Korean device maker Viliv may have closed down if a pair of sources are correct. The Mobile Internet Device (MID) pioneer is now understood to be in receivership and hasn't had a buyer to rescue its business. UMPCPortal in getting the tips was unable to get a response from Viliv on the subject.
Viliv is showing a new media player on its website, the P3 Prime. The site is in Korean with no English language version available, but the images feature a device with 3.7-inch, 480x800 AMOLED touchscreen, and appears to run dual OS Android and Windows CE operating systems. The site hints at 720p video, although it's not known which video formats will be supported.
The anticipated Viliv S10 Blade convertible notebook has been delayed by the factory, according to online retailer Dynamism, informing a customer who pre-ordered the system. The original ship date for the device was April 22nd, but the new expected release is set at between late April and mid-May. Reasons for the delay are unknown.
While Viliv had its S10 Blade convertible netbook on display at CES, it did not confirm North American availability nor pricing. The netbook has now appeared for pre-order in North America, and pricing will start at $699. The system appears only in the one configuration so far and, despite promises to the contrary, this base version will not support three-point multitouch inputs due to the inclusion of Windows XP Home.
Korea's well-known UMPC builder Viliv had a presence at CES, and Electronista had an opportunity to try its newest and most unique model, the S10 Blade. While it looks like a conventional 10-inch convertible tablet on the inside, the system is surprisingly aggressively equipped and feels like it: the system always uses an SSD for storage and is fairly responsive compared to the sometimes churning netbooks it's up against. It should also be faster in subtler ways as it uses either a 1.8GHz or 2GHz Atom underneath, although in a subjective test it's hard to tell the difference versus a 1.6GHz chip.
Viliv on Wednesday teased its plans for next month's CES with word it will introduce two devices at the Las Vegas show. The N5 will be its most advanced notebook-style UMPC and should pack a very dense 4.8-inch, 1024x600 screen along with 3G and GPS. Like competitors from UMID and others, it should serve as a full computer and run Windows 7, though whether it uses a Pine Trail Atom or an older but lower-powered model, like the 1.2GHz Atom Z515.
First shown last summer, Viliv's S7 UMPC is now available for purchase in the company's home market of Korea. Viliv is offering three versions, all powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 with 1GB of RAM and running on Windows XP. The lowest-end model includes a 60GB hard drive, the mid-range model includes a 32GB solid state drive (SSD) with the flagship adding a DMB digital TV tuner to the SSD model.
Online electronics retailer Dynamism is now letting shoppers pre-order the Viliv X70 Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), and its base price is revealed by the online product page. The device has a 7-inch, 1024x600 touchscreen display, and packs a 16GB or 32GB solid state drive, which is partly responsible for the quick, five-second boot-up time of the pre-loaded Windows XP operating system. The base configuration makes do with a 1.2GHz Intel Atom CPU, while a 1.3GHz Atom is optional. All versions get 1GB of DDR2 RAM.
Viliv has recently announced that its S5 Mobile Internet Device will soon ship to stores in its home market of Korea as well as in US and Europe. The device will be priced at $649 when it is released in the US at the end of March. Four models of the MID will be offered in Korea, with the other markets will only get the Premium version.
Earlier this summer, Korea's Viliv introduced a pair of personal electronics with the S7 UMPC and S5 Mobile Internet Device and today has been followed up with hard S5 specifications. It will be capable of decoding 1080p HD video and playing it back on its 4.8-inch touchscreen sourced from Samsung, with resolutions varying between 800x480 and 1024x600, depending on the particular model. Power will come from a 1.33GHz Intel Atom CPU along with 1GB or RAM, while the 6,200mAh battery is said to last at least 4.5 hours even when the device is playing back 1080p video.
Multimedia player and navigation device maker Viliv unveiled a couple of interesting portable consumer devices at the Intel Development Forum this week, including the S7 UMPC and S5 Mobile Internet Device (MID). The 7-inch S7 features a swiveling touch screen with a resolution of 1,024x600 resolution and packs Intel's Atom processor in either 1.3GHz, 1.6GHz or 1.86GHz guises along with 1GB of RAM memory. The specs get even better, as Viliv promises a choice of 30GB or 60GB hard disk drives, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR support, with a battery life rated at over eight hours.
