NetBook Expert

Spotted by Wireless Goodness, a new netbook has recently passed through the gates of FCC. It is manufactured by Foxconn and is an OEM version of a device that is going to get rebranded. This rebranding was later found out to be Sylvania. Here’s what happened.

First, a new netbook from Foxconn passed through the FCC. It has the serial number SZ901 and it was a pretty ordinary netbook with only two things that made it worth taking a second look at. The netbook comes with a pretty interesting OS called FoxOS. It is a Linux-based OS that might be a spinoff from something that is Debian-based. Might even be a Ubuntu adaption. In any case, a screenshot of it showed that it had an OS X like app launcher at the bottom and there was an odd interface smack in the middle of the screen. It might’ve been just a part of the wallpaper though.

Another interesting thing about it is the fact that it has a SIM card slot for 3G access. That is probably why Wireless Goodness had some extra interest in it. The sad part is that the touchpad is apparently not multitouch. In this day and age I don’t think any argument is a valid one for not having a multitouch trackpad. May be they were clearing off inventory.

So after this happened, there was another netbook passing through the FCC and this was branded with the Sylvania branding. The netbooks were pretty much the same but then again so are most netbooks. So the thing that tied the two netbooks was the serial number. This new Sylvania netbook also had the serial number SZ901. The odds of the serial number of two unrelated netbooks being the same and two that appear so closely together in time, are pretty low. So we are pretty sure that they are one the same netbook, rebranded to become a Sylvania netbook.