14 DAY TRIAL // HP may not be the only company that has a team working on smartbooks, but it seems to be the bravest when it comes to actually launching one. Most PC suppliers are still unsure of the chances such a device would have on a market dominated by netbooks. There are also concerns that the rapid rise of tablets will impact on the consumer receptiveness to this new product. Aware of the fact that there is no way of knowing until one tries, HP has decided to finally make its Compaq Airlife 100 official.
One could say that the Airlife 100 has been official for some time now, being unveiled in February and having had its product page put up on the official HP website last week. The portable electronic has a 10.1-inch resistive touchscreen display (1,024 x 600) and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset (processor runs at 1GHz). The configuration also includes a built-in flash storage unit of 16GB (15 are available to the user), 512MB of RAM, 3G, WiFi, an SD card slot and a 92%-sized keyboard.
Starting with mid-May, the Airlife 100 will be selling through Telefonica Movistar and may turn out to be more expensive than originally anticipated. When purchased along with the Internet Maxi plan, the device itself costs 229, but the plan adds 48 Euro per month. There is a cheaper plan, known as Internet plus, which consumes 39 Euro per month, but, in this case, the price of the smartbook itself jumps to 299 Euro.
The Airlife 100 will only be available in Spain for now, but will probably show up in more countries serviced by Telefonica. At present, it is unclear how well received the Airlife 100 will be, considering that there are netbooks with superior specs at less than $200. Currently, there are no plans to ship the smartbook in the US, according to Engadget.