morning became the first company to release a computer in the newly coined smartbook category. The Skylight has the 10-inch screen of a netbook but uses a 1GHz Snapdragonprocessor that lets it defy a number of expectations compared to an Atom-based system. It not only gets about 10 hours of real-world use but is thinner than some smartphones, weighs less than 2 pounds and can play HD video, even when in a web browser.
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