Litl Webbook Arrives

After a leak through the FCC’s listings, the Boston startup company called Litl has finally launched their netbook product. This is an extremely interesting product that has all the features of a netbook but uses a completely custom OS that goes for a simple and minimalist UI.

This new netbook is called the Webbook and it is being pitched as a friendly computing device that allows the user to surf the internet and stay connected with minimal pain and frustration.

The simple OS UI takes away things like a start menu, applications, taskbar, etc. Instead, the entire OS is based on a system of cards. The cards are large widget like in appearance and when you select them they occupy the entire screen and make their functions available to you.

There are cards for the few system settings that are on the OS, for the online applications such as the browser and also for widgets that are similar to the widgets that you have on other platforms. Litl also introduces the concept of a web channel.

A web channel is an online page that can be displayed in full screen on the Webbook. In this mode, the web page behaves differently and only displays relevant information and nothing else. Although I do think that advertising will be incorporated into it one way or another. The company’s idea is that this feature will be similar to TV channels. You can simply sit back and flip through the web channels that you have available. For doing this though, you will need the optional remote that is sold separately.

The screen folds back to form an easel like formation for the times when you want to view things in full screen. If you do not want to purchase the remote, you can flip tings around with the integrated wheel that sits on the screen hinge. But at $699 (Plus $18 for the remote), this device is far too expensive for most people. And since the Webbook is completely based on the cloud, there is only a 2GB flash storage onboard.

Toshiba ThinkPad Netbooks Rumored

Rumors and spy shots have been doing their rounds on the Internet that carry the news of a ThinkPad series netbook that is being developed by Lenovo. There has been no official word on the matter but everyone is fairly certain that the images that have been leaked on the Internet are indeed of a genuine ThinkPad device that comes in the size that can only be called a netbook.

The device in the images looks extremely similar to all the current ThinkPad models and it has all the signature features that are visible on other devices of the line. The highlighted enter key, the touchpad and the navigation nub between keys g, h and b are all similar to what we are accustomed to see on standard ThinkPad devices. There is also a visible ThinkPad branding on the device.

But there are quite a few differences that are startling for most regular ThinkPad users. First, the size of the device seems quite smaller than the regular ThinkPads, which is why the netbook form factor claim is validated by the images. The traditional keyboard has been replaced with a keyboard that has isolated flat keys. Although this style is becoming popular on mid-range and high-end portables, the ThinkPad series has always retained certain legacy features for its dedicated business clientele (like the navigation nub).

The styling also seems to be different. This is probably the only ThinkPad in the market (if it is real) that has a white outer body. Almost all ThinkPads so far have been black or at least a very dark color and nothing close to white.

A new netbook model from Lenovo was also spotted on the FCC’s database and it is being concluded by many the rumored ThinkPad and this new model are one and the same. Whatever it is, more rumors peg this device around 5^th January in 2010. The name has been apparently been settled as X100e. There was some confusion with suggestions of the device being called X200e.