Fresh from fighting Intel’s UMPC corner, Samsung has told us it will be releasing an MID, or Mobile Internet Device. The MID is an Intel concept, oft-talked up at recent Intel Developer Forums as well as Paul Otellini’s CES keynote in January.
Recently, TechRadar spoke to Jeongseon Euh, Principal R&D Engineer in Samsung’s Computer Systems Division when we visited Samsung’s research facilities in Suwon City, South Korea. As we reported before, he was very lukewarm on the prospect of Intel’s new Atom processor.
Euh stressed that Atom is, in fact, not necessarily intended for mini laptop PCs (like the Asus Eee PC), but that it is designed for “very cheap devices.”
Atom not for UMPCs?
Intel is pushing the MID very hard. “We don’t know if the market is going to move. Still Taiwan and Chinese companies [have] developed MIDs but they haven’t hit the market yet.”
“My general manager reviewed industrial design for MID more than 15 different times. We haven’t got the final industrial design. But sooner or later we will have some devices. “
“We’re Samsung, we study every [product] category.”
So while the MID will almost certainly employ Atom, can the same be said of Samsung’s Q1 UMPC?. Asked whether Atom could be seen as a better replacement for the Q1 Ultra’s Intel A110 chip, Euh replied. “No. When talking about performance we can talk about clockspeed or battery life. In terms of technology , the main chipset…UMPC part is a little bit higher [in terms of clockspeed]. In terms of power, the UMPC is very [efficient].” Very interesting indeed...
