The Mini 10s will be fitted with an internal GPS card which will give turn by turn directions through CoPilot satnav software. Wi-fi locationing will be provided through Skyhook wireless wi-fi position solutions. The complete solution is known as Dell wireless 700 location solution.

What’s interesting about the news is not the added functionality for the Mini 10 but the reasons behind introducing GPS in a netbook. Questions are being asked about the practically of using a netbook as a GPS system. In a car it’s hard to envisage how a netbook could be mounted, or how it could be used otherwise. Walking down the street it’s equally hard to imagine carrying a netbook as a GPS device.

GPS within the Mini 10 is not meant to replace a dedicated GPS device but Dell believe that GPS will become pervasive and it’s a way for them to test the market with the netbook solution. The GPS capabilities will link in to websites and social networking sites that can take advantage of location information to provide customized services. It’s this aspect of GPS which will enable an enhanced level of mobile broadband taking advantage of location based services.

The conclusions by the research firm analyst are hardly surprising. When the expectations were not clearly set before the purchase there was more likely to be a feeling of disappointment because the netbook didn’t quite match up to the functionality and performance of a notebook.
Netbooks have smaller screens, keyboards and hard drives. They also are likely to be running on XP rather than Vista. Performance can be an issue depending on what you want to do and the ability to connect to other devices such as speakers, printer, DVD drive etc is limited.

The disappointment was greatest amongst the 18-24 year old group and their biggest issue was poor performance.

On the plus side the purchasers were impressed with the portability of netbooks although interestingly quite a large percentage never actually took the netbook out of the house.

The level of dissatisfaction is a bit surprising given the fact that netbooks are obviously smaller than notebooks. It’s the whole point given the aim of enabling mobility. With that comes inevitable sacrifices in terms of screen and keyboard size. For anyone wanting to keep in contact with friends, family and work colleagues, do a bit of web surfing and maybe keep up with social media sites like facebook or twitter, netbooks are ideal. Maybe the dissatisfaction amongst the younger age group was due to expectations of being able to do high end activities such as gaming or photo editing and being lured by the lower prices and portability advantages of netbooks over a more suitable notebook.

We have a list of popular netbooks that you can buy online at good prices. We also have a netbook buying guide if you are new to netbooks and need more overall information about typical features and functionality.

Dell’s mobile device will run on the Android operating system and use an ARM chip rather than Intel.

It will be interesting to see how it is received if it ever sees the light of day especially given that it has no phone capabilities and yet is not big enough to be practical enough to use for working away from the office other than dealing with emails. Given that most people need a phone, it seems unlikely that they would be prepared to carry around two devices when smartphones such as the iPhone are so popular. Also Netbooks have surged in popularity in the small computer niche especially as the keyboard designs have evolved to make them much easier to use. Not everyone wants a touchscreen with limited keyboard functionality especially when trying to accomplish some work tasks.

I guess we’ll see how the overlapping markets of netbooks, smartphones, mobile Internet Devices and ultra-portable notebooks evolve.

We outlined the Nokia N97 features last month. The device is promoted as a mobile computer, not just a phone. The home screen can be personalised by selecting widgets from a variety of sources including Australian local content from partners such as News Ltd. The content is displayed in six positions on the home screen and as well as providing updating information they can also link to mobile websites for applications such as Facebook.

A range of applications is available from Nokia’s Ovi Store or pre-installed on the phone. The N97 is the first phone to be shipped with the Ovi store. Another first is the relevance engine which personalises the content in the store depending on the user’s history and location.

The Nokia N97 has HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, a Full QWERTY slideout and tilt keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera and 32GB of internal storage plus the option to expand this using microSD memory cards.

Apple are selling the iPhone unlocked at Apple stores if you purchase one by credit card. The unlocked 16GB iPhone 3GS is $879 and the 32GB model is $1040.

Alternatively you can purchase a plan and get the iPhone 3GS included in the plan’s monthly costs. Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 Mobile are all offering iPhone 3GS plans.

Here are the details of similar plans from each of the carriers:

Not surprisingly, Telstra comes in at the most expensive. The iPhone 3GS is free on the Phone Plan Ultimate which costs $150 a month with a 2 year contract. The plan includes 2000 call minutes, 2000 text messages and 150MB of data.

Optus are offering the 32GB iPhone 3GS free with their $99 per month Timeless plan which includes unlimited calls and text and 1.5GB of data. This is a 2 year contract.

Vodafone are offering the 32GB iPhone 3GS free with their $114 per month plan, unlimited calls and text, 2 year contract and 2 GB of data.

The pricing details are yet to be announced but the iPhone will be available on Three’s capped plans.

Customers can register interest in advance of the launch date.

The iPhone 3G has new features in addition to the range of features on the current iPhone model. It has support for 3G mobile broadband networks, Microsoft Exchange Server and support for 3rd party apps through the upcoming iPhone app store.

The N97 is being promoted by Nokia as a mobile computer, not just a phone. There are a couple of features which are firsts in the Nokia suite of smartphones.

• The home screen of the N97 can be personalised by selecting widgets to include applications such as Facebook and content such as shopping information, weather and news.
• The N97 is the first Nokia phone to be shipped with the Ovi store. This will enable the downloading and installation of applications onto the phone and it will also be the first time Nokia’s relevance engine will be seen which personalises the content in the store depending on the user’s history and location.

Nokia want to be seen as a content provider not just a handset manufacturer and the N97 is a move in this direction for them.

The Nokia N97 features are impressive:

• 3.5” touchscreen
• Full QWERTY slideout and tilt keyboard
• 5 megapixels camera
• MP3 player
• 32GB of storage plus a micro SD card giving up to 16GB of additional storage
• Symbian S60 5th edition operating system
• GPS, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth

The changes were anticipated a while ago after a Dell roadmap was leaked on a German website and reported in Australia by APC. At that point it looked like Dell were going to offer a low cost version of the Inspiron Mini 10 called the Inspiron Mini 10v. This was thought to be available from March but it now seems as though the launch date in Australia is the end of June.

The Mini 12 will be replaced by an 11.6” netbook codenamed “Argos” at this point and described as being very thin and light.

The phone has had impressive reviews particularly as it has some impressive features generally found in phones at the expensive, business end of the range in smartphones. The INQ1 won “Best Mobile Device” at the 2009 GSMA Global Mobile Awards.

3 Mobile are offering the INQ1 free on the $19 cap plan with free, ulimited Facebook until the end of August. You also get 4000 Skype minutes per month, unlimited email on 3 and 100 MB of data.

It’ s an HSDPA phone but no Wi-Fi. The design is impressive: solid and sturdy with a brushed metal finish.
More information and full specs and features on the 3 website.

3 Mobile released their pricing for the HTC Magic last week. 3’s $69 cap plan has a charge of $10 per month for the HTC Magic. The handset isn’t free until the higher value $99 cap plan.

There are some differences between 3 Mobile and Vodafone’s offerings other than the pricing.

The HTC Magic handsets are different. Vodafone have a white handset and 3 Mobile a black handset. More significantly 3 Mobile’s HTC Magic will include Microsoft ActivSync which syncs with Microsoft Exchange providing access to emails, calendar entries and contacts. The 3 Mobile handset is more attractive to business users.

The launch date for the HTC Magic plans is likely to be June for both 3 and Vodafone but the exact dates haven’t been confirmed.