HP Smartbook in the Works, FCC Filing Shows

Smartbooks are a rather recent concept on the computing market and their ability to survive in the current marketing conditions is still questionable. While the portability and connectivity capabilities of such products would be quite high, the already well-established netbooks boast largely similar capabilities. Still, a few such products have already been demonstrated, such as Lenovo's Skylight and the Snapdragon-powered concept device showcased by HP at the 2010 International CES.

Not too long ago, an FCC filing that confirmed Hewlett-Packard's plans to launch such an electronic was unearthed. The device is named the HP Compaq Airlife 100 and is an ultra-portable consumer electronic whose specifications have not been revealed. All that the FCC filing had to show was a very crude sketch of the device, out of which all that could be distinguished was a slot most likely meant for 3G connectivity.

Currently, the highest likelihood is for the Airlife 100 to be built with the Snapdragon platform. With a CPU whose core speed is of 1GHz, it somewhat resembles the NVIDIA Tegra platform through its combination of processing power, low power consumption and connectivity.

According to Electronista, the smartbook shown at the Consumer Electronics Show resembled a miniature version of the Mini laptop series, which would seem to match the system from the filing. As such, speculations indicate a Snapdragon-powered device with a 10-inch screen, like that of most netbooks. The product would have to run a variant of the Android 2 OS, as ARM chips do not support Windows. The HP smartbook will likely possess 3G, as this capability is rather mandatory for devices meant for on-the-go connectivity.

Unfortunately, besides the few lines that make up the sketch, no other details are available. While more information should become available soon enough, there is no telling when the Airlife will be detailed in full. Of course, there is no word on the price that such a product would sport either.