It is fast becoming clear that the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform is one of the most flexible on the market. We have seen it in both smartphones and smartbooks, and now it has been found inside a new tablet PC.
Korea-based C-motech is the manufacturer behind ‘Mangrove’, a tablet which it hopes will bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops (sound familiar?). Aving reports Mangrove will run on Windows Mobile 6.5, sporting a Snapdragon core. The tablet fuses a 7-in. touchscreen display with integrated 3G, Wi-Fi and even WiMAX. On top of this, you’ll find two USB ports and a microSD card which will augment native memory (a figure for this was not divulged).
At this stage, Mangrove remains a concept, but it is perhaps more of a hybrid than any device we’ve seen to date. After all, it has a smartphone OS on smartbook- and smartphone-based hardware using what is essentially a UMPC form factor in an effort to position itself just below laptops and netbooks. That’s quite a mouthful.
Whether C-motech brings Mangrove to market, however, is not really the issue. What it does show is manufacturers now have the raw software and hardware ingredients to mix and match between traditional industry categories like never before, and this can only lead to a very exciting future indeed…
Gordon
