While the Lenovo Skylight has stolen all the smartbook headlines at CES so far, that doesn’t mean it was the only model on display. The Mobinnova Beam has been the other pre-eminent name in the smartbook mashup in recent months, and I also managed to get some hands-on time with it.
Interestingly, the Beam couldn’t be more different to the Skylight. Whereas Lenovo’s machine packs a 10-in. display and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, the Mobinnova Beam has a smaller 8.9-in. screen, and is based on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform. Memory is 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and it uses a small 512MB SSD which can be expanded via the SD card slot. Finally, Mobinnova has opted to use Windows CE for the OS (the Skylight has a custom Linux build) with an Android version in the pipeline.
So how does it feel? I found the Beam to be somewhat mixed. While undeniably portable, its 1.84-lb (836-g) weight is little lighter than the Skylight’s sub-2 lbs., and its prominent battery makes it awkward to pack into a case. That said, it does have the flipside of keeping the smartbook nicely angled when in use. As for performance, this was impressive, with Windows CE zipping along and web browsing (courtesy of Wi-Fi or the integrated 3G) worked well with snappy page rendering times. Given Nvidia’s graphics expertise, the Beam also has superb video capabilities, with a demo showing it smoothly playing back Full HD 1080p content to a 42-in. Philips TV. Adobe Flash 10.1 is pre-installed too, enabling graphics acceleration for online content such as YouTube videos, meaning there is no worry about dropped frames.
Less positive, however, was the construction – something I found to be a notable strength of the Skylight. By contrast, the Beam build materials feel cheap, and the keyboard has a shallow and not particularly endearing action with disappointing rattle and flex. I also didn’t get on with the trackpad which has no physical buttons, meaning you can’t navigate with one finger and left or right click at the same time with another. Trying this will just confuse the trackpad which jumps the pointer around the screen. Still, it’s something you could learn to live with, especially with Mobinnova quoting battery life of up to 10 hours for continuous video playback, or up to a huge 24 hours for audio (with the screen switched off). Sadly we are unable to verify these claims without taking the smartbook home with us!
Availability? At present the Beam will only be sold with a bundled contract through AT&T. This rather limits your options, but at the same time does ensure you’ll use it as the portable web device it is intended to be.
If I had a choice would I pick the Lenovo Skylight or the Mobinnova Beam? I’d have to go with the Skylight because of its larger screen at almost no weight penalty and far superior build quality, though the Beam does feel slightly more powerful in the video department.
This isn’t the end of the debate, however, since I also managed to snag some time with a third smartbook that has been on our radar, the Pegatron Neo and will be scribbling my thoughts on that soon. Stay tuned.
Gordon
